From 30% to 90% Li Recovery, Founding a ClimateTech Co, & Talent Moat w/ Teague Egan (EnergyX)

Interested in how we will have enough lithium over the next decades to support the energy and EV transition? Well, you can learn about a company solving this problem. 

Enter EnergyX founded and run by Teague Egan. Teague had no previous experience in mining or chemistry but after seeing a huge gap in the market and one particular problem faced by a lithium reserve in Bolivia, he set out to see how he could solve this problem. 

In this conversation we cover...

• His journey to finding this problem and how he built the company 
• What their technology does and how it's an artificial intersecting of several proven technologies
• The detailed process of how he funded the company at the start and the milestones to achieve each subsequent fundraise 
• And finally how they spent effort up-front building a world-class team in order to help them attract talent more broadly down the road 

It is really an amazing conversation especially because of how candid he was about the experience and the raising process. 

I think both existing and aspiring climate tech entrepreneurs will find this valuable. 

Topics: 

• 00:40 Intro to Teague
• 5:30 How, as a non-technical person he founded a highly technical ClimateTech company
• 15:50 What their technology is and how it works
• 20:22 Borrowing existing proven tech and applying it to new problems
• 29:45 Who are their customers
• 33:10 The detailed breakdown of their fundraising process and the key milestones to advance to the next stage successfully
• 42:00 Importance of IP
• 44:50 Mining & Recycling
• 46:30 Building a talent attraction machine and moat through hard work up-front

Links: 

• Teague on LinkedIn:
• Teague on Twitter:
• EnergyX Website:
• Invest in EnergyX:
• Check out our Sponsor, NextWave Partners:
• Join the Slack Channel: 
• Follow CleanTechies on LinkedIn:
• HMU on Twitter: @silasmahner

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We are proud to continue working with NextWave as our official show sponsor for this podcast. NextWave and all of its staff are highly motivated to advance the ClimateTech revolution and are constantly innovating ways that they can help affect that transition. From experts in the talent space to ESG experts, NextWave is taking on Climate and Social responsibility head-on and h