How Sheldon Kimber Built Intersect, the Power and Data Center Solutions Provider Fueling America's AI Boom

0:01Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire, brought to you by High Level, the all-in-one sales and marketing marketing. Today, we'll be breaking down how Sheldon Kimber built Intersect, the power and data center solutions provider, fueling America's AI boom. And to drop these value bombs, I have brought Sheldon Kimber into EO Fire Studios. Sheldon is the CEO and founder of Intersect, a provider of power solutions to the industries of tomorrow. And today, Fire Nation, we'll talk about the founding of Intersect. We'll talk about the first six months of a company, the make or break moments, raising capital the smart way, the mindset for building big and oh, so much more.

0:41And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Sheldon and our sponsors. Are you ready for the ultimate all-in-one platform for entrepreneurs, marketers, coaches, and agencies? Build funnels, automate follow-ups, manage clients, and even white label your own software. Say hello to our featured partner, high level. and visit highlevelfire.com to start your free trial today. Sheldon, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. All right, so do I say like, what's up Fire Nation? Or how does that work? Is that good?

1:25That's perfect. All right, ring announcer style. No, what's something I believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with? Well, maybe most people don't disagree with this if they were actually to reflect on it. But I think most people don't act day to day like they agree with this, which is that, you know, Andy Groves, right, the former CEO of Intel, had this whole kind of philosophy around management of, you know, I think it's said a thousand different ways. luck favors the prepared, right? The intersection of luck and opportunity, all of that. And I think that a lot of entrepreneurs run around telling people how great they are and how, you know, they've earned this and it's just their hard work.

2:10And, you know, look, you got to appreciate and respect that. Like there's a lot of hard work that goes into these things. But I think, you know, the recognition that like there are a lot of people working really hard out there at a lot of different things and they don't all hit right they don't all uh build a fabulously successful you know business that that you know makes you wealthy or well-known or whatever it is um and then secondly just sort of like on this same related point just gratitude right just the notion that like um it's not all about you and you didn't get there on your own you know my parents are immigrants they came to this country they sort of gave up everything to come to this country.

2:48I'm a product of public education system. There's a lot that went into me that was, you know, the selfless acts of others and of society. Anyway, so I think there's a lot of people that, you know, become successful who it's not so much they disagree with that. It's just, they don't think about it. I mean, Sean and I resonate with that after interviewing now over 4 ,500 successful entrepreneurs. So many of them were like, John, I worked so hard. Like I worked so hard my whole life and I felt like I was getting nowhere. And then I figured out a way to work smart. And it's not like I didn't keep putting in the reps.

3:21I kept getting up every day and putting in the reps, but I was working smart now. And that was what made all the difference success-wise, wealth-wise, financially-wise, et cetera. And Fire Nation, today we're talking about how Sheldon is fueling America's AI boom. And I mean, there's no other way to put it but boom because it is booming. And I want to talk about the founding of Intersect because you walked away from a major success story with recurrent energy to start Intersect. What made you take that leap? Yeah. So, I mean, recurrent was, you know, a story of not just helping to start a company, but helping to start an industry, right?

3:59The very early days in kind of solar and batteries and renewables and trying to trying to create that clean energy economy, that clean energy business, that industry. We built something great there. We were, we were, you know, one of the largest, you know, developers of clean energy in that era and sold it, did, did very well for our investors and, and really a big success story. And I'm really proud of what that business has done, even after, you know, I left it and others ran it. But it was very, you know, limited by a number of things, you know, both, you know, some of my own inexperience as an entrepreneur and our team's kind of first time around.

4:42But more importantly, I think by the current markets at the time. So, you know, the markets for renewable energy, it was a very staid business model, right? You sold electric power to utilities who were buying it because it was clean. And then you built a power plant and you delivered that power onto the grid. And it was a very, there was only one way to do it, only one business model. And it looked a lot like a utility. So even culturally, a lot of the people you are hiring, a lot of the cultural choices you make as an entrepreneur, you build something that looked a lot like a utility, right?

5:15Culturally. And then finally, just the technology was still pretty limited. You know, batteries weren't there yet. Solar panels were barely there. You had performance issues and challenges, you know, So the technical issues that sort of confounded that business. And so, you know, when I came back to it, it's actually, I'm sure you see this with other entrepreneurs, but when an entrepreneur leaves and starts to look at doing something else, I think there's this fundamental choice of, do you do something radically different, right? And I wrote a business plan for a software company, you know, and I was going to go do that.

5:49And then, you know, through a number of things, I was sort of pushed back the other direction. And ultimately landed on kind of, I think, the second path that entrepreneurs look at when they think about what comes next, which is, hey, can I do that same thing but do it better? Like, you know, looking back, these are the places where I'm, you know, we kind of made mistakes or we could have done it differently and taken it in a different direction. And that's what I wound up saying, hey, let's build Intersect around kind of the learnings and the vision for what comes next on the basis of what recurrent was.

6:21And so we changed what we're doing, you know, the way we go about kind of what the product is. We do some of the same things that Recurrent did. We sell power to utilities and others. But there's this enormous part of our business that's more about bringing load to generation, right? So bringing data center to the power plants and having kind of integrated energy solutions for on-site power. That's totally different. It's a whole new vision. It's been there since 2016 when I wrote the business plan. And it's just now coming into its own with AI. And then we changed how we did it, right? We really focused on keeping a lean team, doing massive projects, and the scale economies around those.

7:02So I think we probably have some of the biggest scale economies in how we go to market of any of our competitors. So that kind of revisit the old model but do it better with all the learnings is a big part of why I came back to intersect and why I did this. I mean, Sheldon, my audience loves specific stories. So I want you to tell one right now. And let's make that story a make or break moment. Like, tell us about one of those defining moments for you. And what did you learn from it? Okay, so this one might seem a little extreme, but you have to consider that we're a company where one of our employees, my co-founder, actually camped in a parking lot of one of our customers for like four days to be the first in line for the opening of some solicitation they were doing.

8:01So that's the culture we come from. But the kind of crisis point, the make or break moment was in the early days of this company, you know, we had entered into financing and had kind of a joint venture with a large financial institution. And, you know, they had issues on their own side. Their fund was coming, kind of coming apart on other investments. and they had kind of a crisis of their own. And we were a tiny investment of theirs, right? So they just didn't really have the time to deal with us. I don't think it was out of sort of malice, but no one returned our calls. We really couldn't get any time with folks.

8:41And legally, they had certain governance controls. We needed certain things from them. And obviously, there were still funding and payments that they were making to help us build our first products. And so we went to New York. me my co-founder and our CFO and uh and I was living in Hawaii at the time right so it's a long way to New York uh and uh and and so we kind of converge on New York and for a span of about six weeks um we would get maybe if we were lucky we'd get to talk to these guys in some official capacity once a week to try to solve the legal and financial issues that we had between them just because they were they were going so crazy uh but we just we would show up every day in their lobby.

9:21Right. And so we literally just camp out on the sofas. We got to know like the, the, the, the desk staff, they would ask us if we needed anything. And, and we just worked from the lobby of this large financial investor for, for weeks so we could get them, you know, sort of harass them on their way in and out to try to get them to, to, you know, restructure our deal. So this sort of sticks out in my mind as a crisis point where, you know, it's a kind of the, the senior team on the road, working like crazy hours just under this incredible stress. But, you know, type two fun. Type two fun. I love that so much.

10:00And Fire Nation, if you can really look back and see what you learned from your past mistakes, that's powerful. But what if we could look and see what other people have made as mistakes and learn from those or those defining moments where they actually took the correct action? I mean, that's what we're listening to people like Sheldon for because he's been there. He's done that. He has the success and he's driving forward to new successes and to new heights. And that's why we're going to be talking about raising capital the smart way, the mindset for building big, and so much more when we get back from thanking our sponsors.

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12:52High level, join the revolution. Shannon, we're back and I want to talk about raising capital the smart way. I mean, you've raised billions to scale. What is your best advice for founders on choosing the right investors so they can actually keep control as they grow? Well, I mean, that's really it. You know, the answer is in the question. It's really about people. It's about who you take capital from. Who you take capital from really matters. I think a lot of investors chase kind of like the, what's the big pre-money valuation, right? What's the big number I can put in the press release? and you wind up taking money from folks who don't have your best interest in mind.

13:33And so I think that this is particularly true in capital-intensive businesses. So capital-intensive business like ours, where it's not – and then this can be true of hardware manufacturers. If you've got a hardware product and electronics, everything from that to what I do building billion-dollar power plants is controlling the company. Right. So maintaining control of the company when you have to bring that much capital in is not going to be possible. Right. You're not Google. You're not hitting a takeoff point of virality and software with zero marginal cost product where you can take a small amount of money and then maintain, you know, all the control of the company.

14:15So if you sort of accept the fact that you're going to have to take enough money that you might have to give up some governance, then essentially what you wind up with is a situation where you've got to make sure that you've got the right people who are giving you the money. So I think, you know, what I'd also tell you is we at Intersect have taken some significantly lower valuations. In fact, when we went out for term sheets on the last two rounds, we haven't gone with the highest valuation. We've gone with the best governance terms and the people we like the most. Right. And so that really has defined kind of how we run the company is, you know, are these the right people?

14:50Do they share our vision? Are they investing because they believe in the team? Right. That's the other thing is like you don't want people who believe that they are hiring you as employees. You want them people who believe in your vision and that you're the right people to execute it. Right. If they're investing in you as a team, that's really the key. Fire Nation, again, lessons from somebody that's been in the trenches, that is continually doing this and is willing to share with you this part of his journey. And that's why I want to stick on this, Sheldon, because your mindset, your mindset is amazing.

15:21From what you've done, you know, going from just success to success, you've been able to build this mindset up while building big. So looking back at your journey as an entrepreneur, what would you have to say is the single most important mindset or principle, if you prefer, that's helped you lead at scale. We have a very, I think, unique culture at Intersect because we grew up as really just a group of friends, right? Kind of almost family. We built Recurrent together and then we came over and we actually have an in-house band and we have actually an in-house sketch comedy group, Right. So so anyway, one of our one of our one of our collaborations on the musical sketch comedy front is that we some group of people wrote a song that is if I took no for an answer.

16:19Right. And it's just this whole song about about about the culture we built here. And it really resonates with me because we really do kind of we don't take no for an answer. And we're very contrarian and we're very curious. So I think the combination of that, like constant curiosity and willingness to kind of challenge the status quo and not take no for an answer, it really leads to kind of what we call the culture of kind of why not. Right. And so you'll find me sitting in, you know, investment reviews and meetings and just like my job is to just keep asking, well, why not and why not and why not?

16:59And you kind of unearth a lot of valuable insights and pass forward when that's your ethos. If I may, one last thing, which is setting aside that principle, that insight. I also think that the thing I would share on mindset is being a CEO, being an entrepreneur, there is this constant battle between if you need to get up in front of a thousand people and give a speech or you need to go and meet with senators and governors and, you know, whatever world leaders, you have to have this kind of confidence, right? There's almost a cockiness, a surety about yourself that you have to have to do that. Otherwise you will just crumble.

17:44I personally don't know how you would do that without thinking, yeah, I'm great, right? But at the same time, you have to have this humility of knowing that like you can be wrong. You need to question your own decisions. You need to be able to be a humble leader for the people in your organization. And that balance is the hardest thing about being an entrepreneur and a leader. Now, I appreciate you sharing that last part. And I do want to have this closing value bomb for our listeners because Fire Nation, they're dreaming big, Sheldon. They're building bold. So what would be one lesson from your journey specifically that can help our listeners take massive action with both confidence and clarity?

18:25Put the work in. I think a lot of people come to entrepreneurship cold, right? You know, having kind of, I can appreciate the guts and the energy of really just coming in and, you know, as a young person and you've got a fire in your gut about a product or whatever. But I do think if you look around, the odds of being a successful entrepreneur as just kind of, I just came out of college with a product. That's sort of the dream of Wired Magazine, right? But it's not actually where a lot of big successful businesses are built. Typically, you have somebody who has spent a good chunk of time in an industry, in a company, in someone else's vision, and decides that they have a different vision, right?

19:13So it's that that context, that perspective, I would say, don't be afraid to pay your dues. Entrepreneurship is, you know, as much about kind of knowing what is wrong with other contexts as it is about having an idea for, you know, for what you want to do. So I just, I do think that a lot of people come to entrepreneurship feeling like, you know, that they're, they're, they're, they don't want to be polluted by, you know, having had a big corporate job or something like that. But I think seeing those as opportunities to learn is, you know, is important. Sheldon, if Fire Nation wants to connect with you, wants to connect with your company, wants to just learn more, what would your call to action for our listeners today be?

19:56Yeah. So, I mean, you can go to our website, www.intersect.com. We've got, you know, we're hiring aggressively. You know, you can, my blog is there. There's a lot, I do a lot of blogging. There's a lot of perspectives on AI and on energy in general. And you can connect with me on LinkedIn. So we'd love to hear from you and we'd love to work with you. Fire Nation, hiring aggressively isn't two words you hear put together very often these days. So definitely check out Intersect. And I love what Sheldon said at the end there about just putting in the reps. I mean, just get up. You put in the reps.

20:33Good things are going to happen because you're the average Fire Nation of the five people you spend the most time with. You've been hanging out with SK and JLD today, so keep up that heat. And for links to everything we talked about, visit eofire.com, type Sheldon in the search bar. The show notes page will pop right up. Sheldon, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation today. For that, we salute you, brother, and we'll catch you on the flip side. Thanks for having me. Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to our sponsors and Sheldon for sponsoring today's episode.

21:04And Fire Nation, freedom isn't a dream, is a decision. Join the Freedom Circle where clarity systems and support collide. This is your 90-day path to time and income freedom, and it starts at freedom-circle.com. This is my community, so I'll catch you there or I'll catch you on the flip side. Are you ready for the ultimate all-in-one platform for entrepreneurs, marketers, coaches, and agencies? Build funnels, automate follow-ups, manage clients, and even white label your own software, say hello to our featured partner, High Level, and visit highlevelfire.com to start your free trial today.