Green Tech: Pareen Shah Of BioVeritas On How Their Technology Will Make An Important Positive Impact On The Environment

Policy matters. Many new-to-the-world technologies need a little bit of a boost to get rolling, and government has often provided that boost. It’s not long-term subsidy or life support, but rather targeted and temporary incentives that help move the industry down the cost curve such that it can become self-reliant faster. And as great as a technology can be, losing sight of the policy angle can bring it all to a screeching halt. In the sustainable jet fuel world, the latest budget bill from the White House preserved some key incentives, but at a decidedly lower level of commitment than the previous administration, despite best efforts from many across the industry to keep them intact. I was on Capitol Hill not too long ago meeting with Republican Congressional staff, explaining the value of these incentives. My personal politics would generally veer me away from Republican Congressional offices. But today’s opponent is tomorrow’s teammate, right?

Inrecent years, Big Tech has gotten a bad rep. But of course many tech companies are doing important work making monumental positive changes to society, health, and the environment. To highlight these, we started a new interview series about “Technology Making An Important Positive Social Impact”. We are interviewing leaders of tech companies who are creating or have created a tech product that is helping to make a positive change in people’s lives or the environment. As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Pareen Shah.

Pareen Shah brings nearly two decades of commercial experience spanning business development, general management, product management, brand management, strategy and sales. He was most recently leading product management for the United States for plant-based protein leader Impossible Foods. Previously he was Head of Food for Corbion’s Algae Ingredients unit, leading the consumer-facing Thrive Culinary Algae Oil brand as well as the B2B AlgaVia protein brand. Earlier experiences include brand & general management roles at Del Monte Foods, Peaceable Kingdom, and Clorox, as well as strategy at Levi Strauss & Company. He holds an MBA from UC-Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, an MSc in Social Policy and Planning from the London School of Economics, and a BBA from the University of Michigan.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory and how you grew up?

I’m a child of the 1980s, growing up in Sterling Heights, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. I’m also a child of immigrants who came to the US to live the American Dream, which they did. Like many second-generation kids, I thought of my life through a duality lens. It was “regular suburban ‘American’ stuff” at school, “Indian culture” at home and on the weekends, with both of those things rising and falling on opposite ends of an always-shifting scale. It wasn’t until I went to college (Go Blue!) that I figured out that duality was the wrong framing altogether. Why frame my experience in terms of “suburban American” or “Indian culture” when it was inextricably a combination of both? And, crucially, I figured out that my experience fit into the broader idea of “American.”

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

Every interaction matters. A few jobs ago I was the hiring manager for a highly coveted MBA internship at a high-flying plant-based food startup. We narrowed down to the final 3 candidates, but number 4 was so so close. I had to break the news to him that we were passing. We had a great chat, and he asked to stay in contact as a mentor of sorts, which we did. Fast-forward to a few years later, where I’m in a new job at a clean-label ingredients company and looking to make a connection into one very large, very important multinational packaged foods company to explore a commercial relationship. Turns out that candidate number 4 — after not getting the internship with me before — had interned with this same multinational. I contacted him to see if he could broker an intro. Not only could he, but he got me to the exact right person in the right department. He made a glowing introduction, and we ultimately “jumped the line” in advancing our commercial relationship with the multinational. And it was all because of a relationship with a person I didn’t hire.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

My dad, who passed away last year. He spent several decades at The Ford Motor Company in various engineering roles, which later evolved into management and leadership roles. Growing up, around the dinner table, he’d often share the latest project he was working on and what challenges they were facing. And he’d ask my brother and me, “What would you do? What decision would you make?” I can remember these discussions going all the way back to elementary school. He’d often say “the engineering is interesting, but it’s really just a bunch of math and physics and some equations. It’s the people challenges that are way more interesting. How do you get people to really believe in a project?” Those dinner table conversations 3+ decades ago informed a lot of the way I think about teamwork and leadership.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Today’s opponent is tomorrow’s teammate.” I coach youth baseball in my free time. For me, what’s far more important than winning and losing is how we play the game. Do we respect the rules of the game, our teammates, our opponents, the umpires? Do we play with commitment, with grit, with hustle? As soon as my kids started playing in multiple leagues, it dawned on me that quite literally a kid you’re playing against on Friday is your teammate in a different league on Saturday. That just highlights the importance of treating everyone with respect and kindness, because the lines between teammate and opponent can blur fast. That translates far beyond the playing field. You never know where and when you’re going to cross paths with a coworker, customer, supplier, competitor, or rejected internship candidate again.

You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

1. Always a student. I’ve been in commercial leadership roles for companies that make and sell jeans and apparel, canned tomatoes, kids’ cooperative board games, algae-based cooking oil, plant-based foods, clean-label ingredients, and sustainable jet fuel. I’ve been to trade shows and events across many of these industries. And on 3 separate occasions — in 3 completely different industries — after explaining my product at a trade show, I was asked, “Are you the inventor or technical leader for this product?” I’m far from any of those. I haven’t invented anything, and my technical expertise is limited to a couple of college science classes (that didn’t go all that well). What I did do, though, is learn a lot about my products, the market, and…

2. There’s no substitute for excitement…(picking up the story above) figure out how to convey what mattered to the customer succinctly and with real excitement. And that’s because I truly did (and do) get excited by my industries and products. I never get tired of giving my pitch, even if it’s the 50th time that day (gotta love trade shows!). I still get a kick out of people thinking I invented some of these products or that I am an R&D wizard. What I really am is someone who is able to convey genuine curiosity and excitement about what I’m doing and engage with folks to understand what problems they’re having and how I can help.

3. Be ready to go from backup to starter. A few years ago, while in the apparel world, I was part of a team heading to Europe to begin post-acquisition integration of a company we’d just bought. I got a frantic call from my manager, the team leader, while at the gate getting ready to board. Turns out she’d misread the expiration date of her visa (have to pay attention to mm.dd.yy vs. dd.mm.yy!), and she couldn’t make the trip. I was now the lead. Leading up to the trip, though, I had in the back of my mind, “I should be ready to step up just in case,” and I prepared that way. So, slotting in as the team leader was pretty seamless, and we did what we needed to do and then some.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion about the tech tools that you are helping to create that can make a positive impact on the planet and the environment.

To begin, which particular problems are you aiming to solve?

Commercial aviation is a vital lifeline that connects people, products, and ideas around the world. Commercial aviation is also one of the single largest emitters of greenhouse gases.

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How do you think your technology can address this?

Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is among the best tools around to keep people flying and save the planet all at the same time. We are one of many companies figuring out SAF. What makes BioVeritas different is that we have a technology that can unlock a larger variety of feedstocks than anyone else. Today’s technologies can only access a limited slate of feedstocks, all with inherent volume limitations. When feedstocks are constrained, product volume is constrained. When volume is constrained, demand is left unfulfilled. These constraints ultimately lead to carbon emissions that otherwise could have been avoided. Our technology at BioVeritas can lift those constraints to meet demand and, ultimately, abate carbon emissions.

Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to originally feel passionate about this cause?

As mentioned, I’ve worked in a lot of different industries. All of them have their own intellectual challenges. (Spoiler alert: more often than not, regardless of industry, the challenge is the same. Are we truly solving a problem for someone, and can we deliver that solution on terms that make sense for them?) As also mentioned, I have a lot of excitement for the products I’ve worked on. But some industries left me unfulfilled at a principles level. I began noticing that I had more excitement for the products that not only solved some problem well but also did it in a way that was good for people and the planet. And this disconnect showed in how I showed up. I was happier, more engaged, and less disillusioned when things went sideways (as they inevitably do).

As for SAF, I fell into it by chance and not by design. BioVeritas was working on an application of its technology for food; my background in packaged foods, ingredients, and plant-based protein led me to join. As is often the case with startups, for a number of reasons we executed a major pivot and we turned our same technology towards a different problem: aviation emissions.

How do you think this might change the world?

The paradigm I grew up in is “in order for a product or solution to be sustainable, it must also be less [effective, productive, functional] — there’s a tradeoff.” And while tremendous progress has been made over the past several decades to minimize the tradeoff — the electric cars of today can stand toe to toe with their fossil-fueled cousins — that position is tenuous. Just look at where American energy policy is headed. Traditional technologies, like coal, are coming back into favor at the expense of solar, wind, and EV.

SAF is a solution that can transcend this tradeoff and that’s a win-win for everyone involved including farmers, airlines, and the planet. It meets the technical rigor required of all jet fuels, meaning it leaves nothing on the table performance-wise. And it does this with a substantial carbon emissions reduction vs. fossil fuels. SAF can directly decarbonize aviation, but more broadly can make the sustainability trade-off narrative one of the past.

Based on your experience and success, can you please share “Five things you need to know to successfully create technology that can make a positive social impact”?

1. Know what problem you’re solving. I led a brand of algae-based cooking oil. It’s the best cooking oil on the planet (great for heart health, stability at high heat, neutral flavor). My team and I grew it over 400% in under 2 years. Yet we couldn’t sustain repurchase. Why? Because as amazing as the product was, it didn’t really solve a problem. To use a well-worn Silicon Valley metaphor, this fantastic product was a “vitamin” — something you should use because it’s good for you. It wasn’t a “painkiller” — something that solved a pressing need. It’s the painkillers that have the most staying power.

2. Sustainability is #2, at best. This is perhaps obvious, yet is a trap that so many sustainability-oriented brands, products, and companies fall into. Sustainability is great. There’s loads of consumer research that shows consumers say they’re willing to pay for sustainability. Yet they rarely do. And that’s because being sustainable just isn’t as compelling as whatever fundamental problem it is that you’re trying to solve (see #1). Whether it’s algae oil or clean-label ingredients or SAF, the sustainability story can only be a complementary part of the story. Without that clearly defined underlying problem becoming resolved you’re offering a vitamin. When’s the last time you took your vitamins every day, without question, without fail?

3. Stakes must be placed in the ground. I’ve been the non-technical marketer amidst a sea of PhDs at several different companies. I have the utmost respect for scientists and engineers. They are literal wizards. And one thing that drives the wizards is the idea that there’s always room to improve just a little more, to squeeze out a little more efficiency, to make the technology just a little better. At some point, though, we have to hit pause and sell something, because without that commercial part, well, there’s no business. At the plant-based food startup, where I managed product for the US, they had this figured out. The product development process was a well-oiled machine, with numerous well-defined steps where we literally signed off and locked in on product requirements, specs, and processes and hit pause on the minor improvements, so we could make way for commercialization. This process was imported from the digital tech space, and to see it deployed in a packaged food environment with the same level of urgency as tech was impressive. This cycle drove home the importance of picking spots to put some stakes in the ground, commercializing with excellence, and then picking up the wizardry again later on down the road.

4. Policy matters. Many new-to-the-world technologies need a little bit of a boost to get rolling, and government has often provided that boost. It’s not long-term subsidy or life support, but rather targeted and temporary incentives that help move the industry down the cost curve such that it can become self-reliant faster. And as great as a technology can be, losing sight of the policy angle can bring it all to a screeching halt. In the sustainable jet fuel world, the latest budget bill from the White House preserved some key incentives, but at a decidedly lower level of commitment than the previous administration, despite best efforts from many across the industry to keep them intact. I was on Capitol Hill not too long ago meeting with Republican Congressional staff, explaining the value of these incentives. My personal politics would generally veer me away from Republican Congressional offices. But today’s opponent is tomorrow’s teammate, right?

5. Messaging complexity needs to be inversely related to technical complexity. Continuing the point above, we could’ve gone into those Congressional offices and explained the magic of directed mixed culture fermentation and the benefits of low-energy acid recovery and how they translate to low carbon intensity…but to what end? What mattered far more to this audience was how these incentives for SAF ultimately benefited the American farmer who grew our feedstocks — something that all sides of the aisle agree on. To support this message and these meetings, on the day we met with GOP staff, The Daily Caller published a piece that BioVeritas authored focusing on the value of SAF for the American farmer. We knew the Daily Caller audience would be less moved by carbon intensity and an in-depth technical discussion and more by how to expand American energy leadership with the support of the American farmer. We created a clear, compelling, and straightforward narrative that relayed a relatable story.

If you could tell other young people one thing about why they should consider making a positive impact on our environment or society, like you, what would you tell them?

One of my favorite business school professors, whose focus was corporate social responsibility, would often talk about how when a new dog is introduced to the pack, it’s given “the sniff test” to quickly figure out if it’s at least minimally acceptable to the pack. Without passing that initial sniff test, there’s no chance for long-term acceptance. She’d often parallel that to the business world. Don’t go into your first volume and profit review talking about sustainability and carbon impact — that’s a quick fail on the sniff test. Understand what the pack wants, like drivers of volume trends, opportunities to expand margin, and ROI on the different levers to drive growth. Once someone is well-accepted into the pack, they can start layering in emissions and carbon abatement and sustainability metrics — and those conversations will be much more impactful because of the “business fundamentals” foundation they sit on.

I got a ton of foundational experience when working in the brand marketing function at a major canned fruits and vegetables producer. It wasn’t sexy, and we weren’t saving the planet, but I got lots of hands-on experience on the nuts and bolts of managing a business unit. It’s made me better in every role since, most all of which have had a strong sustainability bent. My advice for younger folks would be it’s better to play the long game: get the experience of what really makes a business run, and then use that as a foundation for driving sustainability.

Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)

Dan Campbell, Head Coach, Detroit Lions. Yes, they’re my hometown team who I’ve been riding with for the last 40+ years. What he’s done, though, is nothing short of a miracle — and his lessons stretch way beyond sports. The Lions were a losing organization with a losing culture. In just a few short years, under his leadership, they are winning consistently, they have swagger, and players want to play for them. We all know that “organizational culture” is that special sauce that enables certain companies, teams, and organizations to excel. Every organization has culture, whether they manage it or not. Dysfunctional or ineffective cultures permeate the landscape across every industry. And changing a culture is really hard. Dan Campbell did it and did it fast. I want to learn how.

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational, and we wish you continued success in your important work.

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