ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Seyi Fabode

Energy and infrastructure executive, three-time founder, and author of Your City Sucks! Fixing Soft Systems to Rebuild Hard Infrastructure.

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3xfounder, one exit

150,000+LinkedIn followers

Top VoiceLinkedIn Top Voice in Technology, 2016, 2017 and 2023

5,000US cities scored with the METRO Score

About Seyi

Seyi Fabode has spent two decades in every seat of infrastructure: operator, founder, investor and corporate innovator. That vantage point is the argument of his book, Your City Sucks! Fixing Soft Systems to Rebuild Hard Infrastructure: infrastructure rarely fails for lack of money or engineering. It fails when the soft systems around it (governance, trust, information, maintenance) break down.

He started as an engineer in Nigeria and ran commercial operations at a 1,000 MW power station in London before earning his MBA at Chicago Booth. He founded Power2Switch, a first-to-market retail electricity marketplace acquired by Choose Energy; invested in cleantech at Clean Energy Trust; and built Varuna, an AI platform for water utilities that raised $3.7M. As Director of Cleantech Innovation at RWE in the US, he led the strategy that secured RWE's place in the $500M DOE Long Duration Energy Storage Consortium.

Today he co-founds AsimovGrid, matching excess grid capacity and water rights to large-load demand, and advises utilities, developers and investors as a Principal at Asha Labs. He created the METRO Score, a health index covering 5,000 US cities. A three-time LinkedIn Top Voice in Technology with 150,000+ followers, he co-hosts the Future Forward podcast and is based between Austin and London.

The path to this book

1994–1999
Federal University of Technology Akure, Nigeria
BEng, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering.
2000–2001
University of Warwick
MSc, Manufacturing Systems Engineering.
2002–2008
Barking Power Station, London
Commercial and operations analyst at a 1,000 MW combined-cycle gas plant, running trading systems for about 250 MW of power.
2008–2010
Chicago Booth
MBA, Entrepreneurship and Strategic Management.
2008–2013
Power2Switch · Founder and CEO
The first user-centric retail electricity marketplace, operating in five states. Acquired by Choose Energy.
2014–2015
Clean Energy Trust · VP and Entrepreneur in Residence
Led the investment process for five cleantech investments, including Numat, Sinode and Intellihot.
2015–present
Asha Labs · Principal
Strategy advisory for utilities, infrastructure owners, developers and investors across three continents, with clients including the World Bank and Fortune 500 utilities.
2016
VestedWorld · Managing Director
Growth support for portfolio companies of an emerging-markets fund in Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana.
2018–2024
Varuna · CEO and Co-founder
An AI and IoT platform giving water utilities real-time visibility into their systems. Raised $3.7M; selected for Google for Startups, URBAN-X and Imagine H2O; a 30-person team across four countries.
2024–2025
RWE · Director, Cleantech Innovation
Led the strategy that secured RWE's place in the $500M DOE Long Duration Energy Storage Consortium.
2025–present
AsimovGrid · Co-founder, Product and Go-to-Market
AI for speed-to-power decisions: matching excess grid capacity and water rights to large-load demand.
2026
Your City Sucks!
Two decades of watching infrastructure succeed or fail for reasons no balance sheet captures, turned into one argument: fix the soft systems to rebuild the hard infrastructure.

Ideas Seyi is known for

CONCEPT

Soft systems

"The bones of the city, its physical infrastructure, are shaped by the soft systems of governance, culture, and community. When those soft systems fail, the bones become brittle." — Your City Sucks!

FRAMEWORK

The METRO Score

The Municipal Evaluation of Trends, Resilience, and Outcomes: a 0–100 health index built on 15 metrics, applied to 5,000 US cities. The median city scores 55.3.

RESEARCH