A new way to approach urban wood

I spoke with Theo Hooker to learn more about his work connecting urban wood with the right people and the founder lessons he’s learned throughout this process. This is the second episode in the bi-weekly series titled “The People Behind Innovation”. The series is available under Google, Apple, Amazon, and Spotify streaming services, or on Anchor with no account needed to stream. Please contact my email, owen@exponentialimpact.com, if you have any comments or founder stories.

Theo Hooker is a Colorado College alum where he majored in Mathematical Economics with a lens towards sustainability. Following graduation, he spent a year exploring sustainable food systems across different regions, economies, and cultures across the globe as a Watson Fellow. He is now co-founder and COO of Cambium Carbon where he continues to use his critical thinking and market analysis skills.

​​Cambium Carbon uses technology to build local supply chains. They connect fallen trees to their network of sawmills and wood shops and then onto end buyers like furniture manufactures, architects, or designers. Then, they channel 15% of profit into new community tree planting.

What does it mean to be a company enabling local material supply chains?

When a tree comes down in a city, it normally ends up as mulch or tossed in a landfill. We connect that tree to our network of primary processors — think sawmills, woodshops — then onto end users — furniture makers, designers, architects. Anyone who uses wood could have this local, sustainable alternative. The final piece of the puzzle is diverting 15% of our profits back into high impact tree planting in those same communities.

Why has the urban tree supply chain been so inefficient in the past?

Right now, if a tree is coming down someone might have to go and see if it’s the right species, if it’s the right size, if there is any damage, if there is any disease — actually putting eyes on the tree to go and see it. Making it as easy as possible for more logs to be salvaged and put in the right hands is a key piece of the challenge. Oftentimes folks don’t have the machinery or the right equipment to keep it in big chunks so it can actually be usable lumber; they have to chop it up small and throw it in the back of a truck so there’s a lot of different types of constraints along the road.

How does Cambium Carbon separate itself from already existing practices?

There’s many different examples of people across the country who have used local wood materials, so we’re not reinventing the wheel. The gap that we see is that there has been no concerted effort and national scale effort to tie in that work of salvaging local materials into a broader climate story and narrative connected through technology and directed back into social and environmental impact. That’s the value we think we bring to the space — connecting these pieces under a common mission and vision and addressing real issues.

How does using Carbon Smart Wood compare to less sustainable wood sources?

One of the biggest things that comes up over and over again is setting expectations that manufacturers, companies, and consumers have gotten used to. You can go to a shop and whatever you want will be there, or you can order it online and it’ll be at your door in one to two weeks, no matter the size, species, or complexity of design. We have ingrained those expectations in our society.

With urban wood, with Carbon Smart Wood, we need to reset those a little bit, and with Carbon Smart Wood, we have the chance to add a more comprehensive and holistic definition to sustainability. To us, sustainability is not only about where the material came from. It is about that and did the employees have livable wages? Did it support local businesses? Did it have a direct positive environmental impact? Those are some of the ways we are thinking about a truly sustainable product.

What are some of the details Cambium Carbon pays attention to that traditional wood suppliers might not?

The process takes a lot of time, care, and attention to when that tree falls; how is it treated, how is it milled, how is it stacked and dried, how is it air or air dried versus kiln dried, how is it taken care of? All these details that come up in the process that a customer is not necessarily aware of but factor into the time that you might want to place an order to when it can show up at your door. Those are the things that we are trying to standardize so that this material class can compete more and more with traditional materials that customers might be expecting.

What does it mean to be structured as a Public Benefit Corporation?

It is in our bylaws that we don’t have to just focus on returning the highest profit. We can make decisions based on impact and profit. Legally and structurally, we have the backing to do that.

Having been a part of our Amplify and Ascend programs, what was your experience like working with XI?

One of the biggest challenges in any sort of startup accelerator program is meeting every business where they’re at, what their needs are, and connecting them with the right resources. The XI team has done a phenomenal job of understanding where they’re at and being really receptive to connecting them with the right resources.

In the entrepreneur world, you can get very heads down in your own work, and having an accessible community that is open to share, open to discuss problems and challenges has been a real asset and impact from being part of the cohort.

What were the biggest advantages to being involved in these programs?

​​I think in particular there’s been lots of culture and leadership building exercises that have been helpful to think about how we can go through that exercise with our own team and implement some of those ideas and experiment with them within our own culture.

But honestly, one of the biggest benefits is the off moments where you get to know another founder and you get to see how they’re working through a challenge, what they’re thinking about, and what they’re struggling with.

Want to hear more? Listen to “The People Behind Innovation” on Google, Apple, Amazon, and Spotify streaming services, or on Anchor with no account needed to stream.