Clearly Define Your Problem and Make Your Commitments a Reality - Insights from Enwise CEO Stéphane Vernède
06/09/2026
As CEO and co-founder of Enwise, I operate across engineering, business development, and company leadership. That reflects how I think about building a company: the technical side and the commercial side have to move together.
“If you have a problem to solve, 80% of the effort should go to asking the right question.”- Stephane Vernede
Building on Process Design and Data Science
My background in process optimization helped me design and build the operational foundation behind our technology, while data science taught me how to structure information flow within the industrial process and the company itself. Together, these disciplines created the foundation for how we scale technology and make decisions.
Solving the Right Problem
One of my core strengths is helping the team define the real problem before trying to solve it. I believe that most of the effort should go into understanding and framing the problem properly first.
I often think about a quote from Elon Musk: “The most common error of a smart engineer is to optimize something that shouldn't exist.” That is why asking the right question can change the efficiency of a team dramatically.
In many ways, I see myself as a facilitator: someone who guides that methodology and makes sure the team is using its energy in the right and meaningful direction.
A Leadership Style Built on Alignment
My approach to decision-making follows the same principle. First, define the right problem. Then, create space for disagreement.
I want every stakeholder and team member to voice their perspective openly. The best decisions emerge from rigorous discussion, where different perspectives are resolved into a shared direction.
Trust is Built Through Accountability
For customers and investors, trust comes down to accountability. If we commit to something, we follow through. And when problems arise, our first priority is not assigning blame, it is solving the problem and taking full accountability for our promise.
I remember one example where a customer experienced system poisoning caused by mishandling on their side. Even though the issue did not originate with us, we immediately put all our resources into solving the problem, restoring operations, and making sure the customer could recover access to capacity as fast as possible.
That is how I think trust is built: first by solving the problem, then by dealing transparently with the consequences.The same principle applies to investors. In a scale-up environment, expectations are demanding. The only sustainable way to build credibility through accountability, transparency, and delivering as much as possible against what has been promised.
“Just Do It”
For aspiring entrepreneurs or industry leaders, my advice is simple: Just Do It.
On the entrepreneurship journey, there will be many more problems and issues than you anticipate. But, it also creates many more opportunities than you can imagine. You cannot fully understand it until you go for the adventure and do it.
Health, Discipline, and Performance
Outside work, I am serious about sport and fitness. I train daily, training core strength every morning, mobility every evening, and jujitsu several times a week.
For me, this is both personal and professional. It supports clarity and physical fitness. Health is one of the pillars of happiness, alongside human relations, and social impact. Fitness strengthens the first pillar directly, but it also supports the other two through discipline, clarity, and resilience.
Ideas That Changed My Thinking
Two ideas have had a particularly strong influence on me:
The first is Becoming a Supple Leopard, a book I recommend to everybody. What struck me about it was the clarity, it explained concepts in a way that made years of fragmented advice finally make sense.
The second is geometric algebra. It fundamentally changed how I viewed physics and mathematics by making complex equations simpler and clearer.
In both cases, the impact was similar: complex things became simple.
The Core Values of Enwise
If I could ask another CEO one question, it would be: What are the values of your company?
At Enwise, learning is at the center of everything we do. We are a technology company operating in a fast-moving field, and it is essential to constantly learn new things.
Alongside that, we value transparency, accountability, and ownership. We have a culture of grind and fun. We enjoy the process of making something meaningful.
Scaling Impact in the Green Fuel Space
What excited me today is seeing Enwise transition to a scale-up phase with large-scale impact. That is a milestone I am aiming for.
I want Enwise to be able to create larger impact in the green fuel space.
