The case places students in the role of LanzaTech's founder, Dr Sean Simpson, in April 2012. The company was built on the radical idea of using proprietary microbes to capture and convert carbon-rich waste gases from heavy industry (like steel mills) into fuel-grade ethanol. LanzaTech has just achieved a massive technological breakthrough: proving its proprietary gas-to-ethanol fermentation process works at an industrial demonstration scale with a major Chinese steel mill. Despite this scientific success, the company is struggling to generate revenues. From its earliest days, investors had put the company onto a path that emphasized technology development and securing a portfolio of patents. Dr Simpson's dilemma is not about whether the technology works, but rather how to build a profitable business model around it. Simpson must re-evaluate the company's entire commercialization strategy.