The energy transition runs on critical minerals, and right now there are not enough of them. The blocker is time. The average critical minerals project takes 18 years to go from first drill to operational mine, and Luke Cullen, founder of Material Difference, thinks that has to change.

A former mining industry professional turned Cambridge researcher, Luke developed a method for reducing uncertainty in what lies underground using far less data. In the company’s first industry pilots, that meant roughly 50 per cent less drilling. In 18 months he has gone from postdoc to founder: joining Entrepreneur First, meeting his co-founder Gabriel Yoong, running four pilots, signing a first commercial agreement, and pitching nearly 200 VCs from a base in San Francisco.

This is an honest account of the gap between technology and product, why rejec ...