Allen Fan
Co-Founder & CEO at CarbonHQ
Allen Fan is co-founder and chief executive of CarbonHQ, a Sydney software platform that helps carbon project developers collect and manage data, calculate credits, and handle contracts and inventory, with clients concentrated in clean cooking projects. He previously worked as an investment manager at C-Quest Capital (now Bridge Carbon), structuring finance for community-based carbon projects in Africa, India and South-East Asia, after earlier stints as an auditor at EY and a consultant at PwC. He co-founded CarbonHQ with Eugene Datsky in 2022 after relocating to Sydney, and the company has raised a $600,000 pre-seed round. On Day One's Pick My Brain, he discussed digitising the broken carbon credit market.
Career
- Now Co-Founder & CEO · CarbonHQ
- Earlier Investment Manager · C-Quest Capital (now Bridge Carbon)
- Earlier Auditor · EY
- Earlier Consultant · PwC
Sources: dayone.fm
Key moments
Jump straight to the part of How CarbonHQ Is Digitising the Broken Carbon Credit Market - with Allen Fan you want.
- 1:15 What CarbonHQ really does (and why it’s not carbon accounting)
- 3:40 The pitch: fixing carbon credit issuance with software
- 6:15 Co-founder story: meeting through a layoff talent directory
- 8:20 Breaking down CarbonHQ’s 3-year journey and first $100K ARR
- 9:40 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
Connections
Spot something wrong? Suggest a correction Updated 25 September 2026
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