Young Kim, Principal at Energy Research Consulting Group, interviews Co-founder Nate Richards and VP of Sales Jason Beck at Enerex as part of his ABC Leadership Interview Series. This is a unique opportunity for Enerex, as it is the first time Young has had a second interview with a firm. Young interviewed Nate four years ago (you can view that interview here).
In the interview, the group discusses (with Young Kim moderating):
(00:00) Origin of Enerex from the Energy Frameworks – Powermatrix merger
(08:01) Enerex rebrand story – Why? How has market received?
(16:50) How has retail energy changed since last interview with Nate?
- Too many error-prone, manual processes
- Lack of connectivity (customer-broker-supplier-utility)
- Lack of standardization
- Lack of trust
(27:00) What new problems are solvable that Enerex is working on today?
- Connectivity – Enerex “open” pluggable model
- Efficiency (we circle back to this topic at 39:33)
- Trust
(30:42) What is Exchange? – Secure connectivity solution for C&I deal flow
(31:38) Enerex’s Exchange LIVE online eProcurement platform gives “visual, real-time customer experience” for procurement without forcing suppliers into auction model
- Branded for Broker
- Allows structured procurement process
- Helps brokers qualify for NJ Auction Provider requirements
(39:33) What is Propeller? How does it help mid-market suppliers?
- Workflow orchestration for Suppliers
- BRM: “Broker Relationship Management”
(42:19) Why should someone trust Enerex?
- Enerex is the ONLY Non-broker software platform, as all our competitors are owned by brokers
- ISO-27001 Certification
- New York PSC Data Security Agreement (DSA)
- Background checks for employees
(45:50) How does Propeller allow Suppliers to “plug and play” for CIS, EDI, Credit, Pricing, Risk
- Mid-market suppliers can access purpose-built off-the-shelf technology vs.
- Compete with “big REPs” who spend $40M or more customizing Salesforce
(48:16) Broker M&A – how does Enerex help Brokers sell partial books or entire enterprises?
- Instant valuation
- Good data
- Leverage offshore team to acquire and consolidate data
(54:50) What makes the best brokers successful?
- Process-orientation vs. pure relationship play
- “Retail is detail” – ability to manage large amounts of fine-grained data
- Consistent experience for customers AND suppliers
- Capital spent on differentiators vs. common cost back-office services
- Focus on top of funnel – marketing, not just sales
- Being visible, present throughout customer relationship, vs. at contract renewal
- Good at telling each Supplier’s story to customer vs. commoditizing their relationships
(1:02:40) Wrap up from Young
Transcript of the Interview
Transcript being processed, will be added here soon!
