Riding Unicorns: Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | Technology
00:08:13 · James Pringle
[00:08:13] S0: It it is amazing, and I'm a happy customer. I've been a customer since we did the podcast, basically, because I I think it was still a wait list when we first did it, and I was on the wait list. And then as soon as I could, I switched to to Fuse, and I've been very happy customer since. And I wanted to ask what are some of the other levers that you've got planned? You know, you you recently posted, you know, next stop 1,000,000,000 ARR, and, like, presumably some of these levers are part of getting you there. So what have you got coming next?
00:08:41 · Alan Chang
[00:08:41] S1: Yeah. So probably the product I'm most excited about, you know, coming this year is our micro solar battery product. So if you think about the problem of conventional solar, you need to own your own roof and you need maybe 10 to $20 of your own money to install it, right? So if you think about it, that's not very accessible to most households. So we're building a product where it will cost just over £1,000 and it's going be like roughly 2.5 kilowatt system of solar and battery. And all you need to do is plug in, right? So it's going be like ITA style assembly. So it's like a ten minute, roughly ten minute assembly. And then you can start generating your own energy, right? So you can hang up, you know, we'll give you a mount, you can mount it off your balcony, or if you have a backyard, put it in your backyard. Or if you unfortunately don't have neither of them, can just get the battery too. And we're talking around three year payback of the system costs. So you're getting money back in roughly three years. And also it's going to be a very, I'd say, well designed product. So I would say traditionally energy products are not the most beautiful, don't look great in your home. So I think this is gonna complement your home decor like super well, and it's gonna, you know, integrate seamlessly into your Fuse app too.
00:09:51 · Hector Mason, Alan Chang
[00:09:51] S2: That's super exciting. They will get me to change, I have to say. Home batteries have been on my radar for a while. Alan, we love getting to know the the people behind these companies as well, and one of the things that's talked about a lot in in StartUp Land is how the most successful founders balance these two things at once. They balance insane self belief, but also a huge amount of self doubt, and a fear of not being enough, a fear of not achieving enough. Does that resonate with you? [00:10:20] S1: Yeah, of course. I think for me, my my fear of not moving fast enough probably drives me more than, say, positive reinforcement. So, yeah, for sure. That that does resonate. [00:10:34] S2: Why the drive to move [00:10:36] S1: so fast? Why is that the thing? Because time is the most important commodity. Actually, if you think about it, I think the biggest enemy for us is time. It's actually not capital, it's time. If we don't use that time efficiently, like, I think we're we're not gonna succeed. And are you always looking forwards, or do you ever give yourself credit for what you have achieved? No. To be honest, I don't think what we achieve is, you know, I'll say it's a small achievement. Yeah. I'll just I'll just call it a small achievement. And, yeah, there's so much more we can achieve. And, yeah, I I I rarely look back. [00:11:11] S2: Does that... Tell us about the mindset. So does that mean... Do do you feel, like, contented and satisfied by what you
00:11:11 · Hector Mason, Alan Chang, James Pringle
[00:11:11] S2: Does that... Tell us about the mindset. So does that mean... Do do you feel, like, contented and satisfied by what you [00:11:20] S1: are doing? I'm not satisfied, but I... I'm definitely not miserable. I'm having fun. Having lots of fun, but more satisfied. [00:11:30] S0: And, Alan, obviously, Revolut is a bit of a talent machine. There's been a lot of revoluters that have gone on to launch businesses. And you mentioned there that, like, relentlessness to sort of move so quickly, and Revolut had that culture, and we're not gonna get into a whole culture thing. But was that, like, learned at Revolut? Was... You know, did Nick ever stand up and say, this is how you should be? You know, you should literally care more about the time than anything else, or is it just inherently? [00:11:57] S1: Yeah. I can't I can't speak to other people. Right? I can speak for myself. Like, like, what draw me to Reblo and what kept me there for a very long time is the fact that this was an environment. And and to be honest, like, I I think for me, it's... I've always kinda been like that. So it was kinda like a perfect environment for me. But I I would say the key thing for me was the fact that this environment has succeeded gave me the confidence and reassurance that actually this is the right way to build a company. Like, that was my key learning. Without the Revlon experience, I would probably doubt myself a lot more. [00:12:36] S2: Yeah. You said you're very forward looking. Like, can you picture yourself and fuse in five to
00:12:36 · Hector Mason, Alan Chang, James Pringle
[00:12:36] S2: Yeah. You said you're very forward looking. Like, can you picture yourself and fuse in five to [00:12:42] S1: ten years? Yeah. So... Well, a difference between five and ten will be very big, hopefully hopefully. But let's pick 10. Right? So, hopefully we're the largest energy company, maybe over the continent, maybe not the world yet, but on the continent. We would have meaningfully lowered energy costs by 20%, 30 maybe. And whether you're a household or a business, you can definitely feel that cost saving. Because ultimately energy is a boundary constraint for a lot of the downstream industries. If you think about like AI, probably the most obvious example, but also like chemicals, artificial fertilizers. So a lot of these downstream industries that heavily depend on energy, you know, hope at least some of that constraint is removed. And I think lowering carbon emissions comes for free if those, you know, first two things are achieved. [00:13:38] S0: Very cool. I'm obviously a consumer, but what percentage of your revenue is b to b? How many businesses do you guys service as well? [00:13:47] S1: Right right now, close to zero. Really? Like, reality is that, you know, we love to do businesses. It's just we have... Serve a pretty small team. We try to grow that team. But, yeah, like, I I I love to do it faster. It's one of the things [00:14:02] S0: to think about. It's even the local pub. They're under pressure at the moment with minimum wage going up, not insurance competition, or, you know, and they're all closed.
00:14:02 · James Pringle, Alan Chang, Hector Mason
[00:14:02] S0: to think about. It's even the local pub. They're under pressure at the moment with minimum wage going up, not insurance competition, or, you know, and they're all closed. [00:14:12] S1: Yeah. Whether whether there's a local pub to, you know, the steel, you know, a steel factory, right, we we love to lower your energy costs. [00:14:20] S2: And Alan, how how will you guys avoid being disrupted yourselves? [00:14:26] S1: I think the only way to stay ahead is to keep pushing forward. I think startups is like a shock. If you don't move forward, you die. I think we just have to keep moving. We just have forever to move forward. [00:14:42] S2: So will you have a research lab? Would you acquire We [00:14:47] S1: will build those research teams. The idea is that we start simple technology, that's why we're very focused on solar storage. We're not taking any technical risk, but we will build research teams. We want to create an environment where the best nuclear researchers, nuclear engineers want to work in. Right? [00:15:07] S0: Yeah. And you've you said earlier that the limiter isn't capital. It is often talent and speed. What are the hardest roles for you to hire for today?