As the push to get power on the grid faster continues, more energy software companies are tackling complex problems than ever. More companies need specialized solutions, but it’s harder than ever to be heard. Clare Southworth sits down with Ari Greenberg, CRO of Ascend Analytics, to talk all things commercial. We cover how to sell into utilities, IPPs, and data centers when each one needs something different, and what the rise of startups means for the market. Ari also shares where companies can make changes to grow and keep their customers.

In this episode:

- How utilities, IPPs and data centers value the same software differently

- Why data centers are moving the conversation from price to speed

- The need for better queue intelligence and why this will become the most wanted service

- What startups get wrong between $5M and $30M, and why ICP discipline matters more than chasing new markets

- How to successfully keep retention in an overcrowded market

Ari Greenberg is Chief Revenue Officer at Ascend Analytics, where he runs sales, marketing, customer success, partnerships, and revenue operations. He previously led the energy, metals and mining segments across the Americas at S&P Global, built the energy and industrials segment at AlphaSense, and led a global sales team at Zema Global.

Views are his own.

Chapters

00:00 Intro and Ari’s background

02:11 Same software, different buyers

05:14 Utility sales cycles and regional differences

11:21 Selling to data centers: speed over price

17:47 Rise of Startups and how they can make an impact

21:27 Why customers buy vs how they use the product

23:36 Zero to one and beyond

26:33 Selling by segment instead of by product

33:06 Where demand goes next: transmission and queue intelligence

35:54 Why the data centers will get built

39:49 The one change with the biggest impact

Produced by Element Six, a specialist talent partner hiring across building intelligence, grid infrastructure and data center power.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gigawatt loads are being studied on software that looks like it was built for Windows 95. The math underneath has barely changed. Everything around it has.

Clare Southworth talks with Mike Malguarnera of Transmission Fox about the state of interconnection modeling and what it would take to make the results worth trusting.

In this episode:

• Why interconnection software has not moved since the 1990s and how it makes results less reliable
• Which utilities and regions are winning in the 'speed to power' race
• What happens to a model when you have to solve for load and generation at once
• Utilities and risk, and why nobody wants to lose ten cents to make a dollar

Mike Malguarnera has spent 15 years in power, starting on one of the last coal plants built in the United States, then resource planning and power market strategy at ACES, then solar and storage development and interconnection at BW Solar. He now runs Transmission Fox, helping developers review interconnection results and set transmission strategy.

Views are his own

Produced by Element Six, a specialist talent partner hiring across building intelligence, grid infrastructure and data center power.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Power demand in the US is outstripping the grid's current capacity, with interconnection queues taking years and transmission lines taking over a decade to build; the country urgently needs a short-term solution.

Clare Southworth talks with Isaac Maze-Rothstein of Leap and Thomas Armstrong of Voltus about what virtual power plants can do.

In this episode:

• Why VPPs can help with immediate needs and also long-term needs, and the importance of a flexible grid both financially and for reliability
• Why extreme weather is just as important as data centers in pushing costs up for customers
• The C&I gap, why it is currently on 1% of the market and the potential it can have
• Whether data centers will flex, and whether anyone will pay them to
• The market rules both guests would tear up, starting with PJM's ELCC derates

Isaac Maze-Rothstein is Associate Director of Partner Success at Leap, where he helps partners get more value from grid services. He previously led research on virtual power plants, Bitcoin mining, and microgrids at Wood Mackenzie.

Thomas Armstrong is Director of Partnerships at Voltus, focused on monetizing commercial and industrial batteries in wholesale markets. He worked in EV charging and for utilities before joining.

Views are their own.

Produced by Element Six, a specialist talent partner hiring across building intelligence, grid infrastructure and data center power.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.