# Rebel Strategy Lab

> Structural diagnosis for climate tech organizations. Strategy consulting and leadership coaching for founders and investors navigating organizational complexity.

- Full content: https://rebelstrategylab.com/llms-full.txt
- Author: Karolina Sarna (https://karolinasarna.com, https://www.linkedin.com/in/karolina-sarna/)
- Site: https://rebelstrategylab.com

## About

Rebel Strategy Lab is run by Karolina Sarna — organizational diagnostician, former climate tech product leader (ICEYE, €20M ARR), PhD atmospheric physics (TU Delft). The practice applies structural diagnosis to climate tech companies: identifying mechanical organizational failures that leadership and strategy changes alone cannot fix.

## Core Framework

Systems fail for mechanical reasons, not motivational ones. Strategy without fixing organizational structure is expensive wallpaper. Coaching without fixing the system is therapy that doesn't stick. The diagnostic method: Observe (map actual decision flow), Hypothesise (identify structural root causes), Test (validate against organizational data), Revise (redesign the operating model).

## Diagnostic Patterns

- [The Strategy-Execution Gap](/diagnosis/strategy-execution-gap): Why strategy exists in a deck while the team executes something else
- [The Founder Leadership Transition](/diagnosis/founder-leadership-transition): When the leadership style that built the company starts breaking it
- [Accidental Complexity](/diagnosis/accidental-complexity): How technical founders over-engineer their organizations
- [The Adaptation Trap](/diagnosis/adaptation-trap): Accumulated workarounds that calcify into permanent operating infrastructure
- [Structural vs. Personal](/diagnosis/structural-vs-personal): Treating structural problems as people problems
- [Scaling Breakpoints](/diagnosis/scaling-breakpoints): Predictable stage-gated organizational failure points
- [Mission Drift](/diagnosis/mission-drift): When quarterly survival logic displaces mission in resource allocation
- [Optimization vs. Transformation](/diagnosis/optimization-vs-transformation): When to refine versus when to replace the model
- [Decision Architecture Failure](/diagnosis/decision-architecture-failure): When nobody knows who can say yes
- [Investor-Operator Misalignment](/diagnosis/investor-operator-misalignment): Structural gap between board information and operating reality

## Climate Tech Sectors

- [Earth Observation](/climate-tech/earth-observation): Hardware-to-analytics transition and defense revenue drift
- [Climate Adaptation](/climate-tech/climate-adaptation): Technology that works in a market that doesn't
- [Energy Markets & Grid Tech](/climate-tech/energy-markets): Regulatory whiplash and platform vs. project identity
- [Defense & Dual-Use](/climate-tech/defense-dual-use): The structural mechanics of the climate-to-defense pivot
- [Carbon Capture & Removal](/climate-tech/carbon-capture): R&D culture vs. project development culture
- [Sustainable Agriculture & AgTech](/climate-tech/sustainable-agriculture): Trust architecture in agtech
- [Clean Energy Development](/climate-tech/clean-energy): Project delivery machine vs. platform ambition
- [Climate Data & Analytics](/climate-tech/climate-data-analytics): When the data pipeline IS the product
- [Built Environment & Retrofit](/climate-tech/built-environment): Tech-enabled services hybrid model
- [Mobility & Transport](/climate-tech/mobility-transport): Infrastructure dependency timing mismatch

## For Investors

- [Organizational Due Diligence](/investors/organizational-due-diligence): Pre-investment structural assessment
- [Portfolio Diagnosis](/investors/portfolio-diagnosis): Post-investment diagnosis of underperformance
- [Founder-CEO Assessment](/investors/founder-ceo-assessment): Structural vs. personal framing of founder scaling
- [Climate Tech Operating Models](/investors/climate-tech-operating-models): Why SaaS benchmarks mislead climate tech investors
- [For Family Offices](/investors/family-offices): Operational assessment gap in direct climate tech investing
- [Post-Investment Support](/investors/post-investment-support): When board advice fails because the problem is structural
- [How Engagements Work](/investors/engagement-model): Service tiers and timelines
- [Case: The DD That Changed the Deal](/investors/case-pre-investment-dd): Pre-investment organizational DD case study
- [Case: The Portfolio Company Nobody Could Fix](/investors/case-portfolio-diagnosis): Portfolio diagnosis case study
- [Before You Fire the Founder](/investors/before-you-fire-the-founder): The structural diagnosis you're skipping
- [Your COO Hire Failed](/investors/coo-hire-wrong-diagnosis): Diagnosing the wrong organizational problem
- [Why 65% of Senior Hires Leave Before Series B](/investors/senior-hire-turnover): Authority concentration and decision architecture

## For Impact Investors

- [Where Capital Should Flow](/impact/where-capital-should-flow): Physical science vs. market narrative on climate capital allocation
- [The Structural Diagnostic for Family Offices](/impact/family-office-structural-diagnostic): What family offices need before writing a direct check
- [Impact DD Evaluates the Wrong Layer](/impact/impact-due-diligence-wrong-layer): Why impact measurement misses organizational capacity
- [The Next-Gen Transition](/impact/next-gen-transition): Generational transition as organizational design problem
- [Climate Tech Organizational Failure Modes](/impact/climate-tech-organizational-failure-modes): Structural failure modes invisible to standard DD

## Climate Forward

- [Climate Forward](/climate-forward): Design within planetary boundaries the same way you design within any other constraint. A framework for any company operating at scale.

## Contact

- Email: karolina@rebelstrategylab.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karolina-sarna/
- Personal site: https://karolinasarna.com