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Leaders on a Mission

Simon Leich

142 episodes

6 days ago

What if the key to transforming our food system isn’t growing more, but wasting less? In this episode, Apeel CEO Luiz Beling reveals how plant-based coatings are extending the shelf life at the source, cutting food waste, and creating value across the supply chain. Luiz opens up about resetting Apeel’s strategy for scalability, leading through misinformation, and fostering a culture that prizes progress over perfection. From pivoting toward growers and packers to mastering decision speed and ...

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Entrepreneurship

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What if the key to transforming our food system isn’t growing more, but wasting less? In this episode, Apeel CEO Luiz Beling reveals how plant-based coatings are extending the shelf life at the source, cutting food waste, and creating value across the supply chain. Luiz opens up about resetting Apeel’s strategy for scalability, leading through misinformation, and fostering a culture that prizes progress over perfection. From pivoting toward growers and packers to mastering decision speed and ...

Show more...

Entrepreneurship

Episodes (20/142)

Leaders on a Mission

Resetting to Win: Strategy, Speed, and Shelf Life

What if the key to transforming our food system isn’t growing more, but wasting less? In this episode, Apeel CEO Luiz Beling reveals how plant-based coatings are extending the shelf life at the source, cutting food waste, and creating value across the supply chain. Luiz opens up about resetting Apeel’s strategy for scalability, leading through misinformation, and fostering a culture that prizes progress over perfection. From pivoting toward growers and packers to mastering decision speed and ...

6 days ago

43 minutes

Leaders on a Mission

How AI Is Reshaping Sustainable Chemistry

Computation is killing the wet lab—and reshaping enzyme innovation in the process. Maria Fátima Lucas, CEO of ZYMVOL, shares how AI and physics-based simulation shrink enzyme discovery from 100 million sequence variants to fewer than 300 lab-tested hits—cutting timelines, risk, and cost by orders of magnitude. In this episode, Maria unpacks how ZYMVOL is making biocatalysis not just greener, but cheaper and faster—bringing clean chemistry to sectors previously priced out. From Europe’s regula...

2 weeks ago

38 minutes

Leaders on a Mission

Winning Back Trust in Alternative Protein

Can alternative protein earn back meat-eaters’ trust? At Prime Roots, CEO Kimberlie Le believes the answer lies in reinventing the deli—one of the most consumed, and most distrusted, meat categories. Using koji mycelium and chef-led formulation, Prime Roots has developed clean-label deli meats that meat-eaters often prefer in blind taste tests. In this episode, we break down how their ingredient simplicity, category focus, and manufacturing efficiency unlock a more scalable, credible path for...

1 month ago

39 minutes

Leaders on a Mission

Getting the Economics of Carbon Capture Right

Direct air capture has long been too costly and energy-intensive to scale. But economist Ethan Cohen‑Cole is changing the equation. As CEO of Capture6, he’s embedding carbon removal into water infrastructure—cutting brine disposal costs, generating fresh water, and mineralizing CO₂ in one modular system. In this episode, Ethan shares how Capture6 is turning industrial waste into a climate asset by avoiding energy-intensive heat steps and integrating directly into existing desalination and was...

1 month ago

39 minutes

Leaders on a Mission

Scaling the World’s First Zero-Emission Metals Company

What if the clean energy transition is built on one of the dirtiest secrets in industry—rare earth metals? They power EVs, AI, and defense systems, yet most are processed overseas with toxic, outdated methods. In this episode, Nicholas Myers, CEO of Phoenix Tailings, shares how his company is transforming mining waste into a clean, domestic source of critical materials. From backyard prototypes to pioneering world-first predictive complexation, Nick shares the grit, innovation, and vision it ...

2 months ago

40 minutes

Leaders on a Mission

Engineering Color: Reinventing Dyes with Microbes

What if one of the world’s dirtiest industrial processes could be reinvented—by microbes? Textile dyeing causes 20% of global water pollution, but Colorifix CEO Orr Yarkoni is flipping the script. In this episode, he explains how engineered microbes are replacing toxic dye chemicals with clean, modular, biological systems. Learn how Colorifix built a scalable, sustainable solution for color production—cutting carbon, chemicals, and water use—while tackling global supply chains and navigating ...

2 months ago

46 minutes

Leaders on a Mission

Why Biotech Needs a New Playbook

What if biotech’s biggest scaling challenge isn’t technical—but philosophical? In this episode, Massimo Portincaso, founder and CEO of Arsenale Bioyards, explains why industrial biotech must be reimagined from the ground up. He challenges legacy “scale-up” thinking, highlighting biology’s context dependency and the economic dead ends of retrofitted pharma models. From modular, AI-informed bioreactors to a scale-out strategy and data-first infrastructure, Massimo shares how his team is rewriti...

3 months ago

44 minutes

Leaders on a Mission

Redefining Returns: Investing Where Impact Matters

What if moral ambition became the new standard for investing? In this episode, Rogier Pieterse, Managing Partner at Pymwymic, shares how his team is transforming venture capital by embedding impact into every investment. From pioneering farm tech that reduces chemical loads to empowering regenerative practices through data, Pymwymic is reshaping agriculture from the soil up. Rogier reflects on his transition from investment banking to impact leadership, the tension between financial performan...

3 months ago

40 minutes

Leaders on a Mission

Accelerating Nature: AI Meets Agriculture

What if evolution had a fast-forward button? William Pelton, CEO of Phytoform Labs, is harnessing AI-powered gene editing to radically accelerate crop development and boost climate resilience. He shares how Phytoform’s platform decodes plant genomes, eliminates guesswork in breeding, and delivers scalable, sustainable traits at speed. Explore how partnerships, precision, and platform thinking are rewriting the rules of agriculture—and why Phytoform’s compact, climate-resilient tomatoes could ...

3 months ago

39 minutes

Leaders on a Mission

Building the Salesforce of EV Charging

You can build sleek software—but if the charger fails, the user blames you. Casper Rasmussen, CEO of Monta, knows this all too well. In this episode, he shares how he built a platform that’s more than “EV charging software”—it’s a full-stack execution engine, now powering over 200,000 chargers. We explore how he scaled through regulatory complexity, turned EV pain points into product strategy, and why being a startup CEO means staying on the floor, not in the boardroom. A must-listen for foun...

3 months ago

44 minutes

Leaders on a Mission

Optimizing Every Droplet: The Future of AgTech

What if every droplet sprayed on a crop actually counted? In this episode, we meet Vishnu Jayaprakash, founder and CEO of AgZen, who’s leading a revolution in precision agriculture—one droplet at a time. With a staggering 50% of pesticides missing their mark, AgZen’s feedback-driven spray technology is eliminating guesswork, boosting efficiency, and giving farmers real-time insights into every application. Vishnu shares how a childhood experience with mango trees shaped his mission, and how A...

4 months ago

47 minutes

Leaders on a Mission

Biotech That Scales: Using a 30-Year Playbook to Reinvent Protein

What if the key to transforming the global protein system lies in technology we've had for decades? Stephan van Sint Fiet, CEO of Vivici, reveals how industrial biotech is stepping off the lab bench and onto supermarket shelves — using precision fermentation to create dairy proteins ready for scale. In this episode, we unpack Vivici’s strategic focus on high-value proteins like beta-lactoglobulin, their approach to reaching cost parity, and why trust, transparency, and taste are critical for ...

4 months ago

43 minutes

Leaders on a Mission

Escaping the Hype: Investing in What's Real

What happens when venture capital escapes the echo chamber of hype? In this episode, Leaders on a Mission welcomes Irena Spazzapan, Managing Partner at Systemiq Capital, to uncover how long-term, asset-light investments are reshaping the future of energy, food, and climate tech. Irena dives into founder mindsets, infrastructure bottlenecks, and why chasing trends won’t solve systemic challenges. Learn how targeted capital and sharp strategy unlock climate solutions that scale. Tune in for a ...

4 months ago

41 minutes

Leaders on a Mission

Bootstrapping Breakthroughs in AgTech

What if drones could revolutionize farming and empower growers worldwide—without a single dollar of venture capital? In this episode, Arthur Erickson, CEO and co-founder of Hylio, shares how his team is transforming agriculture through autonomous drones, precision spraying, and farmer-first data insights. From crashing prototypes in sugarcane fields to revenue growth of $20M+ in 2025, Arthur unpacks the grit, ingenuity, and strategy behind Helio’s bootstrapped success. Dive into the rea...

5 months ago

48 minutes

Leaders on a Mission

Betting on the Inevitable: Climate Tech’s Free Market Future

As climate policy shifts, can the energy transition thrive without government support? In this episode, Voyager VC Director Leonardo Banchik joins Simon Leich to reveal why the drive to decarbonize isn’t just surviving – it’s accelerating. Discover how falling costs, free market dynamics, and resilient technologies are pushing renewables, batteries, and even nuclear to the forefront. Leonardo breaks down why deregulation, national security, and data center demand are fuelling this momen...

5 months ago

40 minutes

Leaders on a Mission

Confronting the Water Crisis: Turning Air into Abundant Water

By 2030, global water demand will outpace supply by 40%. In this episode, we explore how Brian Sheng, CEO of Aquaria, is tackling the big questions such as “How to stop a water crisis”. He and his team are pioneering a scalable solution – harvesting water from the air itself to provide safe and abundant drinking water. Driven by a personal story of loss linked to water pollution, Brian shares how Aquaria is building decentralized water infrastructure, creating resili...

6 months ago

38 minutes

Leaders on a Mission

Where Impact Investing Meets Scale

What if venture capital could truly solve the world’s biggest problems? In this episode, Helmer Schukken, Managing Partner at Rubio Impact Ventures, reveals how his firm invests where purpose meets profit – backing businesses that are not only scalable and feasible, but fundamentally underserved. From energy transition and sustainable agriculture to inclusive employment and education, Helmer shares how systemic change happens when impact is embedded into the business model.&nb...

6 months ago

45 minutes

Leaders on a Mission

Unlocking Soil’s Power to Fight Climate Change

What if the key to reversing climate change lies right beneath our feet? In this episode, EarthOptics CEO Lars Dyrud reveals how cutting-edge soil tech is transforming sustainable agriculture and carbon sequestration. With a background in space science and a mission to decode Earth’s carbon secrets, Lars shares how data-driven insights and soil science are revolutionizing farm profitability and climate resilience. Discover how soil DNA, machine learning, and high-resol...

6 months ago

43 minutes

Leaders on a Mission

Cutting Through the Climate Tech Hype

Is climate tech hype distracting us from true transformation? In this episode, Andrew Haughian, Partner at Pangaea Ventures, dives into the reality behind scaling hard tech solutions for planetary health. From cutting through inflated valuations to rethinking sustainability narratives, Andrew shares critical insights from 18+ years of climate investing. Discover why profitability now trumps growth, where food and agtech are stuck, and how contrarian bets could unlock game-ch...

6 months ago

41 minutes

Leaders on a Mission

Sustainable Agriculture: Farming the Future with Electric Tractors

What if a tractor could change the future of farming? In this episode, Monarch Tractor CEO Praveen Penmetsa reveals how electric, autonomous machines such as electric tractors are reshaping sustainable agriculture—one farm at a time. With 500+ robots already sold, in excess of $20M revenue for 2024 and a bold energy-data-autonomy platform, Monarch is solving one of the toughest innovation puzzles in Agtech. Praveen shares hard-won lessons on risk, policy advocacy, and what it ...

6 months ago

44 minutes