The cost of electricity has two components: making it and moving it. Generation ("making") costs are plummeting due to cheap solar. However, transmission ("moving") costs are rising from aging infrastructure. This indicates the biggest area for innovation is in distribution, not generation.
For startups taking on industrial giants, large capital raises are a competitive weapon, not just for growth. Accessing low-cost capital is a strategic advantage that directly lowers product costs, making massive fundraising a prerequisite to even sit at the table.
Base Power's founder identified the energy sector as ripe for disruption by pattern-matching. Like autos before Tesla or aerospace before SpaceX, energy was a massive, incumbent-dominated field that was not yet technology-focused, R&D-driven, or engineering-led.
The biggest challenge in energy isn't just generating power, but moving it efficiently. While transmission lines move power geographically, batteries "move" it temporally—from times of surplus to times of scarcity. This reframes batteries as a direct competitor to traditional grid infrastructure.
Base Power fosters a high-performance culture by displaying all North Star metrics on TVs throughout the office. This relentless transparency ensures every employee understands what matters most, creating a natural sense of focused urgency without top-down pressure.
By designing, manufacturing, installing, and operating its own batteries, Base Power creates a flywheel. Greater scale lowers costs, which allows for lower consumer prices, which in turn drives more scale and demand. This strategy is key in a commodity industry.
To lure senior talent from giants like SpaceX, Base Power pitched more than equity. It offered a chance to work on humanity's hardest problems (energy), promising a continuous stream of complex challenges that top performers crave, alongside massive economic upside.
Base Power's culture of execution was set by its first ~10 hires—senior leaders from Tesla and SpaceX who initially worked as individual contributors. This "lead from the front" model, where leaders still do IC work, cascaded through the company as it scaled to 250 people.