Adam de Sola Pool - Johnny Appleseed of Cleantech

Angel Invest Boston

A curious but orderly mind prepared to take advantage of serendipity has taken Adam de Sola Pool on a remarkable journey during his career.

His father, Ithiel de Sola Pool, the brilliant political scientist (look up Six Degrees of Separation or Convergence) took young Adam to many different countries. These travels sparked in Adam an interest in geography which led to a job on Wall Street. From Salomon Brothers he went to the EBRD to restructure companies emerging from communism. This grew into setting up Central Europe’s first cleantech fund which produced excellent results. Now Adam is an investor and advisor in the Boston area; much respected for his fresh approach to building young companies.

Topics covered in this charming interview include:

• Adam de Sola Pool Bio
• From Geography Major at University of Chicago to Wall Street
• From Salomon Brothers to the EBRD
• Adam Poole Has a Chance Encounter in the Bathroom & Gets a New Job
• Overheated Factories in Poland
• Adam Pool Discovers that Local Businesses Can Be Extremely Profitable
• How Adam de Sola Pool Got into Angel Investing
• Adam Pool Compares & Contrasts Angel Groups in Boston
• Adam Pool Talks About Squadle, a Promising Startup Just Added to His Portfolio
• Adam Pool Looks for a Defensible Market Position in the Startups in Which He Invests
• Adam Pool’s Favorite Pivot
• Adam Pool’s Approach to “Inoculating” Startups Against Risk
• Adam Pool’s Poetic Statement of the Need for Founders to Give Way to Managers as the Company Grows

Topics: cleantech, founding story, angel investing strategies, portfolio, returns