Episode Summary:
Carbon credits are meant to help the world fight climate change, but the reality is messy: project developers are still managing everything in spreadsheets, emails, and PDFs, making credits slow, opaque, and hard to trust.
In this episode of Pick My Brain, Alan Jones sits down with Allen Fan, co-founder of CarbonHQ, a B2B SaaS startup building the operating system for carbon project developers. Together they unpack how CarbonHQ is cutting issuance time from months to weeks, why credibility and transparency matter as much as climate impact, and what it really takes to sell software in a market still run on paper.
Allen also shares how he met his co-founder through a layoff talent directory, why sales never came naturally to him, and how repeated “reps” are helping him get better. Alan Jones dives in with advice on pricing strategy, investor communications, and building trust through authentic storytelling, the real ingredients behind startup growth.
Whether you’re tackling climate tech, B2B SaaS, or just wrestling with sales as a founder, this episode is packed with practical takeaways.
Episode Sponsors:
Chapters:
01:15 – What CarbonHQ really does (and why it’s not carbon accounting)
03:40 – The pitch: fixing carbon credit issuance with software
06:15 – Co-founder story: meeting through a layoff talent directory
08:20 – Breaking down CarbonHQ’s 3-year journey and first $100K ARR
09:40 – Learning sales as a founder who isn’t “a salesperson”
12:10 – Why trust is the foundation of every sale
14:20 – Early-stage websites, product storytelling, and pricing psychology
19:55 – How to think about pricing when you don’t know your market yet
20:30 – Raising capital vs. focusing on revenue growth
23:40 – Why regular investor updates and pitching on stage build credibility
Resources:
🎙 Ask Alan a Question - https://www.speakpipe.com/PickMyBrain
👨💻 Allen Fan – https://www.linkedin.com/in/allen-fan-618b9864/
🌏 CarbonHQ – http://carbonhq.earth/
