Reimaging Trillion-Dollar Industries — Andrew Beebe, Managing Director of Obvious
Co-led by Managing Director, Andrew Beebe, Obvious invests in world positive early-stage startups like Beyond Meat, Proterra, and Diamond Foundry, and brings perspectives as prior product designers and company operators.
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BUSINESS
What is your investment focus at Obvious — e.g., sector, stage, geography, check size? What makes you unique versus the competition?
Obvious invests in mission-driven founders transforming trillion-dollar industries. That means everything from healthcare to food to computational biology to mobility. My focus at the firm is climate tech and mobility.
Within those lanes, we look at seed and A companies tackling massive TAMs (total addressable markets). They can be based in North America, with an occasional deal in Europe. We typically write checks anywhere from $2M to $15M in our first round.
Since our founding seven years ago, we’ve been laser-focused on values-driven leadership in founders working to profit because of purpose, not despite it. That focus, combined with our thesis-driven mindset is what founders say sets us apart.
What are examples of recent investments that you’re excited about?
I can’t get enough of electric mobility. If it moves and is electric, or helps electric things move, I’m interested. From Proterra to Lilium to Lightship RV, we’re all in.
I also love software and networks for mobility. Amply (acquired by BP) is a great software platform for EV fleets. Our latest investment is Forum Mobility, helping to electrify the drayage industry (i.e., the transport of goods over a short distance in the shipping and logistics industries). There are 60,000 drayage trucks in California, and they are dirty. We’re going to change that.
I’m also excited by the enterprise focus on carbon – recording, reducing, and removing. These are big opportunities, since it’s something no one was doing a decade ago, and everyone will be doing over the next decade. That’s a transformation we’ll be part of. SINAI Technologies is our first investment there. But there will be more.
If you had to start over, what are 1-2 tips you’d give yourself in order to be faster, more effective, and higher impact?
In the early stage, focus on team and TAM. There’s a tendency to want to time the market, or over-index on tech. Those are important too, but at the earliest stages, team and expected TAM will trump everything else.
Outside of your current investment focus, what do you see as 1-2 promising climate or sustainability sectors?
I’m intrigued by cryptocurrency + climate. I love Ministry for the Future, and Robinson’s telling of the “Carboni” story – a carbon crypto coin. There’s something there – I just wouldn’t want to see us overcomplicate things on the way towards solutions.
I’m also interested in what’s happening with regenerative agriculture. It’s early, but clearly also where the world is going.
PERSONAL
What are some habits and routines that keep you focused, healthy, and sane — e.g., meditations, exercise, productivity hacks?
I get up early and try to run or work out most days. Nothing sets me up for a productive day like a run in the Presidio or along the San Francisco bay. I fast intermittently, but that’s mainly just an effort to lean into the bay area VC cliché. My meditation takes place in my woodshop using hand tools to make things. I find any creative non-digital outlet is mind-expanding and relaxing.
What recommendations do you have for our audience — e.g., books, podcasts, quotes, tools?
Everyone should read Ministry for the Future. I’m also reading Biased which is instructive for anyone building teams. I love Azeem Azhar’s Exponential View (podcast, newsletter, and book). But of course, nothing beats your ZERO newsletter and your podcasts.
What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you — outside of your own family?
I’ve had so many great mentors and guides in my life. One great memory from my entry into climate tech way back in 2002 was Bill Gross sharing my passion for solar technology. He listened to my rantings when no one else would and he had a few of his own. Because of him, I was able to dive headlong into the solar world, raise money, and build some great companies.
Do you have any requests, announcements, or final advice for our listeners?
Climate tech is different this time around. We’re helping to solve the greatest crisis to face humanity. It’s working, and this crisis presents myriad opportunities. Don’t waiver, even as others might. Stay the course. We’ve got this.
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Note:
THE TORCH is an interview series from Entrepreneurs for Impact. We profile CEOs and investors mitigating climate change. Our goal is to highlight their work and inspire others. As we deal with multiple crisis, from Covid and racial injustice to climate change and economic recession, we need some of this positive light in what seem like dark times. Onward and upward.