“Things that people assume are going to be easier are often way harder than they think.” If there was one quote about #FOAK, this would probably be it. And it doesn’t matter what you are building - an #SMR or a FOAK chemical plant. The assumptions you make about some steps being easy always come back and kick your ass. The quote comes from Kairos Power CEO Mike Laufer, in a podcast episode of The Green Blueprint. Mike and his team are currently building Hermes-2 - a 50 MW SMR

A downloadable 5-step framework for finding clients for your FOAK startup

Your FOAK supply chain doesn’t start when you place the first order — it starts when you design your pilot. Miss that moment, and delays, overruns, and “unavailable parts” will follow. In my new post, I go through five steps to build your supply chain before your FOAK becomes real.

Alternative business model for a battery factory

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?

How to transform from project to product.

They IPO’d before raising VC. Here’s why that was genius. ATOME Energy didn’t follow the usual startup playbook. No pre-seed. No seed. No...

Off-takes are the holy grail of climatetech FOAKs. Conditional off-takes are the norm. Is there another way?

Don’t play with the government. That’s a rule my father taught me. He built his business in the 90s and early 2000s in Russia. He knew...

Hear Olivier Mussat, the CEO and founder of ATOME, about the role of fertilizers.

Airbus just quietly moved the launch of its hydrogen-powered plane from 2035 to 2045. In corporate speak, that’s not a delay—it’s a...

Where do you get FOAK Expertise? From FOAK advisors, who have done a FOAK before. Meet the new branch of cleantech ecosystem - the FOAK assi

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...

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...

The best guide so far on scaling up climate tech from Breakthrough Energy Catalyst

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲?