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1 million-fold improvement needed

January 18, 2022

As we kick off 2022, we have a big task ahead. To get to gigaton scale carbon dioxide removal, a roughly 1 million fold improvement is needed in our ability to remove carbon from the air. We won't get there just by tweaking the dials, but we also won't get there by running around frantically. We need a plan. (video here of this message)

A key part of that plan is setting a course over the next few months. I come back to these three key questions to get there, both for myself and when helping founders and innovators:

1. What's your goal for the next three months?
2. How are you going to get there?
3. What's blocking you from from getting there immediately?

These questions have been tested over the last two batches of AirMiners Launchpad. We just interviewed 40 Launchpad teams for the next batch, and most interviews centered on these three questions. The ideal team has clear answers on the first two questions, and then has blockers on the third that we can help with.

Other times a team's goal isn't clear, or is a bunch of disconnected mini goals, and we work with them on getting clarity there. Ultimately, we're asking these questions so we can figure out where you're stuck and how to get you unstuck. Each interview is only 10 minutes but I'm often surprised how far we can get understanding where a team is and how we can help them.

I've also found these 3 questions useful for orienting new people to AirMiners Slack. Early last year, Jason and I started hosting an "orientation" for new people joining AirMiners Slack. Our first orientations began an explainer about how to use Slack and the webiste. When we added these three questions to orientation there was a remarkable shift. We get right down to solving problems instead of explaining tools, adn so now the orientation centers around these three questions.

AirMiners is like Iron Man suit for every person who comes in to work on carbon dioxide removal. It's a tool to wrap around you and augment your abilities.

As you get started this year, use these 3 questions to ask yourself, your team, or other people you care about. What's the goal? How are you getting there? And what's stopping from being there immediately? The other thing is, in a space packed with scientific and engineering minds, you don't need to actually be a scientist or engineer to help them solve problems. You can talk them through these three questions.

If you're working on a startup in carbon removal, check out AirMiners Launchpad. If you want to join a company working on a solution, mentor new leaders, or are already working on carbon removal, get there faster and join AirMiners Slack.

That's how we'll unlock a million fold carbon dioxide removal improvement. 

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