EDITOR’S COMMENT: “We are doing something wrong.” The power of that sentence should not be underestimated. In an industry where success is everything, failure is uncomfortable and an admission of error can be pounced on as a sign of weakness, honesty often isn’t the easiest policy. Not even when it holds up to its proverbial reputation of being the best.
That didn’t stop tech entrepreneur Lukky Ahmed from speaking out at EG’s Tech Live last month. The “we” he was referring to was not the wider real estate sector – so often the subject of criticism when it comes to slow tech adoption and action around ESG. It was a reference instead to the tech founders themselves. People just like him.
It is time to be controversial, said the founder of Climate X. It is time to be honest about the fact that tech firms – particularly those focused on climate technology – are struggling to attract nearly enough investment. In short, it is time to be brutally honest.
Some reading this might be surprised by his stance. Indeed, the pages of EG have been filled with news of significant deployments of capital into the tech space over the past few weeks. As a case in point, in this week’s Tech Special we speak to a start-up founder who raised a massive $30m Series A fund just three months ago. Even two of Ahmed’s fellow Tech Live panellists said there is plenty of finance out there to be snapped up. On the face of it, the cash is flowing.
The issue, said Ahmed, is that the current level of financial input does not match the scale of the problem. Founders like him are unable to attract anywhere close to the level of investment required to tackle the issue. If only, he said, the climate crisis was as compelling an investment opportunity as the speedy delivery of our precious packages and online purchases.
“I think our messaging is wrong,” he said. “Over the past few years, founders in the last-mile delivery services space managed to convince the world that this was our most important problem. People channelled billions of pounds of venture capital into this sector because everyone thought we needed a faster way to have our groceries delivered to us. The climate agenda is real. It’s existential. It affects everything, everywhere on this planet. But for some reason it has not had the same resonance. Why is it taking so long?”
Why indeed? The answer to this question might not be immediately obvious. It might take a while to redress the messaging. But a founder being brave enough to admit that responsibility for the problem does not lie solely with the wider real estate sector feels like an important step forward. In many ways it is the ultimate invitation for collaboration. There is plenty of talk about “being in it together” when it comes to finding solutions to the problem. Less so around accountability. And that needs to change.
Ahmed’s ultimate message is an important one. True honesty requires the often cold, harsh filter of context. It is easy to create a comfortable reality by focusing too much on the wins. But if real progress is to be made, we must all be brave enough to look at the bigger picture. Even if that means saying “we’re doing something wrong”.
That’s not to say there is no room to celebrate successes. Last week marked the return of the EG Tech Awards in real life for the first time in three years. The excitement was palpable. Huge congratulations to all our fantastic winners and finalists. An amazing time was had by all but it would be remiss of us not to take a leaf out of Ahmed’s book and look at this event in a wider context. All of our winners were unquestionably deserving of their awards and must be celebrated unreservedly. But there is room for so much more diversity within the entries. I said it at the event, I said it in the print magazine, and I will say it again here. To all of the wonderful female and minority founders, tech and real estate professionals and stars out there… please enter the EG Tech Awards next year and beyond.
To send feedback, e-mail emily.wright@eg.co.uk or tweet @EmilyW_9 or @EGPropertyNews
