How to Build a Product with 10 Customers and a Boring Tech Stack | Gravity Climate

Summary

The transcript discusses the journey of Gravity, an industrial decarbonization platform, led by CEO Salah. Gravity helps companies manage carbon emissions and energy usage, focusing on scalable solutions for climate change. The CEO shares insights on building products efficiently, the importance of boring yet reliable technology, and how their pilot program quickly generated revenue and feedback. The video highlights key startup lessons, including customer obsession, solving problems over building solutions, and the value of creating a high-speed, product-driven environment to meet real-world business and climate needs.

Takeaways

• 🚀 Startups evolve through different phases, initially selling on vision, then on presentations, and finally building software in response to customer feedback.
• 💼 Gravity helps businesses manage their carbon emissions and energy use, offering practical tools to reduce emissions while aligning with business goals.
• 🌍 The founders of Gravity were driven by the opportunity to make decarbonization attractive to energy-intensive industries, not just from an environmental standpoint but also as a business advantage.
• 👩‍💻 The importance of using 'boring technology' to avoid wasting resources on experimental tools is emphasized, allowing small teams to move quickly and focus on innovation.
• 📈 Gravity rapidly grew, achieving 4x growth in its second year, with plans to grow by 3.5x this year, driven by customer feedback and market demand.
• 🔑 Key product-building insights include staying customer-obsessed, building a product that solves a clear problem, and avoiding the pitfall of trying to create something that serves everyone.
• 🛠 Building products should focus on solving problems for users, and startups should prioritize rapid execution and customer value over cutting-edge technology.
• 🌱 Gravity’s mission is to accelerate decarbonization by making climate action both economically attractive and aligned with regulatory requirements for large energy-intensive companies.
• 🤝 The pilot program Gravity ran involved a three-month commitment to help companies measure emissions, with over 50% of participants converting into paying customers.
• 💡 Founders stress the importance of defining your company by the problem you solve, rather than a specific solution, allowing flexibility and scalability as you refine the product.

Q & A

What is the name of the company Salah is the CEO of?

Salah is the CEO of Gravity, an industrial decarbonization platform.

What does Gravity specialize in?

Gravity specializes in helping people manage their carbon and energy, tackling climate change in a scalable way.

How did Gravity perform in its second year of existence?

In its second year, Gravity grew about four times and was on track to grow by 3.5 times in the following year.

What was Salah's educational background before joining the workforce?

Salah started studying physics, but graduated with a degree in Computer Science and Mathematics.

What was Salah's first job after college?

Salah's first job after college was as a software engineer at Salesforce.

What did Salah learn from his experience at Salesforce?

At Salesforce, Salah learned the importance of building prototypes and working with physical products.

Why did Salah leave Salesforce to join Samsara?

Salah left Salesforce to join Samsara to spearhead a product line called Safety, which was expanding into dash cameras and safety monitoring.

What was the main focus of the thesis Salah developed at Eclipse Ventures?

The thesis focused on actions and technologies that energy-intensive companies could take to be carbon reductive and aligned with competitive business metrics.

How did Gravity approach its initial product development?

Gravity approached its initial product development by conducting a pilot program with a cohort of customers, building software, and answering questions around measuring scope one and scope two emissions.

What was the goal of Gravity's pilot program?

The goal of the pilot program was to find 10 customers, measure their emissions efficiently, and generate a report that could be shared with stakeholders.

What was the outcome of Gravity's pilot program?

Over 50% of the pilot program cohort converted to paying customers, providing revenue and case studies for further growth.

What advice does Salah give for startups when choosing technology?

Salah advises startups to pick boring technology to avoid wasting resources on unproven solutions and to focus on innovations that are meaningful.