Judy Li, Investment Associate at Energy Foundry

Editor’s note: Independently of her work at Energy Foundry, Judy hosts the podcast Money Mission and Me: Stories from Social Entrepreneurs. The podcast was created for anyone curious about how social entrepreneurs are using business as a tool for positive impact. Featuring interviews with inspiring entrepreneurs working across various sectors including sustainability, the podcast showcases creative solutions to some of society’s most challenging issues. Visit her at https://www.moneymissionandme.com

Energy Foundry is a Chicago-based venture fund that invests in early-stage energy and clean-tech startups.  The fund was started by a one-time $22.5 million donation from two large energy utilities, ComEd and Ameren, and was created to encourage clean energy innovation.  Energy Foundry is structured as an evergreen fund, which means that any profits made from investments are returned to the fund, allowing it to re-invest its capital into new companies.  Because Energy Foundry does not have a typical “Limited Partner” structure with investors who expect returns on a specific timeline, the fund can be more patient in realizing returns from its investments. This enables it to not only invest in software businesses but also invest in hardware or advanced material product businesses that may take longer to scale and bring returns to investors.

Energy Foundry predominantly participates in Seed rounds (usually the first fundraise for a new startup) and Series A rounds (usually the second round of fundraising).  Before any investment occurs, a startup is thoroughly vetted (a process called due diligence) to understand all the potential risks including how unique the technology is, how they measure up to competition from incumbents and other startups, and if there is enough of a market for the startup’s technology. Most of the companies in Energy Foundry’s portfolio, at the time of first investment, had just begun generating revenue, or were very close to generating revenue after having proven out the technology. Startups typically use the investment to build out their team, provide working capital, and continue improving their product so that they can scale and grow revenue.

What do you actually do all day? 

Our team consists of two Managing Directors, one Director, one Associate, and one part-time Marketing and Operations Manager.   I work with our Managing Directors on new investments and supporting our portfolio companies.

I’m involved in a wide range of activities including identifying and evaluating new investment opportunities, managing relationships with entrepreneurs, performing analysis and due diligence, overseeing the Marketing and Operations Manager, and managing our internal data tracking systems, among many other things.  My focus is in driving the deal flow and due diligence processes for our team.

Identifying opportunities

There’s currently a big gap in funding for early stage energy and cleantech startups, so we don’t need to look hard to find companies we can consider investing in.  The bulk of our time is spent evaluating companies who have come to us for consideration.  Most of our applicants hear of us through incubators, accelerator programs, pitch competitions, and referrals.  In 2017 we reviewed over 700 startups, and in 2018 we reviewed almost 800.  The types of startups who approach us are generally:

• Innovations that make clean energy technology cheaper or more efficient
• Advanced materials that allow unique form factors in size or weight, improve energy generation or storage, or alter the way that products are used or made
• Technologies that enable cheaper or better energy storage
• Controls or software products that reduce energy use for all kinds of products and services
• Products that are more energy efficient than existing alternatives

We are usually more interested in technologies that are orders of magnitude or significantly better than existing alternatives or completely redesign the way things work.  Smaller, incremental changes are less attractive because it’s hard to get customers to switch products without a big incentive in price or performance improvement. 

What sets us apart is the sector-specific pattern recognition we’ve developed over the past five years.  We’ve evaluated thousands of technologies and that experience makes it easier for us to identify what is truly unique, and has given us a good understanding of what the big players in the market really care about.  If a technology seems both unique and relevant, we set up a call with the entrepreneur and learn more.  If we like what we learn, then we begin due diligence. 

Evaluating opportunities

During due diligence, our team will do a deep evaluation of the startup’s business, technology, and projections.  This involves presenting a list of possible risks this startup faces and questions we need to answer to determine how serious these risks are and if the startup can overcome them.  Examples of possible risks are fierce competition in the market, long sales cycles, product or technology still under development, and key skills gaps in the management team.  I draft these questions and organize meetings with the entrepreneur and industry experts to find answers that help us assess how large these risks are.  A big part of my job is to refine the startup’s financial model so we can have a detailed view into how money moves in the business and to make sure that this fundraise will give the company enough runway to reach its milestones.  I will also adjust the model’s five-year revenue projections with the goal of making them more realistic.  We then use it to estimate when and how much the startup will need to raise for its next financing round, and potential returns on our possible investment.  I start with their assumptions and then use our experience to make some adjustments; it usually takes a startup longer to reach revenue targets, and costs will typically be higher than the startup’s estimate.  We use this model and the information we learn in our due diligence process to inform whether we’ll invest.  It’s equal parts art and science.   

What are some of the key skills for success in this role? 

A finance background with financial modeling experience is required for an investment associate role.  You need to be very good with Excel and have working knowledge of how well-designed financial models are built in Excel. 

It’s also important to have a good understanding of accounting.  You spend a lot of time looking at a company’s financials (income statement, balance sheet, cash flow).  Obviously, many startups aren’t generating revenue yet, but you need to have enough of a sense of accounting to be able to project when a startup will run out of cash.  That will give you an idea of how much they need now, and when they’ll need to raise money again. 

You need excellent communication skills.  We have to say “no” to a lot of hopeful entrepreneurs and you need to be able to say it in a way that effectively communicates the reasons why but also leaves the interaction on a positive note. 

For sector-specific funds, experience in the sector at the associate level isn’t usually required, it’s more of a nice to have.  Typically, when funds are hiring for an investment associate position, they’re really focused on candidates with the financial analysis skills from experience in private equity, investment banking, management consulting or at another venture fund.  You may have a steep learning curve on the sector in the beginning, but with robust enough deal flow, you can also pick up a good understanding of the market on the job.  

What is your favorite part of your job?

I really love watching pitches and interacting with entrepreneurs.  They’re usually inspiring people with vision and are trying to build something great.  It’s a really wonderful energy to surround yourself with.  

I also love seeing the wide range of technological solutions to climate change and energy issues that people have come up with.  I have a science and environmental policy background as well and it’s a lot of fun to dive deeper into the science of how a new technology works.  It’s also interesting to look at the big picture of how a new technology fits into the market today or what the long-term impact could be. 

What is the hardest part of your job?

My least favorite part is the rejection email or conversation, when we’ve been in discussions with an entrepreneur but don’t feel comfortable with the risks and can’t move forward.  I try to be thoughtful and include useful feedback about why it’s not a good fit, but they’re always difficult to write. 

We also receive an exceptionally large volume of correspondence and simply can’t respond to everyone who contacts us.  I’ve worked for a startup before and I’m a very compassionate person, so I truly respect and admire the entrepreneurs who reach out to us.  It feels terrible because I know they’re trying to build a business and I’d love to help them all if I could. 

What is your proudest professional achievement?

I’ve started receiving invitations to speak on panels and judge pitch competitions and it’s nice to know that my thoughts and opinions are valued.  I didn’t come to this role with a lot of investment experience and it’s great that I’ve been doing it long enough that my skills are being recognized in such a public way. 

What are the game changers in your world?  

There is a lot of unique, interesting technology coming out of national labs and universities, but it’s not investible to us if they can’t prove that customers actually want it.  It would be really helpful if there were more funding available to help companies run pilots to demonstrate customer interest.  What we need are more programs or grants that give entrepreneurs the funds they need to pilot their technology in the real world with real customers, before most investors are comfortable investing.  There are already government programs that do this, but they’re highly selective.  Some startups also get funding for pilots from family foundations or angel investors who are really excited about the product and are comfortable with investing in a really early stage technology that isn’t completely proven yet, but again, we need more.

What was your path to this role? 

My undergraduate degree is in environmental science and environmental policy, with a minor in energy resources.  After college I did a Princeton in Asia fellowship where I was placed in NRDC’s Beijing office doing policy work for the Sustainable Cities program.  When the fellowship was over, I moved to Chicago and joined an energy efficiency startup in a sales role doing energy audits for small to medium sized businesses.  That was great experience but I wanted to work in something broader than just energy efficiency and develop some different skills.  I went to a lot of sustainability networking events where I met a friend who later connected me with Energy Foundry.  She shared the same co-working space with them and heard they were hiring, and it turned out to be a great fit.   

I joined Energy Foundry as a Platform Associate.  My first eighteen months at the fund were spent focusing on developing our internal customer relationship management (CRM) systems for tracking correspondence with entrepreneurs, managing deal flow, and data visualization.  I expressed an interest in developing financial investment analysis skills and the Managing Directors gave me the opportunity to start doing quick one-page company assessments which gave me more exposure to technologies, the markets, and business models.  When an Investment Associate position opened up on the team, the Managing Directors offered me the position and the training I would need to succeed in it.     

What’s your advice to someone interested in a role like this?

It’s pretty hard to break into the venture capital industry, stories like mine are somewhat rare.  There aren’t many open investment associate positions at any given time because the teams are usually very small and they don’t grow unless the firm fundraises and closes a bigger fund.  The best time to look for an open position is when someone’s closed a new fund, that’s usually the only time they’re hiring unless they have turnover. 

Keep in mind that the same thing applies for career advancement.  Most VC firms are structured in such a way that significant raises or promotions come when the fund raises more money or if someone more senior leaves.  Bonuses are usually based on returns on investments, and different firms have different policies around who gets how much carry.  Carry is a percentage of the firm’s return that an employee of the firm gets to keep in addition to their salary. 

What are your favorite resources? 

Greentech Media is great for keeping up on cleantech news across the country, but with a lot of emphasis on California.  They put out a lot of information about new startups too. 

There’s a great website called Impact Capital Managers that lists a lot of VC funds that identify as impact investors.  Not all are energy and cleantech, but there are quite a few on there. 

Venture Deals is a great book by Brad Feld and Jason Mendleson that my managing directors recommended to me.  It gives you a great understanding for how VC investors think about making investments. 

The Cleantech Open national event is the largest and oldest cleantech accelerator program.  It is national but has regional chapters.  Their local and regional events are definitely worth going to as well. 

Cleantech Forum in San Francisco is an annual event that congregates a lot of cleantech startups and investors. 

The Clean Energy Trust hosts Chicago’s big annual cleantech event which includes a pitch competition.  The Clean Energy Trust is another seed-stage cleantech investor. 

The Incubatenergy Network has a great website with a map that shows all the cleantech incubators and accelerator programs that they know about, I think it might even include a listing of investors as well.  Their list is pretty complete, you can use it to find events where you can meet investors. 

Who (or what) is your sustainability hero?  

Bryant Williams was my mentor here in Chicago.  He grew up on the Southeast side of Chicago and was very passionate about environmental justice issues in that region.  Bryant is among the best activists and community builders that I have ever met.  He worked in the public sector and in the nonprofit sector before starting his own consulting company doing brownfield redevelopment and asbestos abatement. He had a beautiful vision of expanding his business to provide energy efficiency and other sustainability consulting lines, and using a portion of the revenue generated from his business to support the work of environmental justice nonprofits and community organizations in the Southeast side.  Unfortunately, he passed away about a year ago, but his drive, passion, and vision have continued to inspire to me.