Lunar Labs: Engineering Its Own Evolution

Alex Tiller, Captain of Lunar Labs, faces a defining moment for his organization’s experimental model of innovation. During a Quarterly Learning Review, the team behind CarbonCatcher—a direct air capture project designed to remove carbon from the atmosphere—presents a breakthrough that could make its technology commercially viable. By integrating their devices with large facilities that produce waste heat and require cooling water, the team can capture carbon while producing and selling water and cooling services back to partners. The innovation promises both environmental and economic value, yet scaling it would require factory-scale infrastructure, specialized manufacturing expertise, and massive upfront capital—resources far beyond Lunar’s incremental, learning-driven funding model.

Founded as a division of Legacy Tech in 2010, Lunar Labs was designed to tackle humanity’s toughest problems through “launches,” ambitious, high-risk projects combining technological breakthroughs with social benefit. Tiller cultivated a culture of experimentation that prizes “learnings per dollar” over conventional success metrics, encouraging teams to test bold ideas, embrace failure, and “tackle the hardest problem first.” This patient, systematic approach has yielded promising ventures but was never intended to manage large-scale execution.

Now, with sustainability projects like CarbonCatcher approaching commercialization, Tiller must decide whether to evolve Lunar’s mission. Should Lunar expand its scope to include industrial execution, potentially straining its nimble culture and requiring vast resources? Or should CarbonCatcher “graduate” into an independent company, backed by external investors better suited for manufacturing but less aligned with Lunar’s long-term philosophy?

The case explores the tension between innovation and scale, purpose and profit, and the organizational challenge of sustaining a culture of learning while enabling real-world impact.