Marketers of Technology
00:00:00 · Gijs Hoonhout, Andres Figuera
[00:00:00] S0: We have a very multi layered marketing approach that's really to build the brand. Then we often do a second layer where we invite people to get to know us a bit better. And then only on the third layer, then we talk a bit more about underlying investment funds, where from there, what it means, what are the risks, what are the benefits. It takes at least a couple of weeks, commonly a couple of months, but can take up to some years in some cases. [00:00:26] S1: Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Marketers of Technology. My name is Andres Figuera, and this show is brought to you by Front Lines Studios, Silicon Valley's leading podcast production studio. If you're looking to launch your own show, we offer a full podcast as a service experience. You just show up and host, and we'll handle everything else. And with that said, let's dive into today's episode. Because today, I'm here speaking with Gijs Hoonhout, head of marketing at Carbon Equity, the leading energy and climate tech fund investing platform, helping to solve the world's biggest challenges with capital. So, Gijs, how's it going, man? How are you doing today? Glad to have you on the show. [00:01:03] S0: Oh, good. Thanks for having me. [00:01:05] S1: No. It's a pleasure for us to be able to host a show for you. And just so that we can hit the ground running, would you be able to tell us a bit more about your background and how you came to become head of marketing at Carbon Equity?
00:01:05 · Andres Figuera, Gijs Hoonhout
[00:01:05] S1: No. It's a pleasure for us to be able to host a show for you. And just so that we can hit the ground running, would you be able to tell us a bit more about your background and how you came to become head of marketing at Carbon Equity? [00:01:14] S0: Sure. I've been in marketing for around fifteen years, a bit of a combination between B2C and B2B companies from FinTech to micro mobility to e commerce. And that pretty much all came together in this role since we're doing quite some b to c marketing, but a lot of b to b tactics play in from content marketing to events to thought leadership to a lot of collaboration with sales and longer sales cycles since it builds trusting. Building a trusting relationship takes time and definitely a lot of marketing and communications as well. So it comes in quite handy. And during my career, I wanted to contribute to something meaningful, and that's also definitely part here. We're trying to solve climate change and at least contribute to a lot of climate solutions. So really coming together in a marketing way where my background is relevant as well, but I also feel that I contribute to something meaningful, which is also super nice to have. [00:02:09] S1: That's amazing, man. So then Carbon Equity exactly, you guys look for companies that are in the energy, renewable energy industries, and that help to change or to preserve climate, and those are the ones that Carbon Equity invests in?
00:02:23 · Gijs Hoonhout
[00:02:23] S0: Partly correct. We invest in funds. So we are a fund of fund in most cases. We also invest directly in underlying companies, which are co investments. But the majority of our capital flows through our fund of fund in other funds. And we actually mobilize a lot of capital from individual investors who gets pulled together and then distributed across multiple funds. So that gives a lot of diversification. So one person can invest as if they were investing multimillion dollar portfolio, but actually are investing from 20 ks, but also most cases, 100 ks plus. And then that gets spread out through these funds and they eventually end up in 150 plus portfolio companies. So they're really funding a lot of different climate solutions in that way. And that can be from indeed energy, but also industry and technology, new materials, AI, you name it. Energy and climate tech is often perceived as batteries and solar panels and windmills, but we do a lot more. There's a lot of robotics, is new sources of energy, there's nuclear in there, there's robotic maintenance, there's chips that run on light instead of electronics. So there's super innovative stuff happening, like new material discovery with AI to heat from the... Or energy from the heat of the earth to drones and wildfire detection using satellites. So it's a pretty wild range, a wide range of solutions and not just some solar panels that we try to fund.
00:03:49 · Andres Figuera, Gijs Hoonhout
[00:03:49] S1: Wow. That is so cool. And do you guys have any certain regions that you only work with or can anybody from any place in the world invest in the funds that Carbon Equity has? [00:03:59] S0: So we're mostly focused on The Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany. We do see some European countries investing like Nordics as well as Switzerland. But our capital is spread between Europe and North America, where we also see quite a lot of things happening, especially in the bigger, more mature technologies. But we try to diversify across those two regions in which companies we invest in, but we raise most capital from European countries. [00:04:22] S1: Oh, okay. Understood. Understood. And well, getting into the real essence of the show, how does marketing look like for this, Gijs? And how is the... What's it called? Like, how is the marketing you do to generate demand for Carbon Equity and what does your ICP look like?
00:04:41 · Gijs Hoonhout
[00:04:41] S0: Yeah, so I think the main challenge that we have is how can we be as authentic as possible, but also scale things. Obviously we have AI entering the markets and we also want to be as efficient and effective as possible. But we also sell a product that has a lot of intrications. It's quite complex, hard to understand. It's a long term investment. People are investing more than ten years. So there's a lot of trust that needs to be built, a lot of understanding and really building a relationship with our company through the team in most cases. So a lot of the marketing effort is how can we be as personal and authentic as possible while still being effective and efficient and using the tools that we have at our disposal in this day and age, which also is quite challenging, right? Because with AI, everything is super easy. You can vibe code the website in three minutes, you can write copy in two prompts, But yeah, becoming a thought leader in that sense and delivering true quality that really resonates is definitely harder as well in some aspects. So that's something that we're trying to achieve in our marketing team. And in terms of the target audience, we're really focusing on the wealthy individual in that sense, so people will have the means to invest in this kind of asset class. In most cases, those people have already built a financial buffer, they've already invested in the stock exchange, and only then start to diversify their portfolio with private markets, in this case, venture capital, private equity, infrastructure, and private debt. And then add to their portfolio as a different kind of asset that's less correlated to the public markets, for example. But it could also be for them crypto or real estate or other different kinds of investments. But we are focusing on the active investor on the stock exchange and really showcase what private markets can offer them. And also to be noted, it's not for everyone.
00:06:35 · Andres Figuera, Gijs Hoonhout
[00:06:35] S1: And how do you get in front of the eyes of these people? [00:06:38] S0: Yeah, so we have a very multilayered marketing approach. We do quite a lot of activities on the brand building side. So from podcasts to print, to online advertising, to events, even some more traditional means like direct mail and advertising and newspapers. That's really to build the brand in a personal way. Then we often do a second layer where we invite people to get to know us a bit better. So this can be through webinars, this can be through physical events and also sharing trainings and PE 101 investing courses online, trying to get people to understand what we do and what we offer. And then only on the third layer, if people are interested and have shown they understand what they're doing and it could be a potential match for their financial portfolio, then we talk a bit more about the actual products or the underlying investment funds, where from there, yeah, we already explain what it means, what are the risks, what are the benefits, and do a lot of Q and A. And there's quite some interaction with the investor relations team as well, where people can ask questions to clarify some of their open topics or concerns. It's really dive deeper in that. So it's really a multi layered, multi touch approach. Takes at least a couple of weeks, most commonly a couple of months, but can take up to some years in some cases. So it's really a long conversion window to stick in marketing marketing language.