Emin Askerov
Cleantech FOAK Advisor

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.

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, utilities loved the high price that they passed on to consumers, and factories loved having “just the right” unit. But times changed, and the transformer industry didn’t. Until now. Meet One Power, a U.S. company taking the most boring, glacial, and conservative part of the grid… and flipping it on its head. Not by reinventing the tech, but

Data shows that 10x returns are extremely rare in the climate tech

What will be the next phase for the battery industry: boom, or bust?

Your First-of-a-Kind (FOAK) project is where your climate tech startup is a startup no more. Investors, customers, and even your own team won’t fully believe in your technology until they see it in action at scale. So, how do you get it right? 𝟭. 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗨𝗻𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 Murphy’s Law is real. FOAK projects never go as planned - delays, supplier failures, site issues, regulatory holdups. How do you prepare? • Use real-world data: Look at similar completed proj

Do acquisitions of climate tech startups by Big Oil help or hinder energy transition?

I have no idea. Still, the question has been popping up in my head now and again for the last year. Every time I see some “hydrogen mobility” startup raising money or investors piling in some EV-charging solutions business, I hope that it's just me being wrong about the industry's future rather than hype-guided investors throwing cash at the most charismatic founder whose only plan is to spend investor’s cash.  Viktor Pelevin, in his cult classic “Generation π,” colorfully de

A Pilot is your first real-world test—where you prove that your technology works outside the lab.

A 3-step framework for scaling-up to FOAK

De-icing a frozen water tower in the middle of nowhere is not on anyone’s job description. However, this is a reality that you can come up against when you are scaling up your climate tech and building your FOAK.  Most climate podcasts focus on finance, policy, or shiny new tech. But real stories of scaling climate hardware? Rare. That’s why The Green Blueprint episode, “𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱’𝘀 𝗕𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗗𝗔𝗖 𝗙𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆,” caught my attention. Host L

Venture investors watch the world burn and seek refuge in virtual worlds

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?

You have to choose between your ego and your fees. This was a phrase I heard while listening to the Redefining Energy podcast episode “Northvolt - Epitaph.” It sums up perfectly the choice Europe is facing in the battery industry. Here is why.  This year, I’ve actively traveled around Europe, meeting with battery industry players. I was representing my client, a Korean company specializing in the most difficult part of battery manufacturing - making anode and cathode electrod

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

If the magnitude of a problem is reflected by the books written about it, which would win?