The Utility Industry's Secret Weapon with Chris Bernkopf of Podero

Chris Bernkopf is the founder of Podero, a tech company that helps utilities balance power loads by controlling distributed energy resources like heat pumps, batteries, and EVs. Fresh off a major fundraising round, he's building his remote-first team to expand across Europe while delivering 25% energy savings to customers.

In this episode we talked about:

🔌 How Podero's software enables utilities to aggregate and trade power from customer-owned devices on energy markets

🌏 How growing up watching the same YouTube videos creates a global tribe of like-minded founders

🎯 The value of focused mentorship through programs like Y Combinator in developing founder mindset

💰 Why closing a funding round is just the beginning - it's "registering for the marathon, not finishing it"

🏗️ Building a remote-first company culture with quarterly offsites, virtual coffee chats, and camera-on meetings

#climatetech #energytech #cleanenergy

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