The giants of Silicon Valley are typically of the information technology type, from Google to Intel, Facebook to Microsoft. Now that the cleantech industry is running alongside the IT industry as the high-growth place to be, we see human talent migrating from one industry to the other, and finding different practices when they get there.

Unlike most of the IT-related companies that can achieve instant propagation through internet and software tools (and often with smaller required investment), many cleantech startups operate in a more capital-intensive environment often characterized by long time horizons and capital outlays for hardware development, testing and deployment. Given these differences, cleantech companies require investors with a different profile: the ability to deploy large amounts of capital, often over multiple rounds, and to look beyond a 5-10 year timeframe.

In exchange for heavy investment of money and time, investors expect significant return. To achieve returns commensurate with cleantech investors’ expectations, it is critical to develop a “winning formula” that can be scaled up to achieve return multiples.

For Better Place, scalability is about combining economies of scale with replicability (simultaneously going to market in multiple regions while addressing the characteristics unique for each). In addition, given the nature of deploying the infrastructure, mistakes are very costly, hence optimization and best practices transfer are the third part of our scalability approach.

To achieve economies of scale, we have established a global company that is in charge of the global aspects of our business such as relationships with automotive manufacturers, battery manufacturers, our global brand, R&D, etc. These are functions in which we can favorably leverage purchasing power and expertise to the benefit of the entire organization.

In turn, for replicability, we establish a subsidiary (Operating Company or OpCo) in each of our markets. The OpCo is in charge of the local go-to-market strategy and execution, as their local expertise, connections and market knowledge make them best equipped to understand and address the local market dynamics. These teams take our most updated approach and implement it given the specific market conditions. And all of this while leveraging the global organization’s economies of scale.

The abovementioned approach might seem similar to other models already being practiced in other places. This is true, however from the deep research we have conducted, we know that what really differentiates Better Place is how we go about implementing this model. What is unique about our implementation is the combination of our organizational approach and expertise-sharing mechanisms.

Organizational approach: to ensure that all of the OpCos aim along the same overarching vector and to maintain a common culture, we established a dedicated team called “OpCo Enablement,” entrusted with the relationship between the global company and OpCos around the world. In this team, we serve OpCos as a conduit to the global organization and provide the global office with a portfolio view of our OpCos. This team’s account managers lead cross-functional groups from within the global organization to engage with the local OpCos on aspects ranging from go-to-market design to detailed project implementation. At the same time, these cross-functional teams are the carriers of our collective expertise to the OpCos, which leads me to the next aspect: expertise-sharing mechanisms.

While developing expertise in rolling out infrastructure and services, OpCos are equipped with our expertise sharing mechanism, internally coined as Better-in-a-Box, to relate emerging best practices across the global organization quickly and efficiently. This mechanism ensures that all regions around the world have real-time access to the latest and greatest internal company thought processes, methodologies and tools, regardless of where they originated, and that newly formed OpCos have instant access to the cumulative knowledge of all others that have come before them.

An example of how this mechanism works is the deployment methodology that we have developed to roll out our solution infrastructure. As lessons are learned in one region about key deployment elements and nuances, the company gains valuable insights, expertise and competitive advantages that are captured as best practices and quickly leveraged in other regions. This deployment methodology was created in place during our initial deployments in Denmark and Israel and has since paid significant dividends in terms of increasing operational efficiencies and reducing cost in our deployments in other regions. Better-in-a Box has now been implemented across a full spectrum of functional areas that will similarly benefit from sharing best practices

For me, Better Place, with its inspiring mission and ambitious goals, is an example of the new era corporation, one that requires scale and agility more than ever. Driving the right balance between the two requires the right strategy but, more than that, ruthless execution. This is what we are focusing on every day.

Exciting times are ahead, we’ll learn more as we go, and we’ll be happy to share our philosophies and practices with the world as they develop.