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FOAK Scale-Up Case - A Must-Listen for Climatetech Founders

Writer: Emin AskerovEmin Askerov

Updated: Feb 28

De-icing a frozen water tower in the middle of nowhere is not on anyoneโ€™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.ย 


Most climate podcasts focus on finance, policy, or shiny new tech. But real stories of scaling climate hardware? Rare. Thatโ€™s why The Green Blueprint episode, โ€œ๐—•๐˜‚๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ช๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—น๐—ฑโ€™๐˜€ ๐—•๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ด๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜ ๐——๐—”๐—– ๐—™๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐˜†,โ€ caught my attention.


Host Lara Pierpoint sits down with Dany Chan, COO of Climeworks, to dive deep into the gritty reality of scaling up their largest Direct Air Capture (DAC) facility. Whether you see DAC as the future of climate mitigation or just another distraction, this episode is packed with practical lessons for anyone building FOAK (or in this case, fourth-of-a-kind) climate infrastructure.


Hereโ€™s what youโ€™ll get in just 30 minutes:

๐Ÿ’ฐ ๐—™๐—ข๐—”๐—ž ๐—™๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด: How to structure funding for large-scale climate projects

ย ๐Ÿงญ ๐—ฆ๐—ถ๐˜๐—ฒ ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป: What factors drive the right location decision

ย ๐Ÿ› ๏ธ ๐—ฃ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€ ๐—˜๐—ป๐—ด๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด & ๐—˜๐—ฃ๐—–: how are they related and how much power can you cede to EPC

ย โณ ๐— ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฅ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ธ: How to stay on track when tech challenges threaten deadlines

ย ๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿปโ€๐Ÿ’ผ ๐—ง๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—บ ๐—–๐˜‚๐—น๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฒ: Keeping motivation high when things donโ€™t go as planned

ย โ„๏ธ ๐—ช๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€๐˜๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ช๐—ผ๐—ฒ๐˜€: Unexpected challenges in extreme conditions

ย ๐Ÿงฉ ๐— ๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐˜‚๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฟ ๐——๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ป: Help or hindrance in construction

ย ๐Ÿ“ˆ ๐— ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐˜ ๐—˜๐˜…๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€: How they affect your NOAK


If youโ€™re scaling a climate startup or knee-deep in operations, this episode is worth every minute. Practical, honest, and full of insights from the frontlines of cleantech scale-ups.


Listen, learn, and let me know what you think. And if youโ€™re navigating your own scale-up journeyโ€”letโ€™s connect and talk! Listen to the episode here. If you like it, make sure to check out my podcast WattsUpWithStartups on Spotify, or watch it here, on my website!



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© Emin Askerov, 2023.

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