Chris Tolles Email & Phone Number

Oakland, Ca, Us

Yard Stick provides low-cost, scientifically-rigorous quantification of soil carbon stocks. Our mission is to enable gigaton-scale soil carbon removal and storage via scalable, trustworthy measurement solutions. We are the measurement backbone of soil carbon.Scientists and land managers alike have known for decades that climate-friendly agricultural and forestry practices have the potential to remove atmospheric CO2 at gigaton/year scale. But significant measurement challenges have held soil carbon back - until now. By reducing the cost of soil carbon measurement by 90%+, Yard Stick will dramatically expand the opportunities for evidence-based regenerative farming, ranching, and forestry practices to simultaneously improve ecosystem health, increase land manager livelihoods, and combat climate change.Powered by technologies from the world’s top soil scientists and supported by leading grant funders and venture investors, Yard Stick brings soil carbon measurement into the 21st century. Yard Stick is funded by significant USDA Climate Smart Commodities awards, additional grants from ARPA-E, NSF, and CDFA, as well as by leading climate investors including Toyota Ventures Climate Fund, Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, The Nature Conservancy, Breakthrough Energy Ventures (Bill Gates’ climate fund) and Lowercarbon Capital. Additionally, Yard Stick’s scientific advisory team features some of the most highly-regarded soil scientists in the world, including Dr. Cristine Morgan, Chief Scientific Officer of the Soil Health Institute and Editor-In-Chief of Geoderma, the world’s preeminent soil science journal.

Boulder, Colorado, Us

Unreasonable focuses on harnessing business to ensure a regenerative and just future. As of June 2024, the 419+ entrepreneurs in the "Unreasonable Fellowship" have raised more than $15 bn in financing, are shaping trillion-dollar industries, and are uplifting the lives of more than 1.6 bn people. The Unreasonable Group builds community between entrepreneurs, institutions, and investors to profitably solve pressing global problems. The Unreasonable Fellowship is by invitation only and provides a lifetime of support to select entrepreneurs operating at the nexus of impact and profit. I’m grateful to be part of this lifelong Fellowship and the broader Unreasonable community.

Cambridge, Massachusetts, Us

Sundaily is your skincare in a daily gummy. We make gummies for sun protection and skin aging. Sundaily was acquired in June 2020 by Grove Collaborative.I developed the concept, then led the launch, fundraising, inevitable pivots, janitorial services, and exit to Grove.

Newton, Ma, Us

I helped Newton-Wellesley Hospital think about innovation, patient-centricity, and patient experience. Not very successfully, tbh. Healthcare is hard to change.

I helped scientists figure out how their technology can have impact and make money.Prior to starting Sundaily I spent ~18 months "speed dating" different researchers at The Brigham and Women's, Children's Hospital, The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, and Harvard and MIT more broadly. The goal was to identify compelling pre-commercial science that's ready to be brought to market and form a company. I focused on the intersection of healthcare challenges and consumer products.It worked! See: Sundaily.

Providence, Rhode Island, Us

Executive Education at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD EE) is a global studio for inclusive design, interdisciplinary learning and real world innovation. I led business model discovery and entrepreneurial experimentation programs. It didn't go far (business models are hard to change!), but it was really fun.

Boston, Ma, Us

Emulate's Organ-Chips accurately recreate human biology and disease states. My job was to help figure out the commercial model. I think? I totally flamed out and was fired in week 7. 🙃

Boston, Massachusetts, Us

Innosight is an innovation and growth consulting firm co-founded by Harvard Business School Professor Clay Christensen, author of The Innovator's Dilemma. I helped big corporate clients plan and launch new businesses, primarily in healthcare (pharma, devices, and a bit of payor) and consumer products. The job taught me I never want to work in management consulting again.

Grand Rapids, Michigan, Us

Workspring, a new ventures effort from Steelcase, is fancy coworking, back when that was a novel concept. Over a summer MBA internship, I helped lead a pilot in Palo Alto alongside IDEO, who helped design and launch the business for Steelcase.

Us

One Earth Designs developed SolSource, a household solar cooking product focused on emerging-market, energy-constrained communities. It was an amazing product with a hopeless business model. Which is why I got my MBA!I led our design, customer insights, engineering, and manufacturing efforts in Boston and then Hong Kong.

Cambridge, Ma, Us

The International Development Design Summit is an intense, hands-on design experience that brings together people from all over the world and all walks of life to create technologies and enterprises that address global challenges. I helped organize and run the 2010 conference. Fort Collins is lovely in the summer!

Oslo, No

Atlanta, Ga, Us

Geneva, Switzerland, Ch

Bfa, Furniture Design

Mba, Leadership And Organizational Transformation