FK Meets | Featuring Joe Cruttwell - GM Europe, Patch

You have an impressive track record in SaaS, where has that interest come from?

There are three things I've always cared about: working for mission-driven companies, working for companies with smart, driven people that I can learn from, and working with tech that’s changing how industries operate.

Working in SaaS and software companies provides these kinds of opportunities. The ability of software companies to change legacy systems in a rapid way means they can transform industries in a really short period of time.

What led you to join Patch?

Over the last few years, I’ve made a conscious decision to move into the climate space because I wanted to work on some of the biggest challenges facing the planet. There’s just so much innovation happening in this industry.

It was the people at Patch that blew me away. They are a phenomenal group of really intelligent, good people who want to make an impact. I also wanted to get back to the early stages of building a company - with Patch, it feels like we have this huge opportunity ahead of us.

How is Patch having a genuinely positive impact on the planet?

To prevent the world from heating above an additional 1.5°C there are a few things we need to do. First, massively reduce CO2 emissions, then scale technology that can help us remove unavoidable emissions.

Patch’s mission is to enable that increasing scale of carbon removal. We do so by helping to drive demand, making it easier for businesses and their customers to access that tech and take CO2 out of the atmosphere. We also fuel the supply side with software and the infrastructure needed to help companies scale.

In your opinion, how urgent is the need for business operations to transition away from a reliance on fossil fuels?

We need to be further ahead than where we are now. So, it’s imperative that businesses and consumers act right away.

We’re now fortunate that there’s been a wider societal shift in the last few years with prompts like the IPCC reports and figures like Greta Thunberg. However, there’s still some education to do about the breadth of measures that have to be taken.

What are carbon monitoring and offsetting?

There are four stages to the process:

1. Measuring your emissions
2. Reducing your emissions
3. Removing CO2 generated from offset emissions
4. Reporting on your overall emissions

Patch specialises in the carbon removal and credit portion. We partner with other organisations to deliver the other services mentioned above.

We have an API marketplace where our clients can purchase carbon credits from a wide range of suppliers. They can do that directly via our online platform or they can use our APIs to build carbon removal directly into their product’s experience.

Are there any in-demand skill sets in sustainability-led companies?

We need more of every skill set. There are so many early-stage companies that are building and growing right now, so the more the merrier.

It’s important to have people that really care about what they do. But we don’t necessarily need people that have worked in GreenTech before.

One thing I really value in this industry is the collaborative mindset in the people that it attracts. No single person or company is going to solve these problems on their own. We need people that can build partnerships and come together to find solutions.

What skills do you bring from Stripe & what new skills do you think you’ll have to learn?

Patch is analogous to Stripe in the sense that they’re both building API infrastructure. Those similarities were helpful during my transition.

The main thing I’ve been skilling up on has been industry knowledge - building a deep understanding of how the industry operates has been incredibly important. Thank goodness for the amazing experts at Patch that have helped me and others find their feet!

When joining a company in this space, make sure there are people with deep domain knowledge because it can get really complex really quickly.

What do you look for when hiring for your own team?

• We look for people that are bold & ambitious to complement our own mission & vision.
• We look for people that thrive in collaborative environments.
• We’re also always on the lookout for high-quality operators. The industry is changing so quickly, that we also have to move with a high degree of urgency and focus.

FK Meets is an interview series featuring some of the most exceptional entrepreneurs, executives, non-executives, and thought leaders in our global network.

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