15 Rules for Building Billion-Dollar Projects On Time, On Budget

Big projects routinely blow their budgets, schedules, and sometimes the companies building them. But research across 16,000+ projects reveals surprisingly consistent rules for getting them right.In this solo episode, I translate lessons from How Big Things Get Done by Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner into practical strategies for entrepreneurs building factories, energy projects, infrastructure, and other capital-intensive businesses.Seven lessons for entrepreneurs:Assume your forecast is too optimistic. Compare your project with what actually happened on similar projects, not just your own projections.Plan slowly so you can build quickly. Mistakes are cheap on paper and brutally expensive once construction starts.Don’t innovate everywhere at once. A breakthrough project can combine mostly proven components with a small amount of genuinely novel technology.Find your LEGO brick. Standardization, repetition, and modularity can dramatically reduce cost, complexity, and execution risk.Hire people with scars. Your first commercial project should not also be your contractor’s first attempt at building one.Shrink the window of vulnerability. Every extra month creates more exposure to inflation, tariffs, elections, supply chains, and other surprises.Align incentives before construction begins. Structure contracts so everyone wins when the project succeeds, rather than profiting from delays and change orders.Read about all 15 tips here:https://entrepreneursforimpact.substack.com/p/15-rules-for-building-big-projects--Are you a VC- or PE-backed CEO building in energy, infrastructure, or climate tech?Join 45 CEOs and 45 investors and post-exit founders who help each other make better decisions on capital, strategy, scaling, and leadership.See if the CEO community is a fit → entrepreneursforimpact.comGet smarter on energy, infrastructure, and climate tech in 2 minutes.Join 40,000+ professionals getting practical insights on startups, investing, commercialization, strategy, and leadership.Get the free newsletter → entrepreneursforimpact.substack.comHelp more people find this podcast.If this episode was useful, take 20 seconds to follow the show or leave a rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It helps bring these conversations to more entrepreneurs, investors, and executives.

Nitrogen fertilizer feeds billions of people. But producing it consumes staggering amounts of energy. Switch Bioworks is engineering microbes that could replace industrial fertilizer with biological alternatives at a fraction of the cost.Company bio:Switch Bioworks is a biofertilizer company engineering programmable microbes that colonize plant roots and then switch from growth to producing ammonia, giving crops access to nitrogen without relying entirely on conventional fertilizer. Initially targeting the roughly 100 million acres of U.S. corn, Switch has raised nearly $24 million in venture capital plus roughly $5 million in grants and is developing technology that could eventually extend to phosphorus and other biological applications.Guest bio:Tim Schnabel is the founder and CEO of Switch Bioworks, which grew out of his Stanford PhD research into genetically engineering plant-root microbes to produce fertilizer. A scientist-turned-entrepreneur and lifelong plant obsessive, Tim has spent roughly a decade working on biological alternatives to the century-old Haber-Bosch process while learning how to translate deep science into a venture-scale business.Seven things you’ll learn in this episodeHow engineered microbes can replace conventional nitrogen fertilizer by turning plant roots into miniature fertilizer factories.Why Switch’s microbes must grow first and produce ammonia second, and how a genetic switch makes that possible.How a few grams of microbes could replace tens of pounds of fertilizer, potentially driving production costs toward $1 per acre at scale.Why winning over risk-conscious farmers requires multiple seasons of field data and proof from neighboring farms, not just better science.How deep-tech founders navigate the catch-22 of needing commercial traction to fund R&D before the technology is fully proven.Why Switch’s programmable biology could eventually move beyond nitrogen to unlock phosphorus already trapped in agricultural soils.Why Tim believes “ferocious networking,” no-regrets decisions, and mindfulness are essential tools for surviving the long journey from scientist to CEO.--Are you a VC- or PE-backed CEO building in energy, infrastructure, or climate tech?Join 45 CEOs and 45 investors and post-exit founders who help each other make better decisions on capital, strategy, scaling, and leadership.See if the CEO community is a fit → entrepreneursforimpact.comGet smarter on energy, infrastructure, and climate tech in 2 minutes.Join 40,000+ professionals getting practical insights on startups, investing, commercialization, strategy, and leadership.Get the free newsletter → entrepreneursforimpact.substack.comHelp more people find this podcast.If this episode was useful, take 20 seconds to follow the show or leave a rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It helps bring these conversations to more entrepreneurs, investors, and executives.

Legendary venture capitalist Brad Feld, co-founder of Foundry Group and Techstars and author of Give First, explains how founders can use resilience, mentorship, long-term thinking, and non-transactional relationships to build stronger startups and startup communities, especially in climate tech and turbulent markets.This podcast was so important when we recorded it last year that I'm republishing it now. Company bio:Foundry Group is a venture capital firm that invests in technology startups and venture funds across the U.S. Techstars is a global startup accelerator and entrepreneurial network built around mentorship, founder development, and the philosophy of “Give First.”Speaker bio:Brad Feld is a legendary venture capitalist, entrepreneur, author, and longtime startup mentor who has spent four decades investing in and advising 4,000+ founders. His book, Give First, explores how non-transactional generosity can strengthen founders, relationships, and startup communities.Seven things entrepreneurs will learn in this episode:Why the best founders treat startup near-death experiences as “type 2 fun” and keep adapting when conditions turn against themWhy “Give First” means helping without negotiating the return upfront, not giving endlessly or ignoring your own needsHow to distinguish mentors, advisors, coaches, and investors, and why confusing those roles creates bad expectationsWhy healthy boundaries make generosity more sustainable for both founders and mentorsHow reputation and relationship capital compound over decades, often producing opportunities you could never have engineered transactionallyWhy failed startups still create valuable learning, talent, and technology that can compound across an entrepreneurial ecosystemWhy climate innovation needs positive-sum founder communities that share knowledge and support each other through shifting markets, politics, and funding cycles--Join our confidential CEO community.Private CEO group for VC/PE-backed climate tech founders navigating capital, strategy, and scale. Capped at 45 CEOs and 45 Mentors (investors and post-exit CEOs), representing $40B in enterprise value or investment capital.→ entrepreneursforimpact.com Join 40,000 professionals who get our free newsletter.Climate tech finance, strategy, leadership. 2-min read.→ entrepreneursforimpact.substack.comLeave a 20-second podcast review.If you found it valuable, be a climate community builder and rate, review, or follow the podcast on Apple and Spotify. It helps push more capital and talent toward scalable climate solutions.

Climate tech is scaling fast. But the data shows huge gaps in industrial decarbonization, carbon removal, energy storage, and the capital needed to turn breakthrough technologies into profitable businesses.Company bio:Speed & Scale is a climate action initiative built around measurable objectives and key results (OKRs) for reaching net-zero emissions, originating from John Doerr’s Speed & Scale framework. https://speedandscale.comIts Climate Tech Map, developed with partners including Breakthrough Energy, Elemental Impact, Energy Innovation, McKinsey Sustainability, and Stanford’s Doerr School, organizes thousands of climate technologies into a navigable roadmap of decarbonization opportunities.https://climatetechmap.comGuest bios:Ryan Panchadsaram is co-author of Speed & Scale and an investor at Doerr Capital, where his work spans climate technology investing, philanthropy, and climate strategy; his earlier career includes entrepreneurship and public-sector leadership. Quinn is Director of Research at Speed & Scale, and an investor at Doerr Capital, where she helps translate complex climate, technology, and market data into actionable frameworks for investors, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and professionals entering climate tech.Seven things you’ll learn in this episode:Why steel, cement, and food may offer more climate-tech whitespace than the crowded energy sector.Why climate technologies need a green discount, not just cost parity.How deep tech founders can prove their path from expensive prototype to profitable scale.Why manufacturing talent often needs to join a climate startup earlier than founders expect.Why long-duration energy storage is emerging as a major investment opportunity.Where climate capital is surging—and where promising technologies are still starved for funding.Why successful leaders should spend more time creating than consuming.--Join our confidential CEO community.Private CEO group for VC/PE-backed climate tech founders navigating capital, strategy, and scale. Capped at 45 CEOs.→ entrepreneursforimpact.com Join 40,000 professionals who get our newsletter.Climate tech finance, strategy, leadership. 2-min read.→ entrepreneursforimpact.substack.comLeave a podcast review.If you got value, take 30 seconds and do the community a favor. It helps push more capital and talent toward scalable climate solutions.

Climate CEOs are expected to project confidence. But acting invincible can make investors, employees, and customers trust you less.This minisode explores the "vulnerability paradox" and why selective candor can be a leadership advantage.Confidence and vulnerability aren’t opposites — CEOs need to project conviction, especially during fundraising, layoffs, missed milestones, and difficult customer negotiations. But pretending everything is perfect can undermine credibility.People connect through shared struggle — Investors, employees, and customers respond to leaders who acknowledge that building companies is messy. The perfectly scripted founder story rarely feels believable.Share challenges selectively — Vulnerability doesn’t mean telling everyone everything. Share the right mistakes, lessons, and unresolved challenges with the right audience.Replace perfection with learning — “Here’s what we’re learning” can build more trust than pretending everything is going according to plan.Candor can be commercially valuable — Trust matters in fundraising, hiring, partnerships, and enterprise sales. Sometimes admitting uncertainty strengthens the relationship instead of weakening it.The core lesson — Strong CEOs don’t need to look invincible. They need to know when confidence builds trust, and when honesty builds more.👉 Get the written summary:https://entrepreneursforimpact.substack.com/p/climate-ceos-stop-acting-invincible--1️⃣ Join our confidential CEO community.Private CEO group for VC/PE-backed climate tech founders navigating capital, strategy, and scale. Capped at 45 CEOs.→ entrepreneursforimpact.com2️⃣ Join 40,000 professionals who get our newsletter.Climate tech finance, strategy, leadership. 2-min read.→ entrepreneursforimpact.substack.com3️⃣ Leave a podcast review.If you got value, take 30 seconds and do the community a favor. It helps push more capital and talent toward scalable climate solutions.

What if America could add gigawatts of nuclear power without building new nuclear plants? Alva Energy is upgrading existing reactors to produce 20–30% more power, potentially adding 200–300 megawatts per plant in just 3–5 years.Company bio:Alva Energy is developing technology to increase the output of existing nuclear power plants by upgrading their nuclear steam systems and adding a second turbine generator. The company is already working exclusively with six operating reactors, and estimates projects could add roughly 200–300 MW for around $1B, less than one-fifth the cost of new nuclear construction.Speaker bio:James Krellenstein is the co-founder and CEO of Alva Energy. A physicist by training and the son of a nuclear engineer and energy economist, James combines nuclear technology, project finance, and first-principles thinking. Alva has raised a $32M Series A led by former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger with Playground Global.Five lessons for entrepreneurs:Look for billion-dollar opportunities hiding in plain sight – Alva’s core nuclear uprate approach had already been demonstrated in Sweden. The opportunity came from understanding why it hadn’t scaled in the US—and redesigning around that bottleneck.Go to the source material – James traces part of Alva’s technical insight to reading a 15,000-page nuclear engineering filing. Secondary summaries are convenient; sometimes the best opportunities are buried several layers deeper.Design the financing alongside the technology – Alva separates its venture-backed TopCo from individual project companies that can use project debt and equity. The goal is to make nuclear upgrades financeable like other infrastructure assets.Don’t let venture capital’s obsession with speed destroy execution – Demand grew faster than Alva expected, reaching engineering exclusivity with six reactors in under two years. James has deliberately tapped the brakes when necessary because nuclear engineering quality matters more than locking up TAM.Align incentives around getting projects built – Instead of relying on traditional time-and-materials contracts that can reward higher project costs, Alva uses fixed-price structures and invests alongside project investors. Everyone benefits from bringing projects online faster and cheaper.--1️⃣ Join our confidential CEO community.Private CEO group for VC/PE-backed climate tech founders navigating capital, strategy, and scale. Capped at 45 CEOs.→ entrepreneursforimpact.com2️⃣ Join 40,000 professionals who get our newsletter.Climate tech finance, strategy, leadership. 2-min read.→ entrepreneursforimpact.substack.com3️⃣ Leave a podcast review.If you got value, take 30 seconds and do the community a favor. It helps push more capital and talent toward scalable climate solutions.

Most hiring mistakes don’t happen because CEOs can’t recognize talent. They happen because interviews reward candidates who are good at interviewing.This minisode explores a more rigorous method for hiring executives (topgrading), and how climate CEOs can uncover performance patterns before making an expensive mistake.Look for patterns, not polish — Walk through a candidate’s career job by job to understand what they accomplished, where they struggled, why they left, and what patterns repeat.Ask the same questions about every role — What were you hired to do? What did you accomplish? What were the low points? Why did you leave? Consistency makes comparisons easier and exposes gaps.Use the Threat of Reference Check — Ask candidates what each former boss will say about their performance. Knowing you may verify the answer tends to produce more candid responses.Test for startup fit, not just executive credentials — A successful Fortune 500 executive may struggle when the job requires getting into the weeds during a funding round, factory scale-up, or major customer deployment.Spend more time before the hire — A rigorous interview process takes longer upfront. But that cost is tiny compared with losing six months to the wrong executive and starting the search again.The core lesson — Your goal isn’t to hire the best interviewer. It’s to find evidence that someone has repeatedly produced the results you need in environments similar to yours.👉 Get the written summary:https://entrepreneursforimpact.substack.com/p/the-climate-ceos-method-for-hiring--1️⃣ Join our confidential CEO community.Private CEO group for VC/PE-backed climate tech founders navigating capital, strategy, and scale. Capped at 45 CEOs.→ entrepreneursforimpact.com2️⃣ Join 40,000 professionals who get our newsletter.Climate tech finance, strategy, leadership. 2-min read.→ entrepreneursforimpact.substack.com3️⃣ Leave a podcast review.If you got value, take 30 seconds and do the community a favor. It helps push more capital and talent toward scalable climate solutions.

What if commercial businesses could cut clean energy project costs by up to 45%, all while someone else finds, buys, finances, and operates on-site systems on massive real estate portfolios?Company bio:VECKTA Energy is a technology platform that helps businesses design, procure, finance, and operate on-site energy systems, including solar, batteries, and generators. Its platform can analyze thousands of data points across large property portfolios, identify the best opportunities, and connect buyers with a network of 4,000+ suppliers, developers, equipment providers, and financiers.Speaker bio:Gareth Evans is the founder and CEO of VECKTA Energy. An environmental scientist by training, his career took him from oil and gas projects in Iraq to leading a global power consulting practice, where he saw firsthand both the vulnerability of traditional energy supply chains and the complexity of buying distributed energy systems.Five lessons for entrepreneurs:Turn complexity into your moat – Vecta sits between consultants, developers, financiers, equipment providers, and customers. Instead of avoiding a fragmented market, it built technology to coordinate it.Align your business model with customer outcomes – Customers pay a subscription, but Vecta also earns a success fee when projects actually get contracted. The company wins more when customers move from analysis to steel in the ground.Sell economics before sustainability – Gareth has watched customer priorities shift from sustainability toward cost, predictability, and increasingly reliability. Meet customers where their budgets and pain actually are.Follow customers into new markets – Rather than expanding internationally because the TAM looks attractive, Vecta follows existing customers into new geographies, pressure-tests the model, and then decides where to invest at scale.Earn your stripes before chasing the title – Gareth’s advice to younger leaders: be patient, learn the craft, take difficult assignments, and build credibility. Responsibility is more valuable when you’ve developed the judgment to handle it.--1️⃣ Join our confidential CEO community.Private CEO group for VC/PE-backed climate tech founders navigating capital, strategy, and scale. Capped at 45 CEOs. → entrepreneursforimpact.com2️⃣ Join 40,000 professionals who get our newsletter.Climate tech finance, strategy, leadership. 2-min read. → entrepreneursforimpact.substack.com3️⃣ Leave a podcast review.If you got value, take 30 seconds and do the community a favor. It helps push more capital and talent toward scalable climate solutions.

Most acquisitions don’t fail because the deal thesis was wrong. They fail because integration breaks exactly what made the company worth buying.This minisode explores why climate tech M&A goes sideways and four questions CEOs should ask before signing the deal.Why good deals go bad — The spreadsheet may show compelling synergies (ugh, that word!), but value disappears when key employees leave, customers defect, or bureaucracy slows down the acquired company.Protect the people who create the value — Identify which employees are essential to technology, customer relationships, and execution. Then build retention plans before closing, not after they resign.Protect customer relationships — A customer who trusted the founder may not automatically trust the acquirer. CEOs need to identify vulnerable accounts and manage those relationships explicitly.Assign owners to every source of value — They need an owner, budget, timeline, and incentives. Otherwise, they remain as tentative numbers in an acquisition model.Know what not to integrate — Sometimes the best integration strategy is leaving parts of the acquired company alone. Preserve the speed, culture, relationships, or operating model that made it valuable in the first place.The core lesson — CEOs often spend more time negotiating the purchase price than planning the first 100 days. That’s backward. The deal creates the possibility of value. Integration determines whether it ever shows up.👉 Get the written summary:https://entrepreneursforimpact.substack.com/p/the-climate-tech-acquisition-question--1️⃣ Join our confidential CEO community.Private CEO group for VC/PE-backed climate tech founders navigating capital, strategy, and scale. Capped at 45 CEOs.→ entrepreneursforimpact.com2️⃣ Join 40,000 professionals who get our newsletter.Climate tech finance, strategy, leadership. 2-min read.→ entrepreneursforimpact.substack.com3️⃣ Leave a podcast review.If you got value, take 30 seconds and do the community a favor. It helps push more capital and talent toward scalable climate solutions.

Electric vehicles shouldn't just be gas trucks with batteries. They should be entirely different machines. That's the premise behind Tello Trucks' attempt to reinvent one of America's most iconic vehicles.Company bio:TELO Trucks is an electric vehicle company building a mini truck designed to deliver full-size truck utility in a much smaller footprint. The vehicle is engineered for city life, with easier parking, better maneuverability, and strong towing and payload capabilities. The company’s core idea is that electrification should enable completely new vehicle designs, not just “gas cars with batteries.”Speaker bio:Jason Marks is the co-founder and CEO of TELO Trucks. He is a mechanical engineer by training, a lifelong vehicle builder, and an automotive safety expert with deep experience in validation, radar/LiDAR systems, and vehicle crash safety. Before Tello, he worked across the automotive ecosystem, and he brings a highly technical, founder-led approach to product, manufacturing, and team building.Five lessons for entrepreneurs:Use a technology shift to rethink the category – Don’t just copy the old product in a new form factor; ask what the new technology makes possible. For example, EVs allow for a much shorter vehicle with the same or greater functionality.Start with a niche, but tell a big story – A focused wedge can get you moving, but investors and talent need to see the world-changing vision. Think A, B, then Z.Capital efficiency matters – Small design choices can dramatically reduce material, parts, and manufacturing complexity. Don’t ignore the beneficial cascade effect.Customer obsession shapes the product – Direct feedback from users can improve real design decisions, not just marketing. And even better when all your employees want to be customers of your future product.Founder credibility compounds when it comes from lived expertise – Jason’s technical background lets him make unusually bold claims because he can tie them to concrete engineering decisions, not just vision.--1️⃣ Join our confidential CEO community.Private CEO group for VC/PE-backed climate tech founders navigating capital, strategy, and scale. Capped at 45 CEOs. → entrepreneursforimpact.com2️⃣ Join 40,000 professionals who get our newsletter.Climate tech finance, strategy, leadership. 2-min read. → entrepreneursforimpact.substack.com3️⃣ Leave a podcast review.If you got value, take 30 seconds and do the community a favor. It helps push more capital and talent toward scalable climate solutions.