They say everything's bigger in Texas, including climate change. That's why Houston is leading the energy transition. Here in H-Town, the fourth largest city in the United States, entrepreneurs from across Texas and around the world are gathering to work with titans of industry to build the technology that will reduce emissions and power a low carbon future.
Welcome to Energytech Startups with Nada Ahmed and Jason Ethier. We sit down with those change makers and wildcatters who are solving the toughest energy challenges with trillions of dollars on the line. We dig into how Houston will bring technology to market on a massive scale. Join us as we talk with the leaders of the energy capital of the world as they show us how the energy transition gets done.
One drop of PFAS can contaminate an Olympic sized swimming pool, and 90 percent of us are carrying it in our blood. Dana Vazquez, cofounder and Chief Commercial Officer at Coflux Purification, explains why the current industrial fix is basically a giant Brita filter headed for a landfill, and how her team built a material that captures forever chemicals and destroys them in one step. Plus the liability bill coming for companies that wait, and what it takes to get a first skid into the field.
Click here to watch a video of this episode. (https://app.collide.io/content/GAhHiKv)
Join the conversation shaping the future of energy.
Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.
Apply today at collide.io (http://collide.io/)
Click here to view the episode transcript. (https://share.transistor.fm/s/cb39e71c/transcript)
00:00 Intro
01:14 Meet Dana Vazquez
02:04 What PFAS is and why it never leaves
06:23 From consulting to co-founding
09:12 How the technology works
13:44 Scaling up and staying modular
16:47 The regulation picture
18:40 Liability is the real driver
23:30 Home filters and what actually works
26:45 Funding the build
30:46 Why this one is personal
32:25 The first field deployment
37:03 Scientists and business people
42:43 What the fall looks like
45:36 The trouble with testing
47:15 Where to find Coflux
https://twitter.com/collide_ai
https://www.tiktok.com/@collide.io
https://www.facebook.com/collide.io
https://www.instagram.com/collide.io
https://www.youtube.com/@collide_io
https://bsky.app/profile/collide-ai.bsky.social
https://www.linkedin.com/company/collideai
4 Aug 2026
Jacob Vizinat & Jason Harry from Iron Stag Advisory & Pontem Analytics
Two engineers who spent years driving innovation inside a major oil company get honest about why the offshore world will land a robot at 20,000 psi but won't swap the pen and paper. Jacob Vizinat of Iron Stag Advisory and Jason Harry of Pontem Analytics unpack the corporate immune system, why the real value lives in the rock, the black magic of flow assurance, and how the right advisor can turn a single pilot into a real shot for energy tech founders.
Click here to watch a video of this episode. (https://app.collide.io/content/zrCm5kw)
Join the conversation shaping the future of energy.
Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.
Apply today at collide.io (http://collide.io/)
Click here to view the episode transcript. (https://share.transistor.fm/s/100970cf/transcript)
00:00 Intro
00:46 Meet Jacob and Jason
02:34 Life as a petroleum engineer
05:55 Driving innovation inside a major operator
08:26 Trading pen and paper for iPads
11:35 The corporate immune system
16:20 Why the value lives in the rock
26:32 Flow assurance and black magic
32:46 How short-term thinking kills innovation
36:00 Building advisory firms after the merger
38:35 Drones, robots, and the rare orchestrators
46:31 What it takes to go offshore
48:00 Reading the 2025 market
53:25 Why founders avoid the gold mine
56:02 Advice for early stage founders
1:01:12 Where to find them
https://twitter.com/collide_ai
https://www.tiktok.com/@collide.io
https://www.facebook.com/collide.io
https://www.instagram.com/collide.io
https://www.youtube.com/@collide_io
https://bsky.app/profile/collide-ai.bsky.social
https://www.linkedin.com/company/collideai
22 Jul 2026
Gabe Cuadra from Powerhouse Ventures
Flat load growth is dead, and AI just flipped the whole power sector on its head. Gabe Cuadra of Powerhouse Ventures gets into what that means for founders chasing capital in climate and energy, why algorithms alone never make a real moat, and how to actually pitch an early stage VC without wasting the room. Plus the messy truth about selling into utilities, spotting founder market fit, and why Houston is quietly turning into a place worth building.
Click here to watch a video of this episode.
Join the conversation shaping the future of energy.
Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.
Apply today at collide.io (http://collide.io/)
Click here to view the episode transcript. (https://share.transistor.fm/s/1e403795/transcript)
00:00 Intro
00:45 What keeps a climate investor up at night
01:55 How Powerhouse Ventures invests
05:20 AI, load growth, and a changing grid
08:30 What traction looks like at early stage
10:25 Finding founder market fit
12:00 Houston vs the coasts
18:13 How to pitch early stage VCs
19:18 Why algorithms are never the moat
25:04 The reality of selling into utilities
28:17 Gabe's winding road into energy VC
34:40 Inside the investment process
37:02 Founder red flags
42:21 Standing out when you pitch
43:30 What has him excited next
46:27 The case for Houston
48:50 How to reach out
https://twitter.com/collide_ai
https://www.tiktok.com/@collide.io
https://www.facebook.com/collide.io
https://www.instagram.com/collide.io
https://www.youtube.com/@collide_io
https://bsky.app/profile/collide-ai.bsky.social
https://www.linkedin.com/company/collideai
Who has been a guest on Energy Tech Startups
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Abhinav Jain
Imran Kizilbash
Jamal Khawaja
Brighten Praslicka
Matt
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
YouTube views
2,459,652
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Apple Podcasts (US)
4.7 / 5
3 ratings
Spotify
3.8 / 5
4 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 84 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
87
Social presence
100
YouTube
86
Engagement
67
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