Key Learnings from Episode 26: Building a Decarbonisation Data Business with Marc Munier, CEO of DitchCarbon

In Episode 26 of Beyond the Raise, published on 9 November 2026, Marc Munier, CEO of DitchCarbon, joins Alex Horner and Will to discuss building a SaaS business that helps large organisations measure and reduce their supply chain emissions. Drawing on more than two decades of experience in software sales and business growth, Marc shares the lessons behind DitchCarbon's journey, from early product pivots and complex enterprise sales to building a distributed team and adapting hiring strategies in the age of AI.

Finding a Climate Problem That Software Could Solve

Marc's career began in sales, moving from door-to-door selling into software and eventually helping to grow and exit technology businesses.

An early experience selling a £200 software upgrade demonstrated the scalability of the model. Unlike physical products, software could be developed once and delivered to additional customers with relatively little effort.

By 2021, Marc wanted to apply that experience to tackling climate change. Rather than approaching the problem as a scientist, he looked for an opportunity where his knowledge of software and commercial growth could make a difference.

DitchCarbon emerged from that ambition. Its platform helps large companies collect, understand and act on emissions data, particularly across their supply chains.

Key Takeaways

• Previous commercial experience can provide a valuable foundation for entering a new sector.

• Software offers opportunities to address complex problems at scale.

• Founders do not necessarily need scientific backgrounds to contribute to climate solutions.

• Identifying a problem that suits an existing skill set can provide a practical starting point.

Why DitchCarbon Had to Pivot Several Times

DitchCarbon's first target market was small and medium-sized businesses. Marc believed their collective environmental impact represented a significant opportunity, particularly as few solutions appeared to serve them effectively.

The challenge was identifying which businesses would actually buy the product. Two otherwise similar companies could have completely different attitudes towards sustainability, making customer targeting difficult.

The first version of the platform was built using Bubble for approximately $3,000. It had a basic interface, with much of the actual service delivered manually behind the scenes.

Although DitchCarbon secured some customers, the market proved difficult to serve commercially.

The business subsequently explored providing Scope 3 emissions data through an API, followed by a partner-only distribution model. Neither approach delivered the results Marc had expected.

The breakthrough came when a front-end interface, initially developed to demonstrate the technology to partners, attracted interest from enterprise customers.

Rather than continuing to rely exclusively on intermediaries, DitchCarbon began selling directly to large organisations.

Marc is open about the fact that this was not a carefully planned progression. Each iteration challenged assumptions about the product, its customers and the most effective route to market.

Key Takeaways

• A large potential market does not automatically translate into an accessible customer base.

• Early products can help test demand without requiring substantial development investment.

• Distribution models need validating just as carefully as the technology itself.

• Customer interest can reveal opportunities that differ significantly from the original business plan.

Recognising the Value of an Enterprise Customer

One of DitchCarbon's defining moments came through an introduction to a major pharmaceutical company.

The organisation had remaining budget to allocate before the end of the year and was interested in whether DitchCarbon could solve a particular data challenge.

The opportunity developed quickly, with a contract signed before the Christmas break.

For Marc, the significance went beyond securing the deal. It demonstrated that a large organisation was prepared to trust DitchCarbon with a complex problem and invest in its solution.

The relationship subsequently expanded to approximately 130 users, with the original contacts remaining involved and the contract renewed over several years.

Marc believes this experience illustrates an important aspect of pivoting. Finding the right opportunity is only part of the process; the business must also develop the capabilities and mindset needed to deliver it.

He acknowledges that an earlier version of DitchCarbon might not have been ready to take advantage of the same opportunity.

Key Takeaways

• A significant early customer can validate both a product and its commercial direction.

• Customer introductions can create opportunities that conventional sales approaches might miss.

• Successful pivots often depend on organisational learning as much as market discovery.

• Delivering for an initial enterprise customer can create the foundation for longer-term relationships.

Understanding the Realities of Enterprise Sales

Moving into enterprise sales required DitchCarbon to reconsider its expectations around deal size, sales cycles and resource allocation.

Marc contrasts his earlier experience selling marketing software, where deals could close within days or weeks, with DitchCarbon's current average sales cycle of approximately six months.

Some opportunities take nine months to a year.

These are often six-figure, multi-year agreements involving numerous stakeholders. Even when one individual strongly supports the product, a purchasing decision typically requires broader organisational agreement.

This makes stakeholder mapping and building relationships across several departments essential.

Marc is also cautious about responding to requests for proposals (RFPs) without an existing relationship. In his experience, suppliers entering the process late can spend considerable time preparing submissions with limited prospects of success.

DitchCarbon has similarly changed its approach to partnerships. Rather than investing substantial resources in speculative opportunities, it now charges partnership fees for more extensive support.

The underlying lesson is about recognising the cost of pursuing opportunities, particularly when a small business has limited time and resources.

Key Takeaways

• Enterprise sales require patience, financial planning and sustained engagement.

• Building support across multiple stakeholders is often necessary to secure large contracts.

• RFPs can consume significant resources without offering a realistic route to winning business.

• Charging for substantial partner support can help protect a company's time and capacity.

Why Scope 3 Emissions Are So Difficult to Measure

DitchCarbon focuses on one of the most complicated aspects of corporate decarbonisation: Scope 3 emissions.

Under the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, corporate emissions are divided into three categories.

Scope 1 covers direct emissions from activities such as burning fuel in vehicles or operating industrial equipment. Scope 2 covers emissions associated with purchased energy, including electricity.

Scope 3 includes other indirect emissions across a company's value chain, including those associated with purchased goods and services.

For large organisations, this can involve collecting information from thousands of suppliers, each potentially using different measurement methods, reporting formats and verification processes.

Even when suppliers have calculated and published their emissions, the information is not necessarily comparable or easy to access.

Companies also need evidence to support their calculations and satisfy auditors. This means identifying the original reports, understanding how figures were produced and establishing whether they have been independently verified.

DitchCarbon's platform addresses these challenges by collecting, normalising and verifying emissions information so that enterprise customers can use it more effectively.

Key Takeaways

• Scope 3 emissions present substantial data challenges because they extend across complex supply chains.

• Supplier emissions information is often inconsistent in format, methodology and availability.

• Reliable calculations require traceable evidence as well as emissions figures.

• Making existing data usable can be as important as collecting additional information.

The Hidden Complexity of Data Normalisation

When asked about DitchCarbon's hardest technical challenge, Marc identifies entity resolution.

The problem arises when the name of a supplier in a company's procurement system does not match the organisation publishing the relevant emissions information.

For example, a customer might purchase services from Accenture France, while the available emissions report relates to the wider Accenture group.

The platform must establish the relationship between those entities, locate the correct documents and connect the relevant emissions information to the customer's supplier records.

This becomes particularly complicated when large corporate groups have numerous subsidiaries and publish extensive documentation.

Marc explains that resolving these relationships proved more difficult than extracting and verifying the emissions figures themselves.

It took considerable time for DitchCarbon to develop an effective approach.

The discussion also highlights a broader issue: procurement data is frequently incomplete or inconsistent, reflecting what Marc sees as historic underinvestment in the function.

Key Takeaways

• Entity resolution connects supplier records with the correct corporate organisations and reporting documents.

• Inconsistent company names and complex ownership structures create significant technical challenges.

• Accurate data matching is essential for reliable emissions reporting.

• Improving underlying procurement data can support better environmental and commercial decisions.

Why Procurement Teams Are Central to Decarbonisation

Marc believes procurement teams have an important role in reducing corporate emissions, yet their contribution is often undervalued.

Traditionally, procurement is viewed primarily through the lens of controlling costs. However, effective purchasing decisions can improve margins while influencing a company's environmental impact.

For businesses with extensive supply chains, procurement teams also have direct relationships with the suppliers whose emissions need to be measured and reduced.

Marc has observed that the most effective enterprise customers involve procurement professionals from the beginning of their engagement with DitchCarbon.

Sustainability teams may develop detailed calculations and reduction plans, but those plans are unlikely to deliver meaningful change without support from the people responsible for purchasing decisions.

Category managers therefore need both reliable information and the practical ability to act on it.

This makes collaboration between sustainability and procurement departments essential.

Key Takeaways

• Procurement teams can influence both business performance and supply chain emissions.

• Sustainability data has limited value unless it informs operational decisions.

• Early involvement from procurement professionals can improve implementation.

• Effective decarbonisation requires cooperation between departments rather than isolated sustainability initiatives.

Building Trust with Large Organisations

Selling to major enterprises involves more than demonstrating that a product works.

Marc explains that large organisations need confidence in the supplier's reliability, security and ability to deliver over time.

That confidence develops through repeated contact, customer references and evidence of operational maturity.

For DitchCarbon, this includes SOC 2 compliance, appropriate insurance, detailed contracts, penetration testing and clear information about data hosting and subcontractors.

Independent verification has also played an important role.

Marc discusses DitchCarbon's work with UL Solutions to verify its data extraction processes against relevant ISO standards.

Although obtaining this verification required a substantial financial commitment, he considers it essential to winning enterprise customers.

These measures help buyers demonstrate internally that they have selected a credible supplier and undertaken appropriate due diligence.

The investment can be worthwhile because enterprise relationships, once established, often become long-term arrangements as customers build workflows around the data provided.

Key Takeaways

• Enterprise buyers need evidence of reliability alongside product capability.

• Security, compliance and contractual readiness can determine whether a deal progresses.

• Independent verification can provide valuable reassurance when customers depend on data for audited reporting.

• Trust develops through consistent delivery, credible references and sustained relationships.

Scaling a Distributed Team

DitchCarbon was established in 2021, when remote working had become widely accepted.

Marc initially saw distributed hiring as an opportunity to access talented people regardless of their location.

The company subsequently built a team spanning several countries, including the UK, South Africa, the US, Bangladesh and parts of Europe.

This approach provided access to a wider talent pool while helping the business manage costs during its early development.

It also offered flexibility while DitchCarbon was still testing different products and business models.

As the company has grown, however, Marc's view has become more nuanced.

He now sees particular value in bringing sales and marketing colleagues together in London, where informal conversations, shared learning and exposure to customer interactions can improve performance.

Other functions, including engineering, analysis and customer success, continue to operate successfully across different locations.

Distributed working also allows DitchCarbon to provide customer support across extended hours.

Key Takeaways

• Remote hiring can help early-stage companies access talent beyond their immediate geography.

• Distributed teams can provide cost and operational flexibility during periods of uncertainty.

• Different functions may benefit from different working arrangements.

• Hiring structures should evolve alongside the needs of the business.

Creating Accountability Across Time Zones

Operating a distributed team requires deliberate communication practices.

DitchCarbon established an asynchronous working culture early in its development, encouraging detailed handover notes and accessible documentation.

Meeting recordings and AI-generated notes allow employees to revisit discussions, particularly when time zones or language differences make real-time communication challenging.

Another important practice is the company's daily Slack update.

Every employee shares a short summary of their work at the end of their day, including progress, priorities and any obstacles.

These updates provide visibility across the organisation without requiring everyone to work simultaneously.

Marc also shares notes from customer sales calls, allowing engineers and other colleagues to understand how their work is being received.

This creates opportunities for feedback and helps connect technical development with customer experience.

For Marc, these practices support a sense of shared ownership despite the team's geographical separation.

Key Takeaways

• Asynchronous communication needs clear expectations and consistent documentation.

• Daily updates can improve visibility without relying on constant meetings.

• Sharing customer feedback helps connect different functions to business outcomes.

• Distributed teams benefit from deliberate opportunities for collaboration and recognition.

How AI Is Changing Hiring Decisions

As DitchCarbon has grown, Marc's approach to recruitment has changed significantly.

The business has moved away from relying on numerous part-time contributors, finding that these arrangements can create management complexity and make sustained ownership difficult.

Instead, Marc increasingly looks for people who can take responsibility for an entire project or deliverable.

Rather than hiring someone simply to execute a series of instructions, he wants employees who can understand the wider business objective, develop an approach and deliver results independently.

AI has accelerated this shift.

Marc argues that tools such as Claude can now complete many routine tasks that previously required junior employees.

In engineering, he believes the greatest value comes from people who can understand business problems, translate them into technical requirements and use AI to increase their output.

DitchCarbon consequently prioritises highly capable employees who can combine independent judgement with effective use of technology.

Marc also acknowledges the potential consequences of this approach, particularly for people entering the workforce.

Key Takeaways

• DitchCarbon increasingly prioritises project ownership over task-based execution.

• AI is changing the balance between routine work and higher-level problem-solving.

• Employees who can define problems and evaluate solutions remain particularly valuable.

• Reduced demand for junior roles raises questions about future skills development.

The Challenge of Developing Future Leaders in an AI-Enabled Business

The conversation explores a difficult question: if AI reduces the need for junior employees, how will businesses develop the next generation of experienced professionals?

Marc acknowledges that founders and senior leaders can now complete more work independently using AI tools.

While this increases productivity, it can also reduce opportunities for other employees to participate in decisions and learn from experienced colleagues.

He reflects on the difficulty of transferring knowledge when much of a leader's thinking takes place through private interactions with AI.

Sharing a conversation history is not necessarily equivalent to working through a problem together.

The discussion also considers the importance of management skills, constructive feedback and critical thinking.

Marc recalls a former manager who responded to problems by asking employees what they thought, helping them develop their own judgement rather than simply providing answers.

These experiences can be harder to replicate when fewer people are involved in day-to-day work.

Although Marc does not claim to have a solution, he sees intellectual curiosity and the ability to question information as increasingly important capabilities.

Key Takeaways

• AI-enabled productivity may reduce traditional opportunities for workplace learning.

• Developing judgement requires more than access to information or automated answers.

• Critical thinking and constructive challenge remain important professional skills.

• Businesses need to consider how knowledge and leadership capabilities will transfer between generations.

Looking Ahead

Marc's ambition for DitchCarbon is to deliver measurable environmental impact at scale.

He wants the business to become a leading source of Scope 3 emissions information, comparable in its field to Bloomberg's position in financial data.

Over time, he sees opportunities to expand beyond carbon emissions into other environmental, social and governance information, including water, waste, deforestation and modern slavery.

The entity resolution capabilities developed for emissions reporting could provide a foundation for bringing together these additional datasets.

However, Marc believes the company's greatest challenge is finding the right people.

As DitchCarbon grows, it needs employees who can take ownership, use AI effectively and contribute independently to its mission.

For Marc, technology can support the company's ambitions, but people remain essential to delivering them.

Final Thought

DitchCarbon's development illustrates how building a successful business rarely follows a straightforward path.

Marc's experience highlights the importance of testing assumptions, responding to customers and recognising when an established approach is no longer working.

His reflections on enterprise sales, technical complexity and hiring also demonstrate that scaling requires more than a strong product. It depends on building the systems, relationships and capabilities needed to deliver consistently.

Perhaps the simplest lesson comes from Marc's answer when asked for the best advice he has received as a founder: listen to your customers.