Riding Unicorns: Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | Technology
00:04:27 · Hector Mason, Alan Chang
[00:04:27] S2: I mean, like, for years, Octopus have been kind of known, at least in The UK, as the disruptor energy brand. And I've heard they're scared of Fuze. They're worried. Like, should they be worried? And and why why haven't they innovated yet in the [00:04:42] S1: same way as you have? Well, I'm not gonna speak foul of anyone specific in the industry. I think regardless of what you're building, as long as you're building, you have our respect. But one thing I would say is like if we thought the energy industry was in a good state, we wouldn't start FUSE in the first place. Energy ultimately is like a super complex domain. And it depends on how much of that domain you want to engage, right? Like for example, you can ignore a 95% domain and get by. And I'll argue that's actually what a lot of energy companies are doing. So if you want to get to be truly, truly great, you have to go super deep and understand all the complexity and and willing to actually go go super deep, right, and own the whole thing. Otherwise, I I don't think it's possible to to achieve the mission.
00:04:42 · Alan Chang, James Pringle
[00:04:42] S1: same way as you have? Well, I'm not gonna speak foul of anyone specific in the industry. I think regardless of what you're building, as long as you're building, you have our respect. But one thing I would say is like if we thought the energy industry was in a good state, we wouldn't start FUSE in the first place. Energy ultimately is like a super complex domain. And it depends on how much of that domain you want to engage, right? Like for example, you can ignore a 95% domain and get by. And I'll argue that's actually what a lot of energy companies are doing. So if you want to get to be truly, truly great, you have to go super deep and understand all the complexity and and willing to actually go go super deep, right, and own the whole thing. Otherwise, I I don't think it's possible to to achieve the mission. [00:05:25] S0: I think that's really interesting because we interview a lot of founders on here, and often they'll say things like, oh, if I knew how hard it was, I wouldn't have ever started. And actually, Alan, it feels like you embrace that complexity. Yeah. You're like one of the only founders I can think of that we've had over 200 plus interviews where you're like, I wish I'd started earlier because now I've realized how hard it is. What is it about incredibly hard complex challenges that really does attract you, and what gives you that belief that you're the right person to solve it?
00:05:25 · James Pringle, Alan Chang
[00:05:25] S0: I think that's really interesting because we interview a lot of founders on here, and often they'll say things like, oh, if I knew how hard it was, I wouldn't have ever started. And actually, Alan, it feels like you embrace that complexity. Yeah. You're like one of the only founders I can think of that we've had over 200 plus interviews where you're like, I wish I'd started earlier because now I've realized how hard it is. What is it about incredibly hard complex challenges that really does attract you, and what gives you that belief that you're the right person to solve it? [00:05:58] S1: Yeah. So for me, it's basically impact the problem. I think it goes well saying that this is one of the most important problems in the world right now. I think second is, like, this complexity sparked my intellectual curiosity. When Charles and I discussed with starting company, one of the criteria is that we agreed it you know, it has to be a problem that if it weren't for us, it would be solved. These are things we care about, and it just so happens that energy tick all those three boxes. I think we're embracing complexity, and I think complexity will only go up from here. But I think what gets me very motivated is building a great team and attackers this problem. Because I think it's a bit counterintuitive, but the harder your problem, the more important the problem is. I think the better talent you can attract. Right? And I'd say like we have pretty happy with the team. I go to battle with every day to solve this problem.
00:05:58 · Alan Chang, Hector Mason
[00:05:58] S1: Yeah. So for me, it's basically impact the problem. I think it goes well saying that this is one of the most important problems in the world right now. I think second is, like, this complexity sparked my intellectual curiosity. When Charles and I discussed with starting company, one of the criteria is that we agreed it you know, it has to be a problem that if it weren't for us, it would be solved. These are things we care about, and it just so happens that energy tick all those three boxes. I think we're embracing complexity, and I think complexity will only go up from here. But I think what gets me very motivated is building a great team and attackers this problem. Because I think it's a bit counterintuitive, but the harder your problem, the more important the problem is. I think the better talent you can attract. Right? And I'd say like we have pretty happy with the team. I go to battle with every day to solve this problem. [00:06:43] S2: What what are some of the tangible achievements that you're most proud of in the journey of Fuze so far?
00:06:43 · Hector Mason, Alan Chang
[00:06:43] S2: What what are some of the tangible achievements that you're most proud of in the journey of Fuze so far? [00:06:48] S1: It's very hard to pinpoint exactly one one thing, but I can give you some numbers. Right? So we have benchmarked against our cost of energy. So not necessarily the price we pass on to customers, but our cost of energy. We benchmarked against the whole industry. And so far we've lowered from beginning to end, which is today, we've lowered it about 15%. So some of that cost savings we decided to pass on to customers, but some we've decided to keep as margin. But that's like the efficiency gain we've made so far, 15%. [00:07:18] S2: And where is that coming from? Is it labor? Is it grid?
00:07:18 · Hector Mason, Alan Chang
[00:07:18] S2: And where is that coming from? Is it labor? Is it grid? [00:07:21] S1: It's a combination of many things. For example, it could be from automation, like some... Something as simple as automation. So, like, you know, last month we launched our AI customer support, so that gets us some cost savings. But it could also be our billing engine. It could be also from our production and demand forecasting. Just having a more accurate and precise forecasting compared to everyone else allows us to buy exactly how much we need, as opposed to overbuyunderbuy, which basically create an unintentional position where we can lose money in the market. Another example is our EPC team. So building utility scale generation, we are able to save roughly 30% in CapEx compared to everyone else because of just better execution and just in housing building things in houses post outsourcing. Like, there are many, levers we pull to achieve that 15%. And the more we do this, we more realize, actually, there's so many more levers we can pull. But, yeah, I'll I'll say that's the key achievement, like, 15%. It's amazing.