00:12:52 · Guillaume Moubeche, Alan Chang
[00:12:52] S1: And can you explain how that work? Like, when you connect to maybe, like, someone's energy and you have to redistribute it? Like, how exactly does that work? [00:13:02] S0: Yeah. So right now, we don't own the cables. Right? So we... You know, when we generate power, we basically, you know, feeds it back to the grid. And we basically also sell energy to consumers, and we just basically have to buy the difference. [00:13:18] S1: Okay. And on your side, do you want to become also like a a real infrastructure? Because as you said, like, you don't own the cable, so is this something that you want to do long term? Or... And... We're actually in the [00:13:31] S0: we're in the middle of buying a a grid operator. Okay. So, yes, we we do wanna own the grid. [00:13:36] S1: Okay. So basically, like, when you look at the problem, I'm trying to understand how you think. Like, do you look at every single cost and see whether or not it's better to own or to... Yeah. [00:13:50] S0: I mean, yeah, we do... Yeah. We do ask ourselves, like, should we own this or not? And, I mean, I think so far, every single cost we looked at, we we wanna own. Okay. Because we'd make it better. Right? Okay. Yeah. So, yeah, we haven't found an exception. But maybe we'll find one in the future, but for now... Yeah. And and the and the great thing about owning it is you can do something about it. Right? If you don't own it, it's it's hard to do something about it.
00:13:50 · Alan Chang, Guillaume Moubeche
[00:13:50] S0: I mean, yeah, we do... Yeah. We do ask ourselves, like, should we own this or not? And, I mean, I think so far, every single cost we looked at, we we wanna own. Okay. Because we'd make it better. Right? Okay. Yeah. So, yeah, we haven't found an exception. But maybe we'll find one in the future, but for now... Yeah. And and the and the great thing about owning it is you can do something about it. Right? If you don't own it, it's it's hard to do something about it. [00:14:16] S1: And that requires... Like, is it something that, from your perspective and whenever you discuss with a potential investor, is each round meant to only accelerate the growth or also to fund a specific stage of development, typically, like owning the cable or the grid or whatever? Yeah. So the company is profitable already. So we're already, you know, reinvesting cash flow into... Back in... Into expanding the business. [00:14:48] S0: I'll say the, yeah, the capital, if we ever raise again, yeah, it may be to accelerate, right, or existing business or, yeah, could could well be, you know, taking a new bet. Yeah. Or both. [00:15:08] S1: Because now you can take, like, debt essentially. Because if you're profitable, you can leverage your EBITDA and and get Yeah. And get some debt. Correct? [00:15:17] S0: Yeah. And that... That's that's also the plan. [00:15:19] S1: Yeah. Okay. Okay. And is it is it to raise debts, like, when you're an energy company? Like, or how exactly do they do they value the EBITDA because the company is also quite young? So how do you navigate this?
00:15:19 · Guillaume Moubeche, Alan Chang
[00:15:19] S1: Yeah. Okay. Okay. And is it is it to raise debts, like, when you're an energy company? Like, or how exactly do they do they value the EBITDA because the company is also quite young? So how do you navigate this? [00:15:33] S0: Yeah. So in energy, the debt works a bit differently. So it's more closer to asset financing. Okay. So you can finance your existing assets at, you know, base plus margin. Yes. And this is pretty well understood. So so it's less about convincing, more about, you know, showing financials. [00:16:01] S1: Okay. And right now in the team, how many are you? [00:16:06] S0: We're just over 300. [00:16:08] S1: Wow. Okay. So that's that's super cash efficient overall. No? [00:16:13] S0: Yeah. I I mean, like, majority of people we have are, you know, electricians, customer service. Right? But, yeah, like, overall, we we try to keep the company as lean as possible. [00:16:29] S1: And what are the things that you took from your time at Revolut that you kind of applied at at Fuse? [00:16:37] S0: Yeah. So at Revolut, there was, like, six cultural values. We took one cross. It's like you never settle. So never settle in quality, never settle in... You know, unless we're number one. Yeah. That's that's the cultural value I resonate the most. [00:16:57] S1: And in the day to day, like, could you give example of things where you never actually settled and the the results it got?
00:16:57 · Guillaume Moubeche, Alan Chang
[00:16:57] S1: And in the day to day, like, could you give example of things where you never actually settled and the the results it got? [00:17:05] S0: I mean, it's a way of operating. Right? Like, for example, you know, if I see, a designer presenting me a design that is not a simpler solution to solve the problem, then I tell the designer to do it again. Right? I just don't accept it. Yeah. That... That's one example that happened, like, this morning. [00:17:31] S1: Okay. And when it comes to hiring, like, how do you make sure, like, to hire people who have, like, the the same values as you do? Like, how do you test that people are never gonna settle during, like, the interview process?
00:17:31 · Guillaume Moubeche, Alan Chang
[00:17:31] S1: Okay. And when it comes to hiring, like, how do you make sure, like, to hire people who have, like, the the same values as you do? Like, how do you test that people are never gonna settle during, like, the interview process? [00:17:46] S0: Well, first of all, like, I think it's now pretty public of our cultural values. Right? We don't really shy away from, you know, stating this publicly and how we operate publicly. Alright? I think it's pretty well known. So I think that's, like, one filter. A second thing we do is like during interview process, we do communicate to people who are considering joining is like, look, this is this is the deal. Right? We were super transparent about, like, this is how we operate. If you don't like it, that's totally cool. You know, you don't need to work here. Right? And and, you know, that's that's totally fine. Right? I think you still have my respect. No. This is not... This mode of operation is not for everyone. But if you do decide to, you know, join, then this is the expectation. Right? And you should... And and, you know, people should not be surprised if this is the expectation. [00:18:47] S1: Do you believe in work life balance?
00:18:47 · Guillaume Moubeche, Alan Chang
[00:18:47] S1: Do you believe in work life balance? [00:18:53] S0: I mean, I think for for... If you if you wanna, you know, kinda like maintain a company and maybe grow like 10%, 20% a year, then... Yeah. Sure. I think that works. Right? If you're trying to, you know, build a category leader, if you're trying to really change something, you know, truly change something in society, I think that that will work. So I think it depends. Right? Like, if you want to build, like, I don't know, like a a coffee shop business or like a b to b SaaS company, I think that's okay. Right? That's probably okay. But if you want to build like a generational company, I I I don't think that works. [00:19:39] S1: And how is how is it going, like, in the in The UK with with this kind of mindset? Because typically, like, in California or in San Francisco, you've heard probably about, like, the nine nine six where you work from 9AM to 9PM, like, six days a week, etcetera. In... Typically, like, in France, people would... There there are definitely, like, startups working, like, super long hours, etcetera. But if dig... If these things get public, like, it gets really bad press, is it similar in The UK? Or, like, how do you see this? [00:20:16] S0: Yeah. I mean, look, it's... I don't see I don't think we care. Right? Okay. Like, you can... [00:20:23] S1: It's a good filter.