Executive Q&A: Matt Duffy, Founder, TerraSol

He’s moved from the high-pressure world of Coast Guard rescues to the precision of data science, and now to entrepreneurship at the intersection of farming and clean energy. Today we’re featuring Matt Duffy, founder of TerraSol, a land intelligence platform helping farmers integrate solar with their operations and fully participate in the clean energy economy.

About Matt Duffy: Matt is a data scientist and strategist who founded TerraSol, a land intelligence platform for solar land acquisition and farm operations integration. Matt is a data generalist, with over a decade of experience helping businesses and federal agencies get the most out of their data across many business domains. His most important work is as Dad to demanding clients at his home in Washington, DC.

We spoke with this Matt over email recently:

How did you get into the clean energy world and come to start TerraSol?

I’ve long been interested in how technology interacts with our most basic needs. Energy is the most fundamental societal need, whether in the form of food converted to energy to fuel human bodies or heat converted to electricity to power our machines. I found myself drawn to both agriculture and energy, and a friend of mine helped me identify an interesting market efficiency problem in the solar energy space: there’s just not enough information out there about how solar facilities work. There’s a need to better educate farmers about how solar systems on farmland can integrate with their existing operations. So we aim to be the education layer for farmers to ensure that they fully participate in the clean energy economy.

What is the biggest challenge facing climate tech companies today?

Clearly the recent regulatory environment has been a challenge, but I actually think that is a symptom of a broader challenge. Not long ago, ubiquitous electrification was not a fact of life. People were more aware of just how cool it is that we have houses built on complex networks that deliver electrons for any need on demand. We’ve lost that over time, and people have taken it a bit for granted. We have to create a better story about climate tech, one less focused on the huge problem of climate change and more focused on the fact that legacy tech is not serving us. In order to ensure electrification remains a ubiquitous afterthought, we have to be forward-looking about energy sourcing. We have to reframe conservation and climate-forward thinking as a movement towards something better on a human level, not solely a way to avoid calamity.

What’s the biggest risk you’ve ever taken?

Starting this company, but not for the standard reasons. Most of my career has been spent in spaces where I have a ton of control. When I did search and rescue in the Coast Guard, I controlled how we approached the rescue, and how I could keep myself and my crew safe. When I was a data scientist, I controlled the quality of my analysis. This is my first step into a truly customer-centric domain. When people need search and rescue, they know they need it. When people hire data scientists, they already know they want a data scientist. But customers don’t know about your product until you tell them. I have little prior experience doing this kind of work, but it is fun and exciting, and I hope we can make a little difference along the way.

What’s something about you that might surprise people?

I covered it a bit in my last answer, but I find people are surprised by my “previous life” as a Coast Guardsman. But I love to talk about it, because it taught me a lot of lessons about the world. It’s a great service, and it was a great opportunity for me to meet people from all walks of life. Consequently, I’m a huge advocate for veterans in business and other institutions. The veteran community has an incredibly unique perspective shaped by their unique interpersonal experiences, and it is hugely valuable to organizations of all types.

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