Meet the Innovator Series: powerQuad
Welcome to Meet the Innovator! A series of interviews with our #VFS21 innovators.
We were joined by Paul Cole, co-founder of powerQuad who told us all about his innovation journey. If you’d like to find out more about powerQuad and the other #VFS21 innovators, book a ticket to the #VFS21: Festival of Innovation on 21 October where you’ll be able to meet the entrepreneurs that Venturefest South is all about.
How did you come up with the idea for your innovation?
Our current technologies have come from a line of successes and failures!
It was through talking to other small businesses owners at networking events we found these owners frustrated that they couldn’t decarbonise.
There was no technology for them, all said a major problem was dealing with landlords or other companies in the same building, there were far too many hurdles. It was after this and many more conversations like it that we came up with our business dedicated Battery Storage.
These businesses are reaping the rewards of cutting their Carbon footprint.
What’s the best business advice anyone ever gave you?
The best advice came from our seed investor Anne Cowley, years before when we worked together Anne taught me how to understand a Profit & Loss sheet, a Balance sheet, and the importance of a good cash flow report. It makes a huge difference in seeing how a business is doing.
What advice would you give tomorrow’s start-ups?
Here are my top three:
- Make sure you have a solid business plan and have carried out a lot of market research into if and how much your solution is commercially viable. If you are starting a tech company, get the best engineers you can, and above all listen to them.
- Find a close friend or relative that you can unload on when it gets a bit too much, because believe me…. It does…. Repeatedly! Above all, find a really good business partner.
- Make every positive a BIG win and celebrate it. From a positive phone call, through to a big order. Celebrate it all.
What has been your most memorable business moment to date?
This is really difficult to answer. There have been so many and I’m making new ones all the time!
The latest has been from working closely with the EnterpriseM3 LEP and the BASE Bordon Innovation centre on a ground breaking project to install our battery storage solutions to help multiple SMEs decarbonise.
These businesses will use the technology to advertise their carbon savings to their customers and suppliers to win new orders and increase their revenue.
This is an ongoing project and will be holding an open day at the Innovation Centre for people to see the real benefits. Feel free to email me to arrange a visit to see it in action: paul@powerquad.co.uk.
You can see all of the innovators who will be joining us at #VFS21 here.
