Podknife - Ep 82: Rob Hanson, Co-Founder & CEO of Monolith Materials by My Climate Journey

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Ep 82: Rob Hanson, Co-Founder & CEO of Monolith Materials

Podcast |: My Climate Journey
Publisher |: Jason Jacobs, Cody Simms, Yin Lu
Media Type |: audio
Podknife tags |: Climate Change,; Interview,; Science & Medicine
Categories Via RSS |: Business,; Science,; Technology
Publication Date |: Feb 17, 2020
Episode Duration |: 01:03:07

Description
iTunes Summary

Today’s guest is Rob Hanson, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Monolith Materials, where he leads the development of next-generation technology for producing low cost, low emission hydrogen and carbon black, an important raw material used in the manufacture of rubber and plastic. Prior to Monolith, Rob served as the global director of product management for AREVA Solar, the solar division of the world’s largest nuclear company. He has a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford, and has been a guest lecturer at Stanford, UNL, Foothill College and the University of Saskatchewan on topics ranging from thermodynamics to entrepreneurship. Rob also co-founded uforia studios, a 65-employee health and fitness company with locations in San Francisco and Palo Alto.

In today’s episode, we cover:

Rob’s journey from solar to the chemical sector
The dirty process of traditionally producing carbon black
How a generalist background (e.g. blending science and finance) can be positioned to make a big impact as an entrepreneur in the climate technology space
Scaling the method of cleanly creating carbon black from natural gas
The genesis of Monolith
Staggered financing model
Markets for carbon black
Importance of establishing a market “beachhead” with product-market fit
Reception of the clean “story” and value proposition among prospective customers
Opportunities Rob finds interesting outside Monolith’s focus
The opportunity and importance of education in addressing Climate Change

Links to topics discussed in this episode:

Monolith Materials: https://monolithmaterials.com/
Carbon Black: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_black
Areva: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Areva
Imperative Science Ventures: https://imperative.vc/

You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at info@myclimatejourney.co, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Enjoy the show!

Get connected with MCJ:

Cody Simms X / LinkedIn
MCJ Podcast / Collective / YouTube

*If you liked this episode, please consider giving us a review! You can also reach us via email at info@mcj.vc, where we encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Today’s guest is Rob Hanson, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Monolith Materials. Monolith Materials is a next generation chemical company, which uses a proprietary process to convert natural gas to carbon black in a cost competitive and environmentally advantage manner. Their process also produces hydrogen tail gas, which is a valuable co-product that can be sold into the power generation or industrial gas markets. Monolith is backed by Azimuth Capital Management, Warburg Pincus, and Cornell Capital Management, three of the most widely respected private equity firms in North America. This is a great one, as Rob's story of why he got into doing this work, how he came upon pursuing this opportunity, the non-traditional way he has funded the company to date, and where they are heading in the future is one you won't want to miss!