Many students that join an EIT InnoEnergy Master School are interested in the focus on innovation and entrepreneurship that its programmes are known for. During their studies, students are encouraged to develop their entrepreneurial skills both through competitions, courses and various support offered throughout their education journey.
Several alumni have already launched theirown start-ups, and more students are adding to the list of diverse entrepreneurial ventures. All contributing to the energy transition with different approaches! One of those students, Sergi Nogueira, a second-year Master’s in Renewable Energy student. Sergi is from Spain and studied his first year at UPC Universitat Politècnica De Catalunya in Barcelona and second year at École Polytechnique in Paris.
This week, I had the pleasure to interview Sergi about his venture Megawatt, which launched in Spain this month.
From idea to innovation: launching Megawatt
Already during his bachelor’s, Sergi was trying to come up with an idea for a start-up together with his classmate, Alberto Rubial. They held regular ‘innovation talks’ to come of with creative ideas they could work on. One day, the discussed how to connect potential solar power customers and installers. Thus, the idea behind Megawatt was born.
Megawatt is an online platform that provides households with solar power offers from solar panel installers in their area. Based on input from the prospective customer on geographical location and other relevant input variables, Megawatt provides estimates of energy savings and details on offers from nearby installers that the customer can then choose to contact to make a deal.
Sergi walked me through the customer experience of Megawatt and explained the idea, while stating that he is grateful for how his choice of master’s has helped him along the way to develop this start-up.
Developing a business model
When asked why he chose to pursue an EIT InnoEnergy master degree, Sergi says that the key differentiating point for the master’s was the focus on innovation and entrepreneurship. As a part of the master’s Sergi has gone through courses such as the ones taught at ESADE Business School. These courses, focused on starting a business, helped him with developing his idea.
“What I learnt was very helpful, I got the opportunity to test the idea and understand what we had done well and what we could improve!”Sergi says, laughing.
During his time at ESADE he learnt about developing a business model, finding a unique value proposition and identify competitors. He elaborates on the revenue streams of Megawatt: “It is completely free for the prospective customers to use the platform and view potential installers nearby, their price offers and potential energy savings. We are paid a monthly fee from the installers that are displayed on the site in addition to earning a commission from purchases that are made through the platform.”
They have already teamed up with solar panel installers that are displayed on the platform and provide offers!
Launching a start-up
Sergi and his friend have built all the software from scratch, both the user interface and the underlying equations for key calculations. For some equations Sergi also needed to apply his knowledge and skills from solar power courses, making his master’s that combines engineering and entrepreneurship ideal.
At one point while he was studying for his double master’s degree, he also held a part-time job while simultaneously working on his start-up. I expressed my amazement and Sergi concluded the interview with some words of advice for aspiring entrepreneurs:
“I always enjoyed what I was doing. As long as you think something is fun, you can really accomplish a lot!”
Good luck with the launch, Megawatt, the EIT InnoEnergy community looks forward to following your journey and progress! You can follow the company and read more about their venture on Instagram or on LinkedIn.
By Maria Isabel Bang Jensen, EIT InnoEnergy Master School student