"𝐖𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐓𝐄𝐀 𝐲𝐞𝐭, 𝐰𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬."

I hear this often. And every time, my brain freezes for a second. 🤯 

 Why? Because 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 hashtag#TechnoEconomicAnalysis.

Here’s why:

🔄 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐄𝐀 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐥 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐩𝐬.

 Run them together and your process development will stay guided by market and cost realities from day one.

📊 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐭-𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭.

 Reducing feedstock prices, media ingredients, or fermentation time might feel like progress, but TEA shows which variables (yield, energy, labour, utilities, etc.) truly move your cost per kg. That’s where optimisation matters most.

💡 𝐎𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐝.

 You might be improving yield or reducing cycle time, but without knowing the economic impact, you risk months chasing low-impact wins.

🛠 𝐄𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐩𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐬.

 Instead of discovering after scale-up that your ‘perfect’ process isn’t commercially viable, model and adjust early, while changes are still fast and cheap.

And when guided by an 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐓𝐄𝐀 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭, you’re not just running the numbers, you’re prioritising the right experiments, avoiding costly dead-ends, and aligning scale-up with business goals from day one.

If your startup is in the middle of validation and cost reduction, that’s not a reason to delay TEA, it’s the reason to start it.