00:05:00 · Sebastian Johnson, Alan Chang
[00:05:00] S0: And how do you assess that in the process? [00:05:02] S1: I mean, it's a combination of, you know, we do a LiveCon exercise as well as we go deep on historical problems they solved and whether they actually solve the problem. And you'd be surprised. There's engineers that you ask them, Okay, what is the most complex problem you solved? And they explain to you and they actually didn't solve the problem. So I think it's a combination of life skills assessment as well as going deep on a historical problem. [00:05:40] S0: And are you seeing... You mentioned that engineers from corporates can go through their career without ever solving a problem. Are you seeing certain profiles of certain companies that are creating great engineering talent? Are you looking at like AI companies and maybe their ML engineers are great, better? Are you looking at very early stage startups, are those engineers better? Is there a profile that you've seen that it does develop great engineers? [00:06:00] S1: Actually, hasn't been a profile we've seen, right? We're finding great engineers everywhere. I mean, we are finding great engineers. For example, we hire a lot of great engineers from hedge funds or HFTs, but then there's also a distribution of good and bad engineers. This is also true for AI companies. We've seen engineers not so great working at these big AI labs. So I think it's always like there's a distribution of top engineers and mediocre engineers in every company just need to assess one by one. [00:06:41] S0: How quickly do you realise if you've hired a bad engineer?
00:06:41 · Sebastian Johnson, Alan Chang
[00:06:41] S0: How quickly do you realise if you've hired a bad engineer? [00:06:44] S1: Roughly 80% of engineers we hire, we are very happy with. Maybe closer to 90, 80 to 90. And we usually realise within a month, sometimes less. [00:06:57] S0: Yeah. There any specific traits or characteristics when they go through the recruitment process that is an immediate red flag? [00:07:04] S1: Yeah, so there is... I mean, there's two things we assessed, right? One, like, first are like the hot skills, right, which is like the engineering skills we're looking for. The second is more like, you know, the attitude towards, you know, do they... Like ultimately what we want to do is we want to hire not only great engines, but engines that care, like that deeply care. Because sometimes, you know, shit hits a fan and, you know, you just need to quickly fix something. And what you don't want to do is, like, you know, you have an engineer that's on call and just don't care. Right? And just like, okay. I'm I'm done today. I'm I'm I'm going home. So you want to hire engineers that really, really care about the problem you're solving. And yeah, we yeah, so it's a combination. [00:07:55] S0: And you mentioned problem solving for engineers. Is that like the key characteristic or trait that you look for across anybody joining any part of the business, or is there like a certain trait that you really hone in on?
00:07:55 · Sebastian Johnson, Alan Chang
[00:07:55] S0: And you mentioned problem solving for engineers. Is that like the key characteristic or trait that you look for across anybody joining any part of the business, or is there like a certain trait that you really hone in on? [00:08:06] S1: Yeah. Mean, ultimately, like, we are hiring problem solvers, right? Like, you know, whether it's, you know, engineering or not engineering, we are hiring problem solvers. And yeah, it's just like what type of problem? Are good at solving a specific problem? And how effective are they, right? It's as simple as that. [00:08:26] S0: And if you could give somebody some advice for somebody who wants to work with Fuze Engine, like how can they stand out? How can they get your attention? [00:08:33] S1: To be honest, like, my attention doesn't really worth... Doesn't mean much here. Yeah. Like, we have a process, a pretty robust process that we evaluate every individual, and you basically get... Yeah, if you meet the bar, you meet the bar, right? So it doesn't matter whether you get my attention [00:08:58] S0: or not. Which way you come into the process. Interesting. So that's been the biggest constraint on you right now is talent. Getting talent can unlock more and more growth. At the current rate, I assume you're on track to surpass a billion this year. [00:09:12] S1: Yes.
00:09:12 · Alan Chang, Sebastian Johnson
[00:09:12] S1: Yes. [00:09:13] S0: And when you look at that growth, where do you think that's going to come from? Is it customer acquisition? Is it gas again? Is it... You know, you've got product expansion lined up. You've got market expansion lined up. Where do you see growth coming from in 2026? [00:09:25] S1: Yeah. So we are we are expanding to Ireland and The US this year, but we don't expect meaningful revenue contribution from those markets, at least this year. We are also launching new products like micro solar and battery products that we're launching towards the end of this year. But again, we don't expect... These new products and new markets will take time to have a meaningful contribution to the company. But I'll say the key thing for us this year will be continuous scaling a core market in The UK. [00:10:00] S0: Yeah. Got it. Okay. [00:10:01] S1: But at the same time, take... Yeah. Take big bets on new markets and products. [00:10:06] S0: And when you decide that road map of either new markets in The US and Ireland or new products in, like, in the sense of the hardware. How are you deciding what to build and where to launch?
00:10:06 · Sebastian Johnson, Alan Chang
[00:10:06] S0: And when you decide that road map of either new markets in The US and Ireland or new products in, like, in the sense of the hardware. How are you deciding what to build and where to launch? [00:10:17] S1: US is a large market. The micro solen battery solution is, like, it will have a roughly three year payback. It's going to cost about $2,000 It's a no brainer for a lot of people. We're just doing the obvious things. Just know, The other thing about in energy or in utility in general is if you do something useful, people use it, right? You don't really have to think about product market fit. Yeah, okay. So it's really like, is the market big enough? Is this problem big enough for us to solve it? And if the answer is yes, then we just do it. [00:10:56] S0: Yeah. I mean, it's interesting because you say you say both of those things are obvious. I think from an outside looking in, US energy prices are actually lower than probably most of Europe. [00:11:05] S1: That's correct. [00:11:05] S0: Yeah. Like, I don't think most people would assume that actually US is the obvious one. [00:11:09] S1: But the Americans use roughly eight times more power than than Europeans. [00:11:13] S0: So it's the volume. [00:11:14] S1: Yeah. Think about all the big houses, the swimming pools there. You have to kiss on us.
00:11:14 · Alan Chang, Sebastian Johnson
[00:11:14] S1: Yeah. Think about all the big houses, the swimming pools there. You have to kiss on us. [00:11:18] S0: Yeah. It's expensive. Yeah. Interesting. And then the same with the hardware. I mean, when you explain it, it makes sense, but it's not something that traditional energy incumbents have done. Yeah. Like, it hasn't been obvious to them. Why do you think it's been obvious to you and not to them? [00:11:32] S1: Well, actually don't know whether it's obvious to them or not. But even if it's obvious, you still need to act on it. And I think it's the usual... It's very hard to have high agency in a big company where there's multiple decision makers and the decision makers are too scared to make a decision. So, yeah, we just, you know, analyze the problem, find best solution to problem, build solution. That's it. [00:12:05] S0: Agency is obviously something that comes through in the culture of the company externally. You scaled the team rapidly. How do you maintain that culture of agency and execution as you grow?