Creating, to make an impact

OK, the name?

First, let's deal with the 'name in the room'. Sometimes you get these moments of thought and inspiration, and there it was...

"Confabulate - to converse informally; chat"

Apparently, I'm always the one chatting..."I've got another call"... as my partner and kids like to constantly mock me for - it seemed appropriate. I'm expecting a t-shirt emblazoned with my mantra this Christmas! 🙄

Swapping out the C to a K was an easy one, and there we have it, brand done - not sure what all the fuss is about!

What's the story?

Some of you may know me from following my LinkedIn posts or from my activity over the last year with WOVEN, a consultancy seeking to guide founders and startups across multiple business disciplines in climate tech.

That journey has come to an end, a story for another time. A new beginning brings opportunity - a reset of priorities and personal objectives. I stepped back and asked myself:

1. Who am I doing this for?
2. What can I do?
3. Why now, why help?
4. What next?

The Who?

I prefer to keep a distinction between my family and my work. For work-life balance, and for social media privacy. Perhaps I should be more open, I think I might have to be in the coming months! For now at least the answer is simple and I can share this much...

With a young family I want to support them with positive action. I need to support them full stop - kids are expensive, the world is expensive! I want to educate them about the changes they will have to face, to the planet and their lives. I have no doubt that future challenges in climate, food, water, energy and population adaptation, will be beyond what we can yet comprehend.

In the future I will say to them - "I collaborated, I tried, and I contributed" - I want to make an impact, especially for them. Once you have dived into the research, have a level of awareness and understanding, you are compelled to take action. I think for most in climate tech, it's a similar story - for your family and the planet.

The What?

I have spent my whole working life in front-end commercial disciplines - sales, business development, partnerships, marketing and consultancy - with experience in a multitude of industrial sectors and more recently climate tech.

As we gathered earlier, I'm apparently quite good at chatting, but more importantly, listening. What to do then... 💭

Over the last year I have spent a huge amount of time working with and listening to startups, founders, investors, NFP, consultants and stakeholders, from many countries and across the climate tech spectrum. There is so much knowledge and venture out there - it needs to be supported, and it's collective learning shared for the next generation. They will surely need it.

I have learned a lot, discovered amazing technologies I never knew existed, found common threads of alignment, equally many challenges, distractions and false pathways. Most of all, I've met some amazing people. The sector has been so open to communicate, collaborate and engage - it's been very rewarding and empowering.

One of my connections often used this phrase - I am sure he wouldn't mind me borrowing it here;

I don't know if it is his originally, or where it came from. I think it reflects the global challenges we face, and what we need to do collectively to overcome them.

How to now shape my learning and understanding, and return something with value;

The Why?

I want to help because of my who. But it's more than just my family. Listening to founders, startups and stakeholders across climate tech there is much to be done, and commitment to do it - but it's not easy:

Founders don't have all the skills to secure investment 🚫

Investors can't always find alignment with startups ✋

New innovation doesn't always meet market needs 🔀

Time and resources are limited - we have none to waste ⏰

How does the next generation decide where to invest themselves ⁉️

Key challenges we all likely recognise and have some experience of - whether you are innovating in climate tech, looking to invest, a sector stakeholder, or exploring career opportunities.

These aren't easy challenges to overcome - many people are delivering great work and traction to tackle them across multiple business disciplines. But it's never enough, we need more, faster. We all need to do more. 🌍

What next?

This is what came next, you're right up to speed! Let's start to build something together, put it out there to share and make change happen. You got this far through the short origin story of konfab - now this really is the start of the beginning...

Stand-by to receive full access to the video podcast interviews, newsletter and blog posts, all launching in the coming weeks.

We will be having some fun on the journey as well - enjoy the ride, let's go! 🚀

Kane 🌱