A Reflection on my ICM Fellowship

I am a dual-degree candidate at Yale’s School of Management and School of the Environment pursuing both an MBA and a Master of Environmental Management. Prior to school, I helped launch and manage a nonprofit climate-tech business accelerator funded by the DOE and New York State called The Clean Fight NY. There, I worked with brilliant and dedicated founders who, each in their own unique way, struggled to fit their (often hardware-based) climate solution into the traditional VC fundraising model. In part, I chose to pursue a graduate degree to explore the question of how private capital can better fit the needs of the most promising climate mitigation and adaptation solutions in order to accelerate their deployment. For that, I knew I needed to ‘speak finance,’ understand the hard science underpinning the climate crisis as well as the solutions, and develop killer judgment about management teams and market opportunities. Without a traditional background in finance, however, I was unsure of which doors to knock on first.

Enter ICM. Through the ICM Mosaic Fellowship, I had the distinct honor to spend last summer on the deal team at Spring Lane Capital, a private equity firm based in Boston and Montreal that focuses exclusively on sustainable technologies. Spring Lane sits between early stage venture investing and large scale infrastructure finance, providing both corporate equity and project equity for technologies that would otherwise be considered too early or too risky for traditional project finance. The firm exists to fill this critical gap in the capital journey for climate-focused developers, helping essential technologies scale faster and more efficiently.

Upon receiving an offer from Spring Lane, my initial excitement centered around their unique financial product and investment strategy. Looking back, however, I can appreciate that the firm’s real secret weapon is its team - a small but mighty group of self-proclaimed nerds, climate enthusiasts, and savvy developers. It was a privilege to learn from and be pushed by each of them throughout my fellowship.

In terms of content, I was given significant autonomy to craft the fellowship based on my goals and interests. I ended up touching most parts of the investment process - from market analysis to deal sourcing to diligence - and spending most of my days on external Zoom calls sharing notes with developers, entrepreneurs, fellow investors, researchers, and other thoughtful minds asking interesting questions about relevant markets. I capped off my fellowship with a firm-wide presentation on the market for Industrial Waste Heat Recovery solutions (think ORCs and high-temp heat pumps).

Beyond my work with Spring Lane, my summer was also full of valuable content and connections provided by ICM. In particular, I am forever grateful to ICM for connecting me with my summer mentor – a partner at an impact VC firm who continues to provide me with exceptional perspective, advice, and inspiration post-fellowship.

The ICM Mosaic Fellowship helped me to both land my dream internship and to be successful throughout the summer through their programming, skills training, and access to the ICM network of resources. I could not recommend the program more highly to anyone with an interest in impact-driven investing careers.