Learn fast, fail fast with Dr Genevieve Patenaude

Dr Genevieve Patenaude is an environmental scientist (formerly University of Edinburgh) and CEO of environmental mapping company Earth Blox. 

In this episode Genevieve shares how she evolved from academic to entrepreneur and what she has learned along the way including: 

• Why she always wanted to be an entrepreneur and why Earth Blox was the right business at the right time
• The importance building an agile team that can learn fast, fail fast and pivot
• Surrounding herself with experts and taking advantage of all the support on offer 
• Creating a workplace culture that embraces family and flexibility 

Connect with Genevieve on LinkedIn
Find out about Earth Blox
Follow the Academic Adventures podcast on LinkedIn

This podcast was a collaboration between the University of the West of Scotland, Converge and Sarah McLusky. The podcast team includes Orla Kelly, Adam Kosterka, Jen Black and Sarah McLusky. It was funded by the Scottish Ecosystem Fund 2023-24.

Transcript

ACADEMIC ADVENTURES PODCAST EPISODE 2

Genevieve Patenaude
You publish papers, you contribute, but it's not fast enough given the urgency of climate change and nature loss. I didn't feel I had the impact that I really wanted to have.

It's a real rock and roll. Like it's not an easy journey, right? It's so much harder than academia, frankly. It's harder than anything else I've done but I love it, but it is harder.

Podcast Intro
Welcome to the Academic Adventures podcast. This podcast is all about people who have embraced the opportunity to combine their academic work with entrepreneurial ventures. You’ll hear about the highs and lows, balancing responsibilities and grabbing opportunities, plus advice for anyone thinking about following a similar path.

Sarah McLusky
Hello there. I’m your host Sarah McLusky and my Academic Adventurer today is Dr Genevieve Patenaude. Genevieve is an environmental scientist and entrepreneur. She is currently CEO of Earth Blox, a company that uses satellite images and big data for environmental mapping. 

Genvieve spent many years as an academic at the University of Edinburgh, but always had an entrepreneurial spirit and wanted to make more of an impact in the world. Indeed Earth Blox is not Genevieve’s first venture. She previously helped to found companies called Ecometrica and Carbomap, but Earth Blox is the one that has really taken off. And so Genevieve is now a full time entrepreneur, as well as being a full time parent – as you’ll hear these are roles she takes equally seriously.

Sarah McLusky
Welcome along to the podcast, Genevieve. It's lovely to have you here with us today. I wonder if we could begin our conversation by hearing a little bit about what it is that you do now and your journey to get there.

Genevieve
Yeah, absolutely. I'd be delighted to. So I'm the CEO of Earthblocks. Earthblocks is a company that makes sustainability reporting really easy. So we actually tap into some of the world's most alternative climate and nature data, bring this together and make sure that our clients, which have to report against TNFD or CSRD or all sorts of different regulations and frameworks can actually do so to all those different frameworks within one platform. So it's kind of drag and drop blocks, build your Lego, get your reporting metrics, and then that's it. You're ready to go.

Sarah McLusky
Excellent. Sounds like really valuable stuff. So how did this come about?

Genevieve
I guess it's a long journey, isn't it, when you decide to launch a company like this. So before being the CEO of EarthBlox, I basically have an academic background. So I was associate professor at the University of Edinburgh. And in that role, basically, I use big data, Earth observation, GIS to sort of map natural resources and also assess the rate of deforestation around the globe. And that's really important because forests contribute significantly to climate change, right? So we often say foresters are the lungs of the planet. Well, there's a lot of truth in this. So I was mapping and assessing, you know, the value that forests provide to the world from really big satellites and constellations of satellites.

And over my career, I realized very quickly that there's a lot of potential with this kind of data. And only really expert coders or PhDs in earth observation and conservation could actually make use of this data. So later on, that's how we created EarthBlocks. I guess I always wanted to have some kind of entrepreneurship in my life.

In the middle of my academic career, I took a career break. I went to do an MBA. I came back, I helped set up a company called Ecometrica. So I was a founding shareholder to that company. I helped set up another company called Carbomap, which I was director. And at a certain point in time, I felt, okay, now we have something that I can really launch myself with a small team and so far so good, the companies flourishing.

Sarah McLusky
Yeah. So it sounds like that's been a real journey. So what was it that made you feel like you wanted to do something entrepreneurial? Do you think it's something that's always been in you?

Genevieve
Yeah, I think there's a little bit of both, right? I think it's always been a little bit in me. It's also, I mean, I enjoyed my time as an academic, but I always felt you publish papers, you contribute, but it's not fast enough given the rate of change that we're experiencing now and the urgency of climate change and nature loss. It was never kind of, I didn't feel I had the impact that I really wanted to have. So yes, at some point I realized actually we have something that can really propel and accelerate disclosures on climate and nature and impact on nature and I thought this was really scalable so I decided to take the plunge.

Sarah McLusky
So when you decided to set up this, well, but the previous company you've said, did you do that while you were on a career break or while you were at the university at the same time?

Genevieve
I don't know. That was kind of a side kick, if you will. I was working as an academic and I was helping Carbomap was essentially a sort of consultancy arm that was associated with the university. It wasn't really a company that was designed to really scale. It was really with the research that we're producing at the university. So that was the idea of Carbomap, Ecometrica initially. That's when I took my career break. So I was doing the MBA when the team in Ecometrica approached me. And at that point, I decided to kind of be involved on the sideline and not fully kind of leaving my academic career and joining, but as a founding shareholder.

Sarah McLusky
Yeah, and then this one. So those are things that you did sort of on the side, but this is the one that made you decide you wanted to really go for it. What do you think it was about this project?

Genevieve
Yeah. So, it was just a combination of a lot of things. It was the right time in my life, you know, having had children and, you know, my children were kind of older, they're not older, you know. At that point, maybe five and above. So no more kind of really intense nursery, really intense caring. I mean, you do care still a lot, but there was that there was also the market was right at that point, I felt we're at a point where the large infrastructure, cloud infrastructure support the scalability. So for me to create a company where I'm leading that company, I'm the visionary of the company, right? I see five years ahead and that's kind of bubbling in my brain all the time. So I felt that the market was ready. There was a confluence of, you know, market forces from the regulatory perspective, market forces from the infrastructure, you know, cloud infrastructure, parallel computing, big data, that suddenly, wow, we can really do something meaningful now. Whereas previously I felt, okay you know, it would be the risk was kind of almost too high. Whereas now it's the right time, the right moment to really scale something big.

Sarah McLusky
Yeah, excellent. So Earthblocks, this is something that you've built completely separately to the university. Is that right? Or is it, it's not really a spin out from the university, is it?

Genevieve
It's not a spin out. No, it is a startup. Although I did get support from the university. I got a Royal Society of Edinburgh Enterprise Fellowship. So that's the equivalent of the National Academy of Science here. And, and obviously, you know, during that time, you're kind of bought out to look at whether this is potentially exciting IP that you can do something with it commercially commercially. So I did have some support from the university for which I'm super grateful.

The initial project though, it was completely different from what we're doing now. Right. So the, I mean, the amount of times we pivoted, the initial project was drone based kind of monitoring inside city. It was really interesting to see the difference from today and what we were initially, but yeah, that the university was involved in as much as they were supportive for me to take that time off and look at the commercialization of this IP.

Sarah McLusky
Yeah, it's interesting there you said that what you've ended up doing isn't necessarily what you initially thought you would do. How did that come about? Were there moments when you kind of realised that things just weren't going to plan or the technology didn't work the way you thought it would?

Genevieve
There's always moments. It's always like this. It's always, I mean, this is, this is also my advice to anyone that wants to create a company it's learn fast, fail fast  for everything. So, I mean, we're, we're deeply data driven and data focused. So we test, we, we experiment with clients, with prospect, all of our ideas. So the amount of times I've pivoted. The company is a lot, but so far so good. And I think that's the thing about having a really agile team that can really shift from one idea to another very quickly initially so that you can find your market fit, product market fit is really important. And essentially for me anyway, the most valuable thing that we have in the company is the team. It's not the product. The product is an emerging property. I have a wonderfully functioning team that can learn really quickly, that can pivot, that is hugely resilient. So we're not attached to the product per se. I mean, we are, we love what we do and what we've created, but essentially it's the market that tells us what we build as opposed to us pushing a technology out, we are being told what needs to be built.

Sarah McLusky
Yeah, and how have you put that team together? What's the process been like of bringing in the people to work with you?

Genevieve
Yeah. Um, so, so the way that I focus on building the team is, and I keep reminding the team of this, we're, we're all pieces of a huge jigsaw, right? And each one of us, you know, there's no pieces that are bigger than another. My role is as important as Abigail's or Ben or Tim or Sam, we all have a huge amount of expertise in our area that we lead on. I lead on the vision, Abigail leads on the development of the platform. You know, so there's that understanding that we are all playing a really important bit. I think the way that I build the team initially is with my co-founders, right? Zoe and Woodhouse and Sam Fleming is by being really truthful to ourselves, you know, the three of us and Ben. Ben Butchards, so we're four core founders, is where are our gaps? You know, what are, I mean,that requires a lot of humility. I'm really good at some things. I'm really good at seeing, you know, planning, having the vision. I'm really bad at other things, like really bad. And, and I, and that's the thing is nobody's perfect.

Sarah McLusky
That's very honest.

Genevieve
I mean, anyone that tries to sort of pretend that they can do everything very well, they wouldn't be hired in the company. Right. I think having that really deep self-awareness of what you're really good at and what you're not good at is what makes a really good team. Because then you're able to be honest with others and say this, I need help. Right. And it's okay. So having that really good understanding of where are gaps as a team, where's the commercial kind of skills that we need and that's how we hire. We hire expertise and we hire talent to fit within the gaps that we have. And so far, and we are also higher really with culture. It's culture first. And that's really important because then we don't have, we don't have staff turnover. We, the team, I think is really dedicated at building something that is meaningful, impactful. We have fun, we laugh, we, we care. It makes, it makes going to work a pleasure.

Sarah McLusky
Yeah, what a lovely position to be in.

And so from the way that you're talking about the business and you're talking about building a team and you're talking about scaling and things like that, I can tell just from the language that you're using that you really get the business world in a way that I think perhaps some academics have spoken to don't. Do you think that's something that's come from the training you've done, so like for example the MBA and the fellowship that you did, or do you think that's something that's you?

Genevieve
That's a really good question, I think.

Genevieve
I honestly don't know. I think obviously things like MBAs are helpful in understanding certain things. Processes, right? How does marketing work and how do you build a financial forecast and how do you do accounting and legal terms and all these things, because becoming headed in company, the learning curve, you don't have to learn one curve. You have to learn a thousand curves at once. Right. So it's, it's hugely challenging. I love that by the way, cause it's never boring. Um, but, but I think the best thing one can do to learn  business is to listen, is to have really acute listening skills. Because again, coming from a, a deep academic background I've not run a company before, you know, I've been involved in some companies, perhaps more than the average, uh, academic, but I've not run a company before, but, but I surround myself with people who have, and, and I don't need to reinvent the wheel, right? So having the, the ability to listen to the advice that's given to me by someone that has done this before, I think is really key because, you know, yeah. Essentially, they've done it, they've fallen, they've kind of tripped many times. I can learn from them. So that makes a really big difference, I think, to the speed at which you can scale.

Sarah McLusky
Yeah, fantastic. And are there any other things that you found helpful along your journey? Maybe even are there sort of practical things, people, resources, materials, anything like that that's helped, do you think?

Genevieve
Absolutely. I mean, this is, this is essentially about the ecosystem that's supported. Starting a business is, as I said, you've got thousands of learning curves to go through. You've got things you've never done. You know, there's loads of pitfalls that you can trip over. There's just so much. So the ecosystem, there is an ecosystem there to support, you know, Converge Challenge, Scottish Edge, Innovate UK, you know, European Space Agency. And then there's a plethora of advisors out there that love this world, right? Because it's exciting, it's fun, essentially. So being able to sort of tap into, and really embracing this, because people are there, you know, Scotland wants to support the economy, support giving jobs that are meaningful to people. So there's a huge, I forgot to mention Scottish Enterprise, right? So that honestly have been fundamental to our success. So this whole ecosystem and Tech Nation, I mean, I could name them, right? We've tapped into all of this because, because you can't, I mean, it would be difficult to make it at a global scale without that. And that's, that's where we play, right? We're, we're not a local shop.

We play with the largest consultancies, the largest commodity production, all these things. So without that support, it would be basically impossible. So go get that help, would be my advice.

Sarah McLusky
Yeah, brilliant to know that that's out there. So obviously you've had lots of support there from, as you say, all these organizations, and then there's been the people, you've had your co-founders and things like that around you to help as well. But you said you've got children, you've had academic work, how have you balanced all of these different responsibilities and brought them together?

Genevieve
Yeah, so for me, family is top of my priority, right? Being able to, I believe deeply that a sustainable world starts with sustainable childhood, you know, creating childhoods where children feel loved, right? It's not enough that the children know that their parents or think that their parents love them, they have to feel it. And basically there's no, there is no quality without quantity. You have to give the time to your children.

So how do I do this and run a business is the question. So this again comes back to the importance of the jigsaw that everybody has their role and, and the importance of delegation and being able to trust. So I trust my head of product. I'm not going to do that job. I don't know how to manage a product. Right. But he can do that super well. My head of marketing the same. I don't do marketing, right? I can contribute, but that's not my role. So I think it's really important that, um, that to delegate and to trust.

And then the second bit is also to set a culture where it's okay to have a child crash into a meeting and not push the child away and say, Don't disturb me, right? But say, look, darling, I'm in a meeting. You're really important for me, but give me five minutes and I'll be there after, right? And to accept that it's okay to live in a life where there are communities and society and children and elderly and care, and that's what human life is about, essentially. It's that connection, those communities, the people that are around us. So, I lead a company where we have flexible working to make sure that people that have caring responsibilities can care for the people they love. And, you know, obviously people have to be professional and work their hours and all these things, but within that, it's okay to take a break. And it's important to take a break. And it's important to be free to be with others.

Sorry, that's a long answer, but.

Sarah McLusky
Yeah, no, that's a completely valid one. So, yeah, thank you. And in terms of balancing the business with the academic work, you've actually pretty much stepped away from the academic work now, is that right? Yeah.

Genevieve
I did. Yeah, yeah, I did. So technically I'm seconded from the university. So but I am, yeah, I'm leading this company. Right. So I do not have any responsibilities from the university or anything like that. Yeah. I don't think it would be possible otherwise, really.

Sarah McLusky
Yeah, so at least your time's only split two ways between the company and the family rather than having that third element. Yeah. I think that leads nicely on to a question about what success means to you now and whether that's something that's changed over the years.

Genevieve
Well, absolutely. Success, you know, at the beginning was just, can we commercialize this? Can we have a first client that is going to pay for this? And then that success landed. So success evolves, obviously, over time. You do have a vision. So, you know, there is ultimately the ultimate success that is, you know, tied to your vision. But there's a number of success metrics essentially, or success areas that we're focusing on. And the first one is obviously, what we call OKRs, objective quarterly results. Every quarter we set OKRs, we have very clear targets. And so that's kind of the most immediate success.

But we also have clearly one success, which is about impact. Ultimately, I've started this with my co-founders because the planet is in a dire, dire state. And, and I, I want my children to have a, you know, to have the opportunity to, to live in a sustainable world, right. And in a world where it's not full filled with conflict. Anyway, I could go on, right. But it's, um, it's, we are damaging the planet at, at a rate that is just, you know, shocking and it's very sad. So how can we help change and transform internally inside big organization with data and metrics to show them the impact and how you can do this differently? Because there is a way to do this differently, right?

There's lots of different levers and societies that we can change, but that's one of them. We can't address everything in this company. We're addressing one which is sustainable supply chain, sustainable finance, flowing into the right kinds of activities. That's what we're focusing on. So that's one thing. And we're starting to slowly kind of gather information as to how we quantify the impact, right? So that's really important.

And then the last one is happiness of the team. Right. I mentioned the importance of having a really team that is resilient, robust functions well. So for me, a really important element of success is having a cracking time here with the team, with people. We spend lots of hours working. Let's make sure those hours are meaningful and fun and pleasant and, and that we work together to solve something that will make a difference. So everybody's really proud to work in Earth Blox. So let's maintain that. So that's a really key measure of success as well.

Sarah McLusky
It sounds like you've found that way to take the things that you learned while you're in academia and make an impact on something that really matters to you, whether that's the environment or the lives of the people that work for you. 

Genevieve
Yeah, definitely.

Sarah McLusky
So a final question for you, which is if somebody listening is thinking about following a similar path, what advice would you give them?

Genevieve
Before you jump, really be honest with yourself why you do this, right? Because that will, I think, influence really strongly whether you should jump or not. Right? So I think, I think, I think, you know, I would tell them, write this down really kind of just, is that purpose driven? Is it just for cash? Is it, you know? Is it because you can't find a job and you'd like another job, but you can't find either. So you're kind of creating your own.

So I think, I think having a really, really deep reflection on where is that drive coming from matters. And is that the right thing for you? Because it's a, it's a real rock and roll. Like it's not an easy journey, right? It's so much harder than academia, frankly. It's harder than anything else I've done but I love it, but it is harder. So that would be the first kind of point of reflection.

The second one would ultimately, yeah, be find the right team initially. Don't go at it alone. Find like really partners that you feel comfortable in good times and bad times and that's been tested before, right? You've had those bad times where you had to sit down and discuss and say, look, that's not working. We need to assess this and that you can really have a truly honest and respectful conversation to try to solve that issue. Because I mean, your co-founders, you kind of marry them, right? It becomes, I mean, you work with them day in, day out, you know.

There's, there's things happening that you didn't expect. So there's a lot in there. It's a really long-term relationship and it's, it's different from employees. So yeah, make sure that your co-founders, you have, you have a solid respect for them and you're willing to sort of go through good times and bad times together. Yeah.

Sarah McLusky
That's excellent advice to end it on, I think. So thank you so much for taking the time to come and tell us about your company and your journey to get there, it's been so interesting.

Genevieve
It's been a pleasure. Thank you for having me.

Podcast Outro
If you’ve been inspired by this podcast head over to our LinkedIn page and tell us about your biggest takeaways. You’ll find a link in the show notes or search for Academic Adventures podcast.

This podcast was a collaboration between the University of the West of Scotland, Converge and Sarah McLusky. The podcast team includes Orla Kelly, Adam Kosterka, Jen Black and me, Sarah McLusky. It was funded by the Scottish Ecosystem Fund 2023-24.