Episode 46 Transcript: Ryan Panchadsaram on Tracking Progress to Net Zero by 2050

Molly Wood Voice-Over:
Welcome to Everybody in the Pool, the podcast for the climate economy. We dive deep into the climate crisis and come up with solutions. I'm Molly Wood.

We’ve been going deep on all kinds of solutions in the last few months … this week let’s take a step back and try to assess our overall progress … against the big goal … which is to get the world to net zero carbon emissions by 2050 …

And keep the globe’s temperature from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius by then … that’s the temperature rise after which scientists agree that … well … all hell will break loose … and the earth will become increasingly … unsurvivable … as unpredictable weather events … catastrophic species extinction … food insecurity … and an overall collapse of the biosphere … become inevitable.

Juuuuuuuuuuust in case you forgot what we’re doing here.

So you know I’m big on this term … you can’t manage what you don’t measure … so this week … let’s … do some measuring.

Ryan Panchadsaram:
I'm Ryan Panchadsaram. Uh, I'm an advisor at Kleiner Perkins to the chairman, John Doerr. I'm also a coauthor of a book called Speed and Scale, which is an action plan for tackling our climate crisis.

Ryan has been a pioneer in the tech industry … he was chief technology officer of the United States … in the Obama administration … and he’s currently a partner at the legendary investment fund Kleiner Perkins … where … as you heard him mention … he works with longtime clean tech investor John Doerr …

John … is VERY big on measuring … he wrote a book called Measure What Matters … I actually interviewed him about this back when I was on Marketplace… and this book was an introduction … for many people … to the idea of O-K-Rs … or objectives and key results … a goal-setting system based on setting high-level goals and then measuring progress against those goals.

And several years ago now … John and Ryan decided to apply that model … to tackling the climate crisis … the result was the book Speed and Scale … and then LAST week … during Earth Week … the team released an updated version of their Speed and Scale TRACKER … looking at progress in the key categories they identified.

Ryan Panchadsaram:
We crafted an ultimate OKR of getting from 59 billion tons of emissions down to zero. And we paired it with a set of objectives. The first part was how do we reduce the emissions? And the second one was how do we go quickly? And so a lot of time has passed, right? The book came out in November 2021. It's been a good two and a half years.

We have these OKRs that we need to track. And so we pulled this data over the course of last year and really reflected on it at the start of this year to answer the question, how are we doing in tackling the climate crisis?

Molly Wood:
How do you even, people listening to this may be familiar with things like Project Drawdown, which sort of set out a list at least of biggest problems to tackle, but how do you even set out to prioritize lists? I mean, is it strictly a gigaton process?

Ryan Panchadsaram:
Yeah, here we love Project Drawdown and it was one of the inspirations for this project, right? Project Drawdown had perhaps the best book of solutions on tackling the climate crisis. Part of what we were trying to wrap our heads around is, well, how does it all fit?

And so the OKRs gave us this framework to break apart the problem, to show how each sector added up, but also to add in this other element of, well, what are the things we can do, right, on the policy front, on the movements front, on innovation and investment that would make this transition more successful.

And so we are very gigaton oriented. You'll actually see a handful of key results have this little red gigaton symbol next to it saying, if we move this number, that's where the emissions reduction comes from.

Because for the time that we have to tackle this problem, we all have to be putting our best efforts towards where the emissions are. You know, we can't get distracted by the small things or things that actually don't go after emissions reduction. That's the North Star.

Molly Wood VO:
So the key categories in Speed and Scale … are … Electrify Transportation … Decarbonize the Grid … Fix Food … Protect Nature … Clean Up Industry … Remove Carbon … Win Politics and Policy … Turn Movements into Action … Innovate … and Invest.

And then there are subcategories in there … with gigatons attached to the really big ones … like planes and methane emissions … forests … steel and cement … and the like.

Molly Wood:
OK, and so it came into existence. It was birthed in 2021, and now you have this big update. And we're going to dig into this in some detail. I've pulled out some disaster areas, but some good news, because we are also all about solutions.

But sort of broadly, what have you found in now reviewing progress against these key results?

Ryan Panchadsaram:
Yes.

Ryan Panchadsaram:
Yeah, the broad, I mean, so the takeaway is there's been unprecedented progress, but we still need far more urgency and ambition, right?

We are effectively a team, right? Collectively as the world and we're walking into the locker room at half time and we can see the score.

And it's still, we're emitting 59 billion tons of emissions each year. But when you look at the work that we've done together, you know, in the past 10 years, we've effectively brought down the world's warming potential by 1.2 degrees already, right?

There are these targets from just 10 years ago that said we were going to see four-degree warming and we're in that three-degree territory now or sub-three, right? 2.7. And we've got to drive that down to that one and a half that we're all pointed towards.

And so part of the message we want to share in this update is like, look at this unprecedented, unprecedented progress. What we've done together is humanity.

Molly Wood:
Yeah.

Ryan Panchadsaram:
But when you look at the emission reductions that we need to do, we've got to not only double or triple down in areas, but we have to measurably deploy more as well as phase down fossil fuel production as well too in use.

And so we try to really share this update in such a concise numbers-driven way of what's working well, what's not.

Molly Wood:
Yeah, which I love. And it's super graphical, right? I mean, you just scan it and you're like green, yellow, Mayday.

Green, yellow, red. I shouldn't laugh at the Maydays because it's really serious.

Let's. Before I dig in, I want to ask a couple more sort of level set questions. The book's called Speed and Scale. Scale, we really understand. How do you think about speed?

The goal is 2050, as stated in the book. And yet, you know, we're still really talking about this as the crucial decade.

So, you know, talk to me a little about how you're defining speed.

Ryan Panchadsaram:
Of course, such a good piece to focus on. Cause the speed part here, when you look at these KRs, you said you'd like the yellows, the reds and all this, this is all reflecting how fast we're moving on these key results.

So everything in this update is data-driven. So for every KR, we looked for the best data source, the one that would capture and allow us to look back in time, right?

To see, are we making the progress that we expect?

And so when you see a red or an orange, what that means is we're off track. It means that year over year, that measure actually has not improved and it may have actually slid back. It triggers a red, the code red, when that KR is responsible for more than two to three gigatons of emissions.

Right? So that's the places we have to spend extra attention. When you get into the yellows, which is insufficient progress, what it means is like year over year, things are improving, but not as fast as you'd like to see.

So that speed point that you're getting at. And so we have to pick up the pace to get that to cutting emissions in half by 2030, and then ultimately getting to net zero by 2050.

When you see a green, what it means is year over year improvement is on pace with the targets that are set in the Speed and Scaleplan.

And then of course, there is the blue, the achieved that KR is being met. And so this plan is completely oriented around speed. When you think of the colors.

And it's oriented around the scale part. When you think about the gigatons being spread across it. And so that's how you can look at this tracker.

Molly Wood:
Let's actually start since you brought up achieved. There's only one that I see on this list and that is venture capital, which I think is a very interesting and possibly kind of bold announcement that we've, tell me more about that.

Ryan Panchadsaram:
Yes.

Ryan Panchadsaram:
Yeah. When the book was published in 21, right? You had data from 2020 that showed $17 billion had been invested in venture capital and that clearly wasn't enough. And, you know, we set a target. If this could reach 50 billion a year consistently, we'll be supporting a wonderful amount of companies that are transitioning from the lab to market that are trying to scale up.

And what we saw, and we're actually quite surprised by was in 2021, that number was way north of 50, like it was nearing the 60 billion mark, depending on which, you know, report you look at. And then the two years after, so 2021, 2022 and 2023, the number has stayed consistently above 50.

And what that is and what that means is there are over 2600 companies that have received that funding and are tackling and creating solutions that go after this crisis.

And yes, when you take a step back, though, you have seen a drop, right? In venture capital funding as well as in climate and clean tech.

But what our big takeaway in this is that there is still a good amount of capital flowing. It's going to, of course, the companies and ideas that are working.

But, you know, this is climate clean tech. This is like industrial transformation. And so the kind of capital that's here from the venture side feels like it's on target. You know, we can talk a little more about the later stages where things aren't as on track.

Molly Wood:
Right.

Molly Wood:
Yeah. Well, and I think that's worth mentioning. I mean, of course, for listeners who may not be familiar, John Doerr is a luminary in clean tech investing who endured what we often refer to as CleanTech 1.0, right?

So it is not the amount that's necessarily, it's like, that's one goal. And then the rest of the goal is the endurance of this industry.

Ryan Panchadsaram:
Absolutely. Those CleanTech 1.0 companies, right? When they were invested in this is like the era of 05, 06, 07, you know, very immediately the press call it the just publications.

As soon as some of these ideas didn't work, it was very easy to say that they had failed, right? Because a lot of times the failures come sooner than the successes.

But if you actually then look what happened over the course of the next 10 to 15 years, you started to see some incredibly valuable winners.

Tesla, Sun Run, Enphase, First Solar, and then Beyond Meat as well too around that time.

And so, you know, the biggest, I would call it blessing for the climate tech community was all these wins around that 2020, 2021 timeframe to show that really large valuable businesses can be created here.

And so when you saw that influx of capital happen in what we were calling CleanTech 2.0, that was the spark and that is why you saw so much.

And now, you know, we're kind of fortunate we're in this space where there's the capital there. There's entrepreneurs and founders and investors that have done it before in the 1.0 and a whole bunch of new people that are attempting these new technologies and companies.

And it's, it really is an optimistic place to spend time in.

Molly Wood:
It is absolutely and capitalism. Look, not for nothing and capitalism and markets being a driver of change.

Yep. OK, let's do some good news. Let's talk, let's start with where we are on track.

I've pulled together sort of a short list. We have cars, solar and wind, and this is across several categories. Refrigerants, like what are the areas that we're on track toward that you feel the best about?

Ryan Panchadsaram:
Yes.

Ryan Panchadsaram:
Of course. I mean, the best news in climate is cars right now, no matter what you've heard in the start of this year around EVs, not working, slowing down. The truth is the facts are the data shows that we are at globally. 18% of new cars being bought are electric.

That's six X since 2019, you jumped to different parts of the world. In China, you've got cities that are above 30% in sales, you go to parts of Europe and you're talking 80% plus of new cars are electric.

The revolution is here. The industry is being transformed as we're a part of it. And when you think about this humongous bulk of emissions that come from moving us around, this is a place to have hope, right?

And yes, this is going to be a hard year for American, European, as well as companies around the world in tackling this.

But I say that because I think what you're seeing...

Molly Wood:
Okay, do I want to hear? I mean, I'm curious. Yeah, I want to turn out.

Ryan Panchadsaram:
Tesla has continued to perform, but when you entered this new year, BYD, Build Your Dreams, which is the Chinese EV manufacturer, took over that number one spot.

When you look globally, you know, this is a real race and what you're seeing is more than half of EVs are being built in China.

And for every country around the world, well, at least Western world, when you think of the US and Europe, auto manufacturing is a huge part, a huge core of industry for these countries.

And what you're seeing here is the United States and Europe are behind.

And what you're also seeing is that it's finally being acknowledged. And the question is, are we, how many years too late are we in acknowledging it?

But we have. So the Inflation Reduction Act is putting a world of support around domestic manufacturing and supply chains.

You look in Europe, the same kind of energy is coming to bear. And so like the optimist in me sees this, these next five years to 10 years for EVs as being this race, this competition that I actually think at the end of the day, consumers and the public and the environment are going to wildly benefit.

The thing we can't do though, is to say, well, we're not going to compete.

And so I think you're seeing in the policy spheres of like, Ooh, let's, you know, put up walls and stop imports or to not acknowledge that people, when they step into their cars, want and enjoy the electric experience, right?

You don't have to go to a gas station anymore unless you're taking these long trips and charging.

You don't have to replace things as much and get them repaired.

You actually have also high performance wildly and not a very, very expensive car that's combusting fuel.

And so this is such an optimistic area and a place that is, as you're seeing tagged when in the greens in the on tracks area.

Molly Wood:
And then let's talk about some of the areas that we aren't doing so well. Well, no, hold on. I'm going to stay with the positive.

I'm going to stay with the positive and then we'll come back because I wanted to also ask you about in the innovate category, we are also on track with batteries and electricity. Talk a little bit about that.

I mean, I've done so many interviews now, including Enphase, with companies that are doing this pairing of solar and batteries in ways that are leading to decentralization and really cool net metering stories, changing the economics of energy generation.

Like, it's a pretty cool time.

Ryan Panchadsaram:
Oh yeah.

Ryan Panchadsaram:
It is a really cool time, right? When you think about like, so on track there means that the cost reduction that you're seeing year over year is matching the pace we need.

And so the beautiful thing about that, that means that more of it is getting deployed.

So I'm kind of going to weave us a little bit into some of the investment categories.

Well, too, you know, we're seeing more project financing going out for more categories of clean technologies.

And what that means is yes, it's like.

Molly Wood:
Yes, and I'm glad you brought that up because that's literally my next question is, let's now talk about the money. Let's go straight there, yeah.

Ryan Panchadsaram:
Cause that's how it connects right to your point about the markets.

We can innovate all we want, but when we get to that crossover of this thing, going from the green premium to being a green discount, you're actually going to see this wonderful market adoption.

And so we are seeing in project finance now is not just solar, wind renewables.

It's storage, it's heat.

You're these categories.

Once they become financeable, you're going to see the world change even faster.

The part where you're seeing kind of a missing middle though, and we may address it in the next year update is you've got this on achieved for venture.

You've got this on track for project financing.

But I think what you've and you've covered this actually before is there is this missing hard, messy middle.

You know, you and I have a company, we started, it's proving itself in a lab, but where do we get financing to build our first facility?

And so I think in the 2025 update, you may see us put a new key result in that really focuses on that.

Because that's like the beauty of OKRs in any environment.

Like if we're in a workplace, if we're not measuring the thing that needs to be changed, well, our eyes are not on the prize.

And so that's a little gap.

It's looking blue and green in the beginning and in the end.

But we need that middle chunk of financing for the first of a kind projects.

Molly Wood VO:
Time for a quick break. When we come back, we’ll talk about some code red categories … including … I am sorry to report … cows.

Molly Wood VO:
Welcome back to Everybody in the Pool. We’re talking with Ryan Panchadsaram … a partner at Kleiner Perkins and co-author of the book Speed and Scale … about how we’re tracking against the high-level goals … that we need to hit … to get to net zero by 2050.

Molly Wood:
Yep, absolutely. And yet we should celebrate them. We should celebrate the wins.

But on that note, let's talk about some of these code reds.

This is where the speed really comes in.

And there are some tough ones to see on this list, like coal and gas, methane, cows.

Before I turn to industry, really, I would say in this year, 2024, on this show for me, I'm really specifically focused on food.

Ryan Panchadsaram:
Yes.

Ryan Panchadsaram:
Yes.

Molly Wood:
and trying to focus more on food systems and agriculture because that has been this like, I think increasing awareness story.

And so not only do you have like food, but you've got cows specifically as a code red.

Ryan Panchadsaram:
Yes, yes, we do.

So when we, I love this update because it lets us sort of reflect on some of the things we put out in 2021, right?

There was a KR that was called protein consumption and we've got to, you know, shift people to lower emitting proteins.

And in reflecting and looking at the data, you know, there's this, the staggering stat that over half of the beef eaten in the United States is just consumed by 12% of Americans.

And when you see that, or you look at the Our World in Data's just emission graphs for how much more emission-heavy beef is compared to other proteins, you realize that's where the problem space is.

And so we need to address cows.

And so we've actually renamed that KR to cows to really double down.

And what that means too is it's not just the solutions that get you and I to eat less beef, because honestly, you and I tried and probably still enjoy things like Beyond Meat and shift to tofu and other plant-based proteins when we do.

But when you think about that 12% of Americans eat more than half the beef.

And so when you think about us as solution problem solvers, like that's where our efforts need to be focused.

And so in this update, we share, well, you know, fake meat 1.0 fell short, you know, 2.0 has to come in fast and actually address these problems here.

And so this really food tech 2.0 has to come in to address the problem of cows and you either do it through cultured meats, which are really expensive today.

So then you've got to look towards livestock management or some of these additives that, you know, stop the burping.

And so when you think about food and cows, it's really about shifting away from them and really about finding a way to, how do you get this small chunk?

12% to do that shift, because that's where you're going to see the emission reduction.

Molly Wood:
12% is absolutely bananas.

But it weirdly makes it seem achievable.

Like we should just be able to find them and be like, hey, can we not do that?

Other sticky problems, industry, like writ large, right?

Ryan Panchadsaram:
Hi.

Ryan Panchadsaram:
Yeah.

So in, in food, you know, you so we say it's cows, it's waste, and it's soils.

You know, if we can focus on those three, you've got it, you're going to get and turn around our food system.

Because when it comes to waste, it still boggles me that in the United States, and in pick any developing country in the world, we waste the equal amount of food 40%.

We just do it on different sides of call it the chain, you know, here in the Western world, we waste it when it comes to our houses, on our food, you know, our dinner tables and grocery stores and so forth.

For the developing world, it gets, I wouldn't call it waste actually there.

It gets lost, right?

Unfortunately to things happening on the field, things happening during transport.

And, you know, it's got to be a code.

It is a code red on addressing that.

And then of course, soils, treating our soils with deep respect actually has a great carbon benefit.

And so that's a big code red.

Molly Wood:
Yeah.

Ryan Panchadsaram:
Yeah.

And then maybe two other areas that are in the tracker update that are code red, just to quickly touch on, they're big gigatons, but we can do it quickly.

You know, the first is around cleaning up industry.

You know, when you looked at what was deployed in 2022 and 2023 on cleaner steel and cement, it's barely reducing a percent of emissions.

And so there's a humongous opportunity for policymakers, innovators, investors, companies to step up, to get us on track with using cleaner steel, and as well as finding ways to get better use of concrete and then cleaner chemistries of it or ways to produce it.

And then when you jump over to, you know, this whole category of carbon removal, you know, we're, we're at a code red while all the excitement, cause it's like, it's actually the, um, call it the Cambrian explosion of amazing carbon removal companies and technologies and research happening right now.

When you look at the data of how much has been removed, I think it's like 200,000 tons to date.

Molly Wood:
Yep.

Ryan Panchadsaram:
We're off track, right?

And so from a data point of view, we had the stamp this red and carbon removal is not meant to be the replacement or crutch for the oil and gas industry.

You know, for those, there's lots of great alternatives in the model that we have shows that those emission reductions come from EVs cleaner energy on the grid and so forth, but there are going to be areas where we will still be producing emissions and we need to lean on carbon removal and we need to get that to scale.

And so companies need to buy more of it.

The standards bodies need to give more guidance on what's good, what's bad.

Cause if we don't do it now and catalyze it, how are we going to get 5 billion tons of engineered removal in 2050?

Molly Wood:
Mm-hmm.

Molly Wood:
Yeah, and I mean, you've got two categories there, nature-based removal and engineered removal that combined account for 10 gigatons.

And it's, you know, I mean, it's worth repeating again that we don't get to this goal without carbon removal.

Ryan Panchadsaram:
That's right.

Look at the IPCC look at, and remember like five to 10 gigatons means that's like, that lets us have an ag system that still produces a little bit of emissions.

It means we can have a concrete industry that's building bridges and roads and buildings that, you know, can't get to zero, but in places where there are clean alternatives, you'll find they're going to be always cheaper than carbon removal.

So that's the cleaner alternative to go towards.

Molly Wood:
So then, near and dear to your heart, and I want to get your origins, your backstory here, because you're just a fascinating character in your own right before I let you go, but near and dear to your heart, I think, is this question of politics and policy and turning movements into action.

Where are we on some of that?

It's a mixed bag.

Ryan Panchadsaram:
Yeah, it's, um, it's wild.

Cause you look at how much has been done on the policy front and it's actually really impressive.

You got countries that have net zero commitments.

Yes, they range in timeframe.

So the improvement there is pull those in.

You see all the actions happening in the beginning, biggest emitting countries, like things like the Inflation Reduction Act knocking us from a 40% reduction to, uh, I'm, I'm going to, I used to have this number at the top of my head, but it's like, we were, we're getting closer to that halfway mark by 2030 because of the Inflation Reduction Act, but we're still not there yet.

And so we need even more.

And so really the message around the policy front, you know, this is one of the accelerants, the accelerants mean the more we do here, the faster this transition happens.

And if one of the accelerants isn't doing its part, the others have to step up.

And so I think there is this beautiful recognition that this issue is important.

Policymakers are prioritizing it.

What you're seeing is the industry components really being what's at the forefront.

And so when you see these policies being done, people realize, Oh no, my fossil fuel producing vehicle industry of the past is under attack and I need to protect it.

And protecting doesn't mean, like you said earlier, blocking people out.

It means investing in electric vehicle facilities, battery facilities and so forth.

So on the policy front, there is absolute room for more.

There's absolutely room for more policy around standards and performance.

There's room for ways that a carbon price pollution tax can be implemented in the U S we're going to have a pretty hefty one on methane, which will go after the leaks and that is a huge, huge win there.

And so on the policy front, absolutely there's more that can be done, but, you know, if you want to feel policymakers, the innovators and investors need to do their part too, to show that there can.

And are actual solutions to different emission sectors.

Molly Wood:
Yep.

I talk a lot about this three-pronged strategy, which is very politician of me, for climate action, which is vote, invest, and adopt, which is why it's kind of a bummer to see that the voting key result is listed as failing.

I mean, I feel like we just don't talk about this enough because those signals really matter.

Ryan Panchadsaram:
Yeah.

Ryan Panchadsaram:
We started looking, there's a good data set that starts and tracks.

What are people's top issues?

And climate is moving up, but it's still not a top three issue.

I think in the U S it's, there was a good report that came out that says it's really only in the top three for like 20% of people, but it is in the top 10 for a lot.

And so, you know, there are more, more pressing issues that have been.

That are in front and center, think inflation, think the economy, think the wars that are happening around the world.

These are really front of mind for people.

And I think for this to be a voting issue, you have to connect it back to the things that aren't climate.

You know, when you think about shifting to clean energy and communities, it means clean air.

It means more reliable energy during parts and periods of the year.

It means, you know, electric vehicles, same thing, cleaner air, better-performing vehicles.

It's cheaper, exactly cheaper cost of ownership.

It's like, so you have to like, how do you convey the benefits without saying the word climate and to the point that you made earlier?

Molly Wood:
cheaper cost of ownership.

Molly Wood:
Yeah.

Ryan Panchadsaram:
These things have to be cheaper.

And so, you know, if they're not better, faster, cheaper, people aren't going to adopt the greener thing.

And so there's a lot on our shoulders, but thankfully, you know, when you look at these innovations, like there are pathways to getting to the better and cheaper.

It's just all the work that we're doing on the policy side, on the investment side is to bring that future sooner.

Right.

It's in many ways inevitable that EVs will be the way we travel in 2100, but we're trying to get that to happen by 2030, 2035, and so forth.

Molly Wood:
Right.

And we should, and you know, please everybody go and look at the tracker.

We should clarify here that there are lots of things other than cars that we're talking about electrifying when it comes to transportation.

Nobody is leaving buses and public transport and planes off of this list.

We're just taking a subset here.

Ryan Panchadsaram:
Oh yeah.

Ryan Panchadsaram:
We're because we're farther.

I mean, it's always fun to talk about.

And like, I think it's actually important for us to talk about the winds.

Right.

And, and, uh, but to your point, the places where we're not as far are long-haul transportation, sustainable air fuel, which to me, I think is the Achilles heel of, um, call it the Western world, which is, you know, we need to show the world that we can decarbonize flights.

Because when you're in a developed part of the world and you look up and you see a plane flying by, you always go, well,

Molly Wood:
Exactly.

Molly Wood:
Mm-hmm.

Ryan Panchadsaram:
Why do I have to do this emission reduction?

And so, you know, well, so if we're asking ourselves, why are we paying up more for sustainable air fuel and really accelerating like more, either electrified air or sustainable fuel air travel, it's because of that, like we have to prove it to the world, the United States, Europe have to prove it to the world that we can have a carbon-free economy.

Right.

Cause if we can't do it, they're going to say, well, you know, it may not be possible and we know it's possible.

And I think as investors, Molly, like we also know that if you are at the head of this curve, you also then get to be not only own those industries, but you really get to shape them and really benefit from the wealth that can come from them.

Molly Wood:
Absolutely.

Yeah, first rich countries, then rich people.

Adopt, like it's your job.

If you are...

Ryan Panchadsaram:
It's true.

It's your vote.

It was at vote.

It was vote something adopt.

What was the, yes.

Yes.

I left the three prong.

I will vote for Molly wood.

Molly Wood:
Vote, invest, and adopt.

Yep, 100%.

Okay, all right.

Who doesn't love like a three-part plan or a nine-part plan or however many parts, but the key here is plan.

Okay, quickly, tell us your origin story, Ryan.

You're such a stone-cold badass.

How did you come to this and to be doing what you're doing?

Ryan Panchadsaram:
Oh my God.

I, I have, I think I'm the luckiest person ever, right.

To be able to work on the things that I do.

My, my origin story is, uh, I grew up in a lot of places.

My dad worked for the U S Navy.

So growing up, you know, was born in the Philippines, spent time in Germany, seven years in Naples, Italy, ultimately in San Diego, cause Navy town.

So it was like middle school, high school there, college at Berkeley.

But then the work that I did post-college is really on plumbing.

I call it Molly.

I worked at Salesforce and then I worked at Microsoft on enterprise software.

And then I worked on healthcare and then I went into government and there's something really beautiful about improving our plumbing.

And when I say plumbing, I mean, everything that supports us in society, think healthcare, think energy.

And so like one of the motivating things for me has always been around that, but also making the leap from the private sector into government and then from government into investment.

I want this deep appreciation for how all parts of this ecosystem work.

Call it the accelerants, right?

You know, one is not more important than the other.

We need each other to help usher in societal change.

And so like my career has been really trying to form a deep empathy for all four, to understand what's hard about each of them, what's needed from each of them.

And then how can we all work together?

Right?

Cause when government and activists and companies and investors and innovators work together.

Anything's possible.

Molly Wood:
everybody in the pool.

Am I right?

You can find the tracker at speed and scale.com slash tracker.

I urge you all to buy the book.

It really is fantastic and it will just give you a sense of something to do, which I think is what we all need right now.

Ryan, thank you so much for the time.

Ryan Panchadsaram:
Everybody in the pool.

Yes.

Ryan Panchadsaram:
Molly, thank you.

Molly Wood VO:
That's it for this episode of Everybody in the Pool.

Thank you so much for listening … and seriously … if you’re the kind of person … like me … who likes GOALS and a LIST and a PLAN … check out the book … check out the tracker … and vote … adopt … invest … and if you’re entrepreneurial or scientific or an investor … let it be your guide … to the next right thing to do.

Email me your thoughts and suggestions to in at everybody in the pool dot com and find all the latest episodes and more at everybody in the pool dot com, the website.

And if you want to become a subscriber and get an ad-free version of the show, hit the link in the description in your podcast app of choice.

Thank you to those of you who already have.

See you next week.