Trusting Your Gut in Climate Tech with Virginia Klausmeier of Sylvatex
Virginia Klausmeier was 27 when her late father's cancer diagnosis forced a reckoning. When we talked for Finding Fearless, she was remarkably candid about what that loss sparked: not just grief, but clarity about how short our time here really is, and how dangerous it is to wait for someone else to solve the problems we see.
When ideas choose you
Virginia had the resume. Chemistry and engineering background. Great corporate job. All the boxes checked. But disappointment was creeping in. The mentors she admired weren't as congruent as she'd thought. The career path didn't align with the impact she wanted to make. And then her father died, taking with him brilliant technical work that could have changed the world if someone brought it forward.
"If I didn't try, I'd always question that on my deathbed," she explains. So she quit her job and started Sylvatex, focusing on making industrial battery materials in a way that's lowest cost while using no water, producing no waste, and having the smallest environmental footprint possible. It's not just sustainable tech. It's future-proofing a supply chain currently concentrated in China that desperately needs to expand.
Virginia made a bet early that the world would need massive amounts of clean battery materials. That bet is paying off faster than she could have predicted, especially with AI's exponential energy demands and tariffs highlighting supply chain risks. Her North Star was never just bringing one technology to market. It was always about massive impact, the kind that reaches a billion people.
Choosing partners like choosing family
Right now, Virginia is navigating something every founder both dreads and dreams about: explosive business growth during a completely frozen investment market. The opportunity is massive. The demand is real. But capital partners are pausing to figure out the new landscape of tariffs, tax policy, and shifting government priorities.
This is where Virginia's integrity shows up. She's not just taking any money. Who do I want to work for? Who do I want to grow with? "It's kind of like if you knew you had to get married in six months and you had one person who's gonna marry you, but you know you've had better sparks with other people," she says. "In the startup land, that means the death of your company."
She's learned to look for "confident money": investors who aren't chasing hype cycles, who've made their own money and understand the long game. Single family offices. People who've been through hard things and won't bully you into ethical shortcuts when things get tough. The kind of partners who believe in your North Star without pushing you to compromise it.
And she's clear: how you show up is who you attract. Be real. Be clear. Stand in your power. The right people will find you.
The competitive edge hiding in plain sight
There's a moment in our conversation where Virginia says something most people don't say out loud: being a woman in this space, being a minority leader navigating constant bias, being resource-constrained, it's all given her a competitive edge.
"When things get hard, you actually have more experience navigating that," she says. "A lot of things are going to fall through that haven't had that experience."
She's not romanticizing struggle. She's recognizing that doing hard things every single day builds muscles other founders don't have. And yes, she's often the only woman in the room. Yes, she's had male colleagues talk about how hard it is to have a kid while she's literally making milk for her baby at that same conference. But Virginia has learned to plan around these realities rather than be stopped by them.
Building foundations that let you scale
Virginia is adamant: home base has to be solid. She can't excel professionally if her personal foundation is crumbling. So she's gotten strategic about it. That means being more proactive than her friends about scheduling because her calendar is chaos. It means curating a support system deliberately: female founders who get it, people on their own mindfulness journeys who don't want to burn out, a life partner who's genuinely growth-oriented.
She's also gotten better at congruency. For years, she felt like she had to show up one way professionally and another way personally. Now? She's just herself. Optimistic. High energy. Positive. She stopped spending energy on personas that don't serve her.
Early in her journey, Virginia connected with Badass Female Founders, an underground group in the Bay Area tech scene. They'd meet for brunch. Share intel about bad actor investors. Create radical honesty about what they were actually experiencing. That network has been everything, not just for practical support, but for the reminder that she's not alone.
Just do it
When Virginia talks to aspiring founders now, her advice is simple: just do it. "You know when it's a whole body yes," she says. "When that inspiration and that idea finds you, it is like literally the Tinkerbell fairy just landed and you need to make that wish come true."
Set up your life so you can take the level of risk required. Plan for it. Then jump. And once you jump? Follow up. Show up. Ask for what you need. Virginia is floored by how many people simply don't. Make it easy for people to help you. Pretend you're in town just to meet a mentor, then buy your ticket once they confirm. Whatever it takes.
She's also blunt about what not to do: don't let people convince you that you need their help if they're being pushy. That's usually a red flag. And don't focus on external validation or let early success go to your head. Build things that are built to last.
For founders watching Virginia's trajectory and wondering if it's possible to build something massive while maintaining integrity, her story is living proof. With clarity, courage, and the right people in your corner, you can build businesses that don't just succeed but reshape entire industries toward better futures.
Connect with Virgina:
For more information about Sylvatex and their work in sustainable battery materials, visit sylvatex.com or connect with Virginia on LinkedIn.
Connect with Fearless Foundry:
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