Spotlight on our Entrepreneur in Residence: Eda Leka

Entrepreneurs in Residence (EIRs) are our closest circle of supporters. From Phase 2 onwards, they are mentors and sparring partners for our teams and bring a wealth of experience from entrepreneurship and technical understanding. We would like to introduce you to our EIRs.

Would you briefly introduce yourself and highlight what kind of expertise and support the teams can expect from you?

I am an angel investor, venture partner and advisor, formerly an operator in consumer and consumer tech for 15 years, the last seven part of the management team and Uk board at HelloFresh. My background spans broadly from operations to leading on product and growth / customer retention strategy, hence I can support across many of the relevant operational areas for early stage ventures. As an investor and venture partner, I can also support the teams in their fundraising journey

An MIT simulation changed how I see carbon footprints

What made you join Carbon13’s mission to fight the climate emergency by supporting climatetech projects?

After exiting Hellofresh and hitting pause on my career as an operator, I wanted to get involved in impact and tech for good. During my time in the food industry and particularly in one of my latest roles at HelloFresh as head of sustainability in the UK, I had a chance to experience first hand the many areas across the supply chain that produce a larger carbon footprint. As an MBA candidate at MIT, I also stumbled upon an interactive simulation tool the university had built, that gave me a great quantified overview of the different areas of impact in reducing the carbon footprint. I decided that I wanted my advisory work and my investment activity to focus on taking action across some of the areas, while also exploring the topic more broadly beyond food supply chains. Carbon13 sounded like a great place to start,

What is the difference when it comes to supporting and working with climatetech founders, compared to other founders?

It’s inspiring to see that while all founders are mission-driven, many climate tech founders are truly passionate believers. The most impactful products are often deep tech solutions that require more time to become commercially viable. This demands greater patience, resilience, and dedication from founders compared to other types of ventures. It takes a deep conviction to navigate the additional challenges that many climate tech founders inevitably face.

Carbon13 is about building sustainable startups and also about building strong teams who can support each other throughout the challenging journey. Are there any examples of teams whose treatment of each other has impressed you and that others could learn from?

Perhaps I’ve been fortunate with my teams at Carbon13, or it might be because I’ve worked with more advanced teams in the Venture Launchpad, but I’ve consistently observed a strong collaborative spirit among the founders in my advisory portfolio.

Seeking early validation from potential users is a key driver of future success

Building a start-up is a rollercoaster ride with many ups and downs. What tips do you have for founders to cope with this?

For first – time founders, it’s crucial to connect with other founders who have experience in the startup journey. Before embarking on this path, taking a “founders test” can be beneficial to assess if it’s truly the right time to start a company and to evaluate team compatibility. (I can provide a template for this if needed.) Additionally, I’d advise ensuring you have sufficient financial runway before beginning. Once these preliminary steps are complete and you’re ready to build, I believe the following are important: – Share your idea and plans widely: Discuss your concept with as many people as possible, especially those representing the various stakeholder groups your product will impact. Seeking early validation from potential users is a key driver of future success, rather than building first and then trying to validate the customer need. – Maintain an open mind: Many aspects will change along the way. Don’t be rigid about a single idea or approach; be prepared to pivot repeatedly.

Why do you think that Carbon13 is a good place to start a successful climatetech venture?

I started investing at a challenging time for early-stage founders seeking funding. Throughout these last 3 difficult years, three years, Carbon13 has consistently and relentlessly supported climate impact founders, many of whom are developing hardware and deep tech solutions. This stands in contrast to most of the venture capital world, which has been primarily focusing on SaaS. Through nearly 90 investments in early-stage climate tech companies, Carbon13 has developed profound climate expertise and an extensive network within the sector. The resources and diverse expertise Carbon13 offers founders – through a vast network of domain experts and a dedicated group of EiRs, all of whom are experienced scale-up operators or entrepreneurs – are unparalleled in the impact VC world.

What do you think participants need to bring in order to be successful?

In my view, participants should bring good ideas about addressing pain points identified through their personal or professional experiences; good technical or commercial expertise; ideally learnings from former experience building or scaling tech companies, and an open mind.

What is a current technology that excites you and that you believe has a lot of potential for saving or reducing emissions?

I’m enthusiastic about solutions that use intelligent automation in plastic recycling, with the ultimate goal of eliminating plastic from the environment. Most carbon capture technologies are quite exciting, but I was lately particularly impressed by Post Carbon Lab’s technology of converting CO2 into dyes for the textile industry. Looking at more ambitious, long-term possibilities, I follow developments in Fusion energy closely (like any devoted sci fi reader:) and in general the potential of advanced artificial intelligence to solve the climate crisis.