It’s 2015. The government announces it wants more competition in the energy market and you know how to beat what you say are the sky-high prices and poor service of the current Big Six providers: Centrica (CNA); Scottish Power, SSE (SSE), E.ON, EDF (FR:EDF) and RWE npower. You think that these large suppliers have inefficient trading activities. Technology can keep your operating costs lower. What are you waiting for?
By 2017, you’ve put in £250,000 and another £1mn has got you up and running, but it’s slow going. You need to ramp up customer numbers. Rope them in with low prices. Get them signed up for direct debits and their balances over summer can help cover your costs. Working capital sorted. Make it green: “Renewable energy shouldn’t be a luxury product.” That sounds good. No need to bother with traditional adverts. Word of mouth, social media and “give £50, get £50” customer referrals are the way to go. And don’t worry about the cost. Tech start-ups often make losses until they reach critical mass.
It's 2018. The business is really taking off. You’ve signed up more than 870,000 households. A year ago, you only had 85,000 and now you’re the seventh largest energy provider in the UK. Success breeds success: you’ve raised £60mn from a US hedge fund and a Russian billionaire. Who cares where the money comes from? It’s time you thought of yourselves. You sell shares for a modest £4mn each, and you still own half the business. Your salary? Let’s push it up to a quarter of a million. Seems fair enough.