THE ONE PAGE · one unit -> one site -> one customer -> the money
1 POD + 1 Client + 1 Site = 20M
Critical Path to Funding.
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THE ROAD TO FUNDING - quotes -> sites -> pitch -> meetings -> LOI -> funders. Everything in the five research tabs feeds one of these six pulleys.
The pod in section. Heat flows left to right - so does the work. Nick's drawing.
The six stages
1
Get 3 Quotes = One Final Figure to produce our first PODweeks 1-3
Three quotes on every cost line - pod, transformer, permitting, engineering, peer review, install, commissioning. This tells us how much funding we need to ask for for this first POD.
X3 Quotes:
- Broker and Permitting Fees + Studies
- Client and ML Brokerage fee (We will need a broker here)
- Transformer and Grid connection
- Full Engineering (CSA+MEPF)
- Peer Review Engineering + Commissioning agents
- Manufacturing
- Shipping
- Operating costs (Monitoring software etc)
- Legal (site/client/host/ML) + Insurance and Codes
- In-company project overheads
- Contingecy and working capital
proof A cost we will stand behind
Leads it
Helps
Also helps
Checks it
2
Sites = Cost kWh and Ready for service date (RFS) weeks 1-4
This is the critical information that needs to be on our client pitch.
Get a series of Brokers that just look for sites for us. Then map the sites + where in the process we are with each.
- Identify lower kW/h States
- Identify lower kW/h States
- Identify the WWTPs
- Connect with each WWTP
- If Viable add to our list and trigger next steps
- If you are assigned to a site you own the site/process and triggers.
proof A ranked site shortlist
Leads it
Helps
Also helps
Checks it
3
Client-first pitch deckweeks 2-4
Who we target, where they'd deploy, their pain points. One standard deck. Whole team practised on it, each member given names to reach.
- Client list, location, expansion plans, problems
- Client LOI draft - need to know what the funders want to see
- Client focused pitch deck
- Review, test and refine deck.
proof One deck, team rehearsed
Leads it
Helps
Also helps
Checks it
4
Client meetingsweeks 3-6
Everyone books meetings. First meeting finds the pain points; log them. Second meeting is a proposal answering those points by name.
- Whole team to present and be able to present Pitch deck.
- Setup client meetings (Whole team)
- Understand and document client pain points
- Find a site and adapt solution to suit client needs
- Second client meeting
- Client negotiations
- Sign Client LOI
proof Pain-point log + second meetings
Leads it
Helps
Also helps
Checks it
6
Costed POD + Host site LOI + Client LOI NEXT STEP Fundersweeks 7-10
- List of potential funders and funding paths
- How much funding is needed and ROI
- Other requirements
proof Money in the bank for pod one
Leads it
Helps
Also helps
Checks it
HOST SUPPLIES GRID $7M - $12M
WE PAY GRID WORKS $9M - $14M
What the client must give us
The chain that turns a client conversation into funding. Each answer sets the next step.
CLIENT REQUIREMENTS - answers set the pod, which sets the site, which earns the letter of intent, which unlocks funding.
Questions for Nick
Answer these and the placeholders above become real.
01
What state and site type gives the best cost per kWh?needs a call
I read it as WWTPs in colder or green-energy states - the verified screen agrees (OKC, Salt Lake, Boise ~6c). Confirm the solution types and the shortlist so we can lock a target.
I read it as WWTPs in colder or green-energy states - the verified screen agrees (OKC, Salt Lake, Boise ~6c). Confirm the solution types and the shortlist so we can lock a target.
02
Do we have a customer outreach list, and their pain points?share the list
If yes, share it - I can run a deep-research pass on who they are, where they would deploy, and what hurts them, and turn it into the pitch.
If yes, share it - I can run a deep-research pass on who they are, where they would deploy, and what hurts them, and turn it into the pitch.
03
Cushman & Wakefield as preferred site partner?your call
Your idea: sign an NDA, name them preferred, hand them the WWTP criteria and put them on a warpath to find sites while we chase a customer. I think it is strong - I can draft the brief and the NDA.
Your idea: sign an NDA, name them preferred, hand them the WWTP criteria and put them on a warpath to find sites while we chase a customer. I think it is strong - I can draft the brief and the NDA.
04
Is the Ohio River / behind-the-fence position still live?closing?
It is the cheapest power position we hold if the equity deal closes. Where are we with this one?
It is the cheapest power position we hold if the equity deal closes. Where are we with this one?
05
Working on a document for the Manufacturers.. These above quotes are separate from the 50 OEMs you will be talking to for creating a new and novel solution that is the best. This is just interrim ..
List 1 · The Pod · Month 1 · weeks 1–4
The Best POD
17 tasks
0 / 17 done
Requirements — decide what we are building, and for whom3 tasks
Requirements: the one-page 'what it must do' sheetCritical for funding
- Document we can send Manufacturers with the basic POD requirements for a high level cost.
Finished when: One page an outside engineer could read and start drawing from without asking a question.
What it costs us: Free. Our own time.
Requirements: the client requirements documentCritical for funding
- Client power req KW?
- List the certifications clients require before they will sign.
- List the specific materials and equipment types clients will accept.
- State the fibre and connectivity requirements.
- Answers determine POD configuration determine Type of site confirms LOI leads to Funding
Finished when: A one-page client requirements sheet that the drawings are then built to satisfy.
What it costs us: Free. Our own time.
Design — turn the requirements into drawings8 tasks
Design: the 'how we will build it' approach noteCritical for funding
- Keep it to two or three pages, matching the one-page requirements sheet.
Finished when: A written approach note a builder could quote against.
What it costs us: Free. Our own time.
Design: DocumentationCritical for funding
- Elec/MEch SLDs. It must run from the host site's supply, through the switch panels, through the battery backup, out to the computer cabinets.
- Plans sections elevations
- Structural Calculations
- CFD?
- Check every drawing against every other drawing and resolve the clashes.
- Get the set stamped by the engineers.
- Bind it into one final pack holding all the engineering documentation — 'Basis of Design' simply means the document recording what the design is and why.
- Date it and declare the design frozen. From here, changes are exceptions that need sign-of
Finished when: A signed electrical single line diagram.
What it costs us: Costs money — outside engineer's fee. Workaround: appoint one engineer across all four drawings on a single fixed scope, and ask for payment deferred to funding or a success fee.
Design: the liquid-cooling numbers the contracts will rely onCritical for funding
- Fix the guaranteed supply and approach temperature at the cooling distribution unit secondary loop, referenced to the recognised thermal guideline water classes.
- Write the coolant chemistry specification: acidity, conductivity, particulates, biocide regime, sampling frequency, and who pays to put it right when the fluid goes out of specification.
- Fix the cooling distribution unit redundancy level, filtration, flow rate and pressure difference at the rack manifold.
- Specify leak detection method and response time.
- Decide the equipment boundary — whether the cooling distribution units and manifolds are ours or the customer's. Recent large deals make them customer-supplied, which moves who carries the liability.
- Write down the dry cooler rejection path as a performance commitment, not just a design feature: what keeps the customer running when the host site's thermal path is unavailable.
Finished when: A one-page schedule of cooling numbers and boundaries the lawyer can drop straight into the customer agreement.
What it costs us: Free. Our own time. Part of the engineering appointment already made.
Procurement — quantities first, then prices4 tasks
Procurement: the procurement strategyCritical for funding
- List every item the design requires and how many of each. A Bill of Quantities is a list of what and how many — it carries no prices at this stage.
- Flag the items that will need the longest lead time so the build timetable can be planned around them.
- Decide what software, if any, we use to run procurement, and how we track material ordered, paid for, confirmed and factory-tested.
- Procurement strategy for the POD and The For the Srvices
- Set out how payment milestones are tracked and how we make sure the final installation date is met.
- Decide whether suppliers deliver to site, and which shipping terms suit this project.
- Decide where equipment is stored, who is responsible for it not being stolen, and what insurance is needed.
- Set payment terms and how cash flow is managed against them.
- Include the supplier framework and the contract terms we will use.
- Link the whole thing to the project planner so ordering dates drive the schedule.
- This is a plan only. Nothing is ordered and no money is committed.
Finished when: A written framework covering all of the above, linked to the project plan.
What it costs us: Free. Our own time. Assess software options now, buy nothing.
Compliance and logistics2 tasks
Compliance: the safety-approval and testing planSupporting
- List the product-safety approvals the finished unit needs before anyone will let us switch it on.
- Main approval certifies the whole container as a single approved product, which makes the local building inspector's job fast.
- For each approval record who issues it, roughly what it costs, how long it takes, and when in the build we apply.
- Set out the testing sequence that follows: test at the factory before shipping, re-test once installed, run at full power using dummy electrical loads, then deliberately cut power to prove it recovers.
- This is standard for a data centre, so the engineering consultant appointed for the drawings should be asked to help write the testing half.
Finished when: A written plan naming each approval and each test, with the issuer, cost and lead time.
What it costs us: Free. Our own time. Writing the plan is free. The approvals and tests cost money later, after funding.
Logistics: the transport and installation planSupporting
- Record the unit's dimensions and weight, and confirm whether that counts as an oversized load.
- List the road permits needed and roughly what they cost.
- Name the specialist heavy-haulage firms that carry this kind of load.
- Set out the crane and groundwork needed at the far end to set it down and bolt it in.
Finished when: A written plan with named haulage firms, an estimated cost per mile, and the permit list.
What it costs us: Free. Our own time.
List 2 · Sites · Month 2 · weeks 5–8
We need ONE host site and a signed non-binding agreement to host the unit.
Why this block. The unit is now defined, so we know the space, weight and electricity to look for. Electricity is what stops most projects: plugging into a site that already has spare power avoids a wait for a new grid connection that runs for years.
8 tasks
0 / 8 done
Write it down once, properly2 tasks
Sites: the one-page site requirement sheetCritical for funding
- State the electricity requirement plainly: the unit carries 1.25 megawatts of computing, but a site must supply more, because cooling pumps and fans also draw power and electrical equipment is rated with a safety margin.
- Give the working number: about 1.5 megavolt-amperes of spare capacity, and ask for 1.75 to 2.0 to leave headroom. Megavolt-amperes is the measure electricity companies use for the total size of a supply, always a little larger than the useful power.
- State the floor area needed.
- State the floor strength, taken straight from the structural calculations.
- State the road access needed for a container lorry and a crane.
- State the internet connection needed nearby.
- Keep it to one page so anybody can screen a site against it in five minutes.
Finished when: A one-page sheet that lets anybody screen a site in five minutes.
What it costs us: Free. Our own time.
Sites: the Site Strategy DocumentCritical for funding
- One document covering the whole site search, rather than several scattered notes.
- List the types of site worth chasing: sewage treatment works, food and drink factories, cold stores, university and hospital heating plants, and best of all sites where a large power user has shut down — closed power stations, old aluminium smelters, abandoned crypto-mining sheds, which already have a big unused connection.
- Set out how to find them and who to contact, including the electricity companies' business development teams, who are free to talk to and know exactly which sites have spare capacity.
- Include the scoring method for ranking a site the same way every time, with spare electricity as the pass-or-fail test and everything else secondary.
- Document the process for obtaining written confirmation of spare electricity, and what it involves.
- Set out what kind of land agreement we must insist on, and why a casual permission to occupy is useless to a lender: it must be a registered lease that lasts longer than the loan, can be used as security, and survives the landlord's own bank taking over the site.
- Set out the local rules and permitting requirements to check for each viable site.
- Note where each step costs money and what the workaround is.
- Carry the working lists inside it: the site matrix, the site list, the companies to set up meetings with, and the permitting requirements list.
Finished when: One document any team member could pick up and run the entire site search from.
What it costs us: Free. Our own time. Our time. This replaces six separate tasks.
Go and get a site3 tasks
Sites: contact development bodies and property agentsSupporting
- Approach regional and state economic development organisations, which exist to place businesses in their area and keep lists of ready-to-use industrial sites.
- Approach commercial property agents who specialise in industrial sites.
- Work the contact lists held in the Site Strategy Document, and feed results back into it.
Finished when: Enquiries out to the development bodies and agents covering our target regions.
What it costs us: Free. Our own time. These bodies are free to approach.
Sites: get written confirmation of spare electricityCritical for funding
- Obtain a letter from the electricity company or site owner confirming how much spare capacity exists and how soon it can be made available.
- Follow the process documented in the Site Strategy Document.
- A verbal 'yes, plenty' is worthless to a funder — it must be in writing.
- This is one of the most valuable pieces of paper in the whole project.
- SIGN LOI
Finished when: A written letter or email confirming the spare capacity and the timescale.
What it costs us: Mostly free. An initial capacity enquiry through the electricity company's business development team normally costs nothing. A formal load or connection study does cost and varies by utility. Workaround: stay with the free informal enquiry until one site is chosen, then pay for a single study on that site only.
Paper the host relationship — the biggest gap we have3 tasks
Sites: the host partner agreement packageCritical for funding
- We sit inside somebody else's working industrial plant and neither side of that relationship is currently on paper. This is the single largest hole in the whole estate.
- Get rights over the space: a licence to occupy or a sub-lease covering the module footprint plus plant room, riser, cable and pipe routes. A licence signs faster; a registered lease is what a financier can take security over.
- Get access rights and wayleaves for pipework, the power feed, fibre entry, and entry outside the host's shift hours.
- Produce an interface and boundary document: a single line diagram and a process diagram marking every ownership, maintenance and liability boundary.
- Agree the process interruption indemnity and its cap. 'What happens if you shut down my plant' is the first question every host asks. Capped, insured, and consequential loss excluded both ways.
- Assemble the host operating interface pack: permit to work, lock-out tag-out, confined space, hot work, emergency response and contractor induction.
- Add non-disturbance and step-in protection so our modules and the customer service survive the host going insolvent, plus written confirmation the modules are our assets and not fixtures of their building.
Finished when: A signed package covering occupation, access, boundaries, the interruption cap and site safety.
What it costs us: Costs money if outside counsel drafts it. Workaround: draft the interface and safety documents in-house and buy legal time only for the occupation and indemnity terms.
List 3 · Customers · Month 3 · weeks 9–12
We need ONE LOI.
Why this block. Now we have something real to sell — a finished design and a named place to put it. A funder is not buying our optimism, they are buying somebody else's promise to pay.
12 tasks
0 / 12 done
The Whole Team Sells.1 tasks
Customers: the target customer listCritical for funding
- Target buyers for whom 1.25 megawatts is a complete answer, not a rounding error.
- In rough priority: the host site's own computing needs; online marketplaces that resell computing capacity; drug-discovery and biotechnology research; smaller artificial-intelligence cloud companies; film and visual-effects studios; oil and gas survey processing.
- Add a short paragraph recording who we are deliberately not selling to and why: the companies training the very largest artificial-intelligence models need hundreds of times our capacity; government research laboratories bring procurement and security clearance problems; bank transaction processing needs certified, permanently staffed buildings.
- Get to 8 to 12 named organisations with a named contact where possible.
Finished when: A named list of 8 to 12 organisations, with the exclusions recorded.
What it costs us: Free. Our own time.
Build what we put in front of them4 tasks
Customers: the one-page offerCritical for funding
- State what they get and how much computing capacity.
- State what it costs and how long the agreement runs.
- Give the two or three reasons to choose us: we can be running far faster than a conventional building, and our cooling is sized to carry the full load on its own.
- Keep it to one page a customer can read in two minutes.
Finished when: A one-page offer.
What it costs us: Free. Our own time.
Customers: the pitch pack — the pitch, then the questionsCritical for funding
- First half, the pitch: the problem we solve, the unit and its specification, the commercial terms, our promise on how much of the time it will be running, and security.
- Second half, the questions: our honest written answers to what every serious buyer asks.
- Answer how much of the time it will run and exactly where that is measured.
- Answer what we pay them if we miss it.
- Answer how fast a fault is fixed when nobody is on site.
- Answer how their equipment is physically secured and separated.
- Answer whether they can see our independent security audits.
- Answer 'you are brand new' directly: name the advisers and insurers, the firm contracted to attend site, the legal protections that make us safe to sign with, and a dated plan for when we will hold each audit.
Finished when: One pack somebody outside the team could present, with every standard question answered honestly.
What it costs us: Free. Our own time.
Customers: the letter template that actually countsCritical for funding
- Most letters of intent are worthless to a funder because they only say 'we are interested'.
- Draft ours so the important part commits: a stated amount of capacity, a stated number of years, and a minimum payment owed whether or not the capacity is used.
- Specify who signs it and record how financially solid they are.
- Keep the conditions few and specific.
- Separate the binding parts from the flexible parts clearly on the page.
- Then upgrade it: a letter with no money attached is discounted by funders, so pair it with the reservation agreement that adds exclusivity and a deposit.
Finished when: A lawyer-checked template with the committing parts clearly separated.
What it costs us: Free. Our own time. In-house legal time; outside review only if it can be deferred.
The contract stack a customer actually signs4 tasks
Customers: the contract stack — umbrella agreement, service order, service level scheduleCritical for funding
- Right now we have a letter template and nothing behind it. A customer who says yes has nothing to sign.
- Draft the umbrella agreement first: liability caps, indemnities, intellectual property, term, termination, assignment and confidentiality. Everything else hangs off it.
- Draft the service order — the per-deal commercial sheet: committed power, number of modules, monthly and one-off charges, ramp schedule, term and the ready-for-service date.
- Draft the service level commitment as a schedule to the umbrella agreement, never as a standalone document, so the umbrella's liability caps and remedies govern it.
- Draft the service credit protocol: how credits are worked out, claimed and capped, and that credits are the only remedy.
- Define ready-for-service and acceptance — the moment the customer accepts and billing starts, evidenced by the commissioning tests.
Finished when: A complete signable stack: umbrella agreement, service order, service level schedule and credit protocol.
What it costs us: Costs money — this is the one place worth paying for proper drafting. Workaround: one lawyer, one fixed fee, reusable forms rather than a one-off per customer.
Customers: the liquid-cooling schedule to the service level agreementCritical for funding
- Take the cooling numbers produced in Month 1 and turn them into contract terms.
- Cover guaranteed supply and approach temperature, coolant chemistry and who pays for remediation, cooling distribution unit redundancy and flow, and leak detection and response.
- Allocate leak liability explicitly, including damage to the customer's own computer hardware — this is the clause that decides who pays when it goes wrong.
- State whether the cooling distribution units and manifolds are ours or the customer's.
- Write the dry cooler rejection path in as a contractual continuity guarantee.
- Add the flush, fill and coolant handling procedure as a maintenance annex when there is time.
Finished when: A cooling schedule attached to the service level agreement, covering every term an air-cooled template misses.
What it costs us: Free. Our own time. Drafting time, using the Month 1 numbers.
Customers: the site rules and access policyNot Critical - change
- No customer engineer gets onto a working industrial site without this, so it blocks the first site visit, not just the contract.
- Cover badge issue, escorting, permit to work, lock-out tag-out, protective equipment induction, and delivery and rigging rules.
- It has to be heavier than a normal data centre's version, because the customer is walking into somebody else's operating plant.
- Line it up with the host's own operating interface pack so the two do not contradict each other.
Finished when: A written access policy a customer engineer can be inducted against.
What it costs us: Free. Our own time.
Customers: turn the letter of intent into a reservation agreementNot Critical for funding
- The letters we are chasing carry no capital commitment, which is exactly why a funder discounts them.
- Draft a reservation agreement that converts a non-binding letter into exclusivity plus a deposit.
- State the capacity reserved, the period of exclusivity, and what happens to the deposit if either side walks.
- This is the difference between 'someone is interested' and something a funder will lend against.
Finished when: A reservation agreement template, and at least one signed with a deposit attached.
What it costs us: Free. Our own time. Drafting time. The deposit is money coming in, not going out.
What a buyer's security team asks for before they send a contract2 tasks
Customers: the security questionnaire packCNot critical yet - next step after LO - LOI is the critical path
- A serious buyer sends a security questionnaire before it sends a contract. Without written answers the conversation stops there.
- Write the information security policy.
- Write the business continuity and disaster recovery plan.
- Write the incident response plan.
- Draft a data processing agreement template as a standard annex to the umbrella agreement, workable under both South African and European privacy law.
- Write an export control and end-use screening policy, relevant to both the computer hardware and who the customer is.
- Write a vendor risk policy covering the host partner and the equipment suppliers.
- These are written policies. They cost nothing but time, and they are literally what the questionnaire asks for.
Finished when: Six written policies, filed together, ready to send the day a questionnaire arrives.
What it costs us: Free. Our own time. Time only. The highest-value free work on the whole list.
Customers: the independent security certification roadmapAfter funding
- Publish a dated plan now, and hold the certifications once funded — this is what the pitch pack promises buyers.
- The main security audit is effectively table stakes for any cloud or enterprise buyer. Budget roughly fifteen to fifty thousand US dollars. The first-stage report takes three to six months and unblocks conversations; the full report takes six to twelve.
- The international information security standard is expected by European and university buyers and is often accepted instead. Similar cost, six to ten months.
- Leave the data centre tier certification and the environmental and energy management standards until a flagship site exists — commit to the standard in the contract rather than certifying now.
- Card payment standards only matter if a customer processes card data.
Finished when: A dated certification roadmap in the pitch pack now, and the first audit booked once funded.
What it costs us: Costs money — roughly fifteen to fifty thousand US dollars per certification. Held until funded.
After funding1 tasks
Customers: convert the letter into a full contractAfter funding
- Turn the signed letter into the binding agreement.
- Cover who is responsible if the host site's own operations cause a problem.
- Cover what happens if the host site is sold to somebody else.
- Cover how a customer gets their equipment out if we fail.
Finished when: A signed customer contract.
What it costs us: Follows funding.
List 4 · Funders · Month 4 · weeks 13–16
LOI = Funding
Why this block. You only get one first meeting with each funder. Go when the design is finished, a site is named and a customer has signed — not before.
6 tasks
0 / 6 done
Prepare before approaching anybody6 tasks
Funding: the funder list, sorted by who funds what stageCritical for funding
- Early-stage investors back the team and the plan and write the first cheques.
- Equipment-leasing companies and suppliers will finance or delay payment on the equipment itself — the biggest lever available when short of cash.
- Wealthy private investors are flexible and often fill exactly this gap.
- Large infrastructure lenders fund the roll-out of many units later and will not fund unit one, so approaching them now wastes everyone's time.
- Add a column recording who we collectively know who could make a warm introduction to each name.
Finished when: A named list sorted by stage, with the right ask and an introduction route for each.
What it costs us: Free. Our own time.
Funding: the numbers packCritical for funding
- State what one unit costs to build, taken from the costed Bill of Quantities and the service quotes.
- State what it earns per year and what that means as a return.
- Make every figure traceable to a quote or a stated assumption.
- State plainly that the expensive artificial-intelligence chips are excluded, and that the customer or an equipment-leasing company buys those, not us.
Finished when: A numbers pack that survives being picked apart line by line.
What it costs us: Free. Our own time.
Funding: the pitchCritical for funding
- Build it against the funder requirements document written in Month 1.
- Lead with the evidence: the finished design, the named site with confirmed power, the signed customer.
- State what it costs, what we are asking for, and exactly what the money buys.
- Lead with proof, not ambition.
Finished when: A pitch pack that leads with evidence.
What it costs us: Free. Our own time.
Funding: the objections list and our answersSupporting
- Write down every hard question and our honest answer: we have never built one; the team is part-time; the customer letter is small; what if the host site pulls out; what if the equipment is late; why should anyone believe our costs.
- Rehearse the answers out loud before the first meeting.
- Update the sheet after every meeting with anything new that was asked.
Finished when: A written question-and-answer sheet, rehearsed.
What it costs us: Free. Our own time.
Funding: the evidence folderCritical for funding
- Collect the frozen design pack, the Bill of Quantities and its costed version, and the service quotes.
- Add the site letter confirming power and the signed host agreement.
- Add the signed customer letter.
- Add the safety-approval plan, the insurance quotes, the company documents and the team backgrounds.
- Index it so that when a funder asks for something it takes one minute to produce.
- Size it properly: roughly thirty to forty documents at seed, and fifty-five to sixty-five at the round after.
- Add the items specific to our sector: site letters, the heat model, the energy model, permits and insurance certificates.
- Include the corporate pack — constitutional documents, the fully diluted share register, every agreement for future equity and every note, and all board and shareholder resolutions.
Finished when: One organised, indexed folder with nothing missing.
What it costs us: Free. Our own time.
Funding: what we need in place, and the risks to usCritical for funding
- Work out what funding structures are on offer and what each one would actually mean for us.
- Establish what the contract would look like in each case.
- Establish what we need in place before we can sign safely.
- Write down the risks to the company and the risks to us personally.
- This is the homework that stops us signing something we regret.
Finished when: A written note setting out the structures, the risks, and what the contract should look like.
What it costs us: May cost money if specialist advice is needed. Workaround: commission one tightly-scoped written opinion, not open-ended advisory.
List 5 · Company · Background · weeks 1–8
A company that can legally sign contracts and receive money.
Why this block. Not the critical path, but it will block the money at the last moment if left undone. One or two people own this and must never pull anybody off the month's focus.
12 tasks
0 / 12 done
Set the company up3 tasks
Company: form the United States company and the Netherlands companyCritical for funding
- Form a United States company that can sign contracts, own the unit and receive investment.
- Form the Netherlands holding company above it.
- Take the tax advice below first — the order of formation matters for tax reasons and cannot be undone cheaply.
- Keep the structure familiar and standard; an unusual one costs meetings with investors.
Finished when: Both companies formed, in the right order, founding documents signed.
What it costs us: Costs money — filing fees, a registered agent and Dutch notary fees. Workaround: settle the structure first so we only pay to form once.
Company: tax and immigration advice for the South African foundersCritical for funding
- Founders resident in South Africa owning United States and Netherlands companies creates tax questions in several countries at once.
- Anyone who needs to be physically on site in the United States may need permission to work there.
- The advice determines the order in which the companies must be formed, so it has to come first.
- Cheap to sort out now, expensive and slow to fix later.
Finished when: Written advice received, and the structure and formation order agreed.
What it costs us: Costs money — professional fees. Workaround: commission one tightly-scoped written opinion answering our specific questions rather than open-ended advisory.
Company: open the bank accountsCritical for funding
- Open business bank accounts so investment can actually be received.
- Start the week the companies are formed — this routinely takes longer than expected, especially with foreign owners.
- The real cost here is delay, not fees.
Finished when: Accounts open and able to receive funds.
What it costs us: Low cost — account fees only.
Basic housekeeping3 tasks
Company: confidentiality agreementsSupporting
- Prepare one short standard agreement.
- Get it signed before sharing the design, pricing or site information with any supplier, host or customer.
- File the signed copies where they can be found.
Finished when: A standard agreement ready to send, and signed copies filed.
What it costs us: Free. Our own time.
Company: insurance quotesSupporting
- Get written quotes for damage to the unit, public liability, and equipment breakdown cover.
- Funders and host sites both ask for this, and having quotes early makes us look organised.
- Ask the broker specifically for cover against loss caused by the host's own process or utility failing, and for pollution cover — standard quotes leave both out.
Finished when: Written quotes on file.
What it costs us: Free. Our own time. Quotes cost nothing. Premiums only once there is an asset.
Company: agree and document the shareholdingSupporting
- Write down who owns what percentage.
- Agree what happens if somebody leaves.
- Agree what is set aside for future team members.
- Do it while everybody is friendly — it is far harder later.
Finished when: A signed shareholding document.
What it costs us: Free. Our own time. In-house legal time unless outside counsel is needed.
Intellectual property, cross-border and people paperwork6 tasks
Company: founder and contractor intellectual property assignmentsCritical for funding
- This is the classic item that stalls a raise, and it is worse for us because there are three patent filings in flight.
- Sign an assignment from every founder covering everything created before incorporation and everything created since.
- Put the same assignment obligation into every contractor, adviser and design agreement, including the engineers drawing the unit.
- Do this before the next patent step and before the next raise, not after.
Finished when: Signed assignments from every founder, and the clause in every contractor agreement.
What it costs us: Free. Our own time. Standard forms. Legal review time only.
Company: fix the patent filings that do not line upCritical for funding
- Two of the three filings name the Cape Town company and one names the United States entity. A funder's lawyer will find this immediately.
- Decide which entity should own the patents, consistent with the holding structure and the tax advice.
- Correct the applicant and assignee details across all three filings so they agree.
- One filing is still in draft and carried a July 2026 target date that has now passed — decide whether to file it or drop it, and record the decision.
- Make sure the assignment chain from the inventors to that entity is documented.
Finished when: All three filings naming the same owner, the chain of assignment documented, and the overdue filing resolved either way.
What it costs us: Costs money — patent attorney fees to record the corrections. Small next to the cost of a funder finding it.
Company: intercompany agreements and cross-border clearancesCritical for funding
- Put written agreements in place between the Cape Town company and the United States entities, with a transfer pricing policy behind them. This is the same thread as the patent ownership question.
- Obtain the South African Reserve Bank exchange control clearance the cross-border structure needs. The rules on this kind of structure were relaxed but the reporting still applies.
- Do this alongside the tax advice, not after it — the answers depend on each other.
Finished when: Signed intercompany agreements, a written transfer pricing policy, and exchange control clearance obtained.
What it costs us: Costs money — specialist advice. Workaround: scope it into the same tax opinion already being commissioned.
Company: employment and contractor paperwork in both countriesCritical for funding
- South African employment contracts compliant with local employment law, with restraint of trade, confidentiality and intellectual property assignment.
- United States offer letters plus the separate proprietary information and inventions assignment — that assignment is the document that actually matters.
- Contractor and consultant agreements on work-for-hire terms with assignment. South African misclassification is judged on the substance of the relationship, and a misclassified contractor can claim unfair dismissal and back tax.
- Board-approved equity plan and grant forms. South African participants are taxed on vesting and it has to be reported for exchange control, so the structure matters.
- Check the traps: whether we need an employer of record or state registration where United States staff sit, the visa basis for any secondment, and that United States restraints lean on confidentiality and non-solicitation rather than non-competition.
Finished when: Signed contracts for everybody in both countries, and an approved equity plan.
What it costs us: Low cost — template-based, with one review in each country.
Company: insurance placement with the endorsements hosts and customers demandSupporting
- Beyond getting quotes, the cover has to carry the right endorsements or the host will not let us on site.
- Baseline cover: general liability, property all risks, and equipment breakdown on the modules.
- People and vehicle cover in each country.
- Cover for loss caused by the host's own utility or process failing — this one is central to our model and is easily missed.
- Pollution and environmental impairment cover for a coolant, glycol or fuel release inside somebody else's food or beverage plant.
- Make sure waiver of subrogation, additional insured and primary and non-contributory endorsements run in favour of the host, and push the same requirements down onto our contractors.
- Later, once building: cyber and technology cover, professional indemnity and directors' cover, construction and transit cover, and a product recall extension where the host makes food or drink.
Finished when: Cover placed with the endorsements the host and customers require, and certificates on file.
What it costs us: Costs money — premiums. Workaround: bind only the baseline and endorsements now; add the construction and cyber layers when building starts.
Company: governance hygiene an institutional investor expectsAfter funding
- A formal valuation for setting option prices.
- A board charter and a written delegation of authority.
- A related party policy.
- Templates for site-level project companies, and the supply agreement with the module manufacturer.
- None of this blocks a first cheque, but it is expected by the round after.
Finished when: Governance pack in place ahead of an institutional round.
What it costs us: Costs money. Held until funded.
Project plan · one block at a time
One month each. Finish it, then move on.
Why sequential beats parallel here. We are eight part-time people. Split across four workstreams we move each one a few hours a week and finish none of them. Pointed at one thing, a month is enough to actually close it out. It also happens to be the right order — each block needs the one before it finished.
Month 1 · PodMonth 2 · Sites
Month 3 · CustomersMonth 4 · Funders
Background · Company
M1 · PodM2 · SitesM3 · CustomersM4 · FundersFundingBuild | |
W1W3W5W7W9W11W13W15W17W19W21W23W25W27W29W31W33 | |
| Month 1 · Weeks 1 to 4The PodEverybody on the unit. Nothing else gets attention. | |
| weeks 1–1Client + funder requirements, and the 'what it must do' sheet | |
| weeks 1–3The engineering pack: electrical, mechanical, layout, structural | |
| weeks 2–4Design freeze, then procurement strategy and costed parts list | |
| weeks 3–4Service quotes for build, install and monitoring; safety plan | |
| Month 2 · Weeks 5 to 8SitesThe unit is defined, so now we know what to look for. Everybody on sites. | |
| weeks 5–5One-page site requirement sheet, electricity number on it | |
| weeks 5–7Write the Site Strategy Document, then work its contact lists | |
| weeks 6–8Chase written proof of spare electricity | |
| weeks 8–8Sign the non-binding host agreement | |
| Month 3 · Weeks 9 to 12CustomersWe have a real unit and a real place. Now it is worth a customer's time. | |
| weeks 9–9Target customer list and the one-page offer | |
| weeks 9–11Customer pitch pack — the pitch, then the questions | |
| weeks 10–11Draft the letter template so it actually commits | |
| weeks 11–12Hold the meetings, get one letter signed | |
| Month 4 · Weeks 13 to 16FundersWalk in with all six proofs in hand. Not before. | |
| weeks 13–13Funder list by stage, and the numbers pack | |
| weeks 13–14Funding pitch and the objections-and-answers sheet | |
| weeks 14–15Evidence folder, and our homework on structures and risks | |
| weeks 15–16Hold the funder meetings | |
| Background · Weeks 1 to 8Company & adminOne or two people only. Must never pull anybody off the month's focus. | |
| weeks 1–6Tax advice first, then form the US and Netherlands companies, open banking | |
| weeks 4–8Confidentiality agreements, insurance quotes, shareholding | |
| Funding decision the gate — everything below waits for this | Negotiate and sign the funding offer · weeks 17–20 |
| After fundingThe Pod | |
| weeks 21–30Cooling simulation, order long-lead items, build, factory test | |
| weeks 30–34Transport, install, full-power heat test, deliberate-failure test | |
| After fundingSites | |
| weeks 21–28Registered lease, permits, groundwork, connect | |
| After fundingCustomers | |
| weeks 21–24Turn the letter into a signed contract |