You don't have to be polished, experienced, know
"presentation skills", or have a background in sales
to know how to pitch.
The guy in this video was none of these things.
He just had a product he was passionate about
and an open mind to learning.
We worked together over an extensive 2-week
period to overhaul his pitch.
The result: from100+ pitches over 6 years, he
had the most investor interest in the event's history
... and yes he raised capital
The principles apply to many aspects of life,
not just raising capital.
For example, I used the pitching principles I coach
to help shift the narrative around Bitcoin and energy.
If what you are doing is working - keep doing it.
But if you're doing something good for the world
and want to learn how to pitch like this guy.
and get results like his, do what he did. reach out.
Nostr only post:
There's been some incredible steps forward with CH4Capital in the last 3 months: our fund that lends money to Bitcoin mining projects on landfills, so we can make the Bitcoin network the world's first carbon negative industry.
Perseverance and anti-fragility are important. But there’s something else that is even more important: surrender.
We never achieve anything in this life alone. If we do anything of merit, either we had the genetics for it, we met people along the way we learnt from - or both. Either way, where are we in the process? Everything was achieved through factors beyond us. It was only the point where I let go of the illusion “I am running an infrastructure fund that is going to …” realized I am not the doer and surrendered that help arrived in the most surprising forms and miracles restarted occurring.
I know for a fact as a coach that we are capable of much more than we imagine, and that this life is a chance to explore what that is.
Whether that’s building a garden, a family or a methane mitigation fund is immaterial - but my wish is that you discover and then walk your true path, during this lifetime.
Recently I was talking to the partner of one of the world's most prestigious advertising and creative agencies about how Bitcoin mining makes destroying the world's landfill gas profitable.
He responded
“If I saw a better story out there that would change the world’s view on Bitcoin, I would start working on a new one immediately... But I don’t see a better story or angle. Nothing is even close.”
The people who are the best in the world at what they do, do not trade in the currency of money, or equity, but in purpose.
If your mission is rich in this currency, and more importantly you know how to send this currency from your head to their heart over a power network called "human speech" then you have the capacity to build a dream team that can do what is impossible alone.
This is not a random message, so let me give a practical datapoint to back this up.
Our infrastructure company CH4Capital has one purpose "profitably destroy methane from landfills." Do achieve this I needed our team to know about Bitfcoin mining, infrastructure financing, landfill gas power generation and landfill gas carbon credits.
I had expertise in precisely zero of these things. So I asked myself the question "who is the best person we could have in each of these 4 areas".
Not who can we afford, not who might be "within range" - but "who will best serve this mission."
After some time searching, I found the world's authority on landfill gas power generation and landfill gas carbon credits was the same person.
Nuno Barbosa.
I contacted Nuno, and explained how I thought we could solve a problem.
"It looks like you have committed your life to destroying methane from landfills, and you've done incredible work. But there's a problem isn't there - you can only run these projects if the electricity you produce can be sold to the grid. For half the world's landfills, that's not the case. We think we've found an onsite buyer who can solve this problem, can we chat further about this?"
He said yes, and I sent him a one pager about what we did before our chat. He responded positively, saying he understood what we were doing, and that having Bitcoin mining onsite would indeed solve the problem, and yes we had understood his problem well.
When we opened the call I said "Nuno, I believe that by working together, we can double the amount of methane mitigation projects on landfills around the world. What I would like is for you to be an advisor to our fund. What that looks like is that you and I get on a half hour phonecall every fotnight for the next year.
The worse that happens is that you waste 26 hours of your life.
The best that happens is that we double your business and change the way methane mitigation is done globally."
I paused
He paused
Then he said "Yes, that sounds like a good idea."
No spin. No exaggeration. Transparency about risk. But also transparency about and conviction in the potential
CH4Capital is now close to two separate projects in Latin America, with PVARA (Pakistan's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority) also now actively looking to enact Bitcoin mining across the whole country's landfills.
Without Nuno on the fund, this would have been impossible. His expertise was instrumental to our ability to build a fund that yielded a high return through harnessing carbon credits in addition to standard loan financing - which allowed us to attract investors due to the superior return to standard project financing without adding additional risk.
Finding Nuno was the easy part.
What I said to Nuno was simple.
But knowing what to say to Nuno once we found him took a lot of work, and before than years of work that I spend learning how to pitch ideas to people in a way where the value proposition was clear and compelling.
This is why I say, people who are the best in the world at what they do, do not trade in the currency of money, or equity, but in purpose. And if you understand how to trade (communicate) in that currency, you have the basis for forming a dream team who can achieve what you cannot possibly do alone.
Bitcoin will cause not one but two revolutions
Stabilizing the world's financial architecture
Stabilizing the world's energy architecture
The first one most people don't know there is, or make out that there isn't, a problem, so are therefore not ready for Bitcoin yet.
The second one, everyone agrees there is a problem, so are therefore ready for Bitcoin now.
The world needs Bitcoin
We've just been leading with the conversation they are not ready to have while ignoring the one they are ready to have.
Bitcoin is energy money
But it is also a monetizer of energy
Both those are innovations the world has never had before
And the second quality if the one the world is ready for right now
The world's attitude to Bitcoin mining is changing rapidly
For example, I just spent the weekend visiting 3 landfills where that country's government's environmental ministry identified that Bitcoin mining is the best solution to remove their hazardous methane emissions
Few will understand why this post is significant, but I'll say it anyway because it will be more obvious in a year's time.
Landfill methane capture has been technically possible for decades. The obstacle was always economic.
2 problems:
No buyer for the power. Most landfills in the Global South can't sell electricity to the grid: no transmission lines, too expensive to upgrade the grid to handle the power, or govt regulations actively prevent it
Credits priced too low. On voluntary carbon markets, methane mitigation earns ~$5 per credit. That finances nothing.
Bitcoin mining solved the first problem: the miner buys every megawatt on site, no grid connection required.
Now it is starting to solve the second.
Under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, a country that signs a cooperative agreement can sell its carbon credits on international compliance markets at ~$20 per credit instead of ~$5. That difference is what turns a marginal project into one investors will fund.
For years, several Latin American governments saw no reason to join. With no viable projects, why build the regulatory framework?
Bitcoin mining made the projects viable. Now the agreements are being signed.
The full sequence: a mining rig gives landfill gas its first buyer, the buyer makes the project viable, the viable project gives a government its reason to enter compliance carbon markets, and the compliance price funds the next ten projects.
Methane that has warmed the planet for decades is becoming the revenue that pays for its own destruction.
And the unlikely catalyst is Bitcoin mining: the industry everyone was once told was the climate's enemy.
For people in Energy:
2021: evaluating Bitcoin mining is a career risk
2026: evaluating Bitcoin mining is no longer a career risk
2031: failure to evaluate Bitcoin mining is a career risk
Methane from landfills shorten the lives and quality-of-life of children.
Bitcoin mining removes that methane profitably.
Probably nothing.
When you invest in Bitcoin mining companies with dual revenue streams, you are accelerating Bitcoin acceptance (and therefore adoption), because you're growing the companies that advance the "Bitcoin solves an energy solution" conversation the world is ready to have
A waste management consortium recently took over an country's landfills because they were emitting methane, causing harm to residents and deterring tourism
They concluded Bitcoin mining was the only viable solution
We just booked by tickets to visit them
Probably nothing
Of the peer reviewed papers on Bitcoin, >90% of them are on Bitcoin and energy
Of Cambridge's report on Bitcoin, >75% of the report is on Bitcoin mining
Of countries forming National Bitcoin Reserves through vehicles other than confiscation > 90% have done so using Bitcoin mining (only El Salvador purchased Bitcoin)
Of people routinely talking to political leaders about Bitcoin (including Prince Filip, Adam Back, myself) almost all of the leaders want to talk about Bitcoin and energy (versus a much more muted response to "Bitcoin and money")
Bitcoin is a fire waiting to burn. The Bitcoin-as-money conversation is the big log in the fire. It's the ultimate place we want to end up. But it's not the starting point. We've been trying to start a fire by holding a match to a big log.
Bitcoin mining is the kindling, it's the fire starter, because it solves so many energy problems that people have, and political leaders are struggling to find solutions to, right now!
Once Bitcoin mining creates acceptance of Bitcoin, from there it will be so much easier for the big log of Bitcoin-as-money to catch alight.
Reflections post BTCHEL conference.
The one misleading narrative about Bitcoin that has been killed completely in mainstream media:
the "Bitcoin is bad for the environment/uses too much energy"
Because of this, its no longer a reputational risk for people to talk about Bitcoin mining solves energy problems.
As a result, Since 2024, a group of Bitcoin mining advocates is now making good strides forward across the world in talk with energy companies and governments about getting Bitcoin mining helping solve major and concurrent problems around their ailing grids, behind-schedule NZE targets, and near-EOL renewable and battery subsidy programs.
If you want to speed up bitcoin adoption, that means help bitcoin acceptance. If you want to help bitcoin acceptance, talk about how bitcoin solves a problem the person you are talking about has.
For store owners - that’s “how do I increase foot traffic and reduce card fees”
For anyone in govt, it’s often “how do I keep my grid stable and increase energy security?”
For an environmentalist it’s often “how do we phase out peaker plants and gas flaring while accelerating the green energy transition”
For policymakers and regulators it’s often “how do we adopt transactions in a way that’s much harder to use than traditional currency?”
"Bitcoin (mining) as an energy solution" is the Trojan horse for Bitcoin as a monetary solution
Of all the govt ministers I've met with, none of them wanted to talk about bitcoin as a monetary asset. All of them wanted to find out more about how bitcoin supports their energy and environmental goals.
This corresponds with the experiences of other people I've cross-referenced with who are meeting with senior members of Government, including Prince Filip, who recently said that the Bitcoin&energy conversation is the one they are most interested in having.
I've recently met with 3 Government Ministers to talk about how with bitcoin mining, you don't need gas peaker plants to accompany new AI load, and how you can also reduce methane emissions.
