Batteries, But Make Them Faster, Safer, and U.S.-Made — Vivas Kumar, CEO of Mitra Chem

How Mitra Chem is using machine learning to cut battery cathode development timelines by 90% while reshoring safer, cheaper iron-based batteries to the U.S.PODCAST GUEST BIO:Mitra Chem is solving three problems: Shifting the Western electric vehicle and energy storage industries' battery portfolio towards safer, cheaper, and cleaner iron-based battery cathodesBuilding production capacity in the USA to offset production asset overconcentration in ChinaAccelerating by >90% the lab-to-market timeline for a portfolio of battery materials through a proprietary machine learning advantageVivas Kumar is the Cofounder and CEO of Mitra Chem. Previously, he was a senior manager in Tesla's Battery Team, where he was the lead commercial negotiator for strategic contracts representing billions of dollars in aggregate multi-year spend along the battery materials supply chain (the company's largest BOM category). Throughout his career, he has conducted commercial negotiations and handled partnerships with executive and senior government counterparties in North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia-Pacific. Vivas earned degrees in engineering at Rice University and an MBA at Stanford Graduate School of Business.-------QUESTIONS THAT WE COVERED:BusinessWhat does your company do? What makes you unique versus the competition?What is one mistake that you see many CEOs making?What are 1-2 lessons you’ve learned about funding your growth with outside investors?PersonalIf you had to start over, what are 1-2 tips you’d give yourself in order to be faster, more effective, and higher impact?What are some habits and routines that keep you focused, healthy, and sane — e.g., meditations, exercise, productivity hacks?What recommendations do you have for our audience — books, podcasts, quotes, tools?-------PODCAST HOST:Entrepreneurs for Impact is on a mission to help climate innovators grow faster with new investment capital, share best practices among peers, expand their networks, and reach their full potential.Our three offerings include:Climate CEO Mastermind Peer Groups — Our invite-only cohorts of 12 executives catalyze personal development and business growth via monthly meetings, annual retreats, and 1:1 coaching and strategy calls. Today’s highly curated Mastermind members represent over $8B in market cap or assets under management.Online course on "Funding Your Climate Tech Startup" — Two-week boot camp offering 500+ climate investor list (with emails), a 5-step process for raising capital, the top 10 startup funding mistakes, and much more.Newsletter — A 3-minute weekly summary of climate tech, startups, better habits, and deep work.Programs are led by Dr. Chris Wedding — 3x founder, $1B of investment experience, and Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill professor, with 60,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself.