Keith Cline, VentureFizz
Vikram, thanks so much for joining us.
Vikram Aggarwal, EnergySage
Thank you for having me, Keith.
Keith Cline, VentureFizz
I'm excited to talk to you because we're gonna talk about EnergySage, which there's been a lot going on at EnergySage as a company. And if you look at your website, you have a section where you talk about how you've reimagined how consumers go solar. So what does that mean? What does EnergySage?
Vikram Aggarwal, EnergySage
Yeah, so think about EnergySagee as the Expedia or kayak for solar energy systems. For folks who have ever tried to shop for solar, what they would find is that this industry is very opaque. It's highly fragmented. And most people don't really know what they should be looking for, how should they make a decision, and guess what solar is expensive, you could be spending anywhere from 1015 to 20,000 or more on a solar energy system. So what we have done is we have built a very simple platform that empowers the consumers to make a good decision. So the way EnergySage works is very simple. Let's say if you wanted to shop for solar, for your home, or your business, you sign up on our platform literally takes you two minutes you tell us where you're located, how much you're spending on energy. And if you have any preferences, based on that information, you end up getting quotes from anywhere from three to six solar companies that we have pre qualified, we have screened them, they are all high quality, they are experienced, and they are providing the right quality products. The best part is we don't ask for a phone number. And we don't share your email address with anybody. So if you have ever dealt with any sales company, if you have given your phone number to an auto dealer, car dealer, by any chance, you will be bombarded with phone calls, right. So we basically protect you from all of that. Here you are as a consumer, you are in control. So you get these quotes from these different solar companies, we standardize all of this, and show it to you in a matrix-like format on our platform, so you can very easily and quickly compare your options, you can see what price the different companies are offering. And then you can compare with the quality of equipment that they're offering the different financing options. And of course, look at the quality of the company itself. So and then we have a call center that you can leverage to get your questions answered, help make a decision without any pushy sales tactics. So as I said, it's a very, very simple process. But it's very empowering. It's all about bringing you choice and transparency. And thereby really making it easy for you to make a good decision confidently.
Keith Cline, VentureFizz
Like the market for this. I mean, there's a lot of people out there consumers that are thinking about, you know, the environment, global warming, climate change. So I would imagine that the market for this is growing exponentially.
Vikram Aggarwal, EnergySage
Correct. The market is growing, I think every year, the people, the number of people, number of homeowners, and even small business owners that are interested in putting solar on their property, and now more and more of them are interested in adding batteries to their solar energy system. That number is increasing pretty dramatically. Last year, folks may remember, we had a big power outage in Texas in the middle of the winter, a lot of people suffered because of that California has experienced power outages mandated by the utility because they're causing wildfires. Storms are increasing all over the country and Florida, Mid Atlantic, northeast, all over the country. So people feel like solar can give them some control, that they can control their own energy generation. And especially if they pair that with a battery. They can be very resilient in case of all these kinds of power outages.
Keith Cline, VentureFizz
So EnergySage has had some exciting news of late so talk about the details of Schneider Electric and how that came together.
Vikram Aggarwal, EnergySage
Yeah, we are very excited to announce that EnergySage has been acquired by Schneider Electric. Schneider Electric if folks don't know it, it's a very awesome company. Number one, they are almost 200 years old company. They are global. They are they have been named as one of the most sustainable companies in the world. And they have a huge commitment to helping consumers make the right decision when it comes to not only solar but a broad suite of energy products and services. So as you know, more and more of us. We have already talked about more and more of us. Homeowners are installing solar and battery storage systems a lot of us now have energy-efficient lighting, we may have a smart thermostat, a lot of us are now starting to buy electric cars. We are also thinking about replacing our oil and gas heating systems with something called heat pumps, whether they are air source heat pumps or ground source heat pumps, and starting to add sensors, essentially, we are starting to make our home smarter and more resilient and more sustainable. So what Schneider what this investment by Schneider in EnergySage allows us to do is to grow even faster that EnergySage. So far, we have been helping homeowners with decisions around solar and battery storage. This year, we are looking to start building a new marketplace. For heat pumps. We have already built a marketplace for something called Community Solar, that folks may be familiar with a very exciting concept where rather than putting solar panels on your own roof, you have the ability to buy your electricity directly from a local solar farm at a discount. And it's a fixed fixed discount you you're guaranteed that you will make you'll have those kinds of savings. And over time EnergySage will start building more and more products and services to help homeowners evaluate their choices for electric cars. And how do we charge those electric cars, other smart connected devices upgrading and how does their home, talk to the grid to the to their utility and get price signals. So they are able to not only save money on their energy, but in some cases, they're actually able to generate revenue or make money from their homes by by by letting their home talk to the utility. So yeah, very, very exciting future ahead of us, we are we have already doubled in size over the last 12 months. And we are looking to double again over the next 12 months. And looking to build our team in all functions from marketing to business development, product engineering, strategy, operations, you name it
Keith Cline, VentureFizz
So what is the size of this division.
Vikram Aggarwal, EnergySage
So EnergySage, the good news is EnergySage will continue to operate independently. We are not we are not being merged into Schneider. So the good part is that we will be able to maintain, run and operate independently maintain the entrepreneurial culture that has made us successful, while leveraging more resources of Schneider on a daily basis. So currently, EnergySage is about 75 people, all based out of our Boston office and looking to get to roughly 120 530 People in by the end of the year.
Keith Cline, VentureFizz
Very exciting. So if someone joins the team, what's it like working there? What's the day to day culture like?
Vikram Aggarwal, EnergySage
Yeah, that is something that is we are very excited about or that drives me and my team, the number one value at EnergySage is consumer. First, we are extremely focused on making sure that as a consumer as a homeowner, you're making the right decision, you have access to the right information and the right guidance, so that you are paying the right price for the right quality product. As we discussed, this energy is very complex, it is a very opaque industry. Unlike every other product, it is very hard to figure out what a consumer should pay, what brand of equipment should you buy, to put it on your house, right? Because this equipment will work for the next 2030 years, you want to make sure that this is you're buying the right quality product and from the right company. So that is job number one, we are all very driven by the mission of doing the right thing for the consumer. On a day to day basis. What I find very exciting about EnergySage. We are very collaborative. We have a very tight-knit team. We hire genuinely good people who genuinely care about their colleagues and want their colleagues to succeed. We have a number of people who would go above and beyond if you are if you need help and you talk to one of your colleagues and say hey, I would love to Could you help me with something people will go above and beyond they will teach you new things. We have had number of cases where we hired somebody for a particular role. They now want to try something different. They go to their team and say Hey, is it okay if I work with you on a project or can I learn something new people will go above and beyond they will train we have a lot of movement within the company. People start in one roll and move into the other. They move up they try new things. So we really love the fact that we are very tight tightknit group of people very mission-driven and feel good about what we do every day.
Keith Cline, VentureFizz
Now the job market is very competitive out there. There are lots of opportunities for people, which is a good thing. So why is now the ideal time to join EnergySage?
Vikram Aggarwal, EnergySage
Yeah, right now it's the best of both worlds. As I mentioned, since our acquisition, we now have a lot of resources available to us, and a very big, very aggressive growth strategy. So we are looking to grow our product portfolio, not only in the United States but potentially start expanding to other countries starting next year. So it's a great time to be part of a high-growth story. We are both entrepreneurial, and very safe as a company, right. So typically, companies that are stage, while they can be high growth, they're still very risky, right? Companies can go out of business at any time. Tomorrow, the market changes the stock market crashes or something happens. The funding dries up, companies can fold. Not in our case, we have a really good growth story ahead of us. And we have financial backing of a very large company that should give people confidence in our success in the long term. So that mix of exciting entrepreneurial organization with extremely strong resources and at an investor should give people even more confidence in joining us today.
Keith Cline, VentureFizz
Well, if you are incident exploring opportunities at EnergySage, as Vikram mentioned, they are hiring across the board and looking to double the size of the team. So it's a great opportunity to join a mission-driven company, go to VentureFizz to check out their listings, go to venturefizz.com/energysage, and you'll see all the job listings there. Vikram thanks so much for taking the time to walk us through all the great details on the company.
Vikram Aggarwal, EnergySage
Thank you, Keith, really appreciate your time.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
