Daniel Brody doesn’t see himself as a climate crusader. He’s a builder, one who’s been through the startup trenches long enough to know that success often comes from putting your head down and figuring stuff out.

“I’ve been in tech for 30 years. A couple exits, a couple bombs. Like everybody else in this business. That’s the way it goes.”

And yet, through a mix of curiosity, timing, and relentless execution, Daniel now finds himself leading XGC Software, a bootstrapped startup quietly working with governments to make carbon markets more trustworthy, equitable, and efficient.

The Long Road to XGC

Before carbon credits, before ERPs for entire nations, there was CareRelay.

“It was a health tech app I’d built around caregiving. Say you just picked your mom up from the hospital after hip surgery. CareRelay helped create a circle of care around her. It guided you on meds, power of attorney, everything.”

The company had traction. Pilots were underway, including one with MyChart. But then COVID hit. “We never got the financing. Everybody shut down, and I got busy with other things.”

One of those things was building an ERP system for a hospital project in Kenya. The project didn’t pan out, but it opened an unexpected door.

“My partner had done carbon credits years ago. He asked, ‘Are they doing carbon credits in Kenya?’ They were. So we started digging.”

And just like that, XGC Software was reborn not as a health app but as a carbon credit infrastructure platform.

Lessons from Learning the Hard Way

“I didn’t know a thing about carbon credits. But that’s how it’s been with every industry I’ve touched. Steel, gambling, healthcare, you jump in and figure it out.”

What he and his team uncovered was a massive gap: the data trail behind carbon credits was chaotic and prone to manipulation.

“Too many fingers touching the data. We wanted to remove that. So we built an ERP to track everything from satellite imagery to payments to blockchain tokens. Full traceability.”

And it’s not just about tech. It’s about trust.

“Governments want to know the money’s going where it’s supposed to. The farmer planting mangroves gets paid. That the tribal leader isn’t cruising around in a G-Wagon while the promised school never gets built.”

A Founder’s Edge: Bootstrapping with Grit and Network

XGC is fully bootstrapped by Daniel and two partners. “We paid out of our own pockets. One boost came from AWS. Over 16 years, I’ve spent over $10 million with Amazon across different companies. I asked for credits they gave them. That made a big difference.”

Their first client? A country government.

“No sales team, no funnels. Just someone who knew someone. Politics.”

And while XGC hasn’t focused on marketing yet, Daniel knows that will come. For now, they’re heads-down finishing a major build.

“I’ve been writing blogs when I can. But we’re in build mode.”

Their ERP system is already being scoped by several governments interested in digitizing their carbon credit infrastructure.

Thinking Beyond Carbon: A Closed Loop Vision

Even though XGC is known for carbon registry software, Daniel hasn’t left his health tech roots behind.

“If a carbon project says it’ll build a clinic, let’s give them software to actually run it. That’s where CareRelay comes back in.”

It’s part of a bigger vision: use tech to make sure commitments turn into outcomes.

And there’s more coming. XGC is developing a new product, still under wraps, that will let high-net-worth individuals offset their carbon footprints.

“If someone’s flying around in a jet, they can slap a sticker on it: ‘Carbon Neutral Certified by XGC.’ That’s powerful.”

Lessons for Aspiring Founders

Daniel didn’t start XGC to be a climate tech founder. But the through-line in his career, whether in steel, gambling, or health, is solving real-world problems with enterprise-grade systems. And that’s something he believes any founder can do.

“You don’t need to be an expert in an industry to disrupt it. You just need to build the infrastructure that’s missing.”

He’s also quick to remind aspiring founders that it won’t be easy.

“Most of what I’ve done didn’t work. But if you keep learning, if you stay scrappy, you can build things that matter. And sometimes, you find yourself helping shape entire industries.”