Energytech Startups

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May 2026

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They say everything's bigger in Texas, including climate change. That's why Houston is leading the energy transition. Here in H-Town, the fourth largest city in the United States, entrepreneurs from across Texas and around the world are gathering to work with titans of industry to build the technology that will reduce emissions and power a low carbon future. Welcome to Energytech Startups with Nada Ahmed and Jason Ethier. We sit down with those change makers and wildcatters who are solving the toughest energy challenges with trillions of dollars on the line. We dig into how Houston will bring technology to market on a massive scale. Join us as we talk with the leaders of the energy capital of the world as they show us how the energy transition gets done.

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May 19, 2026Episode 9851 min

Gary Martin from Scan Ninja AI

Cybersecurity is invisible until it isn't, and Gary Martin, CEO and founder of Scan Ninja AI, is on a mission to make continuous vulnerability management affordable for startups and mid-sized companies hackers love to target. Gary walks through SOC 2 readiness without the once-a-year scramble, how AI agents are changing scanning and remediation, why he ditched CapEx pricing to disrupt the market, and the brutal lessons from going all in after two and a half years building on the side.Click here to watch a video of this episode.Join the conversation shaping the future of energy.Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.Apply today at collide.ioClick here to view the episode transcript. 00:00 Intro00:28 Meet Gary Martin and Scan Ninja AI02:03 Vulnerability scanning and AI-driven remediation05:16 Third-party risk and what enterprises like ExxonMobil require05:58 What SOC 2 actually is and the 90-day audit07:33 Continuous compliance vs the once-a-year scramble08:47 Vibe coding, npm vulnerabilities, and what slips through11:46 Why Gary finally went full time13:20 The reality of hacks on small and mid-sized companies15:05 Where the Scan Ninja name came from17:33 Detection, remediation, and built-in project management21:35 Business model, MSPs, and tokenization23:52 Who actually needs Scan Ninja26:09 Sponsor break: Saffron26:46 Lessons from leaving Exxon and starting up31:32 The pivot from selling product to selling solution34:48 Pricing, perception of value, and the no-discount rule39:08 Building a lean company in the age of AI41:08 Sales outreach with Apollo and token-based economy43:30 What he loves most about being a founder45:15 Advice for anyone thinking about taking the leap47:03 Five-year vision and the Super Bowl commercial48:13 How to find Scan Ninja AIhttps://twitter.com/collide_aihttps://www.tiktok.com/@collide.iohttps://www.facebook.com/collide.iohttps://www.instagram.com/collide.iohttps://www.youtube.com/@collide_iohttps://bsky.app/profile/collide-ai.bsky.socialhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/collideai

May 5, 2026Episode 9751 min

Mo (Mohammed) Saadat from Stratahub

Pouring billions into AI without first fixing data logistics is exactly why most of those investments stall. Mohammed "Mo" Saadat, CEO of Stratahub, sits down with Jason and Nada to talk about liberating the operational data trapped in legacy historians, PLCs, and acquired-asset patchwork. Mo unpacks two decades of frontline lessons, why digital twins keep falling flat, and his plan to build the industrial data fabric for the entire energy sector. Click here to watch a video of this episode.Join the conversation shaping the future of energy.Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.Apply today at collide.ioClick here to view the episode transcript. 00:00 Intro00:55 Meet Mo and Stratahub02:57 Two decades growing up in oil and gas06:10 Why operational data stays trapped11:14 Selling new tech to a skeptical industry14:08 The digital twin reality check19:25 Where OEMs fall short24:24 Sponsor break25:30 Stratahub's ideal customers and what's under the hood32:41 The ESP pilot that changed the approach38:25 The North Dakota moment that sparked it all42:39 Trading a corporate seat for the founder grind45:55 Building the industrial data fabric for energy47:16 How to reach Mohttps://twitter.com/collide_aihttps://www.tiktok.com/@collide.iohttps://www.facebook.com/collide.iohttps://www.instagram.com/collide.iohttps://www.youtube.com/@collide_iohttps://bsky.app/profile/collide-ai.bsky.socialhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/collideai

April 14, 2026Episode 951 hr 11 min

Eric Rubenstein from New Climate Ventures

Eric Rubenstein, managing partner at New Climate Ventures, joins Jason and Nada live from Ceraweek to make the case that what we're calling an energy transition is actually a new industrial revolution. He breaks down why data centers are only the fifth biggest driver of power demand, how his 35-company portfolio is shifting toward localized production and supply chain resilience, and what founders absolutely need to nail before walking up to an investor at a conference.Click here to watch a video of this episode.Join the conversation shaping the future of energy.Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.Apply today at collide.ioClick here to view the episode transcript. 00:00 - Intro and Ceraweek impressions07:11 - What is actually driving power demand growth13:41 - The all-of-the-above energy reality19:12 - NCV fund thesis and origin22:28 - Portfolio breakdown and data center exposure25:07 - Upcycling waste into value28:30 - How the portfolio informs investment strategy34:19 - Is venture capital broken for hard tech?37:01 - The missing middle and how startups are bridging it40:11 - Industrial customers funding their own first commercial plants45:38 - Raising fund two and what LPs want48:45 - How NCV communicates with investors56:37 - What founders should know before approaching investors01:01:09 - Talking valuation with investorshttps://twitter.com/collide_aihttps://www.tiktok.com/@collide.iohttps://www.facebook.com/collide.iohttps://www.instagram.com/collide.iohttps://www.youtube.com/@collide_iohttps://bsky.app/profile/collide-ai.bsky.socialhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/collideai

March 31, 2026Episode 9454 min

Donald Kendall from New Climate Ventures

Venture capital in the energy transition is getting more complicated, but Donald R. Kendall Jr., General Partner at New Climate Ventures, says the multi-trillion dollar opportunity isn't going anywhere. We get into how they find picks and shovels plays in crowded markets, what $100 oil means for climate startups, why management teams matter more than technology, and what it actually takes to get a first-of-a-kind project financed.Click here to watch a video of this episode.Join the conversation shaping the future of energy.Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.Apply today at collide.ioClick here to view the episode transcript. 0:00 New Climate Ventures and Investment Thesis8:00 Data Centers, Cooling, and Energy Independence10:00 $100 Oil and What It Means for the Energy Transition14:00 SAF, Carbon Alternatives, and Portfolio Companies21:00 Don's Background in Project Finance and Early Renewables26:00 SolarCity, Financial Engineering, and Residential Solar32:00 What Makes a Fundable Team38:00 The State of Venture Capital for Climate42:00 Why Invest in Climate Over AI43:00 Houston's Role in the Energy Transition49:00 Most Exciting Technologies Right Now51:00 Wildlife Conservation and Closinghttps://twitter.com/collide_aihttps://www.tiktok.com/@collide.iohttps://www.facebook.com/collide.iohttps://www.instagram.com/collide.iohttps://www.youtube.com/@collide_iohttps://bsky.app/profile/collide-ai.bsky.socialhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/collideai

March 17, 2026Episode 9348 min

Ashish Gupta & Siddhartha (Sid) Paul from KonsciousPlanet/KP Labs

Critical metals like nickel and cobalt are slipping through the cracks and into landfills, and KP Labs is on a mission to get them back. Dr. Ashish Gupta and Siddhartha Paul, CEO and CTO and co-founders of KonsciousPlanet/KP Labs, break down how bacteria can pull valuable metals from e-waste, why recycling is really just energy independence in disguise, and why they're calling it urban mining.Click here to watch a video of this episode.Join the conversation shaping the future of energy.Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.Apply today at collide.ioClick here to view the episode transcript. 0:00 - Intro and KP Labs origin story3:26 - How the e-waste recycling technology works8:39 - Black mass, battery chemistry, and the logistics problem11:00 - America's recycling problem14:40 - Democratizing the recycling process18:29 - Commercialization plans and funding24:02 - Founders' backgrounds and how they met30:00 - Challenges in energy transition investing35:39 - Houston ecosystem and helpful resources38:07 - Investor misconceptions and how to pitch it right42:58 - Reframing the business as urban mining44:13 - What KP Labs is looking for right nowhttps://twitter.com/collide_aihttps://www.tiktok.com/@collide.iohttps://www.facebook.com/collide.iohttps://www.instagram.com/collide.iohttps://www.youtube.com/@collide_iohttps://bsky.app/profile/collide-ai.bsky.socialhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/collideai

March 3, 2026Episode 921 hr 10 min

Imran Kizilbash & Abhinav Jain from Titanium Innovation Investments

The industrial world is still running on manual processes and siloed data while our phones got smarter ten times over, and that gap is exactly where Titanium Innovation Investments is placing its bets. Abhinav Jain and Imran Kizilbash, co-founders and managing partners at Titanium Innovation Investments, break down what it actually takes to sell tech into enterprises that move slow by design, why product market fit is something you can lose just as fast as you find it, and how they evaluate founding teams when the revenue is basically zero. Plus some real talk on Houston's startup ecosystem and whether the city has the deal flow to back up the ambition.Click here to watch a video of this episode.Join the conversation shaping the future of energy.Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.Apply today at collide.ioClick here to view the episode transcript. 0:00 Introduction1:00 Titanium Innovation Investments thesis and origin story4:17 Why industrial tech adoption lags behind consumer tech7:01 Data as an asset in M&A and enterprise transactions10:23 Imran and Abhinav's career journeys from field to finance15:04 What product market fit actually looks like at seed stage19:24 Unit economics and business models in hard tech vs software29:56 Cutting through the AI hype in industrial applications34:23 Data ownership, legal challenges, and enterprise selling40:16 Change management and why adoption cycles are longer43:21 Portfolio construction and sector diversification50:13 Houston's startup ecosystem and deal sourcing nationally1:04:18 Advice for founders on fundraising and building trusthttps://twitter.com/collide_aihttps://www.tiktok.com/@collide.iohttps://www.facebook.com/collide.iohttps://www.instagram.com/collide.iohttps://www.youtube.com/@collide_iohttps://bsky.app/profile/collide-ai.bsky.socialhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/collideai

February 17, 2026Episode 9154 min

Jamal Khawaja from Symplii.ai

Jamal Khawaja, founder and managing director of Symplii.ai, sits down to talk about his journey from studying scorpion mating habits in Brazil (seriously) to 25 years in tech at IBM, Deloitte, and Accenture before starting his own AI company. He breaks down why AI has been around since the 1960s but only recently became useful, how emergent capabilities let models do things they were never programmed for, and why entry-level jobs are facing the roughest market he's ever seen. Jamal explains his pivot from building an AI marketplace to focusing on last mile AI solutions for small companies, walks through a real example of AI agents listening to law firm client calls to auto-fill forms, and shares why being AI-first means doing the work yourself instead of delegating it to interns.Click here to watch a video of this episode.Join the conversation shaping the future of energy.Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.Apply today at collide.ioClick here to view the episode transcript. 00:00 - Welcome and Jamal's background02:12 - From biology to self-taught tech07:16 - Houston's pragmatic startup culture08:07 - AI history since the 1960s11:24 - From precision to statistical significance14:17 - Emergent capabilities and what models can do17:37 - Can AI actually think?19:16 - Leaving IBM to start Symplii21:18 - Entry-level job market collapse24:57 - Are people getting lazy with AI?30:54 - Claude projects and AI workflows34:16 - Taking the leap with family support36:15 - Pivoting from marketplace to last mile AI41:06 - Law firm client intake automation example45:27 - Building for future context awareness48:32 - AI guardrails and pragmatic reality50:35 - Advice for being truly AI-firsthttps://twitter.com/collide_iohttps://www.tiktok.com/@collide.iohttps://www.facebook.com/collide.iohttps://www.instagram.com/collide.iohttps://www.youtube.com/@collide_iohttps://bsky.app/profile/digitalwildcatters.bsky.socialhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/collide-digital-wildcatters

February 3, 2026Episode 9056 min

Mehrab Momin from aiCTO

AI has been “old news” since the 1950s, but Mehrab Momin of aiCTO Services breaks down why it suddenly feels everywhere, how founders should actually think about AI (data first, buzzwords later), and why Houston’s physical-world industries might be the perfect playground for the next wave, from vision models to humanoid robots.Click here to watch a video of this episode.Join the conversation shaping the future of energy.Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.Apply today at collide.ioClick here to view the episode transcript. 00:00 Show intro and guest setup 01:10 Fractional AI CTO explained 03:10 Early AI work and swarm intelligence 05:10 AI “flavors” from ML to deep learning 07:10 Transformers and the LLM leap 09:10 Where AI shows up in industry 12:00 Language, context, and why LLMs work 18:00 Energy AI applications and examples 19:30 Computer vision basics and VLMs 23:30 Open source models and fine-tuning 26:20 Houston vs Bay Area AI maturity 29:20 Solar, drones, and practical vision AI 31:00 Humanoid robots and physical AI 33:20 Edge computing and model stacks 36:00 Testing, validation, and “AI going rogue” 37:20 Common startup mistakes with AI 40:20 Human intuition vs machine intelligence 48:00 Language preservation and climate tech link 51:20 What’s next for Houston startups 53:50 How to connect and wrap-up https://twitter.com/collide_iohttps://www.tiktok.com/@collide.iohttps://www.facebook.com/collide.iohttps://www.instagram.com/collide.iohttps://www.youtube.com/@collide_iohttps://bsky.app/profile/digitalwildcatters.bsky.socialhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/collide-digital-wildcatters

September 30, 2025Episode 8946 min

Thomas Chepucavage from Zenthos Energy

Zenthos Energy is tackling two big challenges at once: energy storage and carbon capture. Their aluminum batteries aren’t just safer and cheaper than the usual lithium or cobalt options, they also last longer and actually create value by capturing CO2 and producing graphite along the way. Born in Albuquerque and now teaming up with Sandia National Labs and New Mexico State, the team is scaling solutions big enough for utilities, data centers, and microgrids, while also finding uses in military and remote applications. It’s a story of tech, partnerships, and ambition, with a clear mission to push gigawatt-scale solutions into the mainstream of sustainable energy.Click here to watch a video of this episode.Join the conversation shaping the future of energy.Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.Apply today at collide.ioClick here to view the episode transcript. 00:00 - EnergyTech Nexus00:16 - Introducing Dev Motiram00:52 - Interview with Tom Chappell, CEO of Zenthos Energy09:45 - Tom's Journey into the Energy Industry11:36 - CO2 Capture Potential12:18 - Revenue Streams in Energy Tech13:56 - Energy Initiatives in Albuquerque15:38 - Non-Dilutive Funding Strategies17:30 - Fundraising Journey in Energy Startups21:06 - Addressing the Missing Middle24:01 - EnergyTech Nexus24:15 - Strategic Partnerships for Growth25:45 - Assessing Risk in Energy Ventures27:46 - Innovations in Aluminum Ion Batteries28:44 - Scaling Energy Solutions29:45 - Criteria for Investability31:05 - Current Goals in Energy Development32:10 - Insights from Houston's Energy Scene33:05 - Key Takeaways from the Week36:20 - Investor Discussions and Focus Areas37:40 - Manufacturing Considerations in Energy Tech40:50 - Defining Product Market Fit41:35 - How to Support Zenthos Energy43:28 - Final Thoughts and Closing Remarkshttps://twitter.com/collide_iohttps://www.tiktok.com/@collide.iohttps://www.facebook.com/collide.iohttps://www.instagram.com/collide.iohttps://www.youtube.com/@collide_iohttps://bsky.app/profile/digitalwildcatters.bsky.socialhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/collide-digital-wildcatters

September 16, 2025Episode 8858 min

Sandy Guitar from TEX-E

Houston’s got big plans for the energy transition, and Sandy Guitar is right in the middle of it. As Executive Director of TEX-E, she’s helping connect Texas universities (and even MIT) with industry to make sure the next wave of talent has the tools, and the confidence, to take on climate and energy challenges. We swapped stories about how Houston’s legacy as the energy capital is shaping its role as the energy transition capital, the value of disciplined entrepreneurship, and why collaboration across students, startups, and industry leaders is the secret sauce. If you’re curious about how the next generation of innovators is being built right here in Texas, Sandy’s perspective is a masterclass in turning vision into action.Click here to watch a video of this episode.Join the conversation shaping the future of energy.Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.Apply today at collide.ioClick here to view the episode transcript. 00:00 - Intro00:58 - What is TEXI08:12 - Favorite Book Recommendations16:16 - Disciplined Entrepreneurship Insights18:20 - Career Journey to Venture Capital20:14 - Entering Venture Capital24:30 - Skills for Success in VC28:15 - Pivotal Career Moments33:20 - EnergyTech Nexus Growth Platform37:57 - Luck vs Skill in Venture Capital41:10 - Evolving Team Dynamics46:10 - Economic Downturn Impact on Tech49:18 - Understanding Capital Flows53:24 - How Listeners Can Help57:20 - Conclusionhttps://twitter.com/collide_iohttps://www.tiktok.com/@collide.iohttps://www.facebook.com/collide.iohttps://www.instagram.com/collide.iohttps://www.youtube.com/@collide_iohttps://bsky.app/profile/digitalwildcatters.bsky.socialhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/collide-digital-wildcatters