Why Climate Tech Must Make Financial Sense: Jane Melia on The Plucky Bamboo Podcast
By
Varsha Madapooosi
.png)
At Harvest Thermal, we spend a lot of time talking about the mechanics of ultra-low carbon heating and hot water. But what does it actually take to bring a new climate technology out of the lab and into hundreds of homes?
Recently, our Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer, Jane Melia, sat down with Chris Jones on The Plucky Bamboo Podcast to talk about the reality of growing a climate tech startup. Her core message is: Clean energy doesn’t scale just because it’s inspiring. It scales because it makes financial sense.
In this wide-ranging conversation, Jane shares the "lightbulb moment" behind Harvest Thermal's founding and dives deep into the business side of sustainability. She explains why a technology's emissions reductions must be paired with lower energy bills to achieve true product-market fit, and why grid-friendly performance is what utilities are actually looking for.
Beyond the technology, Jane also opened up about the realities of the startup founder's journey. She discussed:
- The Go-To-Market Challenge: Why getting people to change their behavior is often much harder than engineering the product.
- Navigating Leadership: Her strategic decision to transition from CEO to CRO, ensuring the company had the exact right skillset at the top for its current growth phase.
- The Importance of "No": Why founders have to treat every investor rejection as a stepping stone to the eventual "yes."
Whether you’re a fellow founder, a climate tech investor, or just curious about what goes on behind the scenes of a growing clean energy company, this episode is packed with practical, real-world insights on scaling impact.
Catch the full episode here:
- YouTube: Watch Here
- Spotify: Listen Here
- Apple Podcasts: Listen Here
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.jpg)
%20(2).png)
%20(1).png)
%20(3).png)
%20(1).png)
%20(5).png)
%20(3).png)
%20(1).png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
%20(4)%20(1).png)
.png)
%20(11).png)
%20(10).png)
%20(6).png)
%20(4).png)
%20(3).png)
%20(10).png)
%20(6).png)
%20(1).webp)
.jpg)
%20(4).png)
%20(2).png)
.png)
%20(2).png)
.png)
.jpg)
%20copyminimal%20_0.1.jpg)
