Ben Lindsay joins the Investible Climate Tech team

In 2022, Investible's momentum, optimism and passion for the early-stage Climate Tech ecosystem is poised to hit its stride. Our growing team is actively seeking promising startups for our freshly-announced Climate Tech Fund, and our excitement around founders building solutions in the space is as palpable as ever.

This month, we welcome our newest member of the team, Ben Lindsay. As an Analyst for the Climate Tech Fund, Ben will leverage his diverse background and expertise to discover, engage and support companies in Australia and abroad as we build out the fund's portfolio. We'll be sharing the news of our first investments soon!

Read on for a brief picture of Ben's passion and experience.

Tell us about your background and how you came to join the Investible team

After completing a degree in biomedical engineering at The University of Sydney, I did what most graduates do; I got a job on a sales team at a health drink startup, shine. I wanted to learn to sell and grow a business.

After growing into a role as team leader at shine, I founded and grew a medical device company, Solushin, which received support from NSW Health through the Medical Device Commercialisation Training Program. The Solushin can be found on the legs of Olympians, world champions and pro athletes worldwide.

Lastly, as Program Manager of the INCUBATE program and university lecturer at The University of Sydney, I have been fortunate to design and deliver an accelerator program to some brilliant early-stage startups. From instant refunds to 4D-bioreactors and quantum computer diagnostics, some ground-breaking technology and phenomenal teams came through INCUBATE.

After working at INCUBATE for 3-years, I realised how much I love working with founders - it's pretty awesome to meet people who inform you about a huge problem and, hey, they solved it. Looking for a new personal challenge, I decided to channel that passion into venture capital.

What excites you about joining Investible?

I love meeting founders and hearing their ideas. Adding the climate tech layer is even more inspiring. To put my beliefs in simple terms, we risk everything if we don't change how we make things, how we source energy, and how we eat.

At Investible, we can give founders the headstart they need to solve the biggest climate problems with new technology that outperforms current solutions by providing pre-seed and seed capital. Pairing that up with Investible's veteran portfolio management team and our new Climate Tech innovation hub Greenhouse, we not only help founders start 20 meters ahead, but finish the 100m dash with the support of a brilliant network of founders, investors and advisors.

What do you love most about the startup ecosystem?

I love how successful founders give back to the community, not just as investors but also with genuinely helpful advice -- no strings attached. I was fortunate to receive advice from an Australian unicorn founder who approached me at an event they judged.

This ongoing interaction with early-stage founders demystifies the process; you don't have to be some magical and mythical being to be successful.

What's your personal philosophy?

Amor Fati or "love of fate."

‍From injuries in my sporting career, commercial deals not going through in work, not landing the job I wanted, and COVID, I have always focused on accepting what I can and cannot control. Don't wish for things that have happened to be different; move forward and focus on enacting that change.

What's something new you've learned recently?

In 1968, Paul Ehrlich, author of The Population Bomb, painted a grim picture of hundreds of millions of people starving in the 1970s and 1980s. However, as the population has continued to grow, it never happened. This was in part thanks to Norman Borlaug, the plant scientist who developed wheat varieties that increased yields, starvation plummeted, and billions of lives were saved.

We have complex challenges ahead, and innovators again have a chance to save billions.

Something about you that might surprise people?

I won a few national medals as a swimmer and represented Australia at world cups. Nowadays, I'm not too fond of the black line. While I am down for an ocean swim, I am always on the lookout for a fish dressed like Bruce from Finding Nemo.

You can connect with Ben on LinkedIn, Twitter and his Substack newsletter