News

Important Update from Greentown Labs’ CEO

A version of the following message was sent to the Greentown Labs community from its CEO and President, Kevin Knobloch, on Friday, April 5, 2024. Members of the press can direct any questions to Greentown’s SVP of Marketing and Communications Julia Travaglini at julia@greentownlabs.com.

Dear Greentown Labs Community, 

I am writing with difficult news. After painstaking consideration, we are reducing the size of the Greentown team by 30 percent and reluctantly saying goodbye to many talented professionals. This reduction represents 12 roles at our Boston incubator and 6 roles at our Houston incubator. 

How we got here. 

Greentown Labs grew rapidly over the past four years in pursuit of advancing its mission to catalyze climate action through entrepreneurship, partnership, and collaboration. This created a structural deficit where growth outpaced revenue. The combination of evolving demands on our services post-COVID, dramatic growth of the team, and significant change in senior leadership have all played a role in our current financial situation. We have unfortunately reached a point where Greentown needs to focus on reducing expenses and rightsizing our organizational structure, which will position us well for our next chapter of growth. 

Despite this decision, I remain optimistic about the future for Greentown and the impact we will have on addressing the climate crisis. Our mission is as urgent as ever and we remain committed to supporting all of you—our startups—by prioritizing core operations, member services, and strategic partner engagements. 

Roles for our colleagues.

Our departing employees are smart, passionate, talented professionals whom we were privileged to have on our team. If you are interested in exploring hiring any of our impacted employees or connecting them with opportunities in your network, please reach out to Lydia Bowers, our HR consultant, for more information. I know other mission-driven organizations would be fortunate to have them—just as we were. 

Moving forward.

The Greentown of today and tomorrow remains relentlessly committed to incubating climatetech startups. We will continue to provide best-in-class labs, desks, programming and resources for our members, and foster strategic partnerships with entities that are equally as passionate about climatetech innovation. 

Sincerely,

Kevin Knobloch
CEO and President
Greentown Labs