California’s forests generate an enormous amount of biowaste — material that too often becomes wildfire fuel or simply goes unused. At CleanStart’s latest Perspective webinar, John Azevedo, Founder & CEO of Forager Fuels, shared how he’s turning that problem into fuel.

Forager Fuels is building small, portable gasification systems that convert forest bio-waste into green hydrogen, with biochar as a co-product. Rather than chase a massive permanent facility, Azevedo chose a deliberately different path. “This forest waste problem is a pretty distributed form of waste,” he explained. “In every other example of industry and history, it didn’t take long for us to figure out that problem needs a distributed solution.”

That discipline runs through everything. Before designing any technology, Azevedo spent nearly a year talking with landowners, utilities, and timber operators to understand the true cost of wood-waste disposal. He credits a concept he calls the minimum viable audience: “First, you find your audience… and you get to know them extremely, extremely well. And that helps create a picture of what your MVP would look like.”

His funding strategy mirrors that patience. Backed so far by non-dilutive grants — including a circular-economy competition won through the Carlsen Center’s Circular Economy Competition sponsored by West Placer Waste Management — Forager is now raising its first outside round. Instead of asking investors for everything at once, Azevedo focuses on the next milestone. “What is the core couple of pieces of technology to prove this out at the next scale?” he said. “That allows me to keep de-risking and making it more and more attractive to other investors.”

The approach is paying off. Just weeks ago, the team pulled pure hydrogen from its proof-of-concept system. “Gosh, that felt so good,” Azevedo said, “to be able to see biomass on one side, and pure hydrogen out the other.” One major utility told him his approach could become “the blue sky option for all the biomass waste that we create.”

CleanStart Executive Director Thomas Hall captured why the story matters: “This is what CleanStart does — showcasing founders building our clean economy right here, and keeping the community close.”

If John’s work resonates with you — as a partner, customer, investor, or fellow believer in our regional clean economy — learn more at ForagerFuels.com and connect with John on LinkedIn. And to keep discovering the founders shaping California’s clean economy, join the CleanStart community at our next event.

This CleanStart conversation was made possible by our sponsors: SMUD, E2, Chico Start, and The Carlsen Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.