Paris to Possibility - Change NOW

From Paris to Possibility: Building What Actually Scales at Forests to Fortune

Forests to Fortune had a strong showing at ChangeNOW in Paris earlier this month.

Alongside engaging with aligned investors and leaders in the regenerative economy, one moment at the event stood out.

A member of our team came across “Stop Disrupting & Start Building” by Costas Papaikonomou—a perspective that closely mirrors how we think about building, scaling, and investing.

Why This Matters

For years, innovation has been framed around disruption—speed, scale, and replacing what came before.

But in the physical world—land, forests, supply chains, and communities—this model is often misunderstood.

Instead of viewing these systems as broken, we must recognize they are complex, interdependent, and optimized for resilience.

As Papaikonomou argues, lasting progress doesn’t typically come from tearing systems down.It comes from working within them and improving them in ways that can actually scale.

What We’re Seeing in the Market

At ChangeNOW, one theme was clear:

There is growing capital flowing into regeneration, but a persistent gap between ambition and execution.

We continue to see solutions that:

• Depend on behavior change before delivering value.

• Require new infrastructure before proving adoption.

• Attempt to redesign entire systems rather than integrate into them.

• Systems that require endless donations to sustain themselves.

These approaches struggle—not because the intent is wrong, but because they challenge the wrong layers of the system.

Where Forests to Fortune Fits

At Forests to Fortune, we see this play out in a different domain:

“The most valuable systems aren’t built—they’re cultivated.”

Alain Romero

We are an agroforestry company focused on integration with existing systems and land, building regenerative value chains within current markets, and creating durable returns through stewardship.

We focus on:

• Working fluently with existing ecosystems and land use systems

• Building regenerative value chains that plug into current markets

• Creating durable returns through stewardship and managed, productive use and sale

• 
  

Forests already function as layered, adaptive systems.

Our role is to unlock value, align incentives among stakeholders, and scale models that work within real-world constraints.

• Align incentives among landowners, operators, and capital providers.

• Scale models that work within real-world constraints

• 
  

The Builder Mindset

‘Innovation that scales is evolutionary, not revolutionary.’

“Stop Disrupting & Start Building”

“Innovation is a tool, not a goal.”

Costas Papaikonomou

In practice, this means:

• Respecting infrastructure rather than bypassing it

• Designing for adoption, not ideal conditions

• Accepting trade-offs and optimizing within them

• 
  

Forests themselves embody this principle.

They don’t scale through disruption.They scale over time through layering and continuous adaptation. The most durable companies do the same.

For Investors & Founders

If you’re evaluating opportunities in regeneration, climate, or natural capital:

Shift the lens.

Instead of asking:“How disruptive is this?”

Ask:

• Does this integrate with existing systems?

• Does it solve a specific operational constraint?

• Can it scale without requiring external systems to change first?

• Are the trade-offs understood and managed?

• 
  

Because the next generation of returns will not come from breaking systems.

They will come from understanding them deeply—and building within them with discipline.

We’re grateful for the conversations in Paris and encouraged by the emerging consensus on what it takes to scale regeneration.

The future belongs to those who build within systems.

Become a part of this exciting transition. Join us on one of our special Forests to Fortune Impact Investment Tours in Peten, Guatemala. Contact info@phi2pi.com for details.