How to Build the Next Generation of Climate Companies with Jonny Everett (Marble)

Why Europe Could Become the Best Place to Build the Next Generation of Climate and Industrial Companies

Europe could become the best place to build climate and industrial companies by combining world-class science, engineering talent, supportive policy, non-dilutive funding, capital efficiency, and growing demand for reindustrialisation technologies.

Why Europe Has an Advantage in Climate and Industrial Tech

The next generation of climate technology will increasingly be built around science, engineering and physical infrastructure.

Unlike software, hardtech companies cannot easily pivot from one technology to another. Years of research, specialised infrastructure and significant capital may be required before a product reaches industrial scale. This makes access to the right scientific and engineering talent particularly important.

For Jonny Everett, co-founder and Managing Partner of Marble, this gives Europe a significant advantage.

Europe combines leading universities and engineering schools with deep expertise across chemistry, biology, materials, energy and industrial processes. It also offers comparatively lower talent costs than the United States and greater access to non-dilutive public funding.

Together, these factors can allow European hardtech companies to achieve more with the capital they raise.

Why Hardtech Requires a Different Startup Model

The traditional software startup playbook does not translate directly to industrial and deeptech companies.

A SaaS company can change its product, customer or market relatively quickly. A company that has spent years developing a new chemical process, material or industrial technology has far less room to pivot once significant R&D and infrastructure investments have been made.

That changes how companies need to be built.

Founders must understand questions such as:

• Can the technology work outside the laboratory?
• What will it cost at industrial scale?
• What infrastructure will be required?
• Can the economics remain competitive as production increases?
• Who will become the first commercial customers?

This gap between building software and building industrial technology was one of the reasons Jonny Everett and Ben Veyrac launched Marble in Paris in 2021.

How Venture Studios Can Help Build Deeptech Companies

Marble was designed around the idea that climate and industrial companies need more hands-on support during their earliest stages.

Instead of beginning exclusively with a founder or an existing technology, Marble can begin with a large industrial or environmental problem.

The team identifies an opportunity, defines what a successful solution would need to achieve, and then looks for founders with the scientific, technical or industry expertise required to explore it.

Over roughly 12 months, Marble works alongside founders on technology validation, economics, commercial demand, intellectual property, grants, hiring and company formation.

The objective is to create the team, technology and business model together rather than assuming that a scientific breakthrough alone will automatically become a scalable company.

Why Founder Sustainability Matters Too

Building ambitious industrial companies requires more than capital and technology. It also requires founders who can sustain their performance over many years.

Jonny’s own experience with burnout changed his view of startup culture and the relentless “996” mentality of working from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week.

He argues that rest and recovery should be treated as part of a founder’s strategy for performance rather than as time taken away from building.

This becomes particularly important in deeptech and industrial innovation, where companies can take years to move from scientific research to commercial and industrial scale.