Redesigning the Future of Work in Climate Tech: The Transformation of Earthshot Labs

This blog post is part of 80+ case studies of progressive organizations we created for the ZeroDX awards 2025. These organizations embody the principles of RenDanHeYi in their work structures:

• Zero Distance to customer: Decision what to build is based on insights from the marketplace

• Autonomy: Small teams with full decision-making autonomy enable speed in execution

• Shared Rewards: Everyone in the micro-enterprise participates in its financial success.

The company began in 2021 with high ideals. Inspired by Teal organizations and the practices explored by Corporate Rebels, Earthshot’s founders envisioned a flat structure, equal pay, and decentralized leadership. In the early days, it felt possible. The team was small and close-knit. But when a $9 million seed round in 2022 enabled rapid hiring, the dream ran into friction. "We started off wanting to do everything differently, but the lack of shared structure began to cause real confusion," recalled Andrea Dennis, the first woman hired at Earthshot and now its General Coordinator, where she supports operations, coaching, and cultural development across the organization.

By the middle of 2023, the climate tech sector had cooled. Series A funding fell through. Earthshot faced a liquidity crunch. Some employees left. Those who remained were forced to refocus on survival. Andrea described this as amoment of reckoning–an opportunity to ask not just how to stay afloat, but what kind of organization they truly wanted to be.

Andrea had long studied purpose-driven leadership in nonprofit and environmental education settings. But in 2024, she enrolled in the Corporate Rebels Masterclass and found language and tools that helped her frame the path forward. One concept she encountered stood out: the notion that every team could function as a self-managed unit,directly responsible for outcomes and closely aligned with the users they serve. "How can we be an innovative climate tech company changing our relationship with nature if we’re not changing how we work together?"

This principle mirrors some of the core ideas found in Haier's RenDanHeYi (RDHY) model, which emphasizes autonomy, user focus, and distributed responsibility. The connections with RDHY principles are clear: a belief indecentralization, team-level accountability, and removing traditional managerial bottlenecks.

Later that year, at Earthshot’s first post-crisis retreat, Andrea presented a new vision for how they might work. It was not about imposing a blueprint, but about offering a set of principles–autonomy, transparency, shared responsibility–that could help the team co-create its next chapter. Theresponse was swift and positive. "Let’s do it," one team member said, echoing the energy in the room.

In the months that followed, Earthshot reorganized itself. They adopted a decentralized structure, built aroundautonomous project teams and expert groups, supported by coordinating circles. The former hierarchies were replaced by clearly defined roles: facilitators, coordinators, representatives, notetakers. A central guidebook, updatedin Notion, became the go-to place for working norms and responsibilities. The result was not perfect, but it was functional, and crucially, it felt like theirs.

This new way of working made room for initiative. Employees were encouraged to stay close to users and propose ideas grounded in real needs, a dynamic that resonates strongly with RenDanHeYi’s 'zero distance' principle. "Weused to wait for the CEO to decide," Andrea noted. "Now someone sees a need, forms a pod, and just does it." One junior employee, barely out of university, launched a Geographic Information Systems team to improve data sharing. Itworked and became the norm. When internal tensions surfaced around proposals, a spontaneous Open Space session led to the creation of an “innovation pod” that still exists today.

Behind the scenes, more difficult work was taking place. Earthshot had started with an equal pay model, but it didn’t survive first contact with real-world demands. "I have a family. I live in downtown San Francisco. I literally cannot–thatwould be a huge pay cut," one candidate told them. In 2024, Andrea led a total redesign of compensation using an external benchmarking tool and internal modifiers to ensure fair pay across roles and regions. The model now blends market data with equity considerations; it’s transparent, structured, and revisited regularly.

Alongside this, Earthshot introduced a collective profit-sharing model designed to reflect the contributions of all teams. Even in a year when the company didn’t break even, Earthshot awarded a bonus as a gesture of trust and solidarity,reinforcing a culture grounded in mutual support and shared success.

Throughout the transformation, the cultural shift was perhaps the most profound. "People need permission to expresstheir leadership," Andrea reflected. "And that permission needs to come from the group, not from mom and dad." New habits emerged. People documented decisions. They proposed solutions rather than waiting for directions. Transparency became a default.

Finance reports moved from being quietly posted to being discussed in open forums. The result: deeper understanding, better questions, and more collective problem-solving.

Today, Andrea serves as Earthshot’s General Coordinator. Her role spans operations, coaching, and cultural stewardship. Rather than dictate or manage, she facilitates, guides, and supports others to lead. She describes her current approach as a “coaching model” that helps people reflect on their development, articulate goals, and take ownership of their learning. "It’s been incredible," she said.

Earthshot Labs is expanding with intention. The structure they built was never meant to be static. It adapts as the organization does, shifting to support new needs, new markets, and new ways of working. As the company takes on larger and more complex projects, its teams are exploring how best to maintain the coherence and autonomy that have defined their success so far. Changes are unfolding thoughtfully, and collectively. What began as a response tocrisis has become a confident commitment to ongoing evolution–always collaborative, grounded in purpose, and open to learning.

In a field where innovation is often synonymous with technology, Earthshot Labs is demonstrating that the way wework can be just as meaningful as the products we create. Their approach to organizational design–rooted in trust, shared responsibility, and continuous learning–reflects a quiet but deliberate shift toward a more thoughtful future of work. The connections to RenDanHeYi principles are visible in how teams take ownership of outcomes, stay close to users, and operate with real autonomy. Through their commitment to both ecological restoration and organizational integrity, they are showing that sustainable impact begins with how people collaborate every day.