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.
Episode 20. Running a startup optimising energy use for commercial customers
It's time for another episode of Frankly, hosted by Steve Cook.
In this episode Steve talks to David Hill, Commercial Director at Open Energi. David reveals to us an interesting origin story of Open Energi that has an unusual structure of running with an executive Chair rather than a CEO – we will know what the benefits and challenges of that model are.
Tune in to learn about how David's approach to selling into very large complex customers.
Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast to stay in the know!
Also on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts.
8 Nov 2021
Episode 19. How to assess your readiness to scale and go through a transformational journey.
It's time for another episode of Frankly, hosted by our Operating Partner Steve Cook.
In this episode Steve talks to Daryn Edgar, CEO at LYTT, recognised by ComputerWeekly’s Most Influential Women in UK IT and the Women in Technology Awards, Daryn speaks on a range of topics in digital technology, business development and diversity. As an active startup mentor, Board member and angel investor, Daryn is skilled at building relationships to produce value and influence direction.
In today's episode Steve and Daryn discuss that Lytt was a spun out of bp and Daryn came in as CEO shortly after – what were the challenges and advantages that came with it?
Tune in to learn about Daryn's take on the battle for tech talent right now - LYTT has successfully hired a CTO – how they are making a compelling proposition to potential hires?
Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast to stay in the know!
Also on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts.
25 Oct 2021
Episode 18. Challenges of being a CEO during the lockdowns.
It's time for another episode of Frankly, hosted by our Operating Partner Steve Cook.
In this episode Steve talks to Bruce Hall, CEO at Onyx Insight, who has grown rapidly over 100 people and recently won UK Queens awards for enterprise – one for innovation and one for export. Steve and Bruce try to answer the following questions: how to ensure that the team stays cohesive and culturally consistent during a rapid growth? How to attract and retain talent and why it might be a good idea for some start ups to consider unconventional locations for their business?
Tune in to learn about one leadership lesson Bruce has learned that has been important for him?
Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast to stay in the know!
Also on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts.
4 Oct 2021
Episode 17. CEO journey and how to deal with the constant ups and downs of start-up life
It's time for another episode of Frankly, hosted by our Operating Partner Steve Cook.
In this episode Steve talks to Chris Shannon, CEO at Fotech Group, established serial entrepreneur with 20+ years experience in a rapid growth, innovative, international environment. After spending a large part of his career as a CEO for various start-ups, Chris shares with us his advice on making it through a start-up rollercoaster, how it is important to stay focused, calm and positive.
Tune in to learn about how to get the team know and understand each other and build level of trust.
There is a big growth agenda for Fotech Group - and to help power that Fotech Group has recently hired a new COO, CTO and Head of Sales. Chris will tell us what has been done to get that new top management team working together effectively in a short period of time.
23 Sept 2021
Episode 16. Making a career move from a big corporation into a CEO of a rapidly scaling start-up
Frankly is back from summer holidays with our Operating Partner Steve Cook talking to CEOs and founders of Launchpad's portfolio and picking up their brains about things they have learned, some of the practical challenges they have dealt with as they scaled their companies over the past 2-3 years.
In this episode Steve talks to Mike Popham, CEO at STRYDE, who is building a new seismic company, reinventing subsurface imaging. The two discuss how seismic is used outside of oil&gas in such industries such as geothermal, mining, carbon capture and storage. Mike reveals his journey from a corporate into a startup and what he has learned on the way - how to expand internationally in a short period of time and keep the right culture in the team, when you need to take data-driven decisions and how sometimes you need to trust your gut feelings.
Tune in to learn about bringing people in and how to make sure people are interested in your mission and your values resonate with them.
16 Aug 2021
Episode 15. What it takes to transform business at the leading edge of finance and technology with Christine Moy
In this episode Siobhan Clarke talks with Christine Moy, Global Head of Liink, Onyx by J.P. Morgan who is building new financial infrastructure with 16+ yrs sweat equity in the trenches of banking, markets, operations, and technology and is responsible for developing and driving the adoption of the blockchain technology across the entire firm.
Siobhan and Christine discuss how to introduce new technologies into the new market, what learning loops are consistent and the importance of the team and people with intellectual curiosity, resilience who focuses on impact.
Tune in to learn about the concept of a blank page in the experiment cycles, the skills and the behaviours that enable taking 'don't knows' into execution and the key attributes for scaling.
11 Jun 2021
Episode 14. What Are the Challenges for Being a Hardware And Software Start-up?
It's time for our last Tech Series episode of Frankly, hosted by our CTO, Tom Grey.
Today, we get to hear from Dr John Coultate, Head of Product Development at Onyx.
John and Tom talk in detail about similarities and differences when being both hardware and software start-ups and how focus on quality and supply plays a vital role. John also shares the two angles to hardware testing.
Tune in to find out from John what it takes to put something developed using 'hobby grade' components live as a product and how does it need to change.
Don't forget to subscribe to our podcast to stay in the know!
4 Jun 2021
Episode 13. What is Design Thinking and How Do You Know When You Need It?
Tune in to another episode of Frankly Tech Series, hosted by our CTO, Tom Grey.This time, we get a 20 minute crash course on design thinking from Marlene Weber, User Experience Specialist at Launchpad. Marlene holds a doctorate in human centred design. Practiced at Jaguar Land Rover, she works with clients to map human AI with people first products designed for their businesses.Marlene talks us through her own definition of design thinking, how it is used to challenge assumptions to do user research, to test with customers and to prototype and on top of it explains the differences between UX and UI. Tom and Marlene also discuss when is the best time to bring a designer in your team and if there is a trade off between hiring a designer or developer.
20 May 2021
Episode 11. How to Make Science Education and Making STEM Careers More Accessible to People with Different Backgrounds?
Tune in to the second 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 Arabela Silva, IT and Security Manager at Fotech Solutions, on how young people most times “fall into” tech roles totally unprepared and stay feeling inadequate for a long time. Hence Arabela started being involved in programmes supporting young people in developing their full potential. We will discuss that diversity, not only in gender or race, enables innovation and the importance of understanding science and technology by people at large.
14 May 2021
Episode 10. What is Seismic and How STRYDE Technology Can Reduce Environmental Footprint and HSE Risk of Seismic Surveys?
Tune in to the second 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 Amine Ourabah, Head of Processing at STRYDE, about seismic technology and how it is similar to medical ultrasound technology, its environmental impact, STRYDE's system difference from others and how it can eliminate the need for line cutting for receivers in forested areas. Learn from the team about other areas where the technology can be applied from geothermal and seismic risk to archaeology and CCUS.
7 May 2021
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.
24 Mar 2021
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!
4 Mar 2021
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/
29 Jan 2021
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.
18 Dec 2020
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.
7 Aug 2020
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/
6 Jul 2020
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.
9 Jun 2020
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.
4 May 2020
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.
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