The Future is Brighte - Katherine McConnell, CEO and Founder, Brighte [S5.E2]

Katherine McConnell, the founder and CEO of Brigte is revolutionising how Australians are financing and decentralising sustainable energy solutions in their homes. A former Macquarie banker, and mother of two, Katherine initially mortgaged the family home to go after the opportunity of becoming the leading consumer finance business in the space. And that she has – Brighte has financed ten percent of the solar installations in Australia and processed over a billion dollar of applications across 90k homes. Recently having secured a $100m funding round, Brighte have driven deeper into the value chain becoming an energy retailer. This is a far reaching conversation, from the business itself being at the forefront of sustainable investing in Australia, to the scaling challenges of remote onboarding at scale, Brighte is a beacon as to what is possible as one of Australia’s fastest private companies.  

You can follow TDM (linktr.ee/tdmgrowth) and host Ed Cowan (linktr.ee/eddiecowan) across social channels. 

Show notes

Brighte founding journey and Katherine’s background (2:56) 

Evolution of the Brighte business model over time (8:27) 

Building a revolutionary consumer brand and a consumer value proposition (11:45) 

Energy marketplace network effects and the impacts for Brighte (13:25) 

Understanding Brighte’s financing (15:43) 

The impact of green investing and financing tailwinds on Brighte (18:44) 

Scaling challenges in automation and digital capabilities (20:55) 

The origin of Brighte’s values (23:05) 

Evolution of Katherine’s role as a founder, CEO and leader (25:25) 

Challenges of hiring in a purpose-driven company (28:16) 

Hiring in a remote / hybrid work environment (30:00) 

Maintaining culture and enabling productivity in a hybrid environment (31:28) 

Juggling fast growth and business sustainability at Brighte (33:45) 

Female founders in the start-up world and how we can empower more as a society (35:45) 

Maintaining work life balance when scaling a high growth business (39:38)