We don’t have a cleantech innovation problem — we have a FOAK execution problem. Over the past year, I’ve been building something I wish I had when I started scaling my first climate tech venture: a practical, experience-based framework for getting First-of-a-Kind (FOAK) projects off the ground. In my latest article, I’ve pulled together my 50+ posts into a structured overview that maps the FOAK journey—from the moment you decide to leave the lab to the day your NOAKs are r

Three things could be done to improve Europe's competitiveness. Only one can be done fast.

We need more capital to bridge the FOAK “valley of death” in climate tech — but not at any cost. Lately, I’ve seen two worrying ideas gaining ground: crowdfunding that asks ordinary people to “invest like VCs,” and proposals to channel pension money into the riskiest stage of startup growth. Both sound democratic. Both are dangerous.

The Occam's Razor as applied to electric cars

The military has always been the earliest adopter of new tech. Dirk Singer noted that today it’s also one of the biggest investors in e-fuels — not for climate goals, but for energy security. Like solar panels in the 1990s, disruption often starts on the battlefield.

I spoke with a European founder developing his own battery cells. Just getting permits for the mixing and coating stages pushed his...

I’ve seen this before—in Russia. Decisions made not for policy, not for strategy, but for unchecked power. Now I see this playing out in...

Robotaxi reality check

Airbus showed Europe can beat giants like Boeing through distributed collaboration. Could batteries follow the same path—moving from vertically integrated gigafactories to networks of “partners in success”?

I stumbled across Martin Gallardo’s post and decided that it would be worthwhile to rewrite my comment into a full post. The consulting...

This was my second Battery Day in the Netherlands. Last year I came for the first time and was surprised at how much battery innovation...

Crossing one valley of death is hard enough for any startup. For aviation startups, there are three!

A surprising revival of boring business amid the tech hype

Climate VC funding fell more than 3x from its peak in 2021

Michael Liebreich’s recent provocation on the Pragmatic Climate Reset raises many important points. One that stood out to me is that the climate movement has lost credibility by clinging to maximalist narratives while failing to deliver practical benefits. This inspired me to reflect on my own journey — ten years in climate tech yet still facing the gap between professional work and personal choices.

A short comparison of LDES technologies

Over the years, I’ve distilled some patterns into a five-step framework for finding your clients—tailored to the realities of FOAK and climate tech.

How to build a supply chain for your FOAK

The lessons of Natron Energy collapse

In the end, it had to be a political decision. After half a year of sifting through more than twenty locations and countless meetings...