Riding Unicorns: Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | Technology
00:02:52 · Hector Mason, Alan Chang
[00:02:52] S2: Tell us what that means to buy a grid. [00:02:54] S1: It's no different to buying any other company, except you're a regulator monopoly. I think the way to describe it is like, you know, you're basically buying a poorly run coffee shop, but there's a maybe a 10 block queue to your coffee shop. And if you can run your coffee shop much better, much more efficient, you know, that's how you can increase revenue off your coffee shop and make a lot of people happy. Right? [00:03:15] S2: And last time last time we spoke, Alan, we talked about some of the benefits of being an outsider to the industry because you you obviously had a career at Revolut before starting Fuse and had a huge amount of success there. But in the last few years since since we spoke, you have achieved hundreds of millions of revenue. You've raised a 5,000,000,000 valuation. Like, reflecting now on those pros and cons of being an outsider, what would you say about them?
00:03:15 · Hector Mason, Alan Chang
[00:03:15] S2: And last time last time we spoke, Alan, we talked about some of the benefits of being an outsider to the industry because you you obviously had a career at Revolut before starting Fuse and had a huge amount of success there. But in the last few years since since we spoke, you have achieved hundreds of millions of revenue. You've raised a 5,000,000,000 valuation. Like, reflecting now on those pros and cons of being an outsider, what would you say about them? [00:03:40] S1: I wouldn't say the pros and cons. Like, I don't think actually there's lot of pros of being an outsider. Right? However, if I was an insider, I would have tried to do something about it much earlier. But I think obviously there are a lot of cons being outsider, right? You know, you have to learn something. You have to do something you've never done before. But I'll say like the key thing is you can assemble a very, good team that wouldn't have otherwise existed in the industry. Because if you think about what top people care about, right? They care about having a lot of responsibilities, they care about making an impact, they care about working with other great people, and obviously they care about the comp, right? Which I would say traditional energy companies don't really provide any of the above. So I'll say we're in a very unique position where Fuze can offer all four. So I think that's really our only, you know, secret weapon.
00:03:40 · Alan Chang, Hector Mason
[00:03:40] S1: I wouldn't say the pros and cons. Like, I don't think actually there's lot of pros of being an outsider. Right? However, if I was an insider, I would have tried to do something about it much earlier. But I think obviously there are a lot of cons being outsider, right? You know, you have to learn something. You have to do something you've never done before. But I'll say like the key thing is you can assemble a very, good team that wouldn't have otherwise existed in the industry. Because if you think about what top people care about, right? They care about having a lot of responsibilities, they care about making an impact, they care about working with other great people, and obviously they care about the comp, right? Which I would say traditional energy companies don't really provide any of the above. So I'll say we're in a very unique position where Fuze can offer all four. So I think that's really our only, you know, secret weapon. [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
00:04:27 · 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.