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

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

Cleantech startups usually sell to mature industries, and these don't like new stuff. How can founders overcome change inertia? Ports, especially municipally owned ones, are notorious for resisting any change to how they operate. Here is a story from Polina Vasilenko on how to sell floating solar to municipal ports.

Latest data on clean energy VC investments. Are we seen new bubble emerging?

What is the future of electric mobility?

Alternative business model for a battery factory

How diverse teams are really built.

How to build an A-class team - HelioRec story

What founders sometimes fail to realise is that as you scale up, you will spend less and less time working on your product and more and more time with your investors.

Two different points of view on climate investment. Both wrong.

This post is about how Duke went from idea to operational factory in under 9 months—and what practical lessons it offers for cleantech scale-ups.

Image is AI-generated. Scaling up sustainable aircraft is like scaling up nuclear power—a comparable challenge in terms of regulatory...

Why do many cleantech startups stall before they even start? They skip the hard part: talking to customers. When  Polina Vasilenko...

Scaling a first-of-a-kind (FOAK) climate venture isn’t about ideas. It’s about execution infrastructure. And that infrastructure begins with people

Why pay more to achieve less? Really, why? Yet, you see this everywhere in climatetech. How come? A reduction in man-made CO2 emissions...

Cleantech scaleup climate impact assessment framework.

What Renault 5 might mean for the EU car industry.

The humble transformer is at the heart of the electric grid. And for decades, it’s been a tailor-made marvel. Engineers loved the craft,...

My full breakdown is now live: What’s working, what’s missing, and what scaleups, especially in cleantech and manufacturing, can do today without waiting for Brussels.

Would you consider using second-hand equipment for your pilot/demo/FOAK?