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Start-ups, Scaling, and Staying Sane: Lessons from Cleantech Founders in the Trenches

#leadership#cleantech

Through our Leaders in Cleantech podcast, I’ve been lucky enough to speak with over 155 founders and leaders at the sharp end of the energy transition. And while the tech is often fascinating, it’s the human side of building cleantech businesses that consistently stands out.

Two recent guests - Joachim Lohse, CEO of Ampcontrol, and Emmanuel Masini, CEO of Mantle8, offered very different perspectives. One’s scaling a software platform enabling fleet electrification. The other is exploring the next frontier of energy -natural hydrogen. But both are wrestling with the same core challenge: how to build high-performing, resilient companies in a fast-moving, high-stakes sector.

And let’s face it, that’s no small task.

The Myth of the Overnight Success

Joachim’s story begins not in a venture studio or accelerator, but in quiet consulting offices - blogging on LinkedIn about grid innovation before it was fashionable. That curiosity eventually led to the founding of Ampcontrol, now helping major fleet operators and depots across the globe solve for grid constraints, uptime, and optimisation.

It wasn’t glamour - it was grit. “The difficult moments always feel bigger than the wins,” he told me. “But if you get the right people around you, it gets lighter.”

Emmanuel, meanwhile, is building something far more speculative. Mantle8 is one of a small but growing number of companies pioneering natural hydrogen - an energy source that’s geologic, renewable, and not yet widely commercialised. It's risky. It’s bold. And as he acknowledged, it’s deeply personal. “When you choose to work on something this early-stage, you're not just building a company,” he said. “You're trying to convince the world it's possible.”

Culture Is a Leadership Discipline

A recurring theme in both conversations was culture - not as a ‘nice to have’, but as infrastructure.

Joachim described the evolution of Ampcontrol from sleepless nights (“hoping the system didn’t break”) to a company with 24/7 uptime and clients depending on their tech to keep cities moving. But that transition wasn’t automatic - it took real investment in hiring, leadership, and systems. He’s built an international, remote-first team of nearly 30, with off-sites and in-person collaboration to keep the bonds strong. “It’s like a marriage,” he said. “The more challenges you overcome together, the stronger the team becomes.”

At Hyperion, we’ve seen this time and again. Culture doesn’t scale by accident. It either scales intentionally or it starts to fracture. And when you’re working in critical infrastructure - from software that powers EV fleets to emerging tech like hydrogen exploration - that culture has to hold under pressure.

Navigating Complexity (Without Losing Your Mind)

There’s a psychological toll to building in this space that often gets overlooked. You’re innovating under regulatory uncertainty, long development timelines, and existential climate pressure. And when things go wrong - as they inevitably do - it’s often the founder who takes the hit. That’s why it was so refreshing to hear both Joachim and Emmanuel speak honestly about the weight of leadership, and the importance of resilience, patience, and aligned teams.

Joachim summed it up well: “As the company grows, you have more support - but the decisions also get heavier. You can't pivot every two weeks anymore. You have to plan, and bring people with you.”

It reminded me too of my earlier conversation with Joe McDonald of tem Energy, who talked about building teams with intention from day one - including making their first hire a Head of People. In each case, it’s clear: great tech doesn’t scale without great leadership.

3 Takeaways for Cleantech Founders and Operators

🔍 Stay curious, stay close to the problem
Every one of these founders started by obsessing over a problem, not a product.

🧭 Culture is strategy
Hire intentionally. Communicate often. Build systems that reflect your values.

⚙️ Embrace complexity - but don’t romanticise it
This sector is hard. That’s why mindset, team, and resilience matter just as much as technology.

If you’re building, investing in, or scaling a cleantech company - and you’re feeling the pressure - you’re not alone. These conversations are a reminder that everyone is navigating complexity, uncertainty, and imperfect conditions.

But the upside? This is where the impact lies.

🎧 Listen to the full episodes here:

When it comes to hiring strategically important talent, and building a team culture fit for scaling, we’ve been supporting investor backed start-ups do this for over a decade to do just that. From Board and C-Suite, to senior Leadership, to critically important individual contributors there isn’t much we haven’t seen or hired. In 19 countries and counting. If you’re scaling your team, we’re here to help.

David Hunt