How Podero avoids "pilot purgatory" | Chris Bernkopf

Podero builds software that enables European utilities to trade device flexibility—EVs, heat pumps, and batteries—on energy markets, generating trading revenues while reducing consumer bills by 20-30%. The company navigates a uniquely complex B2B motion: they must sell utilities, secure API access from device OEMs, and ensure utilities successfully roll out consumer-facing products—all simultaneously. In this episode of BUILDERS, Chris Bernkopf, Co-Founder and CEO of Podero, breaks down how they escaped pilot purgatory with innovation departments, built a "10x better than doing nothing" business case that reaches commercial stakeholders, and why their 2026 strategy centers on radical simplification through deletion.

Topics Discussed

• Origin story: from Raspberry Pi heat pump experiment to YC-backed utility infrastructure software

• The "three miracle problem" go-to-market challenge and how they de-risked all three dimensions in parallel

• Sales cycle mechanics: 6-12 month closes, avoiding innovation department traps, and multi-stakeholder orchestration

• Market structure: 2,000 addressable utilities in Europe, 120 customers required for unicorn trajectory

• Channel strategy evolution: cold outreach to re-engagement focus in a contained prospect universe

• 2026 GTM thesis: simplifying value propositions by deleting products and messaging

• How YC learnings posted on bathroom doors maintain organizational discipline

• The grid capacity fork in the road: expensive scarcity vs. cheap abundant renewable energy