Say hey to Nicole Davis, Data Architect!
The Batteries Included Fund takes it up a notch!
Welcome to our newsletter on the electrification of traditionally fossil-fueled stuff. If you were forwarded this post and liked it, please subscribe! We cover:
Investing - The Batteries Included Fund,
Vehicle design - Night Shift Bikes, and
Going electric - My Next Electric.
Today it’s an intro to my new colleague for the summer, Nicole Davis. Nicole is leveraging her expertise in finance, computer science and data visualization to take our investing game up a notch. Welcome Nicole!
Hello readers, my name is Nicole Davis, and I am joining Matt this summer to build some easy-to-use but rigorous data tools for the Batteries Included Fund.
I am ecstatic to be on board!
My Electric Journey
Throughout my time at Tulane University in New Orleans, where I have been studying finance and computer science for the past 3 years, I have been exposed to the talk around energy. I have seen the environmental forecasts, all of which lead me to think twice about decisions I make every day, like whether to walk or to drive. Personal decisions matter, but I am growing more interested in the bigger questions of impact beyond individual behavior.
Last summer, I developed data tools for an oil company, and while I gained great experience and learned lifelong lessons, I grew interested in moving away from energy sources which pollute our planet. One of my mentors and bosses said, “We will produce oil for as long as we need to produce oil.”
My question was, and still is, “Where is and what will cause that tipping point?”
This is where My Next Electric shines for me. I believe that parts of our emerging thesis are both novel and integral to finding that tipping point.
Like TRL 10.
These go to…10: Our take on Technology Readiness Levels
We’re interested in businesses that fall into what we call Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 10. If you’re not familiar, the TRL scale was developed at NASA in the 70s and goes from 1 to 9. Ours goes to 11 10.
TRL helps explain how mature a particular technology is, and to what risks it’s still exposed. TRL 1 represents early, early tech — where basic principles have been observed and reported but not proven. Many valleys of death stand between tech at this stage and tech we use in our daily lives.
TRL 9, on the other hand, represents tech that’s been de-science-risked and has the potential to go to scale. It’s still up to producers and consumers to create a market, but the tech works and is ready to go.
Different investors pick their favorite spots on this continuum. Some investors love to invest super early, in levels 2 through 3. They’re patient. Good ones are often scientists, too.
Others make bets in the middle, after some science has been sorted, but before the market’s nailed down. Some wait until level 8 or 9, where it’s mostly about reducing costs and getting beyond early adopters to the mass market.
And then there are unfashionably-late investors like us, who show up when the food’s gone, the band’s packing up and it looks like the party’s over.
But is it?
My work this summer will focus on companies finding clever new sources of value in technology that’s already made it to market and been used for many years — what we call TRL 10.
TRL 10 represents a technology that’s done it’s first job and has been called up to do a different job, often in another market. Here’s a visual.
As the world starts to rely more on machines that come with big batteries included, we think there is room for many companies willing to write exciting second-life, TRL 10 stories for these machines.
Companies like B2U.
B2U - A TRL 10 case study
If you’ve been following along, B2U finds clever uses for tired EV battery packs. At 5-10 years of age, these packs may not be as good at pushing cars around as they were in their youth, but they’ve got a great second life to live - as stationary batteries that store energy for the power grid.
In the words of Peter Christensen, last summer’s Entrepreneur-In-Residence, “B2U isn't just about repurposing old batteries; it's about creating an ecosystem where every stage of a battery's life is optimized for maximum utility and minimum waste”.
B2U adds a lucrative re-use chapter to an EV battery’s life, after it’s in the car and before it gets recycled.
This is TRL 10 — use all that engineering that went into making a great car battery, and apply it elsewhere, where a tired version of that tech can still play a valuable role in an increasingly volatile and intermittent energy economy.
ISO Asymmetry: What data goes with a good TRL 10 investment?
One of the main challenges I am anticipating prior to getting knee-deep in TRL 10 research is how we might to take advantage of asymmetric information. To make wiser investments, we must work off information others don’t have access to. But we’ve got to look in the right places.
I initially thought about attending energy conferences and entrepreneurial events to meet founders and hear their ideas, but it’s not clear that TRL 10 founders will go to spaces populated with TRL 1-9 investors. We must be more creative about where we are finding the next TRL 10.
One thing I am certain of is that if we are going to change our climate trajectory, it must involve us, and I mean everyone. So if you’ve got any ideas on this emerging TRL 10 strategy, or on where we should be looking, I’m all ears. If you’re interested, here are some core questions I’m asking:
Where should we look?
What questions should we be asking (to whom)?
What data should we collect that a TRL 1-9 investor might not consider?
I could not be more excited to be helping on a project like this, and I cannot wait to see what the future holds.