Re: the SpaceX of HVAC. I have a tiny investment in a startup called Helios Climate (https://www.heliosclimate.io/). They actually started making heat pumps themselves (the website is still there, https://www.electricair.io/) but merged/pivoted to improving the install process when they realized that was the easiest way to make them cheaper and more efficient. I think they might return to actual heat pumps at some point -- I'm not sure all the details on why, but their experience led them to focus on intall for now.
That's great! A lot of progress can be made in non-sexy things that still are a huge part of costs, like the installation process.. using fewer steps, fewer materials, fewer screws and nails, less bracing materials/steel, etc.
I wish more smart people and capital went into working on these problems.
I think a lot of the important elements can be identified, but there's always plenty of randomness that makes it very hard to predict how things will turn out.
But generally, you do better with the usual stuff like good capital allocation, management that thinks like owners and respect shareholders, having a way to redeploy FCF at high ROIC, etc.
Re: the SpaceX of HVAC. I have a tiny investment in a startup called Helios Climate (https://www.heliosclimate.io/). They actually started making heat pumps themselves (the website is still there, https://www.electricair.io/) but merged/pivoted to improving the install process when they realized that was the easiest way to make them cheaper and more efficient. I think they might return to actual heat pumps at some point -- I'm not sure all the details on why, but their experience led them to focus on intall for now.
That's great! A lot of progress can be made in non-sexy things that still are a huge part of costs, like the installation process.. using fewer steps, fewer materials, fewer screws and nails, less bracing materials/steel, etc.
I wish more smart people and capital went into working on these problems.
Happy holidays, Max! 💚 🥃
Question is... can we reverse engineer to find the next Boyd Group? 🤔
I think a lot of the important elements can be identified, but there's always plenty of randomness that makes it very hard to predict how things will turn out.
But generally, you do better with the usual stuff like good capital allocation, management that thinks like owners and respect shareholders, having a way to redeploy FCF at high ROIC, etc.