You may recognize the above graphic as a slightly modified version of the Eisenhower decision matrix, a powerful tool for managing day-to-day activities. I've found it can also be useful for business or career strategy by re-labeling the axes "revenue" and "impact". The familiar resulting quadrants help identify priorities for executing, investing, delegating, and deleting.
In a recent talk, Thomas Friedman spoke about two unprecedented "supercycles" we are in the midst of: climate change and AI. The first is an existential threat; and the second could help us solve the first one, or become an existential threat itself, or both.
Within that sobering context, here's where my company is heading in 2025:
- Liquid hydrogen systems development (execute): In my previous post, I mentioned the hydrogen microgrid project, LH2 drones and automated fueling systems, and NASA lunar lander development activities my company supports. These are core company projects, and the first two will remain top business priorities in 2025 with the goal of full scale demonstrations.
- Knowledge transfer (invest): I've already invested a good deal of time into creating various resources and tools for developing liquid hydrogen systems, most of them freely accessible on my Training page. Have also contributed to LH2 related standards and guidelines development, and will continue those efforts. Next, I'll be creating, training, and fine-tuning a hydrogen AI agent using: curated public domain data; my intellectual property data from 40 years of hydrogen technology and systems development; and the most powerful LLM APIs available (e.g., OpenAI o3 and future frontier models).
- Space projects (delegate): This is a very difficult pivot for me. I worked directly for NASA for 31 years, and continued supporting them on various contracts for another 9 years. Have also done space related work for DOD and multiple private sector organizations over that timeframe. But it's time to let my younger and more talented colleagues at NASA, its contractor teams, and commercial space to continue forward in this inspiring and important area without me.
- Talkers vs doers (delete): Not long ago, only chemistry teachers and professionals working in just a few industry sectors talked about hydrogen. Now almost everybody - especially on social media and from various news outlets - seems to have an opinion on the topic. On one end of the "talker" spectrum are hydrogen haters (see my old post), and on the other end are those pitching hydrogen concepts they cannot deliver. Both ends, and many talkers in between, often have little or no actual experience with hydrogen. And they are impeding our progress toward addressing climate change with misinformation and predictable failures. We need to support the hydrogen doers and ignore the hydrogen talkers.
Matt Moran is the Managing Member at Moran Innovation LLC, and previous Managing Partner at Isotherm Energy. He's been developing power and propulsion systems for more than 40 years; and break-through liquid, slush, and gaseous hydrogen systems since the mid-1980s. Matt was also the Sector Manager for Energy & Materials in his last position at NASA where he worked for 31 years. He's been a co-founder in seven technology startups; and provided R&D and engineering support to many organizations. Matt has three patents and more than 50 publications including the Cryogenic Fluid Management series. He also teaches courses, workshops, and webinars on liquid hydrogen systems.
