Here We Are Tour Diary: Wheels Up
Wheels up
Boarding my flight to Houston on September 10th, I was filled with excitement and trepidation for the tour. Excitement because I was born and raised in Texas. I also began my climate career in Dallas a decade ago, and kicking off the tour in Texas seemed serendipitous. Returning to Texas with my CTC hat on always provided me with an opportunity to reflect on how far I’ve come–from launching a cleantech investment summit in an EarthX supply room closet to bringing together thousands of people across the country. Plus, no bigger impact can be made in the US than moving the climate needle in Houston.
Meanwhile, I was flooded with trepidation because sponsorship calls for our large events were flatlining, leaving a gaping hole in our budget. The climate tech startup depression was real. Instead of focusing primarily on sponsorships, we pivoted to leaning on the Climate Tech Cocktails (CTC) community with ticket donations. At the same time, our Houston Climate Tech Week event came together well with key local community partners on board, including Activate, Greentown Labs, HETI, Ion, and Rice Alliance.
300+ climate warriors turned out at the Houston Continental Club, a legit boot slapping honky tonk. Donations actually helped us cover all of our costs on this one. We had a badass raffle with Air Company contributing a bottle of their Air Eau de Perfume fragrance and Dimensional Energy giving away bars of their carbon neutral surf wax. Cemvita, DrinKicks, Fervo Energy, Rheom Materials, Solidec, and Syzygy Plasmonics showcased. Euphoric, I shut down the event with an impromptu Bohemian Rhapsody performance on stage.
It felt amazing having such a strong showing in the belly of the beast while observing how far Houston has progressed. The Ion District, an abandoned shopping mall turned climate tech hub, was a case and point. Could other derelict buildings around the country be converted into climate tech incubators and accelerators? Maybe I’d discover more along the journey. Houston was an in-and-out situation. I needed to get back to SF to spin at the graduation performance for our DJ class the next night.
Real life or simulation? Uncertain. There I was, DJing at Monarch in downtown San Francisco with my classmates and people I didn’t know were…dancing. Surreal. Afterwards, I caught up with my dear friend and our Events Director, Katelyn Lyster. I’m not sure whether she came to a club on a Wednesday night to support her friend or to make sure I didn’t suck before performing on massive stages in less than 2 weeks. Likely the latter. Katelyn told me when she entered Monarch she loved the DJ and prayed it was me, and it was. Alriiight, alriiight, alriiight–I had buy-in. Maybe I wasn’t so bad at this DJing thing, after all. Game on.
How does one pack for a ~5 week solo tour in an electric RV including DJ, podcast, and filming equipment? It’s called packing only what you truly need, folks, plus a few nice-to-haves to make a foreseeable rugged journey more tolerable–like jammies and comfy slippers. Nerves kicked in. “I’ve done all I can with the time and resources at my disposal. Magic will lie in the serendipity,” I reassured myself. I believed, and still believe, if someone works their tail off with positive intentions that everything will work out in the end.
I did a final clean of my apartment, watered the plants, and headed to the airport. Lugging a couple of massive bags and a hard case filled with all of my audio equipment through the departure area of SFO, I felt like a one man wrecking crew headed for the unknown. Both check-ons were ~5 pounds over. United didn’t care. Premium Silver, baby. United forever. I boarded my second flight in as many days and sat next to my single-serving friends. Destination: Detroit. What in the actual f*ck? Was I crazy? Probably, but in a positive way. Off to deal as many climate tech hope doses as possible during dark times.
Belt fastened. Seat back. Doors shut. Wheels up.
Here goes nothing.
As always, be a circle, not a square.
Warmly,
Matthew