Three Reasons to Join Antora Energy

People who’ve worked with me or are close to me know I’m incredibly quirky. I also have a strange background. How many queer kids from the rural south end up as single moms with PhDs? How many highly trained engineers become serial entrepreneurs? How many of them end up falling in love with people operations and brand? And how many of those bring their whole-body intuition and emotions to work as much as their intellect? Not very many! It takes a special puzzle for my piece to fit, which is usually why I start companies instead of joining them.

I started consulting with Antora Energy at the end of eight months of soul searching and job hunting, after the pandemic ate my previous company. I'd been aware of their founding team during my time as an entrepreneur-in-residence at Cyclotron Road (now called Activate), but I hadn't realized how far they'd come since then. I was also not expecting how much their culture would resonate with me. Candidly, at first I actually thought, "Hmm, another tech company founded by three white guys under 30. Would someone like me be appreciated?" But I decided to dig in and explore the opportunity. 

I work with Antora Energy for three reasons: 

1. I love to bring my whole self to work.

2. I’m fully empowered to do the best work of my life. 

3. I’m working on climate change, specifically on the electrification of heavy industrial processes.

And the opportunity at Antora Energy is a big one: scale the company from 17 to over 40 and build a team that will take our technology to market. And if you've been in startup-land before, you know that this is the hardest transition for a hardware company. It's not only known as the "Valley of Death" for hardware, it's also the phase when you’re most likely to dilute your culture beyond recognition. The key to keeping our company culture starts with discovering what the culture actually is, putting it into words, and embedding the company's core ideology into everything we do. 

After a whole month of amateur cultural anthropology and flexing my brand-messaging muscles, I uncovered what makes the company tick and helped the team find the words to communicate what is so special about Antora Energy. Check it out:

We’re on a mission to stop climate change for the future of humanity. Our core values describe how we go about achieving that mission:

• Team and mission first
• Joy and laughter connect us
• Built with humility and openness

Finding a climate tech company that has this kind of emphasis on connection and humanity is unique. For me, success in this interim leadership role means both strengthening this culture as the company scales and building the practices that will ensure it lasts long after I'm gone. I feel honored to be entrusted with something so precious. 

If you or anyone you know wants to bring their whole selves and do the best work of their lives on climate change, please send them our way - you can even connect them with me directly on LinkedIn. We’re electrifying heavy industry with thermal energy storage for zero-carbon heat and power, so folks who love high-temperature industrial equipment (and our planet) are who we need!