In our new “Sustainable Voices” series, we aim to talk with a diverse set of leaders tackling climate change and sustainability challenges, highlighting their journeys into the field and offering advice for others looking to take action. In this installment, we spoke with Nick Findler, president and co-founder of Vancouver, Canada-based ClimateDoor, which provides capital, customers, and strategic advice to businesses fighting climate change.*
Nick Findler didn’t wait long to become a sustainability-focused entrepreneur. Findler, president and co-founder of Canadian venture capital firm ClimateDoor, started his journey at the age of nine, when he began collecting and selling used golf balls he found in the woods and golf courses near his home.
Findler eventually went on to formally study entrepreneurship at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, where he honed his business and finance skills. In his early twenties, he entered the VC and private equity world, where he learned how to craft a company’s story, how to attract investors, how to build relationships, and how to package risk. Along the way, he started investing his own time and money in the deals he struck.
Findler eventually launched a boutique investment bank in Vancouver that worked extensively with nuclear power, one of the original sources of clean energy. While sentiment for nuclear power has struggled to recover following the meltdown of Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant, the experience led Findler to understand both the potential positive environmental benefits and business opportunities of renewable energy.
Scaling Solar, Financing the Future
From this time, Findler points to the success of Stardust Solar (TSXV: SUN OTCQB: SUNXF), a Canadian company that installs solar panels and provides education on sustainable energy. Findler invested in Stardust when it had four franchises; the company now has more than 80. Along with helping boost renewable energy usage, Stardust also offers training programs to help electricians get certified in solar panel installation.
“My experience with Stardust really opened my eyes,” Findler said. “After helping accelerate a number of companies, I wanted to get more niche. I really wanted to deeply understand the problem of climate-friendly companies and help them really thrive.”
From that insight, ClimateDoor was born in late 2020. Findler co-founded ClimateDoor with his childhood best friend Chad Rickaby, who serves as the company’s CEO. ClimateDoor has since grown into a boutique VC and Growth Partnership firm with 20+ employees and has completed 50+ commercial deals in the past three years. In addition to helping scale climate-friendly companies, ClimateDoor aims for a broader social impact as well, specifically through partnering with founders and companies in Canada’s First Nation communities.
Overcoming the “Valley of Death” for Climate Companies
CimateDoor invests in and advises numerous companies a year in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. While success stories like Stardust show the potential for transforming innovative technology into thriving businesses, Findler points out that climate-focused startups face significant headwinds, particularly in terms of moving from the “ideas” stage into a true business.
“We believe all the solutions to ‘solve’ climate change exist today,” Findler noted. “But there is a commercialization and a funding gap. I think one of the challenges is that too many climate or climate-adjacent businesses are run by scientists that don’t have a partner to really help them build a business. At ClimateDoor, we help founders take their idea out of the lab and turn it into a full-fledged company.”
Like other startups, climate ventures face what business experts call the “Death Valley Curve” in which a startup spends significant resources building their ideas into a new company but hasn’t yet raised enough revenue to keep going without additional infusions of capital. Bridging this funding and commercialization chasm can be daunting, as evidenced by recent statistics showing that 90% of startups fail.
For promising companies in the climate space, ClimateDoor aims to help them overcome this challenge by providing seed capital as well as strategic advice beyond simply writing checks. In many cases, this involves providing market insights, helping bring products to market, and making sure founders fully understand customer needs. ClimateDoor also encourages the use of AI and agentic workflows as much as possible to help teams scale quickly and efficiently.
Advice for Sustainability Career-Seekers
With ClimateDoor, Findler has merged his interests in protecting the climate with his career. While he acknowledges there’s been a lot of recent noise around threats to sustainability and ESG, particularly since the election of Trump, he’s optimistic about the future—both for the climate and for people interested in protecting it as part of their own careers.
“I have a hard time imagining a world where spending the next few decades of your life trying to help the advancement of renewable energy won’t be extremely rewarding and fruitful if you really care about what you do every day,” he said.
Indeed, careers in sustainability are on the rise, with more jobs available than qualified workers. According to data from LinkedIn and the World Economic Forum, between 2022 and 2023, candidates with the skills to help address climate change grew by approximately 12%, while job listings on LinkedIn that required at least one “green” skill rose by more than 22%. The data showed that workers with relevant green skills were nearly 30% more likely to be hired than those without that skillset.
Findler believes that aligning your beliefs with your career can lead to a sustainable life path in both senses of the word.
“I think if you’re planning out decades in advance, and sustainability is a space you care about, it’s a hard place to not have a fulfilling life.”
Take the Next Step
For more insights and guidance on navigating the evolving landscape of sustainability investing and other related issues, stay tuned to our blog for future updates and expert analyses.
And help us build a more sustainable and prosperous world through responsible investment practices by becoming a member of the Advance ESG community. It’s free to join and there are no future financial obligations. Together, we can make a difference in safeguarding our planet for future generations.
*Neither Advance ESG nor the author have any affiliation with ClimateDoor.
