Spotlight On Students – Sustainability Stories that Inspire

Nathan Cruz

Nathan came to Trinity via the University of London where he studied economics and politics.  After finishing a master’s in data science, he worked to develop ethical AI practices and support machine learning startups in the UK.  However, he realised very quickly that he wanted to do something with a more direct impact. He set out to tackle what he called the most critical mission we have on this planet – climate change.

Before Nathan could begin that journey, he needed an introduction to the engineering and environmental side of climate science.  He found the Low Carbon Power Technology micro-credential that Trinity offered to be perfect.  It gave him a way into climate action and served as a springboard to pursue another degree.

After completing the course, it was time for Nathan to put what he learned into practice.  He asked himself “what am I good at, what would I enjoy?”  The answer turned out to be business and gaming combined in the form of a new company called Bold Donut that he co-founded with business partner Kate Williams. The aim of the company is to enable sustainability professionals to engage and educate a wider audience with fun interactive content.  He added, ‘games are a good vehicle for building intuition about how something complex works.’  Nathan set out to develop games that were fun and had a useful learning outcome.  The name was inspired by Donut Economics, which he says inspired him because of how such a transformational idea was expressed in a visual appealing and intuitive way.

There were struggles getting started as goes with any business.  He was surprised at how boring getting a business going can be - wearing so many hats, working on financial projections, filling out paperwork and the like.  He says it takes time to get where you want to go and it is harder than you think.  Almost a year in business and he says they’re finally getting somewhere in terms of revenue, they have released several games, and are raising investment next year. 

Nathan has some good advice for those that might want to start along a similar path: “talk to people about your idea. A lot of people might be embarrassed or think that people might steal their idea, but it is a very common mistake to keep your idea to yourself.  Talk to people you don’t know, talk to potential customers and experts.  The sooner you do this the sooner you’ll learn and the idea itself will improve.  Even if you don’t have an idea, if you are passionate about a problem, learn as much as you can about the industry, even message relevant people randomly on LinkedIn. “Get out of the building” so to speak. It is really execution that matters, actually doing the thing and building the necessary relationships around solving the problem.  If you can explain it in five minutes and someone can run off and do it, then maybe it wasn’t the right idea anyway.”

He says to seek out different perspectives in order to continuously challenge and validate your world view. Then you can go forth and be more confident about your ideas.

You can learn more about Nathan’s company, Bold Donut, here.  Information on Trinity’s micro credentials can be found on their website here.