“Why are we studying the Grateful Dead in the context of the Ocean MBA?” Asked Brian Halligan, cofounder of HubSpot and GP at Propeller to a room full of early stage climate-tech founders.

When I was 13, my dad gave me Benjamin Graham’s The Intelligent Investor (nerd alert in the Fox household). Ostensibly this is one of Warren Buffet’s favorite books and was to be the undergirding for sound financial decision making. It’s funny, because I didn’t take away much at the time-but revisited the book decades later when I heard someone say “the weight of climate change” at NY Climate Week. It prompted memory of two quotes from that book echo in my head whenever I think about climate investing in this volatile age:

Venture-backable climate startups span everything from alternative plastics and water filtration to building materials and green chemicals. Over the past few months, I’ve helped Propeller recruit and screen founders for its 7th Ocean MBA cohort. The work was both a crash course in emerging technologies and an introduction to the tenacious founders bringing them forward. As I head back to the classroom, here are a few takeaways from that experience:

Nexxa.ai is augmenting the engineered transition. Location: San Francisco How we met: Old-fashioned cold call Propeller theme: Ocean Industrials Propeller investment stage: Seed

Each year, our friends at CTVC release the iconic “climate market map”—a crisp snapshot of where innovation and capital are flowing across seven key sectors: Energy, Transportation, Food and Ag, Industry, Built Environment, Carbon, and Climate Risk. It’s a roadmap for founders, funders, and policymakers navigating the fast-moving world of climate tech. But climate is redefining these industries. The lines between sectors are fading, the tech is more advanced, and one critical resource is still flying under the radar: the ocean.

In part one of this series, I explored how we're rethinking sources of ocean energy — from thermal gradients to nuclear SMRs to currents. But understanding energy in the ocean means looking at both sides of the equation. This time, I want to talk about uses: where energy is being consumed in ocean and coastal environments today, where demand is shifting, and where new opportunities are emerging. Because reimagining energy infrastructure only matters if it maps to real demand. And in the ocean, that demand is not only changing — it’s being reshaped by concerns about energy security and shifting cost curves.

When most people think of energy from the ocean, four primary sources typically come to mind: offshore wind, offshore oil and gas, wave, and tidal power. And for good reason — these are the legacy sectors that have absorbed decades of capital and engineering focus.

“In the ocean, no two waves are the same, and no two days are the same.” Wise words from professional big-wave surfer Greg Long and that was just one of many lessons learned from a life in the ocean that are extremely relatable for what it means to be a leader in today’s climate. Greg went on to discuss risk-taking, ego, near-death and resurrection, and how he now acts with greater intention in and out of the water. So many gems in there for all of us to relate to… I’m still reflecting on his talk, my time at SF Climate Week – and the tone and tenor of the broader #climatetech ecosystem – but above all, it was a real privilege to co-host this discussion on behalf of Propeller and in collaboration with my friend Scott Atkinson and his team at Heidrick & Struggles. It is so special and so rare to gather together with such a great crew of smart, committed founders, investors, and operators working toward a collective planetary good. Thank you again to our excellent panelists for your insights and inspiration -- Founders Panel: Kelly Zheng of hum.ai, Jess Adkins of Calcarea, and Stuart Landesberg of Grove Collaborative. Investor Panel: Colin le Duc of Generation Investment Management, Saloni Multani of Galvanize, Suzanne DiBianca of Salesforce, and Steven Mandel of TPG Rise Climate. And most importantly, thank you to all who attended. Time is precious, and we’re grateful to the folks who spent some of their time with us last week. We hope you’re all back at it this week, as inspired as I was from the discussion.

Orpheus Ocean provides flexible and cost-effective solutions for truly scalable deep ocean intelligence. Location: New Bedford, MA How we met: Incubated at WHOI Propeller theme: Ocean Industrials Propeller investment stage: Pre-Seed

Vema stimulates geologic hydrogen. Their low-cost hydrogen will be a key unlock for maritime transition fuels, among others. Location: Orleans, France How we met: Our friends at Marble Propeller theme: Ocean Industrials Propeller investment stage: Seed