What separates the leaders who build things that last from the ones who don't? Farshid Arman has lived that question across every stage of the energy industry: from a hydrogen storage startup with no roadmap, to 13 years commercialising energy technologies at Siemens, to VP of VPP Operations at AutoGrid, to founding FlexEnergi, a capacity-as-a-service business serving utilities across the US and Canada.

In this conversation, we talk about the four questions he asks before committing to any new venture, why knowing when to walk away is the most underrated leadership skill, and how to fall in love with the problem rather than the solution. We also get into the remote work debate, what great hiring actually looks like at a startup, and why the climate problem has never been more urgent even when governments keep looking the other way.

In this episode we cover:

• The four questions Farshid asks before committing to any new venture, and why vehicle-to-grid fails one of them right now
• Why making a hundred million dollars at Siemens felt like almost nothing, and what that taught him about impact
• The difference between leading at a 500,000-person company and a ten-person startup
• Why focusing on how much you have left to do matters more than how much you have already done
• How FlexEnergi is building differently from the competition, starting with the distribution grid rather than the thermostat
• The Steve Jobs hiring philosophy Farshid subscribes to and how he applies it
• Why mandatory office days are backwards thinking, and what a genuinely productive hybrid model looks like
• Staying heads down on the climate problem when administrations keep undoing each other's work

If you work in energy technology, lead a team in the renewables space, or are weighing up a startup opportunity against a corporate role, this conversation will sharpen how you think.

Connect with Farshid Arman:linkedin.com/in/farshid-arman

Farshid Arman is President of FlexEnergi, where he leads the company's efforts in delivering advanced distributed energy and virtual power plant solutions. Prior to FlexEnergi, he served as Vice President of VPP Operations at AutoGrid, overseeing large-scale VPP deployments across utilities of varying sizes. Earlier in his career, Farshid worked at Siemens AG across wind power, gas power, smart grid, and energy storage. He holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and is the inventor on numerous patents.

Connect with Michael Thornhill:I help renewable energy companies find exceptional talent and develop the leadership and culture that makes them stay.linkedin.com/in/michael-thornhill-b42603367