20VC: $0-$260M in Revenue in Three Years: How We Did It | You Need to Work Weekends to Win — Most Founders Aren't Ambitious Enough | The Revolut Playbook: Speed, Urgency, Extreme Ownership, and Zero Excuses with Alan Chang @ Fuse Energy
Timestamps are as accurate as they can be but may be slightly off. We encourage you to listen to the full context.
Podcast Summary
Alan Chang, Co-Founder and CEO of Fuse Energy, sits down to discuss his journey from being one of the first three hires at Revolut to building an energy company that has scaled from £2M to £200M+ in annual revenue in just three years. (00:58) Chang shares candid insights about working alongside Nick Storonsky at Revolut, the intense work culture that drove their success, and his philosophy that building generational companies requires sacrificing work-life balance. (11:15) He reveals his contrarian views on energy policy, explains why he believes the UK is heading toward an energy crisis, and discusses his ambitious goal of making Fuse bigger than Shell. (51:59) The conversation covers everything from hiring practices and leadership philosophy to the realities of being a CEO and the role of timing in startup success. • Main themes include the importance of extreme work ethic, speed of execution, building in the energy sector, and lessons learned scaling Revolut from startup to $75B valuation
Speakers
Alan Chang
Alan Chang is the Co-Founder and CEO of Fuse Energy, where he has achieved extraordinary growth, scaling the company from £2M in revenue in the first year to £20M in the second year and over £200M in the third year. Prior to founding Fuse, Alan was one of the first three hires at Revolut where he played a crucial role alongside founder Nik Storonsky in scaling the company to over $75B valuation. He graduated and began his career by responding to a Facebook job post for Revolut, where he was hired after a rapid interview process and started in operations before taking on larger strategic roles.
Key Takeaways
Extreme Work Ethic is Non-Negotiable for Generational Companies
Chang argues that building a truly generational company requires an extreme work ethic that goes beyond traditional work-life balance. (11:15) He uses the analogy of asking team members: "If you have a gun pointed to your head today, would you have done more? If the answer is yes, that means you're not doing a good job." This philosophy stems from his experience at Revolut, where he observed that they were the only team working past 7PM on weekdays and the only team working weekends in a co-working space with over 200 startups. He believes this intensity is essential when competing against massive incumbents with significantly more resources.
Speed of Execution Beats Product Differentiation
When competing with similar startups like Monzo and N26 in Revolut's early days, Chang identified that product roadmaps were largely identical across competitors. (07:51) What differentiated Revolut was superior ambition and speed of execution. He advocates for small, independent teams with clear goals, monitoring their performance, and replacing underperforming teams rather than micromanaging. This approach enabled Revolut to outpace competitors despite having similar product visions.
Ownership Culture Eliminates Excuses
Chang implements a strict "no excuses" policy for leaders, inspired by a lesson from Nick Storonsky at Revolut. (33:34) He references a Steve Jobs story about the difference between a janitor and a VP - somewhere between those roles, reasons for failure stop mattering. If leaders succeed, they get all the praise; if they fail, they get all the blame, regardless of circumstances. This creates a culture where leaders take complete ownership of outcomes and find solutions rather than explanations for failure.
Diversification Creates Resilience During Crisis
Product diversification proved crucial during COVID when Revolut's interchange revenue from card spending abroad dropped to near zero. (13:44) However, stimulus checks and booming stock markets drove up trading revenue, offsetting the losses. This experience taught Chang that building multiple revenue streams makes companies more resilient to external shocks. At Fuse, this translates to pursuing multiple opportunities simultaneously rather than focusing on a single product line.
Hire for Deep Care Over Pure Intelligence
Chang admits to previously overvaluing IQ in hiring decisions while underweighting whether candidates deeply care about the company mission. (32:00) He now tests for genuine commitment by explaining the difficulty of building the company and asking candidates why they specifically want to take on these challenges. Candidates who lean in and express excitement about the mission, rather than those focused primarily on compensation, tend to be the ones who will work late to fix bugs or stay weekends to ship features.
Statistics & Facts
- Fuse Energy has achieved 10x revenue growth every year since inception: £2M in year one, £20M in year two, and over £200M in year three, representing extraordinary scaling that Chang attributes to extreme work ethic and speed of execution. (00:27)
- UK energy consumption per capita has dropped 25% over the last twenty-five years while China's has increased seven times in the same period, highlighting the UK's energy crisis compared to other major economies. (21:56)
- British and European energy costs are 25-30 cents per kilowatt hour compared to 10-15 cents in the US and 8 cents in China, demonstrating the UK's significant competitive disadvantage in energy pricing. (24:00)
