In our previous post we concluded that our overall objective is to empower 100 million people to adapt lifestyle changes in line with a 1.5-degree carbon budget, before 2030. In this post we will summarize our ‘Grand master plan’ to achieve that objective. But first, let us take a step back and consider what we have achieved so far.
The first version of the ClimateHero carbon calculator was released on the Swedish market in early 2018. By the end of 2018 we had reach 25 000 users, who had calculated their carbon footprint and pledged to reduce it based on the personalized tips we provide. We have then grown exponentially, by doubling our user base every year. We reached 50 000 people by end 2019 and 100 000 people by end 2020. These first 100 000 users mainly live in Sweden, which is our ‘home market’.
We have worked disciplined with ‘growth hacking’, meaning that we have tested and improved the whole user journey and validated our business model and engine of growth. The carbon calculator is currently in version 4.0 and we have made over 1000 adjustment since the first release. The adjustments have been based both on the extensive user feedback we have received and the continuous growth hacking experiments we have conducted.
The company is privately held, 100% funded by our founder Robert Sabelstrom. The seed capital originates from the divestment of Robert’s previous start-up, that offered a digital booking platform for surf travelling. The current growth of ClimateHero is completely self-funded, based on the proven business model of offering carbon offset subscriptions, that balance out the user’s remaining emissions, after lifestyle changes. It means that Robert and the team can focus 100% on improving and growing their positive climate impact, rather than chasing funding for the company.
Reaching the first 100 000 users marked the end of the first phase on our journey. Looking ahead, we have an overall master plan to reach 100 million users by 2030. The plan is based on continued exponential growth, where we will 10x our impact every third year. Each 10x is a ‘moon shot’ and to reach our 2030 objective, we need to achieve 4 moonshots.
- Moonshot 1: ‘Lean start-up’ – Prove the business model in Sweden and reach 100 000 users by 2020 – DONE.
- Moonshot 2 – ‘Bootstrapped expansion’ - Reach 1 million users in a Multilanguage set-up by 2023, without dependency on external funding – ONGOING.
- Moonshot 3 – ‘Leveraged scale-up’ - Reach 10 million users by 2026, fueled by external funding.
- Moonshot 4 – ‘The tipping point' - Reach 100 million users before 2030 – To be defined.
We are currently operating in ‘Moonshot 2’ where we have detailed plans and targets for 2021, 2022 and 2023. We have concluded that we have all the means necessary to achieve Moonshot 2, it will just take dedicated and disciplined work combined with an agile approach to any challenges or opportunities that might occur.
To continue the exponential growth in Moonshot 3, we have concluded three additional growth levers that we need to master:
- Paid Media Reach – We cannot solely depend on growth hacking and running our own digital advertising. We need to invest in reach and awareness campaigns in a broader media mix, including TV, Radio, Print and Out of Home. This will require a larger marketing budget, than what our current self-funding model provides.
- Earned Media Reach – We need to become a recognized brand and ensure we get a fair share of (non-paid) media attention. This will require that we work proactively with PR, social media, and content creation. To achieve that we increase the team size.
- Ecosystem Corporations - We need to significantly scale up our B2B offerings and eco-system corporations. This includes how we can offer our carbon calculator in a co-branded format, to reach the customers and employees of partner organizations. This will require that we increase the team size.
To fulfil Moonshot 3, will require external funding. But before we start raising capital we want to test and prove the feasibility of these three prioritized growth levers.
We would be super grateful for feedback on out masterplan. The comment field below is open!
We would also love to get feedback on our carbon calculator experience
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56 w
Brilliant strategies at everything really
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146 w
People will love this idea and it will get them competing for personal bests. Always great to have things that make people want to try harder, and this is what we all need to try harder on!!!
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146 w
Truly encouraging! Best of luck
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146 w
Hi! Excellent read about your plans. Everyone working on solutions must scale. Fast. One idea I got from reading your post is that you should try to reach out to billboard companies to help you advertise for free. Here is one example how JustDiggit are doing that https://justdiggit.org/news/expanding-our-partnership-with-jcdecaux/ I would also recommend you to contact Mastercard. They are open for climate partnerships and have almost 1 billion customers. On our Almedalen event yesterday they encourage entrepreneurs to contact them. https://youtu.be/3jooyRH-d-w
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146 w
Not an expert in entrepeneurship, but I want to commend you for being so open with your plans and how you plan to accomplish them. A great way to communicate your targets and get your stakeholders involved in them!
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146 w
Please comment. Feedback is a gift 🙏💚🌍