kWh Analytics — Taking a solar startup’s new data product from concept to monetization
Overview
kWh Analytics is the solar industry’s leading risk management company. It owns the industry’s largest database of solar performance data (~20% of U.S. install base), which it uses to inform its primary insurance product, the Solar Revenue Put (“SRP”).
Problem
Solar companies are siloed and lack data to contextualize asset performance against the industry across all stages of the value chain. Given the industry trend towards aggressive Independent Engineer production estimates (“IE P50s”), assets across the board are falling short on performance post-investment. Stakeholders such as asset owners, developers, and financers lack the ability to understand their portfolio within the broader industry context. When assets underperform, they are left guessing.
Role
Product Manager, Researcher, Designer, Marketer
Product Strategy, User Research, Visual Design, Prototyping & Testing, Information Architecture, Marketing, Branding, Business Development
I partnered with kWh’s Head of Data Products to utilize the team’s existing database and develop it into a new data product addressing this problem.
Duration: April – June 2020 (2 months)
Product Development Process
1. Idea Generation & Screening
I conducted in-depth interviews with the leadership team, board members, solar experts, and prospective users to understand how the product would fit into the startup’s growth roadmap and its vision of the future.
2. Concept Testing
In addition to the sales presentation, I also created the STAR branding for the team. I wanted the name to be “sticky,” memorable and easily passed on by word-of-mouth in a particularly jargon-rich industry.
3. Financial Analysis
I researched recommended pricing strategies for the new data product with input from the CFO. The team moved forward with an Early Adopter Program.
4. Prototype
I built the first STAR Ratings report in PowerPoint and Tableau, taking inspiration from S&P Ratings and equity research reports.
5. Marketing & Monetization
We took the prototype to market and acquired 2 new paying customers.
Hypothesis & Methodology
The team hypothesized that “Aggressive P50’s” (over-confident independent engineer production estimates) was a commonly acknowledged but rarely discussed issue in the industry. My role was to validate this pain point and ideate and develop a “benchmarking” solution that used kWh Analytics’ proprietary database. They did not know “who” the product was for, “what” metrics would be benchmarked, or “how” the product would take form.
Understanding the vision
I conducted internal interviews with the leadership team and board members to understand how the product would fit into the startup’s growth roadmap and its vision of the future. A key insight was that kWh Analytics hoped to become the “S&P or Moody’s of solar” by becoming indispensable to solar asset development as a part of the financing process.
“We want to demystify solar asset performance, which will lower the cost of financing and development in the long run. That would be great for the industry and great for us.”
— kWh Analytics
Customer Discovery
With input from the leadership team, I drafted a discussion guide for stakeholder interviews with potential customers. We spoke to asset developers and owners with wide-ranging specialties including but not limited to banks, EPC companies, M&A teams, asset managers, O&M Providers, and utilities. (n=40+)
This yielded a long list of potential “benchmarking” products. We prioritized 2 of these product ideas based on viability, potential for monetization, and the team’s ability to deliver. We also identified 2 primary use cases.
“If you had a magic wand, what would be your ideal solution to eliminate the aggressive P50 problem?”
— Discussion Guide
Branding & Marketing
We identified 2 user groups – Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) and Asset Management professionals – for which comparable performance data would alleviate major pain points. For M&A users, benchmarking data would allow purchases at the “right” price. For Asset Manager users, ability to explain under- performance relative to expectations was key.
I created the branding and marketing materials for STAR. I wanted the brand to be “sticky,” memorable and easily passed on by word-of-mouth in a particularly jargon-rich industry. STAR is an acronym for “Solar Technology Asset Risk.” The design is a reference to the sun.
“I’m interested — How much is it?”
I researched and recommended pricing strategies to the CFO. The team chose to move forward with an Early Adopter Program. The proposal template I created is at right.
Guiding questions:
How labor intensive is the analysis? Is it (easily) repeatable? What are kWh’s costs? What type of pricing system should we use? Subscription or ad-hoc basis? How can we structure it so that we get more data?
Result: The Early Adopter Program
Asset Management: Subscription per quarter
M&A Risk Report: Per transaction basis Both based on # of projects and states “Early Adopter” provided the ability to test out customer’s willingness-to-pay and room to grow.
Prototype & Results
I created the first STAR Ratings report using Tableau and PowerPoint. S&P Ratings reports, equity research reports, and BCG’s growth-share matrix were used as inspiration to structure the report. Key kWh metrics are called out at left for easy viewing and breakouts of specific metrics are provided later in the report.
