There’s a song and a question from Greta Gerwig’s Barbie I’ve often found myself returning to: “What was I made for?”
For much of my career, I sought answers on the frontlines of humanitarian crises - living and working in Ukraine, Somalia, Bangladesh, and Kenya. In these places, I witnessed the raw consequences of government and market failures, where the safety net had worn thin and hope was often in short supply, even though the resilience of affected people was unmatched.
In the thick of these crises, homesick, and sometimes under nightly rocket fire, Desmond Tutu’s words echoed most powerfully, “There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.” That urge to go upstream and work directly in the market, to be part of a growth story that stopped people from falling in led to my decision to move out of the humanitarian sector.
The quest to find my Manhattan Project
I wanted to be part of something ambitious, a Manhattan Project of my own (without the terrifying bombs at the end), something that felt like the future. To get to a place where I could write a chapter that would matter in the small arc of history with smart, thoughtful, and curious colleagues. The development sector in India seemed the natural fit; I even considered joining a political party after a conversation with a parliamentarian. But every path came with its own set of tradeoffs, its own arduous journey, and risk of nought. I found myself going back to that familiar question “What was I made for?”
I turned my gaze towards startups, drawn by their restless energy and willingness to reimagine what’s possible. But I was wary of the superficiality of this space: I am not enthused by the idea of selling sugar water or its equivalent, even for a minute, let alone the rest of my life. I wanted to spend my minutes, spend my days the way I want to spend my life—being deeply engaged in and inspired by my own work. Finding purpose in my everyday.
Solving climate change is one of the defining challenges of our generation—not just for us, but for our children, their children, everyone’s children really. Alt Carbon stood out immediately in this space. Here was a deep tech company run by people I knew and respected: not just for their intelligence and drive, but for their optimism of the will and skepticism of the intellect.
Things I loved about Alt Carbon
- Curiosity is currency - The people running it are reading-thinking folks who want to hire and surround the company with reading-thinking folks. To illustrate - there’s a library: employees nominate and vote on books, and the most beloved titles are bought for the library. The Slack channels hum with recommendations—articles, documentaries, scientific papers, ideas.
- The temperament is scientific - The founders want to treat their scientists the way Hermes treats its artisans: with respect, autonomy, and a belief in the supremacy of the scientific craft.
- Measurement is religion - They are putting their money where their mouth is, obsessively trying to accurately measure every carbon metric ton removed. The science is up to the current accepted gold standard. Not that they are happy with the current gold standards; they want to discover and crack more expensive metal standards, test every claim, scrutinise every rate-limiting step in the carbon dioxide removal - whether on the science end or the operations end.
- Storytelling runs deep - Curiosity and method in the storytelling walk hand in hand. AltCarbon breathes life into every facet of its work, from naming its flagship initiative the “Darjeeling Revival Project” to infusing inanimate entities with story and meaning. Departments are given evocative names—Chanakya for the Founder’s Office, Indradhanush for Operations, Climate Studio for Branding—each reflecting a thoughtful purpose. At Alt Carbon, the “why” behind every endeavor is vividly articulated, creating a culture where meaning and inspiration are ever-present. The “why?” is evocatively fleshed out.
- Respect for nature - The team seems to understand that the world is an open system - messy, hard to quantify, impossible to control completely but they want to make the attempt anyway, with humility and ambition. Staring at the abyss, and blinking back earnestly.
- Aspirations to build an outstanding organisation - Good culture is an orchestrated dance through which the objectives (and incentives) of the individual in the organisation is aligned with those of the organisation itself. Good capability is to coordinate individual ability (and behaviour) based on complex strategy, operations, and tactics. Ultimately, it is the interplay of culture and capability that determines an organisation’s destiny. Alt Carbon aspires to build something that endures the tests of Time, not funding cycles and Series N’s.
I had the privilege of being a fly on the wall in some meetings when I visited them as a guest. What I saw was a team dissecting problems with surgical precision, each challenge approached with both rigour and creativity.
Alt Carbon is a well-oiled machine that knows where it wants to go—and is committed to more than repaying the carbon price of that journey.
It is, on paper, a carbon dioxide removal company. But I believe it can be much more: a frontier organization in the fight against climate change, a place where new ideas WILL be discovered.
When I joined, my first Slack message read: “Welcome to the forest.”
I do believe Alt Carbon will be able to save a few. I hope to contribute a verse.