Episode 56: "Hard Tech Is Hard, But So Is Software” | Industrial Sustainability VC Anthony Del Porto

Описание: Today's episode explores three ideas that caught my attention:

1. Green premium is a deal killer – Anthony won't touch deals where eco-friendliness costs more (end state). If the sustainable solution isn't also the economically superior one, it won't easily scale.
2. Tech transfer done right – Hearing Anthony describe how he’s seen universities claim 50% equity and “blow up” a cap table from day 1 highlights how critical doing tech transfer “right” is for the industrial sustainability ecosystem.
3. The “valley of death” is shrinking – Fascinating insight into where Anthony sees the next wave of hard tech financing coming from, including why the "valley of death" between VC and institutional debt is beginning to close.

I explore these ideas and more with a mechanical engineer-turned-COO-turned VC, Anthony Del Porto.

Anthony Del Porto began his career as a mechanical engineer doing industrial process automation – literally walking factory floors, building custom machines, and watching firsthand how the physical world gets made. After a pivot into fintech as COO of an early-stage startup, he developed a dual lens that's rare in early-stage investing: deep technical credibility in hard, physical systems combined with firsthand experience navigating the chaos of a high-growth software company. He now runs BetterWay, a pre-seed VC firm focused exclusively on industrial sustainability - funding startups that are both environmentally superior and economically compelling, a combination he argues is the only kind worth backing.

During our conversation, Anthony shares:
• A framework for evaluating whether a sustainability startup can actually compete on price, including why "techno economic analysis" from a third party is the first document he asks for and what it reveals about scalability before a single dollar is deployed.
• Why circular economy startups are uniquely insulated from tariff risk and supply chain volatility.
• The specific reason he looks for startups that can be profitable at small scale before building a large plant, and why this single criterion separates fundable hard tech from the capital-hungry deals that can so easily dilute early investors into irrelevance.

What We Cover:

00:00 Introduction

03:52 AI Leaves Real Moats

05:27 From Engineer to VC

08:56 Industrial Sustainability Thesis

10:06 No Green Premium Examples

13:39 Filtering and Finding Deals

24:17 Small Checks in Hard Tech

25:16 Avoiding Factory Dilution

27:11 Debt Financing vs Equity

28:11 Hard Tech Exit Paths

30:07 Fundraising in a Tough Macro

32:02 Where the Puck Is Going

38:28 Regions and Tech Transfer Wrap

Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and more.

Connect with Anthony

• LinkedIn:   / anthony-del-porto  

• Website: www.betterway.vc

Connect with Andrew

• Newsletter: https://thediligentobserver.substack.com

• X:   / akazlow  

• LinkedIn:   / andrewkazlow  

• Book: https://angelops.pitchfact.com/

• Website: https://pitchfact.com/

Stuff We Reference

• BetterWay Ventures: https://www.betterway.vc/

• DexMat: https://dexmat.com/

• Ravel: https://www.ravelfuture.com/

• Third Sphere: https://thirdsphere.com/

• Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com/

• Dow Chemical: https://www.dow.com/

• Greentown Labs: https://greentownlabs.com/

• Front Porch Venture Partners: https://www.frontporchvp.com/

• Rice University: https://www.rice.edu/

• The Ion District: https://iondistrict.com/

• The Biomimicry Institute: https://biomimicry.org/

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All opinions expressed are personal and may not reflect the views of the individual’s organization or of The Diligent Observer. Not investment advice.