5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective C-Level Leader Of A Climate Tech Company

Have a clear mission — If something isn’t mission aligned, it’s probably not worth it. It’s always important to distinguish between your mission and trends that may simply be flashes in the pan.

Climate change is one of the most pressing challenges of our time, and effective leadership in climate tech companies is paramount for driving meaningful impact. We would like to hear about the insights, experiences, and expertise of esteemed leaders who have demonstrated excellence in navigating this complex landscape. In this series, we’re talking with seasoned professionals, industry pioneers, and visionaries who are C-Level leaders of climate tech companies. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Richard Lamondin Jr. Co-Founder and CEO, ecofi.

Richard Lamondin is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of ecofi, a rapidly growing water and energy conservation firm focused on proving that conservation is good for business through sustainability for the real estate industry. In 2020, ecofi was recognized by Inc. as the 48th fastest growing private company, and the fastest growing environmental services company in the United States. In 2021, ecofi received the Gold Medal for Inc.’s Best in Business Awards honoring the most inspiring companies of the year.

Richard and his team are making a lasting impact on Americans and their environment. ecofi’s efforts saved more than 6 billion gallons of freshwater, more than 150,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, and more than $80 million in utility costs to date. In addition, they are creating 21st century vocational careers that directly impact the environment.

In 2019, Richard was selected as Endeavor Miami’s

Entrepreneur of the Year and was named one of South Florida Business Journal’s 40 Under 40. Beyond his role as CEO, Richard is on the board of Project T.H.U.G., a fellowship program for teens that disrupts the cycle of poverty and violence by providing higher education and vocational opportunities. He is also on the board of the ADAPT Foundation, which is dedicated to engaging, educating, and empowering local youth with wellness experiences that support life-long growth. He previously sat on the boards of Empowered Youth and Miami’s Next Leaders.

Thank you so much for your time! I know that you are a very busy person. Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?

Inmid-2012, my brother, Lawrence, and I had an idea to reduce expenses for condominiums to save them money. The name of that company was aptly named CondoSavers. We started that company together and did everything ourselves, including replacing toilets!

Quickly realizing that the high cost of utilities, particularly water & sewer, presented an opportunity to do great things for the environment while benefiting businesses and residents, we slimmed down our services. We focused on water conservation and changed our name to something we believed better fit our mission: EcoSystems.

Today, we have grown to be much more than just an energy and water conservation company. We are now the sustainability team for the real estate industry, supporting them in whatever they need on their journey. Be it understanding their portfolio, setting sustainability goals, implementing projects, or reporting on their impact. This includes not just our longstanding services but also new offerings like consulting and portfolio-level analysis. As such, we rebranded last year to ecofi.

What does ‘ecofi’ mean? ‘Eco’ represents our environmental focus, while ‘fi’ has two meanings. First, it signifies the financial benefits we bring to our partners. And second, it’s about action. When we engage with partners, we ‘ecofi’ them, enhancing sustainability across their properties and operations.

To close, our journey from CondoSavers to EcoSystems, and now to ecofi, has been an incredible evolution driven by our commitment to sustainability, our partners, and our shared future.

None of us can achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful for who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

I am extremely grateful to Mike Watkins of BH giving us an opportunity to show what we can do. When we were just starting out, we were able to secure one big project in Denver for BH Management. We went to Denver and met Mike Watkins, who was watching us to see how we did on this first project. We worked extremely hard and demonstrated our ability to deliver and execute sustainability at scale. Post project, he came to us with a huge portfolio of units and we have been able to cultivate that relationship ever since. Sometimes it takes a person with foresight and vision to take a little risk for a big payoff. Mike took a risk on us and gave us a lot of work based off of one project in Denver. That opportunity allowed us to grow and develop as a nationwide company and we repaid his risk with excellent performance on extremely large scale projects.

Thank you for all that. Let’s now turn to the main focus of our discussion. Can you please share with us what makes you an expert on climate tech?

I’ve run ecofi for almost 12 years where we’ve aligned sustainability, pragmatism, and technology to provide A-Z solutions for our partners.

Can you share a transformative idea you have for integrating sustainability with technology? How would you measure its success in terms of environmental impact and business growth?

This is probably less transformative nowadays, but when we started in 2012 focusing exclusively on sustainable solutions that improved profitability was a nascent concept. Our mission is to prove sustainability is good for business and we make sure to tell the story of the bottom line impact to our partners of the technology we deploy for them. Our approach to sustainability has always been pragmatic.

To date, after upgrading more than 150,000 units, we have saved our partners $66,000,000 in utility bills, and saved the environment over 300,000,000 kilowatts of energy, more than 225,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide, and over 7 billion gallons of fresh water.

Leading a climate tech company demands a blend of innovation and pragmatism. Can you describe a scenario where you had to balance cutting-edge technological solutions with practical implementation challenges? How did you navigate this balance to achieve a sustainable outcome?

About nine years ago, I encountered the need to integrate cutting-edge LED lighting into our offerings. While LED technology promised significant energy savings and environmental benefits, we faced practical challenges such as cost and compatibility.

To balance innovation with pragmatism, we adopted a phased approach. We researched rigorously, collaborated closely with teams, and prioritized customer feedback. This enabled us to successfully integrate LED technology into our products, delivering both environmental impact and customer value.

This experience highlighted the importance of strategic decision-making and collaboration in achieving sustainable outcomes amidst evolving technologies.

Climate tech companies often face scrutiny from various stakeholders, including investors, customers, and regulatory bodies. Can you give an example of how you successfully aligned these diverse stakeholder interests with the company’s sustainability goals?

This challenge is our exact reason for existing. We provide sustainability solutions by aligning the interests of these different bodies and working to be the real estate Industry’s outside sustainability department.

The climate tech landscape is rapidly evolving with new challenges and opportunities emerging regularly. Was there a time when you had to pivot your strategy in response to unexpected market changes or technological advancements? What was the outcome?

We are constantly revising our approach to sustainability to incorporate new technologies and conducting our own R&D to make sure we are providing our customers with the best climate tech solutions. We started as a water conservation company but over the last 11 years, we have pivoted and incorporated a multitude of new green tech into our offerings, including lighting solutions, EV charging, smart controls, preventative maintenance and certification advice and consultation.

Ethical considerations are important in climate technology. How do you ensure that your company’s innovations not only advance sustainability goals but also adhere to high ethical standards? Can you give us an example?

Last year, we were certified as a B corp. B Lab™, the nonprofit network that is transforming the global economy to benefit all people, communities, and the planet, certifies B Corporations. To earn the designation, we underwent a rigorous third-party assessment, which measured the company’s impact in the following areas: governance, workers, community, environment and customers. As part of the evaluation, company founders must also make a legal commitment, changing their corporate governance structure to be accountable to all stakeholders. We’re extremely proud of this accomplishment as we’ve aspired to earn this designation and align with like-minded businesses committed to systemic change. Since day one, we’ve run our business with conviction to dovetail profit-generation with mission-driven purpose. The B Corporation certification validates this work, and we hope it inspires others to integrate purpose and profit for the good of all.

We also organize service days and encourage our employees to participate. Our focus for our non-profit and service work is centered around sustainability. An example of this is a toilet recycling project we worked on in Tampa. Old outdated toilets from a water project we worked on were recycled into reef balls, which help keep the reef in Tampa Bay stable and self-sufficient. Our field teams and leadership team went to Tampa and physically helped break down the toilets and use them to create reef balls — this kind of service helps us reduce our carbon footprint and minimize the waste from our own projects.

Based on your experience and success, what are the ‘5 Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective C-Level Leader Of A Climate Tech Company’?

1 . Focus on the problem — Too often founders focus on developing a great solution then go look for the problem. We allow the problem to guide us. We have uncovered and solved a number of problems over the years, but the underlying motivation for each of the ones we tackle is that businesses are not yet fully engaged in combating the climate crisis.

Example: One problem we continuously see is that making an impact is hard and full of different road blocks that make it easy to not try. In the real estate industry, companies are often national, but their challenges and opportunities are local. Additionally, companies often need to engage with consultants to help set strategy, certify properties green, and assess properties for opportunity. They then need contractors to implement the solutions. The consultants don’t understand construction and vice-versa and these companies are often regionally focused and lack key data, meaning that there are multiple vendors, and no single accountable party.

We eliminate a partner’s headaches by being A-Z national solution provider that is part of the entire sustainability journey in real estate from strategy to site assessments to implementation and impact reporting.

2 . Have a clear mission — If something isn’t mission aligned, it’s probably not worth it. It’s always important to distinguish between your mission and trends that may simply be flashes in the pan.

Example: Good labor is hard to find, and we often get asked to expand our implementation services beyond sustainability and into things that fall squarely under renovation and maintenance. For example, can we renovate entire apartments or fill the gaps left by understaffed maintenance teams. While on site, we’re happy to add on to our scopes of work where it makes sense given that we have skilled folks on staff, but it remains important for us to remember our north star and evaluate the opportunities that come our way to ensure that it is aligned with our sustainability mission. Otherwise, we begin to lose who we are and what makes us unique as an organization.

3 . Speak your customer’s language — Avoid exclusionary jargon and align your solution with their way of thinking, not the other way around. Persuasion is easier than education.

Example: We meet our customers where they are and don’t try to sell them on improvements that don’t make sense for them or will not save them money.

4 . Clearly articulate your values and hire and fire based on them — Screen for mission. We have taken chances on people without industry experience who were committed to the organization and they have thrived.

Example: Our current Director of Engineering and Procurement started as a Procurement Coordinator several years ago. We hired him with minimal industry experience but with an intelligent quick mind, a clear commitment to our mission and a willingness to learn, he has grown within the organization to become one of our key players and the winner of our culture champion award last year.

5 . Think big but stay focused — I would rather hit 60% of a stretch goal than 100% of a sandbagged goal. Additionally, time and resources are often limited meaning focus is required. I try to keep my goals ambitious and my focus on winning one gold medal at a time.

Example: We utilize elements of a few different systems such as Scale, Traction, and 3HAG. We started in water conservation, shifted to energy, then up into consulting and strategy winning each category before moving up.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” — Nelson Mandela.

There are so many reasons not to do something you believe worthwhile in life, and in my experience, both personal and professional, behind all of the reasons lies some version of fear.

The act of creation and growth requires the embrace of the unknown, but the fear is always there. Fear of failure, fear of looking foolish, fear of the unknown. It has limited me in the past, and it has definitely limited the growth of my team and loved ones on their journeys. Giving into fear and using it as a reason not to do something is easy. Acting in the presence of fear to discover the limits of our potential is hard.

For me, knowing that courage requires fear makes embracing fear that much easier.

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