Startup Series: Designing the Future of Home Energy with Haven

Jeff Chapin is the Co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Haven Energy. Haven aims to make it easier for homeowners to install home battery systems, including choosing the right battery, permitting and installation, tax credits, and virtual power plant setup. Haven recently began offering bundled installation of solar and batteries. Jeff has seen scale before as he and his co-founder, Philip Krim, previously co-founded and grew the one-time darling, direct-to-consumer mattress company, Casper. Jeff has a long-time background in design at IDEO and credits this experience with training him for the context switching that's allowed him to move across very different industries, sectors, and technologies.

In this episode, we talk about consumer demand for batteries, how Haven works, the wonky and esoteric net metering regulations in California where Haven is prioritizing their go-to-market, and why Haven added solar to their offering recently. 

In this episode, we cover: 

• [02:08]: Jeff's design-driven journey from IDEO to Casper
• [06:18]: Applying design thinking to home energy
• [08:45]: Retrofitting batteries to existing solar systems
• [11:30]: Challenges in the battery installation market
• [15:28]: Customizing battery options and customer incentives
• [21:35]: Installation process and energy management
• [26:03]: Financial benefits and tax credits
• [28:15]: Changes in net metering for rooftop solar
• [34:46]: Growing demand for solar and battery setups
• [41:06]: Series A funding and growth strategy for Haven

Episode recorded on Jul 23, 2024 (Published on Aug 29, 2024)

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant