Emin Askerov
Cleantech FOAK Advisor

Why do you need a Chief Production Officer in your startup?

2024 was a brutal year for hardtech climate startups.

I’ve just picked up my New Year read—a collection of solarpunk short stories. If you’re wondering, what is solarpunk, and why does it matter?  Here’s the heart of it: “Solarpunk is about finding ways to make life more wonderful for us right now, and more importantly for the generations that follow us—extending human life at the species level, rather than individually.” This line, from the article Solarpunk: Notes Toward a Manifesto,  hits home for me. Whether you’re in renewa

The last weekend of 2024 long-read on AI and Energy

Why should you avoid Green Premium and look for 10x value?

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆? 𝗕𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀.

Twice in my career, I’ve dealt with intellectual property (IP). Both times, I came out with one big realization: IP isn’t the holy grail investors think it is—especially when scaling hardware. The first time, I was buying a license to manufacture wind turbines. It looked promising: a ton of encrypted files, sent to our HQ with much fanfare. But when we finally cracked open the IP treasure chest, we discovered it only explained how to build one  wind turbine. The know-how to m

As 2024 wraps up, it’s time to reflect on a year that was anything but dull for the climate tech world. A buzzword dominated this year— FOAK (First-of-a-Kind).  It symbolizes the growing realization that proving your tech in a lab is one thing, but scaling it to a factory is a different beast. Many startups found themselves stuck in the dreaded Valley of Death  between proving a pilot and scaling up. I’ve written a few epitaphs on those who didn’t make it this year ( here , h

This week, I listened to two excellent podcasts dissecting the saga of Northvolt

Observations from the second week of meeting EU battery players

This week, I’ve been crisscrossing Europe, meeting with battery industry players

Running a lithium-ion battery manufacturing company made me question whether we needed a Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO). I couldn’t quite pin down a job description at the time, but I had a nagging feeling we did. Now, after diving into the role of CSOs across industries, I see how this position is evolving—and why it’s critical, even as its future in the C-suite might be uncertain. 📚 I read "Chief Sustainability Officers at Work"  by Chrissa Pagitsas in 2023. It is a co

How to negotiate a term sheet for your offtake

How do you negotiate a Letter of Intent for your offtake agreement?

Review of Clean Tech ScaleUp Manual by Climate Brick

Hydrogen is like real estate, there are three main criteria for project success: location, location, and location.

Northvolt’s stumble is not a death knell; it’s a wake-up call.

Crypto's Energy Hunger: Problem or Opportunity?

$𝟭𝟮 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻/𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿? $𝟯 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻? 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 $𝟭 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗘𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘁ion