#95 – Meals Waste to Power; A brand new Vertical of Infrastructure w/ Ryan Start (Divert)

Today we are joined by Ryan Begin. One of the founding members of Divert.

Divert is building food waste to energy plants that have achieved the scale to become profitable, scalable, and impactful in combating climate change.

This is a truly inspiring story as it took them about 13 years to get to the point of proving their technology and perfecting the business model in a way that they could then get serious funding. Serious funding refers to, them now hitting a point of getting funding from Private Equity groups. In particular, Infrastructure funds.

In the conversation, we go through how Ryan got into the space and left the defense space to be part of the founding team at Divert. We talk about the challenges and the milestones along the way. Then in the latter half, we discuss a lot about the financing of their business, how to get to the point of attracting Infrastructure Funding, and how important talent is to the success of your business.

Genuinely engaging conversation and insights from Ryan.

Enjoy this conversation 🌎
Topics:
(1:43) Intro and how he came from Defense to Climate
–(6:10) His CleanTech 1.0
(8:56) How the process looks and what they do
(15:52) Their business Model
–(25:23) Once they have the waste
–(29:11) Carbon Credits?
(30:39) Early days of the company
(37:53) Financing (PE vs VC + Revenue Quality + TAM + Infrastructure Play)
(44:15) How to Prove Growth and Quality of Revenue
(47:08) Talent
(52:12) The future

Links:
– Connect with Ryan:
– Divert Website:
– Check out our Sponsor, NextWave Partners: https://www.next-wavepartners.com/
– Join the Slack Channel: https://cleantechies.slack.com/join/shared_invite/zt-pd2drz6d-N~9nURU5JlyMXv2ZiO5bAQ#/shared-invite/email
– Follow CleanTechies on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/clean-techies/
– HMU on Twitter: @silasmahner
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Other episodes you might enjoy:
– #39 Helping Commercial Kitchens Reduce Food Waste and Save Money (https://www.buzzsprout.com/1675960/10300503)
– #62 Solving Fresh Food Inventory Management with Johannes from Afresh (https://www.buzzsprout.com/1675960/11561721)
– #83 From 30% to 90% Li Recovery, Founding a ClimateTech Co, & Talent Moat w/ Teague Egan (EnergyX) (https://www.buzzsprout.com/1675960/12239097)
– #71 Demystifying Alternative-Protein and How its Made with Sharyn Murray from Good Food Institute (GFI) (https://www.buzzsprout.com/1675960/11794331)

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We are proud to continue working with NextWave as our official show sponsor for this podcast. NextWave and all of its staff are highly motivated to advance the ClimateTech revolution and are constantly innovating ways that they can help affect that transition. From experts in the talent space to ESG experts, NextWave is taking on Climate and Social responsibility head-on and helping companies build great cultures that not only make the world a better place but also increase workplace satisfaction. Reach out to NextWave Partners today to learn more about how we might partner with you today. https://www.next-wavepartners.com/ / info@next-wavepartners.com