Sarah O'Sell helps entrepreneurs grow their business and reach the right people. Her day title is long: she leads partnerships at the Seattle Climate Innovation Hub and manages the CoMotion Labs Climate Tech Incubator. Her community title is shorter. Startup gardener. She trademarked it.

She started in startups and worked her way up to GE, hired to advise on sustainability solutions. Then the company announced its split and the sustainability work was put on ice. So she used the customer data she had access to, proved customers actually wanted it, and helped bring the budget back for a solution that launched and won an award. Patient is the right word for that. Not quiet. Patient.

Her career took the long way round, and she tells it straight, including the day she needed to stop. Sustainability leaders have an incredibly hard job, she says, and sometimes you are just worn out. What she does now: notice when you are mad, don't dismiss it, and turn it into a path to change. And her tip for everyone else: whatever job you have, even HR, you can move sustainability. It doesn't have to be in your title.

Then the question people fight about. AI or the planet? Sarah has a foot in both. Data centers are a built environment, made of materials, run by algorithms, tied to the grid, using water, and every one of those is a problem we can solve. It is a tool, and we get to choose how we build it. Her incubator just formed a partnership with Microsoft and E8 for a data center incubator program to do exactly that.

What she gives the room: she listens for what you value, and she builds triangles, because the triangle is the strongest shape. If someone is quiet in a corner, she goes and says hi. The introduction she wants is to VC firms, consulting firms and business turnaround firms that need excellent operators and partnership people. Plus: Ghost Alley in Pike Place Market, and a book called Bad Data.

BUILDING A CLIMATE STARTUP?
Sarah runs the CoMotion Labs Climate Tech Incubator at the Seattle Climate Innovation Hub. Its new data center cohort, backed by UW, Microsoft and E8, holds an information session on October 15, and applications close November 15. Details: CoMotion Labs Climate Tech Incubator

CHAPTERS
00:00 The open
00:27 Welcome, Sarah
01:05 Who she helps
01:43 Startup gardener: her two titles
02:28 GE, the split, and the budget she brought back
04:28 What the world gets wrong about emissions
07:31 The long way round
10:26 AI or the planet: data centers
13:29 What she gives: the triangle
14:58 The introduction she wants
16:07 Quick fires: coffee and Ghost Alley
16:41 The book: Bad Data
17:26 Washington's economy and more startup gardeners
18:36 How to connect with Sarah

CONNECT WITH SARAH
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahosell
Website: https://www.sarahosell.com
Sarah is a Vantage founding member. Ask for an introduction: joinvantage.co/podcast/sarah-o-sell

ABOUT VANTAGE VOICES
The room behind the room, on the record. Hosted by Rachael Barclay. Vantage is a members-first network in Seattle; the directory is free forever. joinvantage.co