189: How to Build a Global Marketplace for Water w/ Josh Adler, Sourcewater [Main T4C episode]

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Joshua A. Adler is the founding CEO of Sourcewater, the world’s largest geospatial data and digital-market hub for viewing, analyzing and understanding wastewater logistics within the crude oil and natural gas industries. Wastewater creates the largest operating costs today for unconventional energy sources like hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking. Sourcewater mitigates these problems for more than 1,200 clients through data analysis to help locate, recycle and dispose of wastewater in the energy ecosystem while reducing costs and environmental impacts. Josh’s interest in the unconventional energy world grew when he studied for his MBA as a Sloan Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. But he’s worked in different industries and has founded companies in various fields, including real estate, medical technologies and energy.  He started an online dating site called Amore during college while earning his Bachelor’s degree at Yale, and he later served as chief speechwriter to the U.S. treasury secretary under former President George W. Bush. On this caffeinated career conversation, Josh explains the ups-and-downs of risk-taking, stresses the benefits of networking, and reflects on his college-years to provide advice for current students. If you’re an entrepreneur looking to enter a new field or want to learn how to turn past experiences into future employment opportunities, take a listen to this episode!

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT IN THIS EPISODE:

• How to build a business in a field you know nothing about
• What is missing in the energy sector and how Sourcewater’s filling the void
• Why success is rare and why it takes time
• Why your great idea is only 1% of the hard work to build your business
• How to keep your goals in mind while balancing critical feedback
• How to network using past academic and extracurricular connections
• Why asking “stupid questions” in the classroom is a good thing in the longrun
• How curiosity, mistakes and hard work can lead to opportunities in myriad fields