Winter Break?
Publicly, KCM goes quiet until January 5th. Internally, the wheels keep grinding because if we don’t make it before Christmas, there might be no clean “reopen” in January but just a stalled machine.
Executive Summary
We’re entering a controlled shutdown window: fewer outward signals, tighter internal execution. The only acceptable outcome is that the bottlenecks are materially reduced during this period — not explained, not narrated, reduced. A full Year in Review and highlights will be posted between Christmas and New Year's, nonetheless.
Advisors & Partners
UKFin+ Network: We’ve joined the UKFin+ network, expanding the institutional support we can rely on going into 2026. This is less “badge” and more “access layer.” Made possible by a chance encounter with Lorita Cornish of the University of Birmingham: Thank you for pointing us in the right direction.
KTP Track: Preparation has begun to position a new Knowledge Transfer Partnership properly with the University of Birmingham. This isn’t a vanity collaboration; it’s an execution bridge: structured research capacity, institutional anchoring, and a credible pathway for the next technical phase. We hope to bring as much value to STEM students as possible.
Ongoing ecosystem: China track remains operational, UK institutes remain engaged, and US channels that reopened post-shutdown are still in motion. The difference is we’re trimming noise: fewer conversations, more conversions.
Product Track
The Iteration Map for Mk.I PSCB MVP is locked. Winter Break work is focused on making sure January starts with fabrication-ready momentum, not “planning momentum.”
During the shutdown window, we’re completing:
Final stability update - Frozen Company Funds to be released
UKRI Battery Challenge Submission with partners and friends
US roadmap definition & Year in Review preparation
Just preloading the sprint so it can actually run.
Team
We’re operating in a split reality until this month is resolved:
Externally: reduced activity, clean comms, less chaos, but new hires pending to support us in material science and project management.
Internally: obligations and recovery sequencing are still active, and several team members are leaving to escape our startup bureaucracy.
The mission remains intact, but the cost of delays has been human before it has been strategic. That’s on us to carry, and to correct, not to rationalize or postpone indefinitely. The road to hell is always paved with good intentions, so we dispense with spiritual nonsense and settle on facts.
Media & Publications
Between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, we’ll publish a compact year-in-review snapshot. Not a victory lap, but a ledger. What was built, what survived, what failed, and what proved durable under pressure. Key milestones across partnerships, technical validation, institutional alignment, and product architecture will be documented transparently. This is not about optimism; it’s about continuity. A quiet accounting before the next phase begins.
Operations
The system barely survived pressure-testing, and we are still in Limbo with several promised engagements. However, contracts, documentation, partner frameworks, and roadmap architecture are held. The remaining friction is administrative and financial access. That constraint doesn’t care about our roadmap, which is exactly why the shutdown period is being used to reduce dependency and increase resilience.
Summary
Public break. Private push.
We go quiet until January 5th, but we are not stopping. The goal is to cross the line before Christmas in the background, so January is ignition & not recovery theatre.
With a refined North Star, we will continue to work until our existence is justified.
Forward still means forward.
— The KCM Team 🚀
