The leaders of large companies have many priorities, oftentimes competing. These could include projects from operational improvements, R&D investments, JVs, to M&As. I will posit the need for a well thought out Anti-disruption Strategy as a part of a balanced portfolio on the time and risk axes. The current macro…

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its 6th report, which stated the unequivocal role of humans in warming the ocean, atmosphere, and land (here is a good summary). The report went on to state that, “Many changes in the climate system become larger in direct relation to increasing…

I wrote about the need to develop domestic energy storage manufacturing in India in 2018, which now seems like ages ago. Some of the recent policy actions in the country and key industry moves tend to portray what opportunities might lie ahead as the country decarbonizes. The flurry of actions…

I recently finished Bill Gates’ recent book, How to avoid a climate disaster. Having been in the sector, I found the book with relevant facts, framing of the problems (by segments), and the associated opportunities as we tackle 51 Gigatons (Gt) of CO2-equivalent emissions globally. To use the book’s parlance…

In these writings here in the past I’ve often discussed new technologies, both on the generation and consumption side, for the solutions for decarbonization. However, an equal, perhaps more important lever is to either reduce wastage or find better use of the ‘wasted’ resource. California’s success to reduce energy consumption…

This blog is a slight change from the regular topics. It’s about a couple of my pedagogical detours, and experiences where in the process I learned a lot myself. …

S-Curves have provided a good mental model for product adoption, product market fit, and start-up growth. At the core, the adoption of new products starts slow, accelerates rapidly (with the right product-market fit), and then plateaus. The journey is marked with emotions, from hope, hysteria, to doom. This post is…

One recent statistic that caught my eye is Amazon’s shipping cost. In 2019, it was $37.9B and has been growing at ~30% y/y. According to Morgan Stanley, it is projected to be a whopping $151B by 2027. While the absolute dollar figure is huge, and I got intrigued to get…

I recently wrote about the need for innovation in ‘traditional sector’ companies and used cathode materials in lithium-ion (li-ion) batteries as an example for showcase the challenge and also the opportunity. That post led to several subsequent discussions including understanding risk, planning for innovation and growth. …