The Climate Hardware Playbook: Strategies for Founders and Investors with Christian zu Jeddeloh and Sophia Escheu

Episode notes

In this episode of Hardware to Save a Planet , Dylan interviews Christian zu Jeddeloh and Sophia Escheu about their newly developed Climate Hardware Playbook, designed to help founders build and scale climate tech startups. They discuss key challenges facing climate hardware companies, including the European funding gap, the chicken-and-egg problem of commercial traction, and the common talent shortage in founding teams. The conversation also touches on creative financing solutions, the evolving climate tech investment landscape, and differences between the US and European markets. Christian and Sophia offer valuable insights into emerging trends and practical advice for those looking to make an impact in climate tech. Christian is an Investment Associate at Norrsken VC, where he focuses on the German-speaking market. Prior to joining, he was at biotech scale-up Atai Life Sciences, where he worked on business development topics, including the firm’s IPO. He has an educational background in Finance from Frankfurt School, with exchanges at Harvard and MIT. At Speedinvest, Sophia is looking for next-generation technologies to tackle the most polluting industrial sectors.