Sacrifices, Branding, Fighting Greenwashing: CEO Insights from Plan A (ft. Lubomila Jordanova)

In today's show, I'm welcoming Lubomila Jordanova, the visionary co-founder and CEO of Plan A.

We dig into a lot of personal stuff:

-how to become a great Woman CEO, the sacrifices to make, tips to avoid burnout

-how to build a personal brand while building an organization

-how to face the unavoidable imposter syndrome and structure a support network that takes you out of your bubble

And collect insights on the business side:

-how to combat greenwashing

-where should money go: Software vs Hardware innovation

-how Plan A wants to scale to 1 million companies in the next 10 years

-Whether COP28 was a success, and the role of Oil & Gas in the Climate fight

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ABOUT THE GUEST:

Lubomila Jurieva Jordanova is the co-founder and CEO of Plan A. The Berlin-based startup has developed an end-to-end platform that enables companies to measure, monitor, and reduce their environmental footprint and improve their environmental, social, and governance performance using machine learning and science.

Plan A's carbon accounting software, which assists businesses in reducing their emissions, has been used by over 400 companies since its launch and has reduced clients’ emissions by 8 percent on average this year. Lubomila is also the co-founder of the Greentech Alliance, a community of over 1,000 startups connected to over 500 advisors from venture capital, media, and business backgrounds. She is passionate about addressing climate change and believes there is nothing more powerful than collaboration and true commitment to impact.

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SHOW NOTES:

00:00 – Intro

00:54 – Who is Lubomila?

02:38 – Journey from Berlin to Global Impact – how it all started?

04:19 – Tips and trick on how to deal with mental health

06:40 – Do you have to be an extrovert to succeed in the climate environment?

07:48 - Balancing Yin and Yang: The Power of a Diverse Support Network

09:54 – The imposter syndrome

10:39 – Is pure authenticity sufficient?

12:11 – How to build a personal brand on LinkedIn?

14:00 – What is the best marketing strategy?

15:49 – How to balance internal and external matters in climate world?

18:03 – How to avoid burnout?

19:13 - Balancing the Short Game with the Long Game

21:42 - The Power of Personal Brand in VC Fundraising

24:38 - The Future of Social Impact in VC Decision-Making – What is the best approach?

26:20 - Streamlining Net Zero Journey Tracking for Corporations

29:05 – How to deal with greenwashing?

33:13 - Creating Transparency for Consumers: The Role of Green Brand Labels

36:48 – Software vs Hardware – where should the money go?

39:13 – Rapid fire questions; COP 28

41:13 – The role of oil and gas

42:42 – The issue of carbon offsets

45:14 – What is the end game in planning at the company level?

46:16 – Outro

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ABOUT THE HOST:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/yberno/

Yoann Berno is committed to the democratization of climate tech investing, with a goal to contribute significantly to the fight against global warming. Passionate about empowering individuals striving to make a difference in addressing climate change, he is renowned as the podcast host of Climate Insiders. In this role, he dedicates himself to showcasing the perspectives of...