Listen Here

| |

Conversation
Highlights

 

Welcome to another episode of Category Visionaries, the show that explores the future of tech with innovative B2B founders. In today’s episode, we’re speaking with Kameale Terry, CEO and Co-Founder of ChargerHelp!, an EV infrastructure solution that has raised over $20 million in funding.

  • ChargerHelp!’s Origin Story: The idea for ChargerHelp! emerged from Kameale’s efforts to create a curriculum for repairing EV charging stations and her subsequent realization of the industry’s need for direct hiring of field service talent.
  • The Technical Challenges of EV Charging Stations: ChargerHelp! addresses the issue of charging station failures due to interoperability problems, aiming to improve the reliability of the infrastructure by predicting and swiftly resolving these issues.
  • Legislative Efforts and Industry Impact: Kameale discusses the importance of influencing laws and regulations in the EV space, highlighting ChargerHelp!’s involvement in co-sponsoring the EV Charging Reliability Act in California and advocating for federal guidelines on charging uptime.
  • Growth and Traction: ChargerHelp! has seen impressive growth, servicing stations across 17 states with over 18,000 field service interactions, attributed to the timely focus on operations and maintenance in the EV charging sector.
  • The Role of Government Relations and Lobbying: Kameale emphasizes the strategic importance of hiring for government relations early on and leveraging associations for lobbying efforts, underscoring the crucial interplay between technology and regulation in the climate tech space.
  • Vision for the Future: Kameale shares ChargerHelp!’s long-term vision to become a verification system for EV charging station reliability, contributing to the broader infrastructure of smart cities and IoT assets.

Actionable
Takeaways

Build Relationships with Incubators and Industry Associations:

ChargerHelp!'s early connections with organizations like the LA Clean Tech Incubator played a crucial role in its development. B2B tech founders should actively seek partnerships and collaborations with incubators and industry associations to accelerate growth and gain credibility.

Educate Your Market to Create Demand:

ChargerHelp! had to educate its market about the problems with EV charging stations before it could sell its solution. Founders should consider an education-first approach to marketing, especially in new or emerging markets, to build awareness and create demand.

Data-Driven Product Development and Positioning:

Utilizing data to understand and predict industry challenges can position your company as a leader in solving those problems. ChargerHelp!'s focus on collecting service data and using predictive analytics has been key to their success and can serve as a model for leveraging data to inform product development and market positioning.

Prepare for Scaling Challenges:

As your company grows, transitioning from founder-led sales and being deeply involved in every deal can be challenging. Establishing strong teams and processes early on can ease this transition and allow founders to focus on strategic growth and product development.

Pursue Legislative Advocacy to Shape Your Industry:

ChargerHelp!'s active role in co-sponsoring bills and advocating for industry standards highlights the potential impact of legislative advocacy. Founders should consider how engaging with legislative processes could benefit their company and industry as a whole, potentially unlocking new opportunities and shaping the market environment.

Recommended Founder
Interviews

Khaled Hassounah

CEO & Founder of Ample

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

Kentaro Kawamori

CEO & Co-Founder of Persefoni

Kentaro Kawamori, CEO & Co-Founder of Persefoni: $114 Million Raised to Build the Climate Disclosure & Carbon Management Category

Greg Fallon

CEO of Geminus

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

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

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

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

Ben Christensen

CEO of Cambium Carbon

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

Gary Ong

CEO & Founder of Celadyne

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

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

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

Dr. Kai-Philipp Kairies

CEO and Co-Founder of Accure

Dr. Kai-Philipp Kairies, CEO & Co-Founder of Accure: $18.5 Million Raised to Build the Future of Battery Intelligence

Doron Myersdorf

CEO & Co-Founder of StoreDot

Doron Myersdorf, CEO & Co-Founder of StoreDot : $200 Million Raised to Power the Future of Electric Vehicles

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

Sid Jha

Founder & CEO of Arbol

Sid Jha, Founder & CEO of Arbol: Over $20 Million Raised to Build the Future of Climate Risk Management

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

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

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

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

Sandeep Ahuja

CEO of Covetool

Sandeep Ahuja, CEO of Covetool: $36 Million Raised to Power the Future of Building Design with AI

Arvin Ganesan

CEO of Fourth Power

Arvin Ganesan, CEO of Fourth Power: $20 Million Raised to Build the Future of Energy Storage

Iain Cooper

CEO of SeekOps Inc.

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

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

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

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

Josh Knauer

Co-Founder of Reseed

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

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

Matei Stratan

CEO of Ogre

Matei Stratan, CEO of Ogre: $2 Million Raised to Build the Future of Energy Management

Javier Marti

CEO and Founder of Divirod

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

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

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

Astrid Atkinson

CEO & cofounder of Camus Energy

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

Ali Javidan

Co-Founder of Range Energy

Ali Javidan, Co-Founder of Range Energy: $9 Million Raised to Build the Future of Electric Semi-Trucks

Mukund Karanjikar

CEO of CleanJoule

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

Alex Siminoff

Director of Marketing of Parity

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

Martin Kosak

Head of Marketing of Sensoneo

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

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

Curtis VanWalleghem

CEO of Hydrostor

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

Troy Carter

CEO and Co-Founder of Earthshot Labs

Troy Carter, CEO and Co-Founder of Earthshot Labs: $11 Million Raised to Power the Future of Ecosystem Conservation and Restoration

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

Zak Lefevre

CEO of ChargeLab

Zak Lefevre, CEO of ChargeLab: $20 Million Raised to Build the Operating System for EV Chargers

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

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

Manik Suri

Manik Suri, CEO and Founder of Therma: $30 Million Raised to Build the Cooling Intelligence Category

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

Allison Wolff

CEO of Vibrant Planet

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

Joselyn Lai

CEO & Co-Founder of Bedrock Energy

Joselyn Lai, CEO & Co-Founder of Bedrock Energy: $9 Million Raised to Power the Future of Geothermal Energy

Liz Gilligan

CEO & Founder of Material Evolution

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

Gary Lewis

CEO & Co-Founder of Resourcify

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

Tim Weiss

CEO and Co-Founder of Optera

Tim Weiss, CEO & Co-Founder of Optera: $17.5 Million Raised to Build the Future of Carbon Management and Accounting