Riding Unicorns: Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | Technology
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?
00:15:07 · James Pringle, Alan Chang, Hector Mason
[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? [00:15:18] S1: It's engineering. The best engineers are high in demand, and I would say, like, a lot of, you know, top engineers who haven't heard about us. I think it's really top top engineers and actually designers too. Yeah, so for example, the micro solvent battery product is going look beautiful in your home. So not only has super high utility, we believe every product probably needs to be I know I mentioned this last time, right? The person I want to have lunch with is Enzo Ferrari. I really believe this principle of the things we build needs to be not only useful, but beautiful. And this product we're building will be beautiful to look at in your home, right? It's not gonna be an eyesore. And, you know, if we if we design an ugly product, even if it's super functional, I don't think people want it. [00:16:08] S2: Yeah. And so hiring is the the challenge. Like, how do you get around that? Like, how do you attract the best people?
00:16:08 · Hector Mason, Alan Chang
[00:16:08] S2: Yeah. And so hiring is the the challenge. Like, how do you get around that? Like, how do you attract the best people? [00:16:19] S1: Yeah. So... Yeah. So right now, for every engineer or designer, I also do the final interview. And I explain to them this is what we're going to do. I also explain to them this is going be very intense. It's going to be tough. Do what you will with that information. And I'll say majority of people get very excited, and, you know, they go from, you know, oh, this is just another job interview to, oh, actually, this is super exciting. This could be my life's work. And when when you're telling them how tough it's gonna be, what are you [00:16:53] S2: actually saying? Are you saying like you're gonna be here, you're gonna be sleeping in the office, you're gonna be working weekends or like are there some anecdotes that you share with them?
00:16:53 · Hector Mason, Alan Chang
[00:16:53] S2: actually saying? Are you saying like you're gonna be here, you're gonna be sleeping in the office, you're gonna be working weekends or like are there some anecdotes that you share with them? [00:17:01] S1: Well like I don't think sleeping in the office is strictly necessary. I'm not going to stop you from sleeping in the office if you want to, but you know it is not encouraged, right? But like there is going to be a lot of work. Ultimately, to build a full stack energy company, another way of saying it is like you're building 50 companies in one. But if you're building 50 companies in one and you have a team size of maybe 1.5 or two companies, right, then by definition, I mean there's going be more work on a per individual basis. So I mean, I think it's that, right? It's for the individual. I think this is a great environment for the individual that has high agency, wants impact, wants ownership, and wants to make a difference. [00:17:47] S2: Yeah. And like what are the signals in interviews that signal to you that an employee is gonna be an amazing employee or can you only find that out later?