{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Owl Have You Know","title":"The Startup Using AI To Rethink Energy Storage feat. Emma Konet ’24 and Jacob Mansfield ’16","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":2391,"description":"Two Rice alums are shaking up the renewable energy world with Tierra Climate, an AI-powered energy storage platform that’s quietly reshaping how the power grid works.Co-founded by Jacob Mansfield (BA ’16) and Emma Konet (PMBA ’24), Tierra Climate is driven by a shared belief that the transition to clean power needs to happen faster. Both have been passionate about the energy space since early in their careers, and when they saw an opportunity to use AI and software to accelerate the deployment of storage on the grid, they committed fully, leaving stable careers behind to build something that could make a real impact on climate change.They join host Brian Jackson ’21 to trace their unlikely path from Citibank trading desks to startup life. They open up about the underlying anxiety of early-stage founding but why entrepreneurship is still worth it, how large-scale batteries are being underutilized on the grid, and the ways the Rice network keeps showing up.Episode Guide:00:00 Introductions & Origin Stories06:29 Founding Tierra Climate11:39 Customers & the Energy Storage Market16:36 The Startup Journey23:11 Taking the Leap & Building with AI29:29 The Rice Network & Industry Trends35:33  What's Next & the Texas PilotThe Owl Have You Know Podcast is a production of Rice Business and is produced by University FM.Episode Quotes:Magic happens when you commit20:13: [Jacob Mansfield] I had a professor in business school that said that magic happens when you commit. There’s some sort of like lucky space of serendipity that you invite, and you talk to people, and you clearly come from the space and you understand their pain points, and yet you’ve kind of left all of that world to try to solve the problem. I think that’s pretty compelling for folks. I think it’s committing at inception, but it’s like a continual process of commitment throughout the entire journey.On finding the courage to go all in18:48: [Emma Konet] I think going into that program, I’m not sure I ever...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/TJ_bP9v1zp60qvMRjx8jTuTiOVRFDdgjR-9C4xy2Tmg/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9zaG93/LzE1ODMyLzE2MDM5/OTczNzQtYXJ0d29y/ay5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}