All Episodes

July 7, 2025 36 mins

In this episode of the How I'm Building This Podcast, Prateek interviews Josh Claman from Accelsius who shares his journey from a small farm town in Illinois to leading a cutting-edge cooling technology company. He discusses the importance of hiring for curiosity, collaboration, and kindness, and how transparent communication fosters a positive company culture. Josh elaborates on the founding story of Accelsius, the revolutionary cooling solutions they provide, and the challenges of scaling a hard tech company. He also reflects on common misconceptions about following one's passion and emphasizes the importance of managing mental health as a CEO.


Takeaways:

  • Josh Claman's journey reflects a global perspective shaped by diverse experiences.
  • Hiring is a critical challenge; curiosity and kindness are key traits to look for.
  • Transparent communication fosters trust and aligns teams with the company's mission.
  • Accelsius aims to revolutionize cooling solutions for high-density chips.
  • Educating the market is essential for overcoming objections to new technology.
  • Sales cycles can be long due to the need for proof of concept.
  • Key metrics include pipeline growth and proposal conversion rates.
  • Cross-functional collaboration is vital for team alignment and success.
  • Common advice like 'follow your passion' can be misleading for early-career professionals.
  • Managing mental health is crucial for maintaining effectiveness as a CEO.


Sound Bites:

  • "I want people to smile in the office."
  • "Follow your passion is terrible advice."
  • "Every day is a new problem to solve."

In this episode, we cover:

00:00 Journey to Accelsius: A CEO's Background

03:11 Hiring for Success: Identifying Top Talent

07:37 Building a Transparent and Trusting Company Culture

12:56 Founding Accelsius: The Vision Behind the Company

17:25 Revolutionizing Cooling Solutions: The Problem We're Solving

21:01 Messaging the Edge: Educating Prospective Customers

24:19 Key Metrics for Growth and Health

26:43 Cross-Functional Collaboration: Ensuring Team Alignment

28:22 Debunking Common Advice: The Reality of Passion

31:12 Managing Mental Health as a CEO

33:15 Looking Ahead: Scaling Accelsius

Where to find Josh:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-claman-3438731/

Accelsius: www.accelsius.com

Where to find Prateek:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prateekmathur

Activated Scale: ⁠https://www.activatedscale.com⁠

For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email prateek@activatedscale.com

Mark as Played

Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce

New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce

Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!

Dateline NBC

Dateline NBC

Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.