In today’s episode of Unicorn Builders, we speak with Michael Witte, CEO & Co-founder of Workrise, a marketplace for on demand services and skilled labor in the energy industry that’s raised over $750 Million in funding, about why the energy sector’s needs for digital innovation are equal to its dependence on advanced extraction technologies, and how Workrise fits in to the future of energy. A B2B marketplace to bring together skills and expertise from disparate vendors and individuals to implement energy projects to the highest possible standard, Workrise is set to drive efficiency and expediency in this foundational part of our economy.
We also speak about Michael’s background as a native Texan and as a energy engineer, the staggering technology in the energy extraction process but why the sector lags behind in terms of digitalization, how personal experience led him to found Workrise, and how he manages to balance being a father, husband, dog owner and CEO.
Topics Discussed:
- Michael’s life as a native Texan and his career in the oil and gas sector
- The complexity of energy extraction projects involving a wide range of stakeholders, skills and expertise
- The current state of the Austin tech ecosystem and why Michael is proud to be a part of it
- The staggering technology required to extract energy resources, but why the sector still lags behind in terms of digitalization
- Why so many would-be founders never really consider what their success might mean, and the responsibility that comes with a leadership role
- How Michael balances his business with the responsibility of being a husband, father and ‘dog father’
Favorite book:
The Hard Thing about Hard Things by Ben Horowitz
Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box
Resources:
About Mike:
Before co-founding Workrise, Mike worked in energy private equity consulting. He began his career as a petroleum engineer at Encana and offers more than a decade of energy industry experience. Mike graduated from Columbia Business School and Texas A&M University.
About Workrise:
Since its inception in 2014, Workrise (formerly known as RigUp) has been steadfastly revolutionizing the energy sector, demonstrating a monumental growth trajectory that echoes its robust $3 billion valuation. Initially focusing on the oil & gas domains, Workrise quickly embraced the renewables, positioning itself as an industry vanguard in offering innovative workforce and vendor management solutions to the biggest companies in the energy sector. By adeptly navigating and simplifying the historically complex supply chain intricacies of the industry, Workrise facilitates more streamlined, efficient operations, fostering a speedier and more sustainable global energy future. This steadfast dedication to innovation and efficiency is further underscored by a significant funding milestone, having successfully raised $750 million to further their visionary approach to shaping the future of the energy sector. Keep an eye on Workrise as it continues to spearhead transformative changes, promising a brighter, more sustainable future for the global energy industry.
Full Episode Transcript
Brett:
Welcome to Category Visionaries, the show dedicated to exploring exciting visions for the future from the founders who are on the front lines building it. In each episode, we’ll speak with a visionary founder who’s building a new category or reimagining an existing one. We’ll learn about the problem they solve, how their technology works, and unpack their vision for the future. I’m your host, Brett Sapper, CEO of Frontlines Media. Now let’s dive right into today’s episode. Hey everyone, and thanks for listening. Today I’m speaking with Michael Whitty, CEO and founder of Work Rise, a marketplace for on demand services and skilled labor in the energy industry that’s raised over 750,000,000 in funding. Michael, thanks for chatting with me today.
Mike:
Brett, thank you for having me. Appreciate it.
Brett:
Yeah, no problem. Before we begin talking about everything that’s happening there at Work Rise, could we just start with a quick summary of who you are and a bit more about your background?
Mike:
Absolutely, yes. So, Mike Witte, founder and CEO of Workrise. As you mentioned, Workrise, we’re a digital platform that connects energy producers one side with the workers and services that they need to deliver on energy projects. High level, we make it easier, faster, safer for our clients to do business and energy. As for me, I’m a native Texan. I grew up here in Texas. I went to Texas A and M University, got a degree in petroleum engineering, and started my career in oil and gas, which is really what led to the start of Work Rise eight years ago. Most importantly, though, live here in Austin, Texas, with my beautiful wife. As of two weeks ago, we just welcomed our second child into the world. We are surrounded by two rescued dogs that are constantly looking for new ways to drive me crazy. I love work rides, I love my family, and I love being a part of the Austin ecosystem here in Texas.
Brett:
How do you find time to manage all that? Being a husband, being a father, being a dog father, and running this big massive company, how do you balance?
Mike:
That a great question, and I think it’s something that has had to evolve over time. I actually spend quite a bit of time doing just that, which is being proactive on my calendar and also reflective of where I actually spend time. Not only just being a father and a family member, but there’s things I enjoy, like working out and running. If you’re not proactive about your calendar, you lose those opportunities. Spend a decent amount of time really reflecting on that, and every week, every month, being hyper prioritized, trying to hone in on the most important things, the highest impact places that I can spend my time.
Brett:
Would ten year old Mike will be surprised to know that you have a tech company now and you’re CEO of a tech company and co founder of a tech company.
Mike:
Yeah, I don’t know if ten year old Mike would be surprised, maybe be surprised at what that actually looks like. I joke a lot, that every founder, every entrepreneur, they have an idea. Behind every idea, there’s the excitement of this being a billion dollar company or a billion dollar idea, but you don’t quite actually realize what that looks like and what that comes with. The people, the employees, everything from a day to day that really is about that job. It looks different maybe than ten year old Mike or even 20 year old Mike would have thought it looks like. With that, you evolve, you adapt, and it’s something that I’ve really learned to enjoy. Yeah, at each chapter of this thing, finding new ways to enjoy the job.
Brett:
Amazing. I love it. Now, a couple of questions that we like to ask just to better understand what makes you tick. First one is, what founder do you admire the most and what do you admire about them?
Mike:
A great question. I would say my co founder actually Shen Yong. I’ve been fortunate enough to have a co founder in this thing. Shen has been great friend, great partner. About a year ago, I moved into the CEO role, and Shin now sits as chairman of the board. Very different how we think, how we operate, but I believe that’s been what has allowed us to continue to grow. Having a co founder for anybody that’s been a part of it is a relationship journey that’s really not dissimilar to a marriage. You’re talking about somebody that you spend a ton of time together, and not just spending a ton of time together, but you’re spending time through different chapters of life and business, from being five folks in a room to 25 folks in a room to 500 folks across multiple rooms and multiple floors. Right? The evolution of that with a co founder is really just like an invaluable experience, and you learn a lot from each other.
Mike:
Really admire Shen, I think he said. What do you admire about them, Shen? He’s always inspiring confidence. He’s somebody that can come in and always motivate me, always get me excited, always push me to think bigger. I look back on some of the early days right after we raised our Series A. We were starting to find some traction in the market, but we’re kind of getting to the inflection point of where this thing is going to go. Like every startup, we have three months cash left type of situation. Shin is one of those guys that when there’s panic going, he inspires us to keep pushing, and so always inspiring confidence. We’ve also very low ego, humble human being. I think that it’s a quality that even lives as a value here at work, Rise Solutions over egos. I think that me and him both have found ways to put our egos to the side, stay humble through the journey, and it’s really helped things.
Mike:
I admire him as a co founder, as a partner, as a friend. So, yeah, he is my number one founder, if you will.
Brett:
Amazing. I love it. I’m sure he’ll be excited to listen to this episode and hear that as well.
Mike:
Yes. Shout out to Shan when you get to listen to this.
Brett:
Now, let’s talk about books. There a specific book that’s had a major impact on you as a founder? This can be one of the classic business books like Hard Thing about Hard Things. What I really like to hear about are the books that influence how you view the world and how you think, I stole this from someone else. But they call them quake books. A quick book is a book that kind of rocks your worldview. Do you have any books like that?
Mike:
Oh, man. Well, what’s great is the number one book that comes to mind for my favorite book is The Hard Thing about Hard Things. You completely stole that one from me as not being a good example. It is a great book and it was one that really gave perspective about what being an entrepreneur is. I think maybe one that isn’t talked about as much. That was very inspiring for me was a book called Leadership and Self Deception. I kind of back to what I was saying. Beginning, starting out as an entrepreneur, you have an idea and you care about your idea and fostering that idea, but one day you look up and what the company and what your idea needs is a leader. To me, this was, I think, the most powerful book on just me being able to adapt as a leader. The book is really just about awareness.
Mike:
I’ve come to find that I think awareness and really high self awareness is just a critical leadership quality. It allows you to constantly be improving, to constantly being aware of your emotions, the emotions around you, and get really effective at decision making. And so it’s out there. It’s maybe not as hard hitting as you’re looking for, but for me, at least, leadership, Self Deception, really powerful book on just the value of awareness and evolving as a leader.
Brett:
What’s interesting is you’re the fourth person to say that. All four founders who have said that book are unicorn founders, so their companies are unicorn. So that’s super interesting variance.
Mike:
Leadership and self deception. I would have thought that was a bit more niche. I thought I had a unique answer there. That’s funny that’s one that’s resonated certainly resonates with me.
Brett:
We’ve done like 200 of these. So four people saying that isn’t statistically. That crazy. For A Hard Thing about Hard Things, I would say everybody says that book so I just learned I have to it’s just, like, kind of assumed, right. I think if you have a startup that’s going to be your go to favorite business book, for the most part. We’ve learned to just try to dig deeper to the second tier book after that.
Mike:
That’s great. Yeah. So, well, maybe less unique, but leadership and self deception. I’ll give it the recommendation for founders out there.
Brett:
Amazing. I love it. Well, now let’s dive deeper into work. Rice so can you just take us back to 2014 when you were first starting? What was going on inside your head and with your co founder? What were those conversations like? What led to eventually starting the company?
Mike:
Yeah. Feels like a lifetime ago, but back to the beginning. I’d mentioned up front my background as a petroleum engineer, went to Texas A and M University, came out working in oil and gas. And what a petroleum engineer? What that means is you are looking for oil and gas, and you’re helping figure out how to get it out of the ground. Really was just fascinated by the oil and gas industry, the technology, the innovation. Oil and gas is staggering. You’re talking about being able to drill a hole into the ground 2 miles down, turn, take a left, and drill 2 miles sideways or horizontally. The technology is staggering. What left something to be desired was really the digital innovation and how much that was lacking for such a massive industry. You have this wild technology, but you’re still interacting and transacting over the phone and really through carbon copy pieces of paper.
Mike:
I thought relatively early on that there was a better opportunity or more entrepreneurial approach to the oil and gas industry. So, of all places, I ended up in business school, actually up in New York City. While I was up in business school, I reconnected with Shen and we started talking about really opportunities for digital innovation in oil and gas there’s over a beer in Chelsea, of all places. Chelsea in Manhattan was where we started talking about this oil and gas concept. Shin was coming at it from been on the finance side of oil and gas, obviously been on the operational side of oil and gas. That was the original concept of the company that was rig up, which has now evolved into workrise. Shin drugged me out to San Francisco. We raised a series, a Two months later, I graduated, Shin got married, and we moved to Austin, where we’ve been ever since.
Mike:
We started rig up in 2014, launched our first product in 2015. What we set out to build was a B to B marketplace in oil and gas. Most of what we still do today, while a lot has evolved and changed, still holds true to the original business thesis. I think just understanding for folks out there that don’t necessarily understand kind of energy or oil and gas, but it’s really hard to deliver on these energy projects. You’ve got a wildly fragmented ecosystem of service providers that all have to come together to bring these projects together. Finding high quality vendors and workers is really difficult, especially in real time. These projects are expensive, they’re complex. Safety, compliance, environmental standards matter deeply. You kind of put all that together and it’s really difficult for these energy projects to move and so really set out to deliver a platform that made it easier for clients to do business.
Mike:
Now, like most startups, it took us a minute to kind of find our footing. By 2016, the platform was starting to make a ton of headway. I think one of the most important decisions that we made early on was really the concept of breadth versus depth. We had the opportunity to kind of keep expanding the spend categories that we offered, or the opportunity to go really deep in one category. In 2016, we decided to go really deep in one category. There’s our labor offering, which really accelerated the business for the next few years. On the back of that labor offering or really deep workforce offering, we’ve been able to continue to add breadth with new categories. The business has evolved, the company’s evolved over the last eight years. What’s to me really evolved the most over the journey and over the last eight years is the focus of our clients.
Mike:
The clients that we support today are no longer just the oil and gas companies that were supporting eight years ago. They’re really energy producers that are looking for the best ways to produce energy today and for tomorrow. As our clients have evolved to be more holistic energy producers, so have we. That’s really the transition from rig up to work rise and the focus that we’ve gotten back to in energy.
Brett:
I feel like it’s a pretty volatile industry, right. With oil and gas and energy production, especially the last eight years, there’s been a lot of ups and downs. How have you seen the industry evolve over these past eight years?
Mike:
Yeah, we’ve been through multiple cycles of this. If you’re able to have kind of the right outlook over the right duration, that really energy demand is only going up and to the right. In fact, globally, there is an energy shortage and there’s a constant struggle to be able to produce more energy to meet that demand. As our clients have evolved to, again, not just the oil and gas companies, but to invest dollars into renewable projects, you don’t have to have as much of just a macro view on where oil and gas is going to go. You really just need to have a view on where energy is going to go. As part of kind of the energy transition, as part of just electrification of the globe and of the US, we only see energy going up. To the right now it’s been our job as a business to better position ourselves with our clients to account for that.
Mike:
There’s been volatility over the last eight years as every startup has gone through. As we’ve positioned the business really in energy, it takes away some of that volatility over the next decade and what that’s going to look like makes.
Brett:
Now, one thing we like to ask founders who are at the scale that you’re at and the size that you’re at is in those early days, can you tell us about any near death experiences? I think in the intro there, you had mentioned there is a moment where it was, what, three months of cash left? Was that the closest you got to a near death experience or what’s? Like your best, most brutal, painful story not to take you back to a dark place here, man, there a are.
Mike:
Few dark places and feels like every time you get out of one there’s something like a Silicon Valley bank issue that pops up. Like we dealt with a lot of founders out there were probably dealing with last week. Look, it’s not probably not the most original answer, but it was a bit different for us, which was really COVID was the darkest time for us. Now, more importantly, what people, a lot of people forget or don’t realize is what happened to us before COVID was there was actually a Saudi price war from an oil and gas perspective that came before COVID And so oil and gas prices really before COVID just absolutely plummeted. You then had COVID come in and just completely wipe out oil and gas demand for a period of time. For a platform that’s really based ongoing activity, you had an industry that all but shut down.
Mike:
At the time we did like a lot of companies did, and pushed and scrambled quickly, moved quickly to diversify, to take our offering into other new markets. We were able to be successful to a certain extent in doing that, but we had really over the course of six weeks, the vast majority of our revenue just shut down. It really evaporated, but that was everybody. A lot of folks went through it. A lot of folks were there. I don’t necessarily want to say ours was any harder or easier, but the oil and gas dynamic specifically at the time, in which we’re still highly leveraged to oil and gas was a pretty radical shift that we had to deal with.
Brett:
Did you have any how long did you say that was, that you had to prepare? It was like six weeks. It went down to nothing, basically.
Mike:
Not quite down to nothing. The industry ramped down pretty aggressively over about six to nine weeks. We had really a few months to shift resources, start shifting resources pretty dramatically, and starting to find opportunities in new verticals, new end markets. It was a pretty quick shift for what we did during that.
Brett:
Time and what was going on inside your brain as you navigated that situation. Because like you said, a lot of founders right now find themselves navigating very difficult situations as well. What was going through your head and how did you manage yourself through that process?
Mike:
It’s a great question. I think that there’s two things that I’ve learned during any wartime that also kind of help you navigate during peace time. I actually find a bit more radical transparency with employees to be one of the most important things. It’s not necessarily something that we’ve always done well, but it’s something that we’ve learned. I’ve learned the impact of that. At the end of the day, you’re thinking a lot about your employees and you’re thinking a lot about survival and making this work. If you are more transparent with just the problems you’re facing, what’s going on with the business, then come to find your employees will step up to start to solve these problems. I think that there’s often there can be a founder mindset about, I need to put this on my shoulders, I need to figure this out and believe the opposite to be true.
Mike:
Be transparent with your team, be transparent with your employees, and even as painful as radical as that might be, and you’ll see folks dive in and start solving the problems that you need solved.
Brett:
Amazing. Now something else I want to ask about. In response to COVID, I know you guys did a pivot, and then in April of last year, I believe you pivoted back to make energy that core focus. I know there were some layoffs there, so can you talk us through that, I guess repivot and the repivot back and what happened and what that was like and some of those lessons you learned as you did that.
Mike:
Yeah. With COVID we really had to shift into all of these new end markets. Were able to do that successfully, really. What we did was take our kind of core workforce offering and started to apply that to new industries. We were able to do that successfully in kind of that zero to one phase of being able to show growth, being able to get of scale. As we came kind of out of that COVID environment and really looked for more rapid growth or exponential growth in these markets, the fragmentation of the strategies was just too much. We had lost in some areas our right to win and the capabilities that really had made us great. While the moves that we made during COVID to diversify our revenue to get into new end markets. It was great for a time, but the cracks quickly started forming. I mentioned, I stepped in as a CEO about a year ago in Q One, early Q One of 2022, and it was very clear that we needed to get back to just a focused strategy that we could win with.
Mike:
You talk about what helps you during those times or making those decisions. One thing that has been incredibly powerful for us and for me as a founder is our mission and really getting back for companies that have a mission statement that really guides the company from it, informs the highest level of strategy. For us, our mission points us to our clients and says focus on our clients. You have a lot of noise, when you have hard decisions to make, going back to something foundational like your mission and saying we’ve got to make decisions in service of our clients, we’ve got to make decisions to help our clients win, brings clarity, if you will, to some of those harder times.
Brett:
What’s it like for you as you go through these big decisions, because it seems like over the years the company has really been defined by a series of big decisions. The decision to pivot during the pandemic, which it sounds like you had to do regardless, and then the decision to pivot back to this core focus, how do you make those decisions and how do you make them so quickly? Because it seems like you make these decisions rather quickly. I think that’s a really valuable insight for founders to hear and to learn from, because it can be very easy, I think, to delay making decisions and to put off making decisions, especially if they’re very big decisions, like some of those decisions you’ve had to make.
Mike:
It’s a great question. Obviously one thing that helps you get to the right decisions faster. To me, it’s not just about making decisions. Anybody can go make decisions. It’s trying to get to the right decisions faster. Having a great team that’s supportive of you and is in it with you and making those decisions is really helpful. I’ve got an executive team right now that is in lockstep on these decisions. We don’t have to agree with everything that’s being done, but we can always disagree and commit to what’s best for the company. That’s really powerful and really helpful as a CEO to have that team and that support network around you. For founders, for CEOs, for managers out there. I can think of very few I can think of very few decisions where I’ve known a decision needed to be made. As hard as it might be, where I’ve had the data, the insight, even just the gut feeling to say, this is a decision that needs to be made.
Mike:
I can think of very few in which I look back and say, thank goodness I waited. Thank goodness I waited to make this. When, oftentimes, and whether that’s through data or whether that’s through the gut about what needs to be done, the quicker you act on that, the quicker you’re transparent about that, on the logic behind things, the easier it gets. I always say it’s not hard when it’s right, and when you’re making the right decisions, it’s easy. And so it’s part of the job. As long as you’re doing it for the right reasons, with the right logic, then yeah, everybody benefits.
Brett:
Let’s talk about that transition that you had to make from COO to CEO. You said it’s about a year in now. What’s been the biggest surprise as you took on this new role?
Mike:
I think I benefit because in this case, my co founder and Shannon was former CEO. He’s still the chairman of the board. We still have a close relationship, and so we’re still able to work through things together. To me, maybe I go back to the question you asked the beginning about time management and where you spend your time. As COO is being operationally focused, being able to get in the weeds of what was going on in the business is something that I very much enjoyed and resonated with. A reflection of my time would show that on where I was spending that time and where I was investing. To me, the biggest transition has been, as we’ve backfilled a CRO into a lot of those responsibilities, is taking that step back to think about where to have higher impact. One thing that I spent a lot of time in 2022 was really stabilizing our culture.
Mike:
You talk about two major changes in the span of 18 months that came to the business. Our culture was incredibly unstable going into 2022 and had to spend a lot of time rebuilding that trust. I’d spend a lot of time rebuilding that trust with employees, rebuilding that trust in the business, rebuilding that trust in our strategy, which was a bit of a new muscle for me, but something that has paid off and benefited greatly on what those investments look like and just what that’s done to kind of the morale of the company over the last twelve months.
Brett:
You’re now about a decade in or ten years into this company. Do you ever struggle with feeling motivated? Or do you just wake up every day ready to run through walls, just like you were back in 2014 in the early days?
Mike:
Honestly, I wake up ready to run through walls pretty much every day. I love our mission. It is something that gets me up in the morning forging connections, make it easier, faster and safer to power the world. Again, what that means is that if we can deliver on a product on a platform that speeds up our clients, then what you’re really speeding up is the world moving to a more sustainable balance of energy. If that’s something that I can be a part of and influence, if can create something that leaves the world a better place for my two kids, then I can get up and run through a wall for that every day. To me, our mission is not just words on the page. It’s what gets me up. It’s what excites me. There’s times in which maybe you lose some of that spark, but it’s so important and would encourage anybody out there take a step back and always continue to try to find what that is for me, at least, like I said, it’s our mission that I can kind of always go back to.
Brett:
If I had to pick out one keyword from this interview, it would for sure be mission. It seems like a very mission focused company and you’re a very mission focused founder. How do you make the mission real? Because I think oftentimes what happens with a mission and oftentimes with core values is like they’re just like buried on some page of the website or maybe they’re hanging on the office where no one really thinks about them and it’s just fluffy bullshit. It seems like it really guides the company and everything that you do. So how did you pull that off? How did you get the company to be so mission focused?
Mike:
Yeah, I think it’s the combination of mission and values. Now, one thing that we did was we did change our mission as part of the change and the focus back on energy is we did change that mission. What was important to me about the process that went through in doing that was our entire broader leadership team participated in what that looked like, every single word. We spent three days actually working through that and coming up with that mission that was going to guide us going forward. To me, the reason what’s so important is that everybody has their hands, their DNA in that and every leader committed to that mission and being a part of it, which I think is really powerful. We have used that mission, we have used those words to make other relatively big decisions over the last 1218 months, from resource allocation to what we’re supporting, to what we’re not supporting.
Mike:
There’s been divestitures or assets that we’ve divested because we can point to that and say, look, this is not going to be able to connect to our mission. While there’s some financial trade offs that we need to make, this is the rigor that we put into those words and this is what’s driving our path forward. So we’re going to abide by that. I think values are the same way. Values equally as important in just the behaviors that we’re able to operate off of. And bring a mission to life. We talk about values all the time. We talk about values as a leadership team every month. Not just the words, though, the behaviors, the actions, what we want to incentivize employees, what we want to not incentivize when it comes to value. There’s a number of ways to operationalize those. At the end of the day, if you’re really making decisions and putting your money where your mouth is on the words that are on the page, then it starts to feel real for everybody.
Brett:
Was the public output of that three day session, the blog post, easier, faster, safer?
Mike:
Yeah, that’s a good now that was probably over twelve months from when that was put together, but that would have been a bit more of the public output of where that came together. Now, it was obviously started with the leadership team. It was getting employees to be able to wrap their heads around it, connect to it. Whenever you go through an adjustment like that, there’s also employees that can’t make the leap right, and don’t blame them for a second about the shift of what a new mission entails. I was working through it as a leadership team, working through it as employees, working through it with investors, and then the public output, if you will. Was that the blog post that you’re referencing?
Brett:
Yeah, and I’ll make sure to link to that in the show notes, because it’s honestly a masterpiece, as I would describe it. I was reading that as I was preparing for this interview, and I don’t come from this industry, and I was kind of expecting it to be just full of things that I don’t understand, basically. I read through it and was just written in such a clear, very compelling way, it was very easy to understand. I read that, and I got excited, and I got fired up about what you guys are doing. You did an excellent job with that, or you and your team did an excellent job with that. I think that’s a really good example for founders, because a lot of founders have to write posts like this, and I’m sure you’ve read some as well. A lot of the ones I read, you just kind of walk away scratching your head of like, so what’s happening?
Brett:
What transition are they doing? What’s the pivot here? What’s the change? You guys really nailed it with that one.
Mike:
No, I appreciate that. And yeah, a lot of thought. Again, goes back to kind of some of the transition from COO to CEO and the value in putting the right words together for folks. It goes a long way, and so I appreciate the recognition on that one.
Brett:
Yeah, no problem. Now, last couple of questions. Let’s talk a little bit about money. As I mentioned in the intro, there 750,000,000, as I told you in the pre interview. That is the highest funding total so far. The previous total was 550. Breaking records on the category of visionaries podcast. What do you think has investors so excited about this opportunity that they’re really willing to invest such a large amount? We’re close to a billion dollars here, which is pretty wild for a private company.
Mike:
Yeah, I mean the first one is just an absolute massive tam that we play in. Right? And so the opportunity size is huge. You’re talking about a trillion dollars being invested in energy projects over the next year. The subset of that, of where we really have the strongest presence, oil and gas, $250,000,000,000 to spend next year. We’re connected with really the clients that are spending that and driving that. We’re talking hundreds of logos, not thousands that are putting out that type of opportunity. I think the size and magnitude of the space is obviously draws a lot of attention. In addition to that it’s really for the most part an underserved market. Now we have competitors kind of in different slices of what we offer and what we do. We’re certainly kind of coming at it, been coming at it with a new lens for the most part and for the most part that’s possible.
Mike:
We’re competing in status quo because there has not been as much of an investment in this space. In fact I’d go the other way. People have been running away from oil and gas for a long time now and there’s not a projection out there that exists that doesn’t show oil and gas being a meaningful part of our energy ecosystem in the year 2050. It’s not going anywhere. Because of that it has to be part of the solution. It has to be part of how we get to a sustainable solution. Yet there’s been so many dollars that have left industry. So you’ve got a really big tam. You’ve got an industry that hasn’t necessarily been invested in and so there’s a ton of opportunity and I think within that I mentioned at the beginning is that well our clients are really at the beginning of this or at the beginning of this energy transition.
Mike:
We’ve watched this happen over the last few years. These clients, if you go read about our clients, they’re not just oil and gas producers anymore. They’re starting transition. They’re starting to evolve. The concept, the energy transition is going to be something that’s with us for the next 30 years. I think those things are really what excite investors and yeah, has led to a lot of the funding.
Brett:
That makes a lot of sense. Do you think a lot of that has to do with just the maybe perception issues of oil and gas? I think to some people in the tech world that’s probably the equivalent of starting a tobacco technology company which of course I don’t agree with, but I can see that like perception. Do you think that’s one of the reasons that you don’t see a lot of founders really trying to focus on this space and solve problems in this space?
Mike:
Yeah, absolutely. I think it’s been a polarizing topic and a political topic that again, the pragmatic view would say that our sustainable future involves a bit of both. And I’ve seen all sides of this. As somebody that kind of grew up in Texas, I grew up in this world, grew up in this environment, this industry is not bad people. These are friends, these are family, these are folks that are providing a service that the world needs right now, is going to need in the future. Now, what’s exciting about this and if you can kind of get away from it’s not oil and gas verse, it’s not oil and gas versus renewables. It’s how do they both come together in a way that gets us to sustainability, then you realize that the logos that are driving oil and gas are also driving the other side of this.
Mike:
Yeah, I think it’s something that it is a bit of a polarizing topic, especially among investors, among other founders and entrepreneurs. To me I strongly believe that oil and gas is part of the present, it’s part of the future. The great people out there that work in this industry will also be the people that are hoping kind of radically inform what this energy transition looks like over the next 30 years.
Brett:
Now, last question here because I know we’re up on time. Let’s zoom out three to five years from today. What does work rise look like and what’s your impact on the industry as a whole?
Mike:
Great question. I tell books this all the time. I’ll go back to theme of the podcast. Our mission, our mission is to serve our clients. You have that and know who you’re serving in this, you don’t have to know exactly what the next three to five years look like. Our clients know. Our clients will take us where they need to go and it’s our job to latch onto them and continuing to deliver technology that makes it easier and faster and safer for them to operate. If you just focus on our clients, you don’t have to have all of it figured out. Now, I do think there are going to be a few things that you all over the next three to five years. One is kind of what I’ve been talking about. You’re going to see our clients start to put more dollars into renewables.
Mike:
That’s already happening. They’ve already made these commitments, but you’re going to start to see that play out. Number two, as that happens, I believe that there’s really an opportunity to kind of go to the next layer of supply chain innovation, getting more into supply chain automation. I think we’re really just scratching the surface on what can be done to radically improve the way that these companies operate. Then, third is something I’m sure that’s been talked about on here from a number of different angles, but everything going on in AI right now is not just a blip on the radar or something that’s going to pass in the night. I believe it’s going to be something that’s very much a part of how we operate, what we’re able to offer clients and want to make sure that we’re staying ahead of conduit by which we can improve.
Mike:
Our clients operate with innovation like that. It’ll be a different environment over the next three to five years. I know that. But stay focused on the mission. Stay focused on our clients, and no guide is where we need to be.
Brett:
Mission, mission. That’s my takeaway from this podcast. That’s great.
Mike:
That’s objective accomplished.
Brett:
I love it. All right, Mike, unfortunately, we do have to wrap here. I’d love to keep you on and ask you questions for another couple of hours, but I’m sure you have a lot of things to do, and your team will probably kill me if I keep you on for much longer. So let’s wrap here before we do. If people want to follow along with your journey as you continue to build and execute on this vision, where should they go?
Mike:
Yeah, we post all of our blogs and articles. I also do that on LinkedIn as well, if anybody wants to follow me. Those are good conduits as we continue to share our journey and the journey of workrise.
Brett:
Amazing. Mike, thanks so much for taking the time to share a story and talk about the lessons you’ve learned and really just what you’re building. This has been a fascinating conversation. I’ve learned a lot. I know our audience is going to learn a lot and really appreciate you taking the time.
Mike
Thank you for having me, Brett.
Brett
I appreciate it. All right. Keep in touch.
