#14 Laurence Kemball-Cook: Turning Footsteps into Electricity and Data

In this episode, I am joined by Laurence Kemball-Cook, Founder and CEO of Pavegen. Pavegen converts human footsteps into electricity, data and rewards using groundbreaking technology. This technology is installed in smart cities, transport hubs, retailers and companies, and as pedestrians walk across it, the weight from their footsteps compresses electromagnetic generators and produces energy. They have successfully rolled out over 250 projects in 36 countries around the world and have captured over half a billion steps. The goal is a billion a month. This episode is full of great advice and insight, including the difficult lesson that our biggest failures in life can often open up our greatest opportunities. There is also a valuable reminder of the importance of self-belief and understanding what drives you. Laurence clearly believes that what he is doing is important and necessary and it is this belief that has helped him to persevere, even when he was shown the door by over 150 VC funds. Laurence believes that sales are the lifeblood of any business, that the CEO should be the best salesman in the team and that selling is all about building relationships and storytelling - solid advice that every entrepreneur should listen to. Pavegen has raised finance in a very specific way, favouring smaller and more frequent rounds. In effect, this has required Laurence to constantly remain in fundraising mode, something that doesn’t appear to have negatively affected either his ability to raise or to grow the business. There is certainly something to be said for a young business that is able to capitalise at short notice and take advantage of opportunities as they present themselves. But the biggest takeaway for me is that entrepreneurs need to learn how to, in Laurence’s words, have a “normal, human life”. The default mode is all too often 16hr+ days, 7 days a week. As this episode shows, this can have horror-show scale consequences on your personal life. The goal is finding the right balance, which Laurence clearly is these days. And when you do find this balance, it is not only your health and happiness that will improve but the health and happiness of your business as well.