Innovation 10

What if the clean energy bottleneck isn't solar panels or wind turbines but the battery sitting behind them? Antonio Baclig is building a grid-scale battery out of iron powder and table salt, and his answer to "why do we need another battery" might change how you think about the energy transition.Antonio Baclig is the CEO of Inlyte Energy, a battery startup developing sodium iron chemistry for grid-scale storage. He studied physics at Harvard, shifted from carbon capture research to batteries after watching solar costs collapse in the early 2010s, and earned his PhD at Stanford. Inlyte has since partnered with the original inventors of sodium metal chloride technology, a UK team that has worked on the chemistry since the 1980s.In this episode:■ Why the "we already have batteries" argument misses the real problem■ The discovery of a 40-year-old technology that became Inlyte's foundation■ How Antonio gets good ideas, and why writing matters more than ever in the age of AI■ The one question he thinks every innovator should ask themselves more oftenInnovation 10 is a short-form interview series, 10 questions, one guest, about thirty minutes. Subscribe to make sure you catch every new episode.For all booking inquiries shoot us an email at [email protected]:00 Intro00:35 From engineer to commander02:06 What Inlyte Energy does04:02 The book that changed it all07:59 Finding the original inventors09:39 The naysayer problem11:44 Hire for integrity14:17 Changed his mind on AI16:25 Innovation: innate or learned?18:10 How Antonio gets good ideas20:30 Writing beats passive research21:48 Assessing ideas on merit23:33 Write down your predictions26:15 Who inspires Antonio most28:02 Favorite city: Kailua, Hawaii