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Presented at ABLC NEXT · October 22, 2026

If It’s Never Built, What Do They Own?

Raising development capital: who to court, what to offer an investor, why your team’s record of scaling and running plants is your strongest asset, and how to choose a partner you can afford to be wrong with.

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If this plant never gets built, what does my investor still own?

Development capital pays for engineering, permitting and a small team before a plant is financed. It is the first money in, and the only money that is lost if the plant is never built.

So stop asking how to get an investor’s attention. Answer the question they are asking. This deck is written to be read on its own, with no presenter in the room.

The Presentation

Read it here, or take it with you.

Use the arrows, the thumbnails, or your keyboard’s left and right keys. The full deck is also available as a PDF.

  1. Slide 1 of 14: Title. Title slide: If It’s Never Built, What Do They Own? Raising Development Capital. Presented at ABLC NEXT, October 22, 2026.
    Slide 1 of 14 · Title
  2. Slide 2 of 14: Are you running out of oxygen?. Development capital is runway: the cash for engineering, permitting and a small team before the plant is financed. Each camp on the climb to financial close costs more than the last.
    Slide 2 of 14 · Are you running out of oxygen?
  3. Slide 3 of 14: Your runway math. Three numbers answer how many months you have left: your monthly burn, your cash, and your next gate. Runway equals cash divided by monthly burn.
    Slide 3 of 14 · Your runway math
  4. Slide 4 of 14: Development capital is the hardest money to raise. It is the first money in and the only money lost if the plant is never built. Four reasons it is hard to raise, and where it sits in the financing sequence.
    Slide 4 of 14 · Development capital is the hardest money to raise
  5. Slide 5 of 14: Court the money that wants the plant built. Follow the money: ask who gets paid if the plant is built. Follow the heart: people say yes with their heart, then ask their head to justify it.
    Slide 5 of 14 · Court the money that wants the plant built
  6. Slide 6 of 14: Send a one-page brief based on their economics. A six-part one-page brief written from the investor’s side of the table.
    Slide 6 of 14 · Send a one-page brief based on their economics
  7. Slide 7 of 14: What an investor’s head needs before it says yes. Three investor habits: size it to survive, take money off the table, and when in doubt, cut.
    Slide 7 of 14 · What an investor’s head needs before it says yes
  8. Slide 8 of 14: What you should be willing to give. Five things to offer in order, cheapest first: cash comfort, budget freedom, recoverable value, repaid first, and upside last.
    Slide 8 of 14 · What you should be willing to give
  9. Slide 9 of 14: Why this deal over the alternatives. Who you compete with, why you win, and what makes it the investor’s best investment.
    Slide 9 of 14 · Why this deal over the alternatives
  10. Slide 10 of 14: What an investor will test before they commit. Six risk areas to examine before an investor commits: technology, feedstock, offtake, permits and site, cost and schedule, and policy and partner.
    Slide 10 of 14 · What an investor will test before they commit
  11. Slide 11 of 14: Date before you commit. Court first, then write the prenup. Includes the warning signs of a shotgun wedding.
    Slide 11 of 14 · Date before you commit
  12. Slide 12 of 14: Takeaway: choose someone you can afford to be wrong with. Two things to do before your next meeting: write one sentence, and list who gets paid.
    Slide 12 of 14 · Takeaway: choose someone you can afford to be wrong with
  13. Slide 13 of 14: The route exists. Find out which one is still open.. Contact slide with a QR code to the free Capital Terrain Map readiness self-assessment.
    Slide 13 of 14 · The route exists. Find out which one is still open.
  14. Slide 14 of 14: Terms used in this deck. A quick reference to eight terms: development capital, financial close, tranche, offtake, FOAK, preferred return, conversion discount and exclusivity.
    Slide 14 of 14 · Terms used in this deck
Slide 1 of 14

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What’s Inside

Six ideas to take into your next investor conversation

Slides 2–3

Count your oxygen

Development capital is your runway. Runway equals cash divided by monthly burn, and the gap is the months to your next gate minus that runway. Know your number before an investor asks, and raise before the gap opens.

Slides 4–5

Court the money that wants the plant built

Some money arrives because you are desperate. Other money arrives because it wants the plant built. Ask who gets paid if the plant is built, then show a person, a place and a number, not a slogan.

Slide 6

Write to their economics

A one-page brief from the investor’s side of the table: what they earn when it is built, what they get back if it isn’t, the staged budget, the assets they can recover, the team, and the date you need an answer.

Slides 7–8

Offer in order, cheapest first

Cash comfort, budget freedom, recoverable value, being repaid first, and upside last. Give up what you would lose anyway if the project fails before what makes the project worth building.

Slides 9–10

Name the risks before they find them

Technology, feedstock, offtake, permits and site, cost and schedule, policy and partner. For each risk, say what it is, what you have done about it, and what you still do not know.

Slide 11

Date before you commit

Start small, check the record, talk early and keep a choice. Then write the prenup: milestones, exclusivity that ends on a written date, a buy-out option and a free choice of contractor.

Takeaway

Choose someone you can afford to be wrong with.

This money will stay hard to raise while the spotlight is elsewhere. The developers who get it do not ask the loudest. They make it safe to say yes, and they choose a partner and terms they can survive being wrong with.

1.Write one sentence

If this plant never gets built, what does my investor still own? If you cannot write it, that is the work before your next meeting.

2.List who gets paid

Name everyone who gets paid if your plant is built, then write a one-page brief from their side of the table.

Reference

Terms used in this deck

A quick reference for readers new to development capital.

Development capital

Money for engineering, permitting and a small team before a plant is financed. Lost if the plant is never built.

Financial close

The point when all financing agreements are signed and the money to build the plant can be drawn.

Tranche

One installment of an investment, released when an agreed milestone is met.

Offtake

A customer’s contract to buy what the plant produces.

FOAK

First of a kind: the first commercial-scale plant using a new technology.

Preferred return

A return paid to the investor before founders share in profits.

Conversion discount

Lets an investor’s money convert to equity at a lower price than later investors pay.

Exclusivity

A period when you agree not to raise money from anyone else.

General definitions and information for orientation only. This deck is not legal, tax, accounting or investment advice, and it is not an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy any security. Have counsel review the language of any real agreement.

The route exists

Find out which one is still open.

The Capital Terrain Map is a free 27-question capital and deployment readiness self-assessment for innovation founders. If you would rather talk it through, book a call.

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