Emin Askerov
Cleantech FOAK Advisor

A new, comprehensive guide to FOAK in cleantech

How the EU can build its own battery industry

When scaling from Demo to FOAK, one of the biggest decisions is whether to hire an EPC company or manage the build yourself

Here is your 5-step framework to simplify your FOAK management structure.

Batteries have brought me to Korea once again. The last time I was here was just before the COVID lockdown, and now, I’m back—this time in Eumseong, the heartland of Korea’s battery industry —at the factory of JR Energy Solution . I’ve mentioned JR in my posts before, and there’s an hour-long interview with its founder and CEO, Duke Oh , on my podcast . JR is my client, and I’m thrilled to be helping them scale! Who is JR Energy Solution? Founded in 2022 , JR Energy Solution

Review of Breakthrough Energy and Cleantech for Europe report on the state of European manufacturing competitiveness

In any type of off-take, price will be the central point of negotiations. There are many pricing options available - fixed, floating, pass-through, CAPEX-based, return-based, etc. But before we go into the nitty-gritty of price structuring, let’s get the basics right. Going into the pricing negotiations, your objective is to keep the FOAK project profitable! There are a few challenges to that.  First, your FOAK is about building something solid, so you will be spending a lot

New Allianz report on EU Auto Industry and its three missing elephants.

What to do wıth Europe's auto industry?

No sugarcoating. No diplomatic cushioning. Just a stark reality check.

The 4-step framework for choosing climate tech scale-up business model

What Canoo failure can teach cleantech scaleups?

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

Here is my 4-step framework to determine if your tech is a drop-in solution

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

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

2024 was a brutal year for hardtech climate startups.

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