InnoBlog: From studying a Master’s to becoming a young CTO

At Starke Energy, we want to make our contribution to the decarbonisation of the energy sector, which we think is a main driver for a sustainable future. We believe that energy storage is a technology that has a key role to play in this, despite a lot of gaps still left to be filled. We want to work in that direction by bringing energy storage as close as possible to the end-user, in buildings and offices, so that the transformation happens not only towards greener electricity but also towards a more efficient, decentralised and democratised system. However, the main barrier for such scenario is the high investment required for batteries to be integrated within building infrastructure, so we are changing the concept of batteries from a product to a service so end consumers can enjoy their perks while the grid as a whole benefits from smart demand-side management and flexibility services.

I was enrolled in the Engineering and Business Challenge, a UPC course ran by EIT InnoEnergy, where some companies propose real-life challenges for students to solve. In our case, we had to do an analysis of the demand response potential in different energy markets around Europe, which is a topic I am very passionate about. We worked in collaboration with Bax & Company, an innovation consultancy with a team dedicated to energy. In the end we identified together a positive business case and decided to launch Starke Energy with some of the consultants from Bax & Company as well as some of the students who participated in the Engineering and Business Challenge. Clearly the role of EIT InnoEnergy, fostering the connection between the companies and the students, was the main enabler for me to engage into this project.

At the beginning we were just 2 people working full-time and a network of consultants from Bax & Company that supported us in several tasks. Basically, Rolf Bastiaanssen (the CEO) was in charge of business development, financial structure, customer acquisition, partnership development, etc; while I (as the CTO) was in charge of building the ICT infrastructure, product development, project development, IP, etc. I had to deliver a Minimum Viable Product to put on the market, and now that such milestones have been achieved, I find myself doing more management and planning tasks and less development.

It is scary at times to take the responsibility to build something from scratch, to engage in such a large project. But the role itself is a way for external people to know who to approach depending on the needs, for example people know that I am not mainly working on financials as well as the CEO is not mainly working on the IoT architecture. Internally, however, tasks are taken based on skills and whoever can do it best and is available, so we end up doing a bit of everything as in any start-up. Hence despite being scary, it was comfortable to ease into the role.

Indeed, it is thrilling to see how the project has grown into something tangible. The versatility of a small start-up and the closeness of the team members, working hard for the same goal, was something I really enjoyed. Some moments like our first pilot project in Spain and our first commercial agreement in the Netherlands are huge milestones that make us all feel proud.

In my experience, many people have really great business ideas but fail to materialise them, and its usually because they lack the right network and connection, so they never actually interact with the right customers and partners. So, it is very important to reach out to as many people as possible and there is always someone willing to give a chance to a good idea. This is where the industry connection within the EIT InnoEnergy Master’s comes in, allowing to build relationships in the industry before even graduating! Under the right circumstances, anything is possible, so be courageous and work hard.