Frankly. The energy podcast for founders.

Episode 9. Why Technology and Domain Expertise are at the Heart of Business Value

Tune in to the first episode of our Tech Series hosted by Tom Grey, our Chief Technology Officer, where we focus on the technology we develop at Launchpad and our Portfolio Companies.
In this episode Tom talks to Çağrı Cerrahoğlu, Technical Product Owner at LYTT, and Alessandro Delfino, Data Science Lead at LYTT, about combining domain and technology expertise to meet business goals instead of only leading with one or the other. Learn from the team about fibre optics applications from security to Oil & Gas to environmental monitoring and mining, and even detecting earthquakes.

Episode 8. Andrius Sutas, founder at AimBrain (exited to BioCatch) discussing the Founder Handbook: The how-to guide for getting your first 10 enterprise customers.

In this episode Siobhan Clarke talks with Andrius Sutas, Forbes 30 under 30 who founded AimBrain (exited to BioCatch) on their newly launched book ‘ The Founder Handbook’. 4 years ago Andrius learned the difference between sales and business development and today he co-authored a book with Siobhan. So over the past 12 months they have collected their knowledge on getting to the first 10 #Enterprisecustomers for any venture and crafted it it into a straightforward frame.

Tune in to listen to universal lessons that every successful founder has to learn. This wisdom is usually accumulated the hard way – doing something, failing at it, learning from it and then repeating the cycle. In this episode we share some of these experiences so that you can get a head start!

Episode 7. Fred Mather & Jess Michael from Advisewell discussing if revenue is everybody's issue.

In this episode Siobhan Clarke talks with Richard Jones, Growth Practice Lead at Launchpad and Jess Michael, sales leader with 10 years of experience in enterprise SaaS sales management with the ability to pinpoint inefficiencies and exploit hidden revenue opportunities by operationalizing GTM strategies, and Fred Mather who spent his career in Sales and Sales Management including Marketing, Operations and Business Development focusing on helping build teams in high growth markets. 

The team shares their thoughts on securing repeatable scalable growth model from revenue ops and sales play book to diagnostics to communications and culture. Fred and Jess talk about the importance of building a growth machine and how to make sure you are getting to operational excellence. Tune it to find out more about the Growth Program at Launchpad. 

Frankly is a series of podcasts where we bring together entrepreneurs and hustlers who are building energy start-ups. And also investors who focus on the energy industry - what do they look for and how do they measure success. Frankly is one way we give back to the ecosystem and share what we learn.

https://www.itslaunchpad.com/

https://advisewell.io/

Episode 6. Ben Hunt-Davis, a former British competition rower and an Olympic champion on leadership and team development.

Join Siobhan Clarke, Operating Partner @ Launchpad for another episode of Frankly with Ilia Cherezov, Growth Partner @ Launchpad and Ben Hunt-Davis, co-author of the book 'Will it make the boat go faster'.

Ben Hunt-Davis is a performance expert, coach, facilitator and keynote speaker. He is also Co-author of “Will It Make The Boat Go Faster?”, the story of how the Great Britain’s men’s eight crew won an Olympic Gold medal at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

In our 6th episode Ben leads an inspiring talk about transforming organisational performance through the adoption of elite sport principles and strategies focused on the application of performance habits, mindsets and beliefs. Find out the top principles to make your boat go faster with Ben, Ilia and Siobhan. 

Visit our website to learn more about Launchpad. 

Episode 5. Renn Vara, co-founder at SNP Communications on what it takes to be a founder

Join Siobhan Clarke, Operating Partner @ Launchpad for another episode of Frankly with Ruth Penfold, People Practice Lead @ Launchpad and Renn Vara, co-founder @ SNP Communications.

Renn's experience includes more than twenty-five years working with Silicon Valley tech companies, startup founders and senior teams focused on leadership development, startup cultures, team building, and communication structures from startup / fast growth to the enterprise.

In our 5th episode Renn talks with Ruth and Siobhan about the journey to achieve 5 year growth in 2 as an individual and what it takes to become a leader. Find out the 6 elements to identify a founder driving the growth of a startup to scale up quickly and learn more about the idea of 3 M - mentors, models and methods - and how they are connected in. The last component is self - do you know who you are and have you hired into supplement where your weaknesses are or to enhance some of your strength and make sure the team across enables for the scale of the business? Find out the number one thing to unlock the growth by Renn, Siobhan and Ruth and how to be the hero of your own story.

Episode 4: Azeem Azhar from Exponential View on the opportunity for energy founders

John Mushriqui talks to Azeem Azhar,

Our fourth podcast is with Azeem Azhar, an exceptional thought leader fascinated by the clash of technology and humanity, who shares his views on the biggest challenge of our time: climate change. John was inspired by Azeem's forecast 'Preparing for the next ten years' in January and made it his goal to bring him on to Frankly to share his perspectives on a diverse range of energy related issues from solar, to storage to carbon capture. And Azeem points out the opportunities he sees, with his background as investor, entrepreneur and analyst, for founders and would-be founders looking to build new energy businesses.  Azeem's podcast and blog has 50,000 subscribers - sign up here: https://www.exponentialview.co/

Episode 3: Mark Roberge of Stage 2 Capital on the science of how to scale

Join John Mushriqui for another episode of Frankly with Mark Roberge, Managing Partner, Stage 2 Capital. Mark talks about his journey from the early days with HubSpot where he became first SVP Global Sales and Services then Chief Revenue Officer, increasing revenue over 6,000% and expanding the team from 1 to 450. Mark is the author of The Sales Acceleration Formula but it’s really his latest ebook The Science of Scaling that made us want to get him on Frankly. Mark’s no nonsense, data-driven approach is pure gold for founders and their teams as they wrestle with how to define product/market fit, the right time to scale, hiring sales talent and the lengths to go for those first few customers.

Episode 2: Kathrine Ryenge CEO at ZEG Power on how to create product market fit in deep tech hydrogen

Our second podcast is with Kathrine Ryenge, CEO of ZEG Power, an energy start-up with a radical idea: low cost AND clean energy. From hydrogen. ZEG offers a route to the holy grail of higher yield with CO2 capture integrated within the technology without additional cost or carbon footprint.

 

This is far from Kathrine's first gig; she has prior experience working in a number of Scatec startup companies, including Norsk Titanium, a global leader within additive manufacturing of structural titanium components for aerospace applications - and others in wind and solar.

 

So Kathrine brings real experience in technology commercialisation - and specifically in taking products to market. Sometimes successfully, sometimes less successfully with a lot of learning. John talks to Kathrine about the role of partnering, how to accelerate and the talent every founder needs to surround him or herself with. Finally, Kathrine provides a great education in the clean hydrogen sector and the trials and tribulations of building an energy game-changer.

 

Frankly is a series of podcasts where we bring together entrepreneurs and hustlers who are building energy start-ups. And also investors who focus on the energy industry - what do they look for and how do they measure success. Frankly is one way we give back to the ecosystem and share what we learn.

 

Episode 1: Breaking into energy

Our first podcast is with serial entrepreneur Christoph Ostermann, CEO & Co-Founder of Sonnen, a residential energy storage systems tech company, recently exited to Shell and Audun Abelsnes, MD of Equinor & Techstars Energy Accelerator on the trials, tribulations of starting up in the energy space and how to overcome them.  The energy sector is notoriously difficult to penetrate, with high barriers to entry.  It also has a reputation for being slow to innovate.  Yet the prize for breaking through is significant - both in terms of value and in terms of social impact, by other increasing access to energy or making it cleaner, with fewer emissions.

Christoph and Audun share their thoughts on funding, proofs of concept, building teams and the ups and downs of partnering with corporates with John Mushriqui, a serial entrepreneur now working at Launchpad, BP's business-builder. 

Energy is in something of a crisis. Start-ups with brilliant tech may hold the key. But they need help to scale. That’s where Launchpad comes in. A business builder that unlocks BP’s unique advantage to scale fast globally - for maximum impact.

So we’re putting on a series of podcasts called Frankly where experienced entrepreneurs and energy experts deal it to founders straight. No BS. Help them grow their businesses so they can help solve the energy crisis.

We will hear the war stories direct from entrepreneurs and hustlers who have built - or who are building - energy start-ups. And from investors who focus on the energy industry – what do they look for and avoid?

The purpose of these podcasts is to educate and to inform. Views and opinions expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of bp or its affiliates. Reference to any product, technology or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by bp or its affiliates.