Riding Unicorns: Venture Capital | Entrepreneurship | Technology
00:03:35 · Alan Chang
[00:03:35] S1: to raise so much straight away. Yeah. So effectively, we... You know, most energy suppliers, they are... They just, you know, contrary to what most people believe, most energy supply, they just buy from the market and just resell it. And they also buy, you know, what the market calls rigos, right? Renewable, effective renewable energy certificates, such that they can claim their hard sell renewable. Right? But what's very interesting is when you see the gas prices going up, the energy prices from the tariffs also go up. So if it's fully renewable, then something doesn't add up. Whereas what we're doing, we're actually starting with completely... We're actually also building our generation from scratch, right? And that's why we need so much capital upfront to effectively kickstart our renewable energy business. So that's really number one. And number two is over time, we want to quickly decentralize it and make sure anyone can participate in the renewable energy network. Anyone can contribute. Right now, most renewable energy generation is really controlled by no more than 10 companies, mostly pension funds, infra funds, and private equity funds. Right? And in fact, everyone's paying bills to them. All we wanna do is we wanna be able to bring that to everyone. Right? You know, similar to, you know, how Revolut or Robinhood took stocks or ethics, basically democratize that, right, making it accessible for everyone. We wanna make real world energy accessible for everyone as well.
00:05:05 · Hector Mason, Alan Chang
[00:05:05] S2: Yeah. There there there are super interesting comparisons to the Internet, really, and, like, Energy Grid is a network and Web three for for the Internet is the the decentralized version, like, you know, hopefully, what you're what you're building for the energy networks. You know, you've had a a fantastic career at Revolut. I think your... It looks like perhaps your whole career has been at Revolut, rising from an analyst. So, yeah, just very interested to... Before we kind of dive deeper into Tesseract, it'd be good to hear about your journey through Revolut and sort of learnings there. [00:05:35] S1: Yeah. So I joined Revolut as a effectively fresh grad. I think I was employee number three, if you don't count founders. Yeah. And basically I did everything from, if I did anything by code. So I started doing customer service, then running customer service, then running operations. Then in SaaS expansion, so I took Revlon also in core markets. Then took it profitable during COVID and then forex revenues before I left. [00:06:04] S2: And what what were the what were the key key learnings? I mean, it's it's probably the poster child of of UK startup success. And so, I mean, you'll have you'll have seen a lot. You'll have you'll have war stories from your experience there. I wonder, you know, what what are the what are the things that you learned at Revolut in scaling a business like that that that you're applying at the very earliest stages with Tesseract?
00:06:04 · Hector Mason, Alan Chang
[00:06:04] S2: And what what were the what were the key key learnings? I mean, it's it's probably the poster child of of UK startup success. And so, I mean, you'll have you'll have seen a lot. You'll have you'll have war stories from your experience there. I wonder, you know, what what are the what are the things that you learned at Revolut in scaling a business like that that that you're applying at the very earliest stages with Tesseract? [00:06:27] S1: Yeah. I would say it's all about the people. Right. So at the end the day, it's all about people, you know, building a great product, building a great service, working hard in the competition. Right. So for example, when I joined Revolut, it was so in this small co working space And essentially, it was a dedicated office, so it was just like hot desk. And I would say the Revolut team was the only team that really stayed after 7PM on weekdays, and also the only team that worked on weekends. Right. There was like probably several 100 startups in that group. I saw that, you know, literally first week. So, at that moment, it was very obvious to me. Know, regularly something special. You know, if you're up against the big guys, it's very hard to win if you don't work harder than you. They have more money than you. They have more people than you. They have more resources than you, more connections, etcetera, etcetera. And also, they have more time than you, right? So, your odds are really stacked against you. The only thing you can beat is you hire better people, and you work on it.
00:06:27 · Alan Chang, James Pringle
[00:06:27] S1: Yeah. I would say it's all about the people. Right. So at the end the day, it's all about people, you know, building a great product, building a great service, working hard in the competition. Right. So for example, when I joined Revolut, it was so in this small co working space And essentially, it was a dedicated office, so it was just like hot desk. And I would say the Revolut team was the only team that really stayed after 7PM on weekdays, and also the only team that worked on weekends. Right. There was like probably several 100 startups in that group. I saw that, you know, literally first week. So, at that moment, it was very obvious to me. Know, regularly something special. You know, if you're up against the big guys, it's very hard to win if you don't work harder than you. They have more money than you. They have more people than you. They have more resources than you, more connections, etcetera, etcetera. And also, they have more time than you, right? So, your odds are really stacked against you. The only thing you can beat is you hire better people, and you work on it. [00:07:29] S0: I think that's really interesting. I mean, is that something that you think that the the founders tried to get right in the hiring process, or was it set post hiring in terms of, like, expectations? We just work harder, or do you think they they sort of hired people that they sort of knew would work that hard?
00:07:29 · James Pringle, Alan Chang
[00:07:29] S0: I think that's really interesting. I mean, is that something that you think that the the founders tried to get right in the hiring process, or was it set post hiring in terms of, like, expectations? We just work harder, or do you think they they sort of hired people that they sort of knew would work that hard? [00:07:47] S1: I think it's both. Both. Right? It's pretty clear in the interview process. This is not for everyone. I mean, and that's fair enough, right? Not everyone wants to do, you know, like working 20 fourseven. I mean, that's very fair. You can't build a gigantic company doing that. So I think, yeah, Niklas said, they're a very good job, you know, hiring great people. There's one to do that and basically setting the culture and setting the expectations to everyone. And if they did make the bar, they were out. [00:08:21] S0: Yeah. Nice. I think one of our previous guests described it as the the unsell in the hiring process where they actually try and convince you not to join for a period to make sure that you're you're bought into the right level. And so how have you found the move from being an early employee to at least scaling into a very big organization to to now being a founder? Like, what's the biggest difference? Have you enjoyed it all? Like, what's that experience been like?
00:08:21 · James Pringle, Alan Chang
[00:08:21] S0: Yeah. Nice. I think one of our previous guests described it as the the unsell in the hiring process where they actually try and convince you not to join for a period to make sure that you're you're bought into the right level. And so how have you found the move from being an early employee to at least scaling into a very big organization to to now being a founder? Like, what's the biggest difference? Have you enjoyed it all? Like, what's that experience been like? [00:08:50] S1: I mean, for me, I I really think the... I know a lot of people ask me that question. Like, for me, it's really the same. Like, I mean, for me, I'm always, a problem solver at heart. Right? I love solving problems, I'm just solving a different problem. Right? So, yeah, for me, it's it's largely the same. Right? And the only difference, I guess, is the different industry. But in terms of actual experience, like, I feel like it's very much the same. [00:09:18] S0: And your cofounder was also Revolut. How did you guys... What was the moment where you went... Looked at each other and went, we're gonna do this? Like, then we're gonna do a business together. What was that kind of coming together like?