At Grid Catalyst, we believe that the best support we can offer our startups comes from deep industry and entrepreneurial experience. We rely on partners who have been in the trenches, who understand what it takes to bring an energy technology from concept to commercialization, and who genuinely care about the founders they are working with.

That is why we are so excited to introduce a new pillar of our startup support model: the Expert-in-Residence program. Our Expert-in-Residence is a hands-on partner who will be embedded in our cohort programming, working directly with our companies on everything from technical and market readiness to growth strategy, customer discovery, and business development. It is a more integrated, personal level of support, designed to meet founders where they are.

And we could not have asked for a better person to be our first Expert-in-Residence than Mark Sanders.

Mark brings a rare combination of credentials to this role: he is a successful entrepreneur who founded and sold a technology-led environmental remediation company; a veteran incubator builder who has created and led programs at the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Minnesota, and Carnegie Mellon’s Integrated Innovation Institute; and a lifelong champion of clean energy innovation. 

He has also been part of the Grid Catalyst community for years and has already been an invaluable advisor to our organization and champion of our mission. Mark knows our team, knows our startups, and shares our belief that the best support for founders is personal and relationship-driven, not transactional.

We sat down with Mark to hear more about his journey as an entrepreneur, his perspective on the energy and cleantech landscape, and what he is looking forward to as our first Expert-in-Residence.

You have built and run incubators and coached hundreds of founders, but you started as an entrepreneur yourself. Can you tell us a little about that journey and what it taught you that you couldn’t have learned any other way?

I’ve always been an entrepreneur at heart; it just comes out differently depending on my current role. In coaching startups, I think it has helped me to see things through their eyes and empathize with both the excitement and stresses of life as a founder. I also believe that experience comes from failures way more often than successes. I’ve done a lot of things wrong, and in order to survive and eventually thrive, I had to get good at inviting alternative perspectives and pursuing Plan B, Plan C quickly to keep moving forward. The advantage of seeing so many different startups over the years is that strategy comes more easily now. The combined experience of those journeys helps you see around corners and get ahead of things.

What drew you to the energy and cleantech industry specifically? Was there a moment or project that shifted your focus?

I first became interested in cleantech during my undergraduate studies in Architectural Engineering. The City of Austin had a green building program that predated LEED and was one of the first in the country. I fell in love with the idea of building in harmony with our world — that my professional footprint could serve both people and planet. I used to attend their meetings and learn from the pioneers in the space. Eventually, I took those learnings into my capstone project and then my Master’s research.

You’ve built innovation programs at UT Austin, the University of Minnesota, and now CMU. What’s the most common challenge you see energy and cleantech founders face, and how do you advise them to work through it?

The biggest challenge for cleantech founders is finding the first customer. These solutions are rarely consumer-facing, which means that finding organizations willing to pilot and refine a MVP (Minimum Viable Product) is extremely challenging. Most organizations are risk-averse — disrupting existing operations or energy reliability is a hard sell. Luckily, there are always early adopters and champions to be found. They never get the credit they deserve.

What’s happening in the energy and cleantech space right now that genuinely excites you? Where do you see the biggest opportunities for startups?

For me, the intersection of the circular economy and energy is most exciting. Energy is still the biggest driver of sustainability, no matter what system we’re talking about. Circular economy is really about energy avoidance or optimization within a closed-loop system — minimizing waste is minimizing energy consumption, which in turn significantly lowers our carbon footprint.

You’ve worked in some of the country’s biggest innovation hubs. What do you see as Minnesota’s unique strengths as a market for energy and cleantech startups looking to grow and scale?

Minnesota is a special place for me. The people are collaborative, and the programs are uniquely situated in a very cold climate. You don’t have a cleantech solution if you haven’t tested it in real-world cold-climate conditions — having a pilot project in the Minnesota environment provides credibility you can’t find anywhere else. The other best-kept secret is the Headquarters Economy, which is rich in executive talent capable of building great products and services. And of course, Grid Catalyst is a big part of what makes Minnesota’s cleantech ecosystem so unique.

You’ve been a long-time advisor to Grid Catalyst and are now stepping into a more formal role as our first Expert-in-Residence. What are you most looking forward to?

Helping startups succeed. Grid Catalyst shares my view of supporting startups: being passionate about cleantech, being cheerleaders, coaches, mentors, and shoulders to cry on. What we’re not is transactional. We love what we do, and it brings us joy to see our startups succeed while making a positive impact on the world around us.