The Measurement of Success: Happiness & Productivity

Posted on by Kelly Yazdani

At Voltus we place great emphasis on cultivating an environment in which all of our employees can be their best, most productive, and yes, happiest, selves. To keep ourselves in check, every quarter, all Voltans are asked to complete a Happiness and Productivity survey, measuring each on a 1-5 scale. All results are then presented during our weekly company-wide meeting, Veritas, and we track how these metrics change over time.

The Happiness and Productivity survey offers each Voltan the opportunity to conduct an honest self-assessment of his or her own experience working at Voltus. We value each and every Voltan’s input, and our leadership team thinks very carefully and intentionally about how to act on each piece of feedback submitted. All comments, both positive and negative, are addressed directly and anonymously, and action items are presented candidly to the full team. We see this quarterly process as an important vehicle for Voltus to continuously grow and improve as a company.

Our team works hard to foster a culture of transparency, support, and empathy. Some highlights from past Happiness and Productivity surveys underscore these values:

“I continue to be impressed by the transparency displayed by the executive leadership team … I’ve also been impressed with the way all the employees pull together to support each other. I’ve never worked for a company that gives so many warm fuzzies throughout the week. If you are a person that needs warm fuzzies constantly, this is the company to work for.”

“I feel that I am very well supported and have exceptionally bright, gritty and good teammates. I truly enjoy learning and working with my Voltan colleagues … I sincerely appreciate and admire the candor, adaptability, and values of Voltus, from leadership to new hires.”

“Voltus leadership does a great job at offering transparency, leading by example, and hiring the right people.”

“The trajectory and engagement at Voltus is fantastic. I love our mission-driven product and I feel like a supported and valued member of the team.”

“I really appreciate the transparency that senior leadership has with the Voltans; it is VERY refreshing from the modus operandi of typical corporations.”

Our leadership team also works deliberately to implement change within the organization based on the suggestions given in the Happiness and Productivity survey. 

Voltans submitted comments about improving cross-team communication, so we developed formalized channels for different teams to align on goals and collaborate better. We received feedback about keeping cleaner and more organized sales and account management tools; we’re now actively expanding our Customer Success team to support account management at scale, including investing in new technologies that enable more streamlined customer onboarding. Requests were made to better define professional development and career growth opportunities for Voltans; individual bonuses are now linked to quarterly performance, and a career path and planning guide is being developed for all functional leaders. 

When it comes to employee satisfaction, our chief goal at Voltus is incredibly simple. We want working at Voltus to be the best professional experience our team members have ever had! A happy and productive team is and always will be our true north. We use our quarterly Happiness and Productivity survey as a mechanism to empower and enable each Voltan to make this a reality.

We continue to expand our team of bright, gritty, and good Voltans. Visit Join Us! to browse open positions.

Authored by Ariele Ladabaum

The Grid of the Future: Matt Plante, President & Co-Founder of Voltus

Posted on by Kelly Yazdani

Voltus President and Co-founder, Matt Plante, joins Julia Bunte-Mein from The Seeds to discuss the electric grid of the future, the DER technology and policy to get us there, lessons learned from the Texas and California blackouts, and what makes Voltus special.

 

 

Read more about The Seeds and its creator, Julia Bunte-Mein, here. Learn more about becoming a Voltan here. More questions? Email info@voltus.co.

Voltus Highlights Three Exceptional Voltans in Honor of International Women’s Day

Posted on by Ariele Ladabaum

In honor of International Women’s Day, we’re featuring three outstanding Women of Voltus. These women were selected by their fellow Voltans based on their bright, gritty, and good achievements at work and beyond. In honor of these brilliant, talented women, Voltus will donate $200 each to the charity of their choosing.

Nicole Irwin-Viet

Voltus’s leadership team is distinguished by its transparency and vision. I strive to pass that on to the people who are now reporting to me. I take the time to share why we’re taking certain actions and how those actions fit into the broader Voltus vision. -Nicole

Nicole’s market knowledge, analytical chops, and ability to cross-functionally collaborate with our sales and dispatch operations teams are critical to the success of Voltus’s customers. Nicole leads one of Voltus’s “largest and most well run markets,” according to Dana Guernsey, Vice President of Product and Energy Markets. “It’s a fine-tuned machine where all stakeholders understand their role, are aligned, and drive forward innovative solutions. Nicole deserves a tremendous amount of credit for the work she’s done as a leader.” Nicole also stands out as an exceptional mentor and teammate. “Nicole is extremely bright and driven by personal and professional growth. She loves to win as a team, and is always eager to jump in to help a teammate.”

Outside of work, Nicole lives her values, dedicating countless volunteer hours to supporting the work of organic farmers. “Post-college, I went to work on a dairy farm in France. I learned what incredibly hard work farming is and fell in love with the experience. This past fall, I spent my first vacation at Voltus volunteering through the WWOOF program in New Hampshire. I enjoy the hands-on aspects of farming, but it’s also fascinating to gain insights into the daily operations and forward planning that go into running a farm.” 

Charity of Choice: Mass Audubon

Jess Scott-Dutcher

I don’t find it compelling to lie to people; it’s just not useful. Sometimes people use Truth to Power as an excuse for being mean, but I see it as a tool for being realistic. It’s about being honest with your teammates and yourself, and effectively communicating those honest reflections to others. –Jess

Jess was hired as a junior front end engineer in late 2018, and within two years was promoted to lead the applications team, a feat that she humbly notes is “not unremarkable” in the tech world. Her team is responsible for the look and feel of Voltus’s DER platform, VoltApp, which Voltus President Matt Plante says is a “big driver of our competitive advantage.” Jess revels in perfecting her craft, solving real problems and building the right solutions. Her honesty, both with herself and with her team, garners respect and allows her to drive efficiencies. Jess “never balks at the ever-amounting requests coming at her,” according to teammate Bill Kusters. “She stays positive the whole time and doesn’t stop until the job is done.”

Jess decided to start running the year after she graduated from college, while watching the Boston Marathon with a bowl of ice cream in hand. After some goading from her mom, who drove her to Target to buy running clothes, Jess downloaded a “couch to 5K” app, and took her first run later that day. “Running didn’t come easy to me,” said Jess, who would run around the Central Park Reservoir to build up her stamina. She stuck with it, though. One year later, she ran her first race, and two years after that, she completed the New York City Marathon.

Charity of Choice: World Central Kitchen

Lauren Stenstream

Our leadership team truly believes in each Voltan’s story and empowers us to be successful. With that level of support, how could I not go above and beyond for this company? I feel supported as an employee and as a mother. – Lauren

Lauren’s role as Controller encompasses a wide range of accounting and human resource functions with varied daily responsibilities based on company priorities. “Lauren juggles all of the questions and needs of the team on a daily basis, while simultaneously tackling all of the larger projects I ask her to own,” says Voltus CFO Doug Perrygo. Lauren says she’s always been highly driven and focused on professional success, but becoming a mother has reinforced that drive. “My boys see me working hard day in and day out. As they grow older, I hope that work ethic inspires them to fiercely tackle their own goals.”

Lauren took a “leap of faith” last September when she filed for divorce and became a single parent to her two boys, ages one and three. “I wanted a better life for my kids. I wanted a better life for myself.” Being a working single mom is not easy. Lauren starts her days as early as 3:30 AM, tackling work and house chores before the kids are awake. The ability to work from home has given Lauren the flexibility she needs to balance caring for her children with her full-time role, especially during the pandemic. “I’m able to get my boys off to school in the morning, work a full day, pause to pick them up from school, and jump back on the computer once I get them to bed. The ability to structure my day around my family’s needs is priceless.”

Charity of Choice: Feeding America

Voltus continues to dedicate itself to closing the cleantech gender gap. Visit our Join Us page to view all open positions.

The Wo(man) in the Arena – A Guide to Leadership at Voltus

Posted on by Ariele Ladabaum

Voltus is growing fast, super duper fast. When we took in $25 Million in Series B funding a little over four months ago, I had about 70 teammates. Today, as I look at our #general Slack channel, the number sits at 119. That’s a lot of new Voltans.

As a culture-first organization, our top priority is vetting and cultivating talent. This process starts when you first interview (Co-founders Matt and Gregg still interview every prospective Voltan before an offer is extended) and continues through a carefully crafted cadence of feedback and training as you progress in your career.

There’s a very good reason for this level of care: we love promoting from within. The direct reports of today are quite literally the leaders of tomorrow. In fact, over the last year, 13% of our current employees moved from individual contributor to manager roles. There’s also plenty of room for external talent. We currently have open management roles with new positions popping up all the time.

Whether you are a preexisting or could-be Voltan, there are four elements of Voltus culture you need to internalize if you aspire to lead.

  • Servant Leadership

Every leader at Voltus is a player coach. Not only are they responsible for the goals and development of their particular piece of the business, but they are expected to be in the arena with their team, directly contributing toward those goals. Leading through example provides leaders with more insight into the actual issues and challenges their team faces and results in more targeted feedback. It also builds respect and camaraderie. Matt and Gregg still routinely cold call prospective customers in support of the Inside Sales team. 

  • Full Transparency

Every Monday afternoon, the entire Voltus team gathers for a company-wide meeting called Veritas. In addition to sharing the QWERTY (Quote We Enthusiastically Relay to You), featuring the Voltans of the Week, and voting “yay” or “nay” on the week’s proposed Voppelganger (apparently we have teammates that bear a striking resemblance to Donald Sutherland and Sophie Turner), Veritas, true to its name, provides a forum for the leadership team to provide transparency into the internal workings of the business. After each quarter’s Board meeting, for example, the Board meeting deck is reviewed in full on Veritas. In fact, during VoltusFest (our thrice annual company offsite) San Francisco, our entire team actually attended a Board meeting.

  • Radical Candor

At Voltus, we practice the idea of radical candor – providing direct, honest, and frequent feedback in a caring and compassionate way. As a result, Voltans have a clear understanding of where they stand relative to their individual and collective goals. Managers are expected to deliver this feedback formally during bi-annual performance reviews and during weekly one-on-one meetings with their direct reports. Feedback is always two ways, and every Voltan is encouraged to speak truth to power. As a result, change at Voltus is most often driven by the team and not by leadership. 

  • Happiness and Productivity

Leaders are judged not solely on performance, but on the happiness and productivity of their direct reports. Each quarter, we conduct a company-wide assessment of happiness and productivity. Both are measured on a 1-5 scale, (our goal is 4+ in both categories), and the results are reviewed on Veritas. Comments, both negative and positive, are addressed directly and anonymously. The data are used to coach managers and influence human resource strategy.

As Voltus charges at full speed toward our mission of being the distributed energy platform that fulfills the promise of the energy transition, nothing is more important than developing our talented team of bright, gritty, and good Voltans into the leaders of tomorrow. We have over 30 open positions. Who wants to join us?

Kelly Yazdani
Director of Marketing
kyazdani@voltus.co

The 4 Horsemen Of Distributed Energy Resources

Posted on by Kelly Yazdani

Voltus CEO, Gregg Dixon, and Suncast’s Nico Johnson are back to talk about the 4 Horsemen of Distributed Energy Resources

  • Energy Efficiency
  • Demand Response
  • Distributed Generation
  • Energy Storage

The interview is also available on Suncast’s website: https://mysuncast.com/suncast-episodes/325. You can subscribe to Suncast via iTunes.

Interested in becoming a Voltan? View all open positions at https://www.voltus.co/join-us/

Culture-Centric Tech Startup Raises $25m For Demand Response, Gregg Dixon Of Voltus Inc.

Posted on by Kelly Yazdani

Voltus CEO, Gregg Dixon, joined Nico Johnson to talk leadership, building a business, the challenges of growth, the importance of culture, and the future of distributed energy resources.

The interview is also available on Suncast’s website: http://www.mysuncast.com/suncast-episodes/316. You can subscribe to Suncast via iTunes.

Interested in becoming a Voltan? View all open positions at https://www.voltus.co/join-us/

Veterans Day – building purpose through a shared mission

Posted on by Kelly Yazdani

Today is a day to honor American veterans of all wars. It is a day most people acknowledge and respect, but maybe – mostly just appreciate the day off. Voltus is actually the first company since I left active duty who recognizes Veterans Day! So, I too appreciate the day off. With that, I want to share what being a Veteran means to me.

Indoc had begun. What I thought Indoc – Indoctrination – would resemble was something close to summer camp and getting to know each other and learn (very kumbaya). I was wrong – very wrong – and in for a rude awakening. Indoc is abbreviated boot camp. With my first step onto the bus to take me to base, Gunny started yelling at me. I apologized: “Sorry Sir,” which sent him apoplectic. Turns out you don’t call gunnery sergeants “Sir.”

My family ties to the military ended with grandfathers I barely knew. I did not grow up learning about the ranks, the branches of the military and their history. I just knew I wanted to be part of the greatest American tradition – be part of something great. I was named after my father’s fraternity brother (Stephen) who died in the Vietnam War. I grew up listening to my father opine about the greatness of the military. He had enlisted in the Navy during the Vietnam War – got rejected due to a heart condition – and then was drafted, and subsequently disqualified when they found out about his medical status. It was his greatest regret not having the opportunity to serve, and I would not have that same regret.

Before my friendly greeting by Gunny on the bus, my father said goodbye and reminded me, that this was “a great time to be in the military – it is a time of peace. You will learn and be given amazing opportunities you cannot find anywhere else.” Three weeks later was September 11, 2001. It was time to prepare for battle. The tradition expanded. The mission even more critical. 

Four years later I landed on The Big Stick (USS Theodore Roosevelt – an aircraft carrier) in the Persian Gulf. It was time to finally be part of the mission. During college my Naval ROTC classmates and I shared a lot of similarities, but now that I was joining Air Wing EIGHT in an active war zone, my new teammates ran the gamut. A variety of backgrounds, experiences, ages, ethnicities, but we were all there for a single purpose: the mission. We had almost nothing in common except our drive to serve. This is where I learned the true definition of camaraderie. 

The people I served with – most I haven’t seen in 10+ years – shared a unique experience, bond and mission with me. It is the people who are next to you during the endless hours, who ensure together you achieve success – no matter the stress, no matter the sacrifice. No amount of time nor separation could erode the experience. This summer, one called me and it was as if no time had passed. We still have nothing in common, but I could talk to him for hours. I hung up the phone feeling elevated – feeling grateful for the comrades I had made. Grateful for the experience I had had.

There is no doubt in my mind that the two organizations I will have “served” in my career with the greatest and most impactful camaraderie will be The United States Navy and Voltus, Inc. I can say that knowing I have many more decades ahead of me.

The parallels between the two organizations are uncanny.

  1. We are mission driven. 
  2. We use our diversity of experience, backgrounds and personalities to solve problems and build something with a purpose – something we all believe in – no matter how tough.

But the greatest parallel is the camaraderie. We share a unique experience, bond and mission. No amount of separation can erode the experience we have had (and will continue to have).

2020 has been a year. Highs and lows – a lot of lows. A lot of challenges. But some great highs as well. We have been through this time together, but our team is something special. And thanks to the leadership of Gregg and Matt we have the opportunity to expand our team and mission. We might be prohibited from time together right now, but because of the bright, gritty, good people on this team, we still have a rare camaraderie that most never get to experience. This is the group of people we get to do good with. The team we get to charge into 2021 with – armed and ready for what is next.

2021 is upon us. The tradition of (and need for) demand response expanded. The mission even more critical.

I will forever be proud and grateful to have served in the Navy and forever proud and grateful to be a Voltan.

Happy Veterans Day!

Stephanie Hendricks, VP of Operations & Customer Success

Interested in becoming a Voltan and joining our mission? View all available positions at www.voltus.co/join-us.

Accelerating our Mission – doing more good, faster

Posted on by Kelly Yazdani

August’s energy crisis in California was a wake up call. Not the kind of wake up call that comes when you’re in a dead sleep, but the kind that comes when you are diligently and tirelessly working toward a goal and receive a push, creating a renewed sense of urgency.

We founded Voltus with a clear vision – to become the world’s leading provider of demand response. We bring this vision to fruition each day by turning large energy users’ behind-the-meter assets into cash-producing distributed energy resources. Voltus makes money when our customers make money. This process, to steal Arnold Palmer’s quote about golf, is deceptively simple, and endlessly complex. No two customers are exactly the same. Our business requires the perfect blend of repeatable processes and customization.

Voltus is the fastest growing demand response provider of all time, serving thousands of customers across nine major North American energy markets. Our team has accomplished this by being bright (e.g., creating game-changing technology for customers who have practiced demand response for decades), by being gritty (e.g. opening markets that wanted to stay closed), and by being good (e.g., we really, really like winning as a team). Last month, the FERC passed Order 2222, enabling distributed energy resource aggregators like Voltus to participate in all wholesale markets. This Order doubles our serviceable addressable market in the months and years to come. It will be the catalyst for continued record-breaking growth.

But, back to the California energy crisis. As the demand for electricity this past August pushed supply limits, initiating rolling blackouts for regions throughout California, the most vulnerable in our community were at risk. One of the reasons Voltus exists is to help prevent blackouts, and this was our moment to do exactly that. Our team and customers stepped up, working around the clock to provide every negawatt possible to the grid. The work we did literally saved lives. 

When the ash settled, we realized that we needed to accelerate our mission, to do more good, faster. More demand response is needed. Not just in California, where raging wildfires, climate change, and the widespread implementation of renewables place new stressors on the grid, but in New York City, Pennsylvania, Ontario, Texas, and, quite frankly, anywhere electricity is made and consumed. 

Our technology platform unlocks the clean energy transition, prevents future blackouts, and helps our customers turn energy management into a competitive advantage. The world agrees. Within 60 days of announcing our interest in raising additional capital to accelerate our mission, we closed $25M in Series B financing. 

Now we are eager to expand our team of Voltans. We have always hired according to the following standard: we must end the interview thinking, “Yes! (S)he is the exact person we need.” We’re looking for that feeling 64 times between now and Valentine’s Day. If you want to create the distributed energy platform that ushers in the clean energy transition, if you love to deliver cash to customers, or if you want to put your heart and soul into being a great teammate, please apply here. It takes an amazing team to make a change this ambitious.

Matt Plante, President

——

Commercial, industrial, or institutional customer? Email info@voltus.co to get started. Eager to join our team of bright, gritty, and good Voltans. View open positions here.

Bright, Gritty, and Good: Remote by Design

Posted on by Kelly Yazdani

There are many things that have changed since COVID-19 put the world on lockdown last month. Life has s-l-o-w-e-d d-o-w-n dramatically for many of us, bringing a throwback to days of old when travel and transport were limited, and human life centered around the home. There has also been a dramatic shift in work patterns. Since mid-March the number of employed Americans who have worked from home has nearly doubled – sitting at a whopping 62%.

The lives of Voltus employees have been impacted by this pandemic as well. A member of our engineering team literally had to flee Europe, getting on one of the final flights back to the US before the borders were closed. Our New Yorkers have been completely homebound – no walks, no fresh air, no people for over a month. Working parents are homeschooling their kids. People are geographically separated from their partners, forced to stretch even further the definition of a long-term relationship.

We did have one thing going for us when the storm hit. Voltus has always been a completely remote company; Voltans work from home by design. While many companies are scrambling to find ways to keep their employees safe and working during COVID-19, we have been able to proceed, business-as-usual. As a result, our team has remained healthy and productive, allowing us to devote our energy to helping our customers when they most need it.

Being remote by design has its benefits outside of a pandemic-scale crisis. Our customers are evenly distributed throughout the US; having a distributed team allows us to be closer to these customers and serve their needs with more immediacy. The money we would otherwise use for real estate overhead is freed up to directly reward our employees, shareholders, and customers. Being remote also allows us to build the best team, independent of geographic restrictions.

In this segment of our Bright, Gritty, and Good Vlog series, designed to give a sneak peak into Voltus culture, we take a closer look at the remote office set-ups of four Voltans, discover what motivates them, and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of remote working. Click on the pictures below to learn more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interested in learning more about life as a Voltan? Email us at info@voltus.co or chat with us by clicking on the green conversation bubble in the bottom right hand corner of your screen.

The Search for “Good”

Posted on by Voltus

Credit: Boston Red Sox, Facebook Credit: Boston Red Sox, Facebook

(Hint: It’s Easy to Find Bright and Gritty)

We’re off and running (or, in our case, saving our customers money) at Voltus, having just been awarded an opportunity to provide 50 MWs of demand response in connection with Pennsylvania Act 129. As such, we’re hiring. Hiring is the ultimate on-the-job training; you can’t learn how to hire in school. Gregg and I have directly hired hundreds of people over the last decade. Most succeeded. Many started their own company. Many more became CEOs, Chief Commercial Officers, VPs of Sales or Engineering, CMO’s, and product leaders at other successful companies. Of course, we made plenty of mistakes along the way, too, which has helped us refine our criteria for picking teammates. This post will explain who we look to hire, and why, with an emphasis on the element most difficult to spot: good. We know that if we follow our formula of hiring well, and provide a winning vision to the team, Voltus is guaranteed to be successful.

In short, we hire people who are bright, gritty, and good. We hire bright because energy markets are complicated and because you just can’t train for raw intelligence. We hire gritty because there’s no substitute for hard work, for passionate perseverance, for self-initiative, for commitment, for a need to finish the job. We hire good because we want to be surrounded by human beings who make us better people. Bright + gritty, without good, is a bad combination (think Enron, for example) and, what’s more, our culture loves to celebrate winning. Nobody likes celebrating with a jerk.

But what exactly is “good”? We provide the Voltus definition below. In addition, and importantly, we recognize that “good” people sometimes work for bad companies. We feel a deep responsibility to ensure that our “good” people at Voltus are supported, challenged, respected, and rewarded. We’ll explain how we’re doing our best to ensure that Voltus personifies good.

Defining Good

Future Hall of Famer Theo Epstein brought a World Series to Boston (after an 86 year drought) and may just do the same in Chicago (the Cubs’ drought extends back to 1908). Theo believes in “scouting the person more than the player.” We agree. Bright and gritty give us the player; good gives us the person. Think Big Papi vs. Manny.

Now, bright and gritty are objective. They’re easy to measure. They reveal themselves on resumes, they show up in interviews. But good? Good is subjective. My “good” can be different than your “good.” Said another way, if you’re not good, you’re not necessarily bad. You’re just not right for Voltus.

Compassionate, honest, respectful, customer-centric, fun, mission-driven, humble, followers of the Golden Rule, don’t-take-yourself-too-serious, team players. Those are all must-haves in our good, and they’re likely to be uncontroversial. Our good also includes direct, opinionated, evangelical, impatient, intense, loving people. That’s one special person. Which is exactly why it’s so important that we live up to the standard we seek in others.

Personifying Good

As leaders, we aim to help our teammates to be productive, to be happy, and to grow continually. That’s our charge to the Voltus team. To make that a reality, we commit to the following:

  • We make our values, strategy, and progress toward our goals crystal clear to everyone on the team – no hidden agendas
  • We ground everything in a business case, especially hiring. We will not over hire. Growth unsupported by long-term business prospects results in painful layoffs
  • We are inclusive and give every teammate an opportunity to bring solutions to the table every day – if you have a better way of doing things, bring it!
  • We prioritize the long-term, recognizing that this is sometimes easier said than done
  • We trust, since “trust leads to happy days,” per the Dalai Lama
  • We believe that people should live and work in a place they love. In other words, work from home with your dog by your side if you like
  • We encourage personal and professional development. A small, but symbolic, reward is that every teammate has an unlimited budget for reading material so long as it makes them a better person
  • We don’t ask our employees to sign non-competes. If you want to leave Voltus, we’re failing you, and you should leave
  • We allow unlimited paid time off. Go away for the month of August with your family to Hungary. But figure out how we’re going to hit goals – those won’t change
  • We encourage out-of-the-office passions and we highlight teammate achievements
  • We do what we say we’re going to do

I love the team we’ve built and we’re just getting warmed up. Our product is in demand, and we’re hiring. Come create some good with us.