Coperniq: Building the Workflow Glue Behind the New Electric Grid

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High Bit

Initialized Capital

24 episodes

1 week ago

Welcome to High Bit, a podcast hosted by Initialized Capital managing partner Brett Gibson about the art of technical problem-solving. A high bit is the most significant part of the binary representation of a number. In programming language, it is commonly referred to as the most important thing you need to understand about a problem. We spoke with our guests about just that. In each episode, we’ll break down a gnarly engineering problem and hear how the builder’s ingenuity and inventiveness led to a successful outcome.

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Coperniq: Building the Workflow Glue Behind the New Electric Grid

High Bit

57 minutes 57 seconds

3 weeks ago

Coperniq: Building the Workflow Glue Behind the New Electric Grid

Electrification isn’t easy—and most people don’t see the chaos beneath the solar panels, batteries, EV chargers, and heat pumps going onto the grid. Coperniq cofounder and CTO Max Kazakov breaks down the hidden workflows behind distributed energy: legacy tools installers still rely on, hardware that doesn’t want to integrate, and why the next generation of “utilities” will look nothing like the last.

Coperniq is the workflow platform for contractors and energy companies to move from post-its and spreadsheets to a system that sells, permits, installs, and maintains distributed energy assets over decades.

Max also shares what it takes to build vertical SaaS for the physical world: curbside Figma demos during COVID, rebuilding their mobile app for 120°F rooftops with no cell service, designing a workflow engine that matches real-world permitting and interconnection, integrating a wild west of OEM hardware, and how AI is already reshaping their product and engineering culture.

Content:

(00:00) The Invisible Glue of the New Grid

(01:05) The Second Electrification Wave

(02:51) Cofounder Origins: Russia, Yemen, Berkeley

(06:12) Humans + Hardware Coordination Challenge

(08:10) Anti-MVP: Mini ERP on Day One

(11:56) Curbside Figma Demos during COVID

(14:47) Field Reality: 120° Rooftops, Zero Cell Service

(20:03) Stateful Workflows (Permits, Interconnection, Construction)

(24:56) Integrating OEM Hardware (Hitting Walls)

(28:41) The Dongle Question: Do we need software afterall?

(31:25) Rebuilding the Mobile App for an Offline-First World

(36:40) Hire Tinkerers, Not Pedigrees

(43:00) How AI Is Reshaping Coperniq

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