To Build a Home

This story was original published on Why WeBuilt This by CEO and Co-Founder, Nishaant Sangaavi

When we started energyX, our goal was to build a company that stood for something. That had impact. That would disrupt traditional energy efficiency programs. The thing is though there is no real blueprint that one can follow to build a disruptive company. At least, we didn’t have one at the time we started. We had a vision of what we wanted to achieve. We had a mantra that we stood by. We knew what problem we wanted to solve. We had a ‘Why’. And we then met our investors who believed in us and backed us.

And so we started, just my co-founder and I, at first. And then we grew our team — one by one — and closed our first client, one by one. And launched our platform, one client at a time, and as a technology start-up, we continued to experiment with different features and functionalities and pivots along the way.

We continued to grow, to license our platform to larger and larger utilities and energy retailers and then across provinces. Won some RFPs along the way — some major ones. We grew 9x since last year and are on target to grow another 9x by the end of this year. Competitors started taking notice of us. New clients wanted to work with us. New investors started to approach us. People started to know who we are. What we are doing. How our solutions added value and created impact.

And then today, our platform went live with one of our marquee clients — one of the largest gas utilities in North America. More than 2.5 million households will be able to use our platform to achieve energy efficiency and lower their energy bills. It is a huge milestone moment for us. We hold it very close to our hearts because it signifies what we have done thus far and more importantly, what we will achieve moving forward.

Our technology is indeed disruptive. We are continuing to scale and grow our team with co-workers who are fascinating. Each of them so different and yet all working toward this common purpose. There is a hope amongst them and a collective drive and ambition to succeed that I really didn’t plan on cultivating. It just grew over time and is now so evident. Call it culture. Call it the sexiness of being in a high growth start-up. Call it bravado and ballsiness.

And so today, as I looked across and saw my team all working away in unison…so resolute in their determination to succeed and achieve this big milestone…which we were successful in achieving….I came to a realization.

What we had become was a family.

And what we had built was not a company. We had built a home.