In our first episode, we chat to the inimitable Harvey Hodd of Rivan Industries - a company building modular solar powered direct air capture-> e-fuels systems to tackle both carbon emissions, reliance on natural gas and energy security.
Harvey is a third time founder, ex-professional footballer, next level autodidact and thoroughly good human being. He’s raised +$40m to date for Rivan from top tier investors including Plural (Wise), the Collison Brothers (Stripe), Nat Friedman (Meta, Github), Daniel Gross (Apple, YCombinator, Safe Superintelligence), IQ Capital and many more.
He’s also the perfect introductory guest for Unreasonable - someone who pursues utterly unreasonable goals in a genuinely unreasonable manner. Inspiration for anyone doing anything, anywhere.
We covered:
Why Harvey spent 18 months alone in a factory before hiring anyone
Why Rivan doesn’t hire from elite universities - and what they ask instead
The kettle, the go-kart, and the Olympic swimmers - what “does it make the boat go faster” actually looks like in practice
Why aiming for 70% right is better than 100%
“No miracles required” - why synthetic fuels can work today
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
00:35 How to choose a good quest
04:22 Making the complex, simple and starting from base principles
07:11 Learning how to think
08:33 The reality of learning through failure
09:09 Hiring for attitude, not CV
10:50 Reframing getting stuck
14:01 From driven to Rivan
16:05 Sustaining performance at a consistently high level
18:17 Optimising for chaos
19:58 Being fast vs being right
21:38 The kettle and the go-kart
23:37 Translating a very big vision into something people can understand
26:17 Clarity of communication as a key founder skillset
27:44 Vertical Integration: A Strategic Necessity
27:44 Setting a standard for excellence without external input
29:29 The false dichotomy of perfection vs. momentum
31:00 Using proof of work to attract top talent
33:02 How every new hire needs to add to cultural density
35:08 Surrounding oneself with great people
36:44 Work-life balance
39:04 Delegating decision making and removing key man risk
39:57 Learning and Adapting in Complex Environments
39:58 (Not) thinking about failure
41:42 The Rivan system explained
45:28 Having one clear KPI for the business
47:39 Making synthetic fuels ubiquitous
49:26 Announcing the round and broader fundraising strategy
52:41 Quick fire finish
