People

OUR TEAM

We are built to support the founders out there doing the real work.

Octane and Sustain SoCal have tremendous resources – we are leveraging these resources to accelerate founder progress and have maximal impact.

Neal Rickner

Managing Partner, Elevation Ventures

Neal Rickner is an experienced technology executive who specializes in advancing new ventures through their early-stages and into growth phase. Neal is the Managing Partner of Elevation Ventures. Prior to joining Octane, Neal served as the CEO of Seafire Capital, leading a team investing in aerospace, mobility and electrification companies. Prior to Seafire, Neal spent nearly a decade at Google and Google[x] leading multiple teams, most notably serving as the Chief Operating Officer of Makani, a next-generation wind-turbine company owned by Alphabet and Shell. As COO, Neal led Makani’s successful $50M series A.

Prior to working in tech, Neal served 12 years on active duty in the US Marine Corps as an F/A-18 pilot and forward air controller. He completed three tours in Iraq between 2003 and 2007, earning the Bronze Star with “Valor” device, and (13) Air Medals. He transitioned from active duty in 2009, earning dual masters degrees (business and international affairs) from Columbia University.

Neal is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a recipient of the Indiana University Kelley School of Business 2019 Distinguished Entrepreneurial Leadership Award. Neal is a Tillman Scholar, a Big Brother with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and is on the Advisory boards of the Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship at Indiana University’s Kelley Business School of Business, the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) and Vets in Tech. Neal is also a member of the Truman National Security Project’s Defense Council.

Bill Carpou

General Partner, Elevation Ventures

Bill Carpou is CEO of Octane, a business accelerator for early stage companies. Bill is also the founder and member of the Investment Committee of Visionary Ventures which operates two investment funds. Octane has created one of the nation’s most dynamic ecosystems to enable technology industry growth in Southern California by connecting people, resources and capital. Portfolio companies have received more than $3.3 Billion of capital since 2009. Prior to Octane, Bill was an Operating Partner with The Blackstone Group, working with portfolio companies to grow revenue and improve enterprise value. Bill relocated to Orange County in 1998 as the President of IKON Office Solutions and held several positions prior to leaving after the strategic exit of the company and acquisition by Ricoh Corporation.

Scott Kitcher

General Partner, Elevation Ventures

Scott has over 30 years of financial services experience in investment banking, investment management, and consulting. Just over 16 years ago, he began focusing on clean technologies. Today, he is President & CEO at Sustain SoCal, Principal at EcoFin Consulting, LLC, and serves on various corporate, non-profit and academic boards and committees in various roles almost all related to cleantech and sustainability.
After graduating from Stanford University, Scott joined Yamaichi International (America), Inc. where he soon led the firm’s Western US investment banking effort. Scott was a frequent conference panelist on US banking in Asia. In 1995, he transitioned into investment management with Eaton Vance Management where he soon became the Investment Counsel VP in charge of the Western US and national representative for Eaton Vance’s Hong Kong-based partner, Lloyd George Management.
In 2007, Scott joined a strategic consulting group where he led the vertical build-out of the company’s cleantech consulting practice. In 2008, he founded EcoFin Consulting LLC, a boutique financial and strategic consulting practice geared to assisting early stage and transitioning cleantech companies move to the next level. Hired as President & CEO of CleanTech OC (now Sustain SoCal) in April 2013, Scott leads the trade association’s strategic initiatives and operations.
Scott’s concentrated efforts in cleantech and sustainability over the last sixteen years have earned him the respect of his industry throughout Southern California. He is often called upon to speak at conferences and is regularly asked to join public and private Boards.

Rachel Payne

Venture Partner, Elevation Ventures

Rachel Payne is a Venture Partner at Elevation VC. She is an experienced climate investor, technology executive and serial entrepreneur. Rachel is an advisor to Earthshot at Alphabet [X], the Moonshot Factory and Earth Studios. Rachel recently served as Managing Director, Head of ESG/Impact and Deal Sourcing at FullCycle Climate Partners, a growth equity fund that accelerates proven, climate-critical infrastructure. Prior to FullCycle, Rachel taught a course she designed at U.C. Berkeley called “Emerging Technologies and Social Impact” with an emphasis on innovative solutions to the climate crisis. She is Faculty Advisor for Loyola Marymount University’s Master of Science in Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Innovation. After earning her Stanford MBA, Rachel joined the founding team of Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google, focused on Climate Change and Global Development as Senior Program Officer. While at Google, Rachel was also on the founding team of Google Africa and led International Business Operations in Emerging Markets, living and working in sub-Saharan Africa as Country Manager on the Africa Regional Leadership Team. She later became Principal, Global Strategic Alliances, managing Google’s important strategic partnerships. Rachel ran for U.S. Congress in California’s 48th Congressional District in the 2018 Midterm Elections. Her last startup, Prizma AI was acquired by Nielsen Gracenote in 2018.

Alex Shoer

Venture Partner, Elevation Ventures

Alex is a Venture Partner at Elevation Ventures. Prior to Elevation Alex co-founded Seeder Clean Energy, a sustainability and renewable energy services company that helps the world’s largest corporations procure renewable energy in Asia, where Alex previously lived for nine years. Alex currently advises several clean energy companies and also regularly coaches startups through Octane’s Launchpad accelerator.

Previously, Alex led WeWork’s’ B2B marketing, consulted for Google-x’s Makani, co-founded e8 Resources, a cleantech market entry consultancy and began his career in Structured Products at State Street Bank. He studied finance at the University of Georgia and has a certificate in entrepreneurship from Stanford GSB

Alex has been recognized by President Obama as a Global Impact Entrepreneur, by the Chinese government as Expat Founder of the Year and quoted by publications such as BBC, Forbes, TechCrunch, Technode and the Wall Street Journal.