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Conversation
Highlights
Welcome to another episode of Category Visionaries, the show that explores the future of tech with innovative B2B founders. In today’s episode, we’re speaking with Kameale Terry, CEO and Co-Founder of ChargerHelp!, an EV infrastructure solution that has raised over $20 million in funding.
- ChargerHelp!’s Origin Story: The idea for ChargerHelp! emerged from Kameale’s efforts to create a curriculum for repairing EV charging stations and her subsequent realization of the industry’s need for direct hiring of field service talent.
- The Technical Challenges of EV Charging Stations: ChargerHelp! addresses the issue of charging station failures due to interoperability problems, aiming to improve the reliability of the infrastructure by predicting and swiftly resolving these issues.
- Legislative Efforts and Industry Impact: Kameale discusses the importance of influencing laws and regulations in the EV space, highlighting ChargerHelp!’s involvement in co-sponsoring the EV Charging Reliability Act in California and advocating for federal guidelines on charging uptime.
- Growth and Traction: ChargerHelp! has seen impressive growth, servicing stations across 17 states with over 18,000 field service interactions, attributed to the timely focus on operations and maintenance in the EV charging sector.
- The Role of Government Relations and Lobbying: Kameale emphasizes the strategic importance of hiring for government relations early on and leveraging associations for lobbying efforts, underscoring the crucial interplay between technology and regulation in the climate tech space.
- Vision for the Future: Kameale shares ChargerHelp!’s long-term vision to become a verification system for EV charging station reliability, contributing to the broader infrastructure of smart cities and IoT assets.
Actionable
Takeaways
Build Relationships with Incubators and Industry Associations:
ChargerHelp!'s early connections with organizations like the LA Clean Tech Incubator played a crucial role in its development. B2B tech founders should actively seek partnerships and collaborations with incubators and industry associations to accelerate growth and gain credibility.
Educate Your Market to Create Demand:
ChargerHelp! had to educate its market about the problems with EV charging stations before it could sell its solution. Founders should consider an education-first approach to marketing, especially in new or emerging markets, to build awareness and create demand.
Data-Driven Product Development and Positioning:
Utilizing data to understand and predict industry challenges can position your company as a leader in solving those problems. ChargerHelp!'s focus on collecting service data and using predictive analytics has been key to their success and can serve as a model for leveraging data to inform product development and market positioning.
Prepare for Scaling Challenges:
As your company grows, transitioning from founder-led sales and being deeply involved in every deal can be challenging. Establishing strong teams and processes early on can ease this transition and allow founders to focus on strategic growth and product development.
Pursue Legislative Advocacy to Shape Your Industry:
ChargerHelp!'s active role in co-sponsoring bills and advocating for industry standards highlights the potential impact of legislative advocacy. Founders should consider how engaging with legislative processes could benefit their company and industry as a whole, potentially unlocking new opportunities and shaping the market environment.
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