Ben Eidelson

Ben Eidelson is a co-founding partner of Stepchange Ventures. He also co-hosts the Stepchange Show, a long-form series on the history of human progress through stories of infrastructure and technology.

Ben has spent his career at the intersection of software products and complex systems. Before founding Stepchange, he was a product leader and repeat founder, building two companies—one acquired by Google and the second by Stripe. He left Stripe to work full-time on climate and energy, wrote the widely shared Guide to Software in Climate Tech, and launched Climate Papa, a podcast exploring the links between technology, climate change, and parenthood.

Originally from Santa Barbara, Ben has spent most of his adult life in the Bay Area, graduating from Stanford with his B.S. and M.S. in electrical engineering at age 20. Ben now lives in Seattle with his wife and three kids, who inspired his shift into climate work and keep him focused on urgently deploying solutions that already work.

Ben believes that great climate companies are built by operators who deeply understand their users and can iterate quickly to product-market fit. He looks for founders with strong technical backgrounds, clear thinking about their market, and the ability to attract exceptional talent.

Through Stepchange, Ben provides hands-on support in product strategy, go-to-market, hiring, and fundraising—drawing on his experience building products and companies that have scaled to millions of users.