My Startup Graveyard Part 2

This idea? It could’ve changed everything.

We wanted to install huge batteries at businesses — think hospitals, factories — and connect them to the grid.

The batteries would do three things:

1. Provide emergency backup

2. Trade energy when prices spike

3. Sell control power to the grid (Swissgrid)

And ideally, we’d use recycled EV batteries. Clean. Profitable. Scalable.

The electric grid is becoming increasingly fragile — higher demand (like electric cars) and variable renewables create swings that batteries can smooth out perfectly. Because of this, grid-scale batteries are incredibly lucrative. Casey Handmer wrote: “battery plants are so lucrative they’re often profitable by year two” (check out his blog article).

Honestly? The business case was 🔥.

But… the first prototype would’ve cost us one million Swiss Francs.

And none of us had experience in the energy sector — we were a team of top computer scientists — but no single electrical engineer.

So why would any investor trust us with millions in infrastructure?

We had no credibility.

And in this space, no credibility = no funding = no batteries.

Lesson: You need to be the right team to make your idea a reality. Select carefully who you're working with, and work on ideas matching your team's skills!

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Michael