Stop Disrupting, Start Building with Costas Papaikonomou

What if the most profitable climate investments aren't sexy at all? Costas Papayconomou, co-founder of Una Terra, spent a career in innovation consulting (including building and selling an agency to Accenture) before turning to circular economy investing. His thesis is simple and counterintuitive: don't disrupt old industries, clean them up. In this episode, Costas walks us through investments that sound boring but are brilliant: a cellulose-based white colorant replacing toxic titanium dioxide (with IKEA as lead investor), smarter food packaging that cuts energy use while making meals taste better, and paper pulp innovations. He shares why founding teams should be obsessed with customers, not investors. Why they literally added "does this violate the laws of physics?" to their deal screening. And why the talent war, not regulation, will ultimately force every industry to go green. His closing advice: look for the smallest problem that affects the most people.