People will do anything for those who encourage their dreams, justify their failures, allay their fears, confirm their suspicions and help them throw rocks at their enemies. – Blair Warren
The world’s greatest leaders have one thing in common: their ability to identify and realize not just their potential, but of those around them as well. A leader is someone who possesses the charisma that kindles the ambitions and desires of people and brings their best version to the forefront. This aspect of leadership is something that Nishaant Sangaavi, Co-founder and CEO of EnergyX Solutions, strongly believes in.
For Nishaant the most important takeaway for any leader is that there is absolutely nothing that is about YOU. He states, “It is not about your dreams, your failures, your fears, your suspicions, and your enemies. It is all about the other person: the person you want to collaborate with and to lead. Make it about their success and goals, not about yours, and you will truly be able to be an influential and persuasive leader because people will want to work with you with ownership and tenacity.”
Nishaant grew up in Dubai and moved on his own to Canada when he was a teen to attend university. Throughout his professional journey, Nishaant has had to move around to different corners of the world – Halifax, Toronto, Calgary, and Amsterdam. In all these places, he had to start from scratch each time and rebuild all his connections and relationships from the ground up.
He learned and understood the importance of believing in himself and his abilities. Moreover, he believed in his love for creating something from nothing and his skill in attracting people who are smarter than him – this allowed him to continuously learn, grow, and push himself to be better.
The Inception of EnergyX
On being asked what prompted the idea behind EnergyX, Nishaant recalls that it was when he relocated back to Toronto from Amsterdam and bought a house. Just like many other homeowners, he had an exorbitantly high utility bill, one which was unexpected to him. Upon calling his utility to ask them for suggestions to save money and energy, he was told to “just use less energy.”
He realized that his utility did not have any information about the energy usage patterns and, hence they weren’t able to give him any relevant or effective recommendations.
That is what seeded the idea of EnergyX. The company aimed to bridge the gap between utilities and homeowners by empowering homes to lower their energy usage, save money, and become more carbon neutral. They did so by pairing the right homes with the right energy savings opportunities from the utility.
Journey Over the Years
As they say, nothing worth having comes easy, and Nishaant had his fair share of tumultuous times, ups and downs, and setbacks. However, amidst every challenge, he remained perseverant, and it was his ambition and passion that won in the end.
When Nishaant Sangaavi and his Co-founder, Alex Corneglio, decided to start EnergyX, they had no capital, no team, and had the responsibilities of their respective families. People told them to back off, especially considering it was an unvalidated idea. But they thought otherwise. They were resolute with their belief that they would be the ones who would be able to solve an industry-wide problem in a manner that had never been done before, something unprecedented.
Having formalized the business plan, Nishaant engaged with utilities to validate the idea. With the investors, they proved that they were the right choice to build and commercialize this scalable and impactful product. And within two months, they successfully closed their pre-seed round of $400K, quit their jobs, and began EnergyX.
About EnergyX Solutions
EnergyX’s vision is to become the prime technology platform for utilities running energy efficiency programs by revolutionizing the entire process and customer journey for homes and businesses that are looking to make renovations (retrofits) around energy.
The platform provides an end-to-end solution: First, utilities virtually audit their entire customer base using its industry-leading data science and proactively identify the buildings that have deep retrofit opportunities. EnergyX then enables them to engage those buildings to participate in energy efficiency programs and upsell them on products and services; match the building with the right contractors and service organizations, and track and report on all of the activity and energy savings.
Aside from this innovative approach to data science, one of the other ways the company differentiates themselves is by providing this entire spectrum of services all within one digital platform. Historically, different elements of auditing and program management have had to be managed manually by a variety of vendors, and therefore, the offering to customers, and insights from them, is fragmented at best.
All the hard work Nishaant and Co. have put in at EnergyX solutions over the years has enabled the company to attain new heights of success. Today, the company has won 2 MIT awards for its technology and they are now partnered with 25 utilities across Canada, the US, and Europe.
Talking about the future of EnergyX, Nishaant briefs us about the newest product that they have successfully launched, the Virtual Audit technology platform, Retrofit AI. It can conduct engineering-grade energy audits, which will thereby empower every building to gain access and opt for an energy audit at a fraction of the cost alongside addressing government policy initiatives that are currently being enacted globally as a means to combat the climate crisis and also as a means of economic recovery and job creation.
On Setbacks and Leadership
Notwithstanding an adventurous journey that Nishaant has had whilst bringing EnergyX into life, the pandemic has been one of the biggest roadblocks he and his organization faced. But Nishaant chose to tackle the situation in an unlikely yet favorable manner.
The company decided to keep its entire team intact. More than anything else, this decision spoke of the importance Nishaant places on leading with and for people. His firm principle was duly rewarded as with time EnergyX recorded the biggest growth year ever.
Nishaant has a very crystal-clear idea of an able leader. He emphasizes again and again on the importance of moving ahead with one’s team. “A relentless leader must have a focus and not only to live up to their potential and be the best version of themselves, however, to also be able to facilitate and nurture that within their team.”
Advice for Emerging Business Leaders
Being someone who took risks and carved out a niche for himself and his organization out there in the world, Nishaant urges emerging business leaders to take risks and make decisions. Whilst talking about new entrepreneurs, Nishaant Sangaavi quotes Hellen Keller, “Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”
He maintains that running a start-up is all about taking calculated risks as all of us are constantly innovating and looking to solve problems in a better way than they have been approached before. And so, taking risks, failing fast, and often, and most importantly, falling forward is essential to achieve success.
Nishaant’s journey is a testimony to the power of collective human effort under an able leadership and a resolute ambition.
