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Disruption in climate tech isn’t always about speed. It’s often about sustained determination over a long period. Few companies characterize this better than Sunfire, the German electrolysis pioneer that has spent over a decade building, proving, and scaling high-efficiency solid oxide and pressurized alkaline electrolyzers to unlock green hydrogen at industrial scale.
Today, Sunfire is scaling to become one of the world’s leading electrolyzer manufacturers. With over 650 employees, a major order backlog of over 800 MW, and €1 billion of private and public financing secured, the company is on a solid path to profitability. But its accomplishments required resilience.
Climate Brick sat down with Christian von Olshausen, Sunfire’s CTO and co-founder, to explore the journey behind the company and consider how it responded to the critical unlocks identified by Climate Brick as key for product disruptor startups:
- Show market existence early on and prove technological readiness (e.g., through prototyping)
- Establish IP moats through, e.g., patents and process design
- Establish partnerships, secure high-quality and reliable supply chain
What emerges is perspective into some hard truths and strategic unlocks that founders navigating a disruptive climate product should consider.
“When we started, there was no market.”
Sunfire’s story began with a vision, not a business model, and certainly not a market to play into. Back in 2010, when the company was founded, there was neither customer demand nor policy support for green hydrogen. But Christian and his co-founders Carl Berninghausen and Nils Aldag believed in a future where renewable molecules would replace fossil ones and acted accordingly.
“When Sunfire started, there was no market, there was just the idea that renewable molecules would be better than fossil-fuel derived ones. Still, there were enough customers who would say, okay, I'm going to invest into this topic because I want to prepare for a future where there will be a business model.”
Alongside investing time into painting a picture of future markets for stakeholders and potential partners, the company soon set to work in establishing proof of its technical potential: “We knew the one thing we needed for customers to believe in such a future was a lighthouse project — a demonstration of the technology. And this was to be established with partners.”
Sunfire’s investment into technical validation proved critical. Notable was its plant at Salzgitter, Germany — one of the world’s first industrial-scale solid oxide electrolyzer pilot projects, demonstrating high-efficiency green hydrogen production integrated directly into steel manufacturing processes.
“Our industrial partners’ commitment to saying we believe in this kind of future was something that raised so much attention. Gradually, politicians see this investment into the pilot projects and it brings them confidence.”
It was that growing confidence of politicians that prompted market and policy shift. “The politicians then became the second group of partners — politicians saying ‘yes, this is the right thing to do and industry supports it, let’s generate those rules to make sure that those molecules have a chance to enter the market’.”
Sunfire’s investment heavily in technology validation, long before the market was mature enough to generate real revenue, speaks to a critical issue — what mattered most to early partners: “Salzgitter didn’t bring huge revenues but it answered a key question: whether the product works and how it performs — building a minimum viable product is key.”
Don’t Confuse Innovation with Market Fit
While revenue generation began early, true business viability took nearly nine years to materialize due to policy lags and immature markets. While Sunfire’s technology is cutting-edge, Christian is refreshingly blunt about the challenges of disrupting a fossil-dominated energy market.
“We’re not like Spotify. Spotify made it cheaper and more convenient to listen to music. Hydrogen is not cheaper. It’s not more convenient. It’s an expensive insurance for the future.”
While revenue generation began early, true business viability took nearly nine years to materialize due to policy lags and immature markets. While Sunfire’s technology is cutting-edge, Christian is refreshingly blunt about the challenges of disrupting a fossil-dominated energy market.
In this case, the true disruptor isn’t just technology — it’s policy. Without carbon pricing, regulation, or quotas, green hydrogen struggles to compete with fossil alternatives. Sunfire’s commercial success was only unlocked once politicians saw industrial players backing the tech and responded with supportive policy frameworks.
The crucial lesson for founders — policy and market viability matters, so consider launch timing carefully. “Don’t start too early,” said Christian. “A company eats money. Make sure a business model exists first.”
On IP, Capital, and Control
While founders generally assume that patents are key to defending a disruptive product, Christian offers a more nuanced perspective: “IP has been important, but not really decisive… Many things we just keep secret.”
Patents were certainly useful in early conversations with VCs, Christian acknowledged, commenting that it’s generally expected by them to see some kind of minimum IP protection in a startup’s first business plan. But he explained that Sunfire’s strategic moat today lies in execution, systems integration, and scale.
Three Jobs, All Hard
When asked about the biggest challenge of building Sunfire looking back over its journey to date, Christian breaks it into three equally demanding tasks: developing the technology, building a market, building the company. “It’s really three jobs. And all are hard!”
Each requires different skill sets and strategies, from lobbying policymakers, to recruiting industrial leadership, to reorganizing internal processes at every stage of scale. “A startup journey is really one of evolution… you need to staff your team accordingly for that and you need patience.”
Christian’s reflections on advice for startups are grounded and deeply pragmatic:
- Starting without a clear business model is risky: “If you start early, be ready to invest in market development and technology validation long before generating real revenue.”
- Stay humble and lean: “build a minimum viable product (MVP). Showcase your expertise to earn trust and credibility. Get early revenue...”
- Know the market mechanisms: “Technology follows business models, not the other way around.”
Above all, he emphasizes resilience: “It’s about having patience and being able to bear uncertainty. Would I do it all again? Definitely yes, I would do it again. With all the learnings. I would love to start again and I think I would do better.”
For climate tech founders navigating the long road to product-market fit, Sunfire offers a compelling example — not just of how to build a company, but how to endure long enough to make the disruption real.
