01 · The gap
Four questions nobody taught you
“Give me the NPV.”
discounting, cash timing, and a rate you can defend
“Which segment is this for.”
segmentation, and the cost of serving both
“Tell me why a customer would switch.”
switching cost, alternatives, positioning
“What does this do to margin.”
contribution, mix, operating leverage
Technical education produces people who solve hard problems, then puts them in rooms where the question is financial, commercial or strategic. The gap is not intelligence. It is vocabulary and decision logic.
So the engineer finishes able to define WACC and still unable to defend a business case for a €12M production line, or to explain why the technically superior product lost.
02 · The method
Three subjects everywhere else. One decision here.
Everywhere else, finance, marketing and strategy are 3 unrelated subjects with 3 exams. In practice they arrive together, in one room, as one call under imperfect information.
So they are built to collide here. A price assumption moves the NPV. The competitor’s response moves the price. Industry structure decides whether that response comes at all.
3 Pillars
Finance for Engineers
- Statements, cash and margin
- NPV, IRR, payback, WACC
- Make or buy, capex gates
- Sensitivity before conviction
Marketing for Engineers
- Market sizing you can source
- Segments and cost to serve
- Pricing a technical product
- Why the better product lost
Strategy for Engineers
- Industry structure and power
- Competitive response
- Build, buy or partner
- Where the capital should go
03 · Anatomy
Every concept arrives as one Lesson, in 8 beats
- 01
Concrete problem
- 02
Concept
- 03
Engineering translation
- 04
Worked example
- 05
Decision or trade-off
- 06
Cold-call question
- 07
Solution
- 08
Takeaway
Beat 6 is the one the market skips: you are cold-called and have to commit an answer before the solution appears. A Lesson ends on a takeaway — one line you could say out loud in a meeting on Thursday — then names the next Lesson and its length. No streaks, no badges.
04 · The Mission
Mission: launching a photonics module into 2 segments
A fictional company with a real problem. Capex of €12M is approved in principle. Two segments want the module at different prices, at different volumes, on different qualification clocks.
The information is incomplete on purpose. The competitor’s cost base is a range. One segment’s 2029 volume is a customer’s own forecast. Nothing here has a back-of-book answer.
| Line item | Metrology OEM | Industrial integrator |
|---|---|---|
| Units, 2029 | 18,000 | 140,000 |
| Price accepted | €96 | €71 |
| Cost to serve, per unit | €14 | €5 |
| Qualification time | 14 months | 5 months |
| Competitor response | holds price | −12% in 2 quarters |
Decision form
You commit numbers and a call before you are shown anything: which segment, what price, what NPV — launch or don’t?
Committing before the solution appears is the whole pedagogy. It cannot be skipped.
The Challenge
“Your segment call is right and your cost curve is right. Your NPV assumes the 2029 volume holds after a competitor price cut. It does not. Here is what that does to the margin.”
Your inputs, checked against the Mission’s own model: which number is off and by how much, the assumption you never stated, and what the competitor does to your plan. Then the worked solution and the Instrument that produced it, downloadable, yours.
That single beat is the product. It credits what you got right before it takes anything apart.
Missions are set in aerospace, semiconductors, energy, mobility, robotics, photonics and manufacturing. Every new sector case makes the program worth more to the next engineer.
05 · Levels
The same concept, at the altitude that matters to you
Foundation
Engineering students, PhDs, 0–5 years in
Read the P&L and say where this business actually makes money.
Practitioner
5–12 years in, writing and defending business cases
Model the NPV under 3 scenarios and name the assumption that breaks it.
Leader
Project, product and engineering managers, technical founders
Choose which of 3 programmes gets the capital, and defend it to the portfolio.
A program you consume once is worth less than a program that follows a career. Level is depth, and the Diagnostic decides where you start.
06 · Alternatives
What else is on the table, honestly
| Option | Price | Time | Taught as one decision | Engineering examples | Starts tonight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MBA or EMBA | €40k–€120k | 2 years | partly | rarely | no |
| Executive programme for engineers | $3,495 | 12 weeks | partly | sometimes | no |
| Marketplace course | €20–€60 | self-paced | no | no | yes |
| Finance certification | $347–$497 per year | self-paced | no | partly | yes |
| Free — video, blogs, a colleague | €0 | minutes | no | sometimes | yes |
| Business for Engineers | €390 | self-paced, lifetime | yes | yes | at launch |
Published list prices for each category, rounded. Free is a real competitor and belongs on this table: it gives you definitions. It does not give you a decision with real numbers, imperfect information and a worked solution that argues back.
07 · Price
One payment. Lifetime access. No subscription.
Starter
€49
Finance for Engineers, Foundation Level
- Finance Pillar, Foundation
- Quizzes and worked solutions
- Lifetime access
- Fully creditable against Core
30-day refund, no questions.
Core
€390
The full program, all 3 Levels
- All 3 Pillars, all 3 Levels
- Missions with worked solutions
- The Instruments library
- Lifetime access, no subscription
30-day refund, no questions.
Command
€890
Core, plus the advanced library
- Everything in Core
- Advanced Mission library
- Complete Instruments library
- Auto-graded certificate exam
30-day refund, no questions.
Upgrades are priced as the difference and bought once: €341 from Starter to Core, €500 from Core to Command. Your €49 counts.
The price is published once and does not move. No countdown, no discount, no badge on the middle column. Checkout opens when the program ships; nothing on this page takes a payment.
08 · Trust
No byline, no testimonials, no badge
Thrust Vector launches anonymous. There is no instructor to admire, no logos to borrow and no institution lending its name. That is a real weakness and we are not going to dress it up.
So the work has to be visibly better, not merely marketed better. Before anyone pays: one complete Mission, 3 complete Lessons and the graded Diagnostic, free and auditable. After anyone pays: 30 days, no questions, money back.
Judge the material, not the byline.
The first thing you will do
The Diagnostic: 20 questions, 8 minutes, no account.
A score out of 100, a bar for each Pillar, and your 3 weakest areas named in plain words. It opens with the program. There is no form on this page and nothing here collects your address.