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Emin Askerov
Cleantech FOAK Advisor
My insights and blog
Dive into my latest thoughts on Greentech trends, startup strategies, and investment insights. Stay ahead in the green revolution.
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A Pragmatic Climate Reset
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.
Emin Askerov
Sep 19, 20253 min read


Who will win in Long-Duration Energy Storage (LDES)?
A short comparison of LDES technologies
Emin Askerov
Sep 12, 20252 min read


The Five-Step Framework for Finding Clients for Your FOAK
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.
Emin Askerov
Sep 11, 20253 min read


The FOAK Supply Chain Framework
How to build a supply chain for your FOAK
Emin Askerov
Sep 10, 20251 min read


Another Western battery startup left lying in the Valley of Death.
The lessons of Natron Energy collapse
Emin Askerov
Sep 9, 20251 min read


The FOAK Location Selection Framework: Lessons from Choosing a Gigafactory Site
In the end, it had to be a political decision. After half a year of sifting through more than twenty locations and countless meetings...
Emin Askerov
Sep 4, 20253 min read


Overcoming change inertia
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.
Emin Askerov
Aug 7, 20252 min read


Clean energy VC is no longer booming—but it is maturing.
Latest data on clean energy VC investments. Are we seen new bubble emerging?
Emin Askerov
Aug 5, 20252 min read


Electric Mobility: What We Own, What We Share, and What We Fear
What is the future of electric mobility?
Emin Askerov
Jul 31, 20254 min read


Can a battery factory be a franchise?
Alternative business model for a battery factory
Emin Askerov
Jul 30, 20251 min read


Why diverse teams are crucial for a scale-up
How diverse teams are really built.
Emin Askerov
Jul 24, 20252 min read


Is your biggest bottleneck the product… or the team?
How to build an A-class team - HelioRec story
Emin Askerov
Jul 22, 20251 min read


Corporate Governance Will Haunt You Later: A Founder’s Guide for Cleantech Scaleups
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.
Emin Askerov
Jul 17, 20253 min read


Two Essays on Climate Investment—And What They Overlook
Two different points of view on climate investment. Both wrong.
Emin Askerov
Jul 15, 20252 min read


Building the Smart Factory: Turning a Manufacturing Idea into a 500 MWh Reality in 9 Months
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.
Emin Askerov
Jul 10, 20253 min read


Sustainable aviation - what holds it back?
Image is AI-generated. Scaling up sustainable aircraft is like scaling up nuclear power—a comparable challenge in terms of regulatory...
Emin Askerov
Jul 9, 20251 min read


What can customers teach a scaleup?
Why do many cleantech startups stall before they even start? They skip the hard part: talking to customers. When Polina Vasilenko...
Emin Askerov
Jul 7, 20251 min read


The Execution Equation: How ATOME Built a FOAK-Ready Leadership Team
Scaling a first-of-a-kind (FOAK) climate venture isn’t about ideas. It’s about execution infrastructure. And that infrastructure begins with people
Emin Askerov
Jul 3, 20253 min read


Opportunity costs of climate technologies. It's not what you think.
Why pay more to achieve less? Really, why? Yet, you see this everywhere in climatetech. How come? A reduction in man-made CO2 emissions...
Emin Askerov
Jun 30, 20251 min read


The FOAK Impact: the First Two Questions to Ask a Would-be Scaleup.
Cleantech scaleup climate impact assessment framework.
Emin Askerov
Jun 26, 20256 min read
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