Awesome mate, congrats!

Thanks for digging deep! 👏

This year's donations:

$7k to Eleos AI Research (digital minds)
$7k to a new initiative launching soon (digital minds)
$7k to Sentient Futures (animals and AI/digital minds)
$7k to Arthropoda Foundation (insect welfare research)
$5k to Compassion in Machine learning (animals and AI)
$1k to others (Good Ancestors, EAGx)

Feeling thankful was able to increase the amount from last year.

Big thanks for all the folks working on all these projects and the community at large for what you all do!

Love this Aaron... thanks for sharing!

Not sure if you've tried, but you might like http://astronaut.io/ for that feeling that feeling of shared humanity.

I think the peak of value could be around the 4-6 months mark. 

Some examples of events I was involved in:

Agri-Food Innovation Summit:

June - first public look at speakers / program published
Aug - full agenda and all speakers confirmed
Nov - event

Food Frontier:

May - speakers and program announced
Oct - event

Too far out and it's hard to know what your priorities might be, lock-in risk etc.

Some questions from me:

Probability of blended meat options being introduced in X major restaurant chains by year Y
Level of government investment in alternative proteins by year X
Which precision fermentation / cultivated food ingredients will reach price parity of animal equivalents by year X

Submitting this question as a funder (early stage VC) that works in alt protein, and would influence areas to support and how to best help existing portfolio companies. Been working in this space for 5+ years and previously in broader animal movement as advocate.

Thanks Vasco for writing this post and being open minded to evolve viewpoints - much appreciated.

Do you have thoughts on whether long term it would be preferable for net suffering to have more cropland with higher amount of nematodes per sq/m etc supporting a given population size with current per capita animal consumption levels, vs relatively more consumption of land efficient alternatives to animal products, enabling higher human population and greater amount of urban/suburban land ie - with less nematodes per sq/m.

Thanks for sharing.

Reminds me a bit of the work Innovate Animal Ag are doing, not sure if the consulting part also covers the R&D / engineering or just go to market/commercialization.

It makes sense though, we've seen in other fields mission driven folks being the ones to develop all new technologies / try out their own ideas eg- climate tech, alt protein

I don't think it's so important to have someone who fully aligns with the values. There are many great marketing execs in industry who don't use their companies products, or maybe only partially identify with things personally. My suggestion - hire an executive recruiting firm focused on this sector, and ask them to target some of the most successful brands in the broader charity / social enterprise / commercial+impact space or in ad agencies who did the work. Or consider bringing in hired guns on a contract/project basis (or outsource it to an experienced agency). This is a critical brand turnaround project. Let's not try to DIY