Dr. Kai-Philipp Kairies

CEO and Co-Founder

Bio

Dr. Kai-Philipp Kairies is a scientist, entrepreneur, and CEO & Co-Founder of Accure Battery Intelligence. He has a strong background in battery technology, starting as a test engineer for automotive lithium-ion batteries and later founding the Technical Consulting division at RWTH Aachen University. His extensive research has been featured in major publications and broadcasts. Dr. Kairies holds a Ph.D. in Electromagnetics from Technische Universität Delft.

Dr. Kai-Philipp Kairies is a scientist, entrepreneur, and CEO & Co-Founder of Accure Battery Intelligence.…

Company:

Accure

Location:

Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Description:

Accure Battery Intelligence is a company on a mission to enhance battery safety, reliability, and longevity through predictive analytics. The company supports over three gigawatt-hours of storage capacity, preventing numerous battery incidents and providing customers with peace of mind. Accure aims to ensure that battery technology succeeds in transforming energy usage, focusing on delivering actionable insights from battery data.

Accure Battery Intelligence is a company on a mission to enhance battery safety, reliability, and…

Follow the guest

Listen Here

Conversation
Highlights

When Technical Expertise Isn’t Enough: How Accure’s Founder Learned to Build a Scalable Battery Analytics Business

Most technical founders face a stark reality: deep expertise in your field doesn’t automatically translate to business success. In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, Kai-Philipp Kairies shared how he transformed his decade of battery research experience into Accure Battery Intelligence, offering critical insights for technical founders navigating similar challenges.

The Pivot from Research to Product

As the leader of one of the world’s largest research groups on grid-connected battery systems, Kai saw firsthand how the exponential growth in battery deployment created massive operational challenges. But translating that insight into a viable business wasn’t straightforward.

The company’s early advantage came from Kai’s deep network in the industry. “The first contracts that we got, the first one, and then also the next three or four ones, they all came from my network,” Kai explains. “So it was people that I had a relationship with that trusted me, and that most of them had worked in other situations with me or my team before.”

Learning to Speak Business

Despite having world-class technical expertise, Accure initially struggled to raise capital. The breakthrough came when one venture capitalist took Kai aside and offered crucial guidance: “Can we please sit down for 2 hours to fine tune your pitch? And then I can bring it to my investment committee, but as it is right now, they would laugh me out.”

The experience taught Kai a valuable lesson about the gap between technical and business communication: “Just imagine it’s just Accure is we’ve got a number of founders, but like three full time main founders, and we all got a PhD in some really nerdy topics… The three of these people will not come up with crisp language when describing what they do at day one.”

The Discipline of Focus

Perhaps the most critical lesson for technical founders is the importance of maintaining focus despite tempting opportunities. As Kai explains: “We do battery analytics in general. We could improve every battery around, right, from micro mobility scooters toys at home, to high end cars, to batteries and airplanes in ships.”

This breadth of possibility creates a dangerous trap: “As a Founder, it is so tempting to take up every customer that’s interested in you… Someone else is going to do it better than you. The first years of a Founder of a young company is basically justifying that you exist.”

The slippery slope begins with small compromises: “It’s not that much of a change. It’s just like 20% difference… And after seven or eight of those customers, you’re basically a consultancy and no longer a product company. And that’s really what can kill your company.”

Building a Scalable Sales Motion

For technical founders, letting go of sales can be particularly challenging. Kai describes the common trap: “As CEO Founder, your responsibility is to make the company successful. So there’s this very big incentive to involve yourself in sales… Because you need to get that deal and you’re probably the most qualified person.”

The key is starting the transition earlier than necessary: “If you only start to transfer your responsibilities to a team when you hit the limit of your own hours in a week, it’ll be too late. They won’t have the time to find their feet.”

This means accepting short-term pain for long-term scalability: “In the beginning it’s worse. The results are worse than you just going out and doing it yourself. And the temptation to just go back to do it yourself is so high.”

Market Education as Strategy

Rather than immediately trying to sell, Accure invested in educating their market about battery analytics. This approach paid off as the industry matured: “Three or four years ago they didn’t [know about battery analytics]. And I believe that we’re a part of this education of the market.”

This strategic patience aligned with market evolution: “Now, as these batteries become a vital part of their business, all of a sudden performance safety lifetime really matters… they’re much more open to solutions.”

For technical founders building deep tech companies, Kai’s journey demonstrates that success often requires equal attention to business fundamentals as technical excellence. The key is recognizing these business capabilities as crucial engineering challenges in their own right, deserving the same rigorous attention as product development.

Actionable
Takeaways

Leverage Deep Industry Expertise for Start-Up Foundation:

Utilize your deep domain knowledge to identify unique industry pain points. This serves as a competitive advantage in developing solutions that address unmet needs within your field.

Utilize Personal Networks for Early Traction:

Early contracts and successes often stem from established connections. Leverage these relationships to gain initial validation, crucial feedback, and your first set of customers, reinforcing the importance of trust in early-stage ventures.

Communicate Complex Solutions Simply:

Transitioning from technical jargon to clear, accessible messaging is essential for broader market acceptance. Collaborate with marketing experts or seek feedback from diverse audiences to refine your value proposition into something easily understood.

Focus on a Niche Customer Segment:

Specializing in a specific market segment where your solution can excel is key. Concentrating efforts on a targeted group enables a deeper understanding of their needs and positions your product as the go-to solution in that niche.

Transition From Founder-led Sales to Ensure Scalability:

Early transition from founder-led sales to a dedicated team is crucial for sustainable growth. This process allows the company to scale beyond the founder's personal capacity while fostering a sales operation that can thrive independently.

Recommended Founder
Interviews

Liz Gilligan

CEO & Founder of Material Evolution

Liz Gilligan, CEO & Founder of Material Evolution: $19 Million Raised to Build the Future of Sustainable Cement

Listen now

Gary Lewis

CEO & Co-Founder of Resourcify

Gary Lewis, CEO & Co-Founder of Resourcify: $15 Million Raised to Build the Future of Recycling Management

Listen now

Daniel Betts

CEO & Co-Founder of Blue Frontier

Daniel Betts, CEO of Blue Frontier: $47.8M Raised to Revolutionize Air Conditioning with Energy-Storing Smart Climate Technology

Listen now

Kaitlyn Albertoli

CEO and Co-Founder of Buzz Solutions

Kaitlyn Albertoli, CEO and Co-Founder of Buzz Solutions: Nearly $6 Million Raised to Build the Future of Infrastructure Inspection

Listen now

Matt LeDucq

CEO and Co-Founder of Forum Mobility

Matt LeDucq, CEO & Co-Founder of Forum Mobility: $423 Million Raised to Power the Future of Zero-Emission Trucking

Listen now

Gary Ong

CEO & Founder of Celadyne

Gary Ong, CEO & Founder of Celadyne: $5 Million Raised to Power the Future of Green Hydrogen Production

Listen now

Quentin Scrimshire

CEO and Co-Founder of Modo Energy

Quentin Scrimshire, CEO & Co-Founder of Modo Energy: $20 Million Raised to Build the Energy Asset Benchmarking Category

Listen now

Michael Belenkie

CEO and President of Entropy

Michael Belenkie, CEO and President of Entropy: $300 Million Raised to Spearhead Efficiency and Innovation in the Carbon Capture Economy

Listen now

Antoine Welter

CEO and Co-Founder of Circu Li-ion

Antoine Welter, CEO & Co-Founder of Circu Li-ion: $8.5 Million Raised to Build the Future of Battery Upcycling

Listen now

Omar Abou-Sayed

Co-Founder & Executive Chairman of Vaulted Deep

Omar Abou-Sayed, Co-Founder & Executive Chairman of Vaulted Deep: $8 Million Raised to Build the Future of Carbon Removal

Listen now

Matt Loszak

CEO & Co-Founder of Aalo Atomics

Matt Loszak, CEO & Co-Founder of Aalo Atomics: $33 Million Raised to Build the Future of Nuclear Energy

Listen now

Steff Gerhart

Co-Founder & Co-CEO of ecoLocked

Steff Gerhart, Co-Founder & Co-CEO of ecoLocked: $6 Million Raised to Transform Buildings into Carbon Sinks

Listen now

Francesco Volpe

Founder of Renaissance Fusion

Francesco Volpe, Founder of Renaissance Fusion: $30M Raised to Build the Future of Nuclear Fusion Technology

Listen now

Thibault Castagne

CEO and Founder of Vianova

Thibault Castagne, CEO and Founder of Vianova: $8.8 Million Raised to Build the Go-To Operating System for the Mobility World

Listen now

John Belizaire

CEO of Soluna

John Belizaire, CEO of Soluna: $180 Million Raised to Power the Future of Renewable Computing for AI

Listen now

Marina Azcarate

Head of Marketing of Mitiga Solutions

Marina Azcarate, Head of Marketing at Mitiga Solutions: Driving the Future of Climate Risk with Cutting-Edge Tech

Listen now

Virginia Klausmeier

CEO and Founder of Sylvatex

Virginia Klausmeier, CEO and Founder of Sylvatex: More Than $15 Million Raised to Build a Better Class of Sustainable Materials and Drive the Green Revolution

Listen now

Martin Kosak

Head of Marketing of Sensoneo

Event Marketing Mastery: Martin Kosak on Sensoneo’s Success at Trade Shows

Listen now

Curtis VanWalleghem

CEO of Hydrostor

Curtis VanWalleghem, CEO of Hydrostor: $322 Million Raised to Build the Future of Energy Storage

Listen now

Marc Borrett

CEO & Co-Founder of Reactive Technologies

Marc Borrett, CEO & Co-Founder of Reactive Technologies: $80 Million Raised to Build the Future of Grid Measurement

Listen now

Alex Siminoff

Director of Marketing of Parity

Alex Siminoff, Director of Marketing at Parity: Mastering HVAC Optimization with Effective B2B Storytelling

Listen now

Adam Silver

CEO & Co-Founder of Plural Energy

Adam Silver, CEO & Co-Founder of Plural Energy: $2.8 Million Raised to Build the Future of Clean Energy Investing

Listen now

Dan Forman

CEO and Co-Founder of Copper Labs

Dan Forman, CEO and Co-Founder of Copper Labs: $13 Million Raised to Enable the Data-Driven Utility of the Future

Listen now

Javier Marti

CEO and Founder of Divirod

Javier Marti, CEO & Founder of Divirod: $7.6 Million Raised to Build the Google Maps For Water

Listen now

Scott Graybeal

CEO of Caelux

Scott Graybeal, CEO of Caelux: $70 Million Raised to Transform Solar Energy with Perovskite Technology

Listen now

Chris Hare

CEO of PRTI

Chris Hare, CEO of PRTI: Over $25 Million Raised to Transform America’s Billions of Waste Tires into Valuable Commodities

Listen now

Iain Cooper

CEO of SeekOps Inc.

Iain Cooper, CEO of SeekOps, $23 Million Raised to Build the Future of Emissions Monitoring

Listen now

Kameale Terry

Co-Founder and CEO of ChargerHelp!

Kameale Terry, Co-Founder and CEO of ChargerHelp!: Over $20 Million Raised to Build the Future of Electric Vehicle Infrastructure

Listen now

Ben Christensen

CEO of Cambium Carbon

Ben Christensen, CEO of Cambium Carbon: $5.5 Million Raised to Build a new Category of Sustainable Wood

Listen now

Kenneth Herschel

CEO and Co-Founder of Viggo

Kenneth Herschel, CEO and Co-Founder of Viggo: Nearly $6 Million Raised to Build the Future of EV Charging Infrastructure

Listen now

Michael Witte

CEO & Co-founder of Workrise

Michael Witte, CEO & Co-founder of Workrise: $750 Million Raised to Power the Future of the Energy Industry

Listen now

Josh Knauer

Co-Founder of Reseed

Josh Knauer, Co-Founder of Reseed: $5 Million Raised to Build the Future of Carbon Credits for Farmers

Listen now

Khaled Hassounah

CEO & Founder of Ample

Khaled Hassounah, CEO and Founder of Ample: $290M Raised to Build the Future of EV Batteries

Listen now

Astrid Atkinson

CEO & Co-Founder of Camus Energy

Astrid Atkinson, CEO of Camus Energy: $20 Million Raised to Build the Future of Grid Management

Listen now

Elizabeth Muller

CEO and Co-Founder of Deep Isolation

Elizabeth Muller, CEO and Co-Founder of Deep Isolation: Over $22 Million Raised to Build the Future of Nuclear Waste Disposal

Listen now

Allen Kramer

Co-Founder & COO of Crux

Allen Kramer, Co-Founder and COO of Crux: $27 Million Raised to Power the Future of Sustainable Finance

Listen now

Greg Newbloom

CEO and Founder of Membrion

Greg Newbloom, CEO & Founder of Membrion: $23 Million Raised to Build the Future of Industrial Wastewater Treatment Solutions

Listen now

Joshua Riedy

CEO and Founder of Thread

Joshua Riedy, CEO and Founder of Thread: $20 Million Raised to Power the Future of Energy Grid Maintenance

Listen now

Greg Fallon

CEO of Geminus

Greg Fallon, CEO of Geminus: $12 Million Raised to Help the Industrial Sector Prepare for the Energy Transition

Listen now

Mukund Karanjikar

CEO of CleanJoule

Mukund Karanjikar, CEO of CleanJoule: $55 Million Raised to Power the Future of Sustainable Aviation Fuel

Listen now

Preston Bryant

Preston Bryant, Co-Founder of Momentum: $20 Million Raised to Transform Battery Recycling Through Materials Science Innovation

Listen now

Allison Wolff

CEO of Vibrant Planet

Allison Wolff, CEO at Vibrant Planet: $34 Million Raised to Build the Future of Land Management Restoration

Listen now

Alisa Valderrama

Co-founder and CEO of FutureProof Technologies

Alisa Valderrama, Co-Founder and CEO of FutureProof Technologies: $10 Million Raised to Translate Climate and Weather and Financial Risk with Unprecedented Accuracy

Listen now