Why Our First Year of B2B Sales Was All About People, Not Just Numbers

We always knew Powerverse would go B2B. That was part of the plan from the very beginning. The consumer stage came first because it had to: before asking anyone else to trust us, we needed to trust ourselves. We had to prove that the platform worked, not just in a lab, not just on paper, but in real homes where life is messy and unpredictable.

So we made ourselves “customer number one.”

That wasn’t a marketing line. It was a commitment. If we were going to build a platform to manage home energy, then we had to use it ourselves. We had to feel the reality of it. That meant learning what happened when the charger didn’t start when you expected it to. It meant dealing with software updates that had unintended side effects. It meant noticing the small frustrations and the unexpected joys that only surface in day-to-day use.

Those early consumer deployments mattered. They gave us evidence and credibility. They showed that our system wasn’t theoretical — it worked in practice. And that credibility was essential, because it allowed us to go into conversations with future partners and say, “This isn’t just an idea. We’ve already proven it.”

But consumer wasn’t the endgame. It was never meant to be. From day one, the destination was enterprise. To make an impact at the scale we wanted, we had to work with home energy service providers who could bring our platform into thousands of households, not one at a time. The consumer work was the foundation; B2B was how we would build upwards.

The question was always about timing.

Aligning the leadership team

When the moment came, the first work wasn’t about building decks or chasing customers. It was about alignment inside the leadership team.

We had to look at each other and commit that the time was right. We had to trust that we’d support each other when the inevitable challenges came. And we had to be clear on how we would communicate the shift to the wider team.

It sounds straightforward, but it isn’t. In a start-up, the day-to-day pace is relentless. People are solving problems, shipping features, handling customer issues. That intensity can blur the bigger picture. So even though the B2B pivot was always part of the plan, it could easily feel to the team like a change of direction.

That’s why leadership alignment mattered so much. We couldn’t afford to send mixed messages. We needed to stand together, consistent in what we were saying and clear in what this move meant. The internal story was as important as the external one.

Selling the change internally

Convincing the team wasn’t about a big speech. It was about conversations.

Some people were energised by the idea of working with enterprise customers. They saw the chance to scale, to have a bigger impact, to stretch themselves in new ways. Others were more hesitant. They worried about complexity. They wondered whether their work would still feel close to the end customer. Both reactions were valid, and both deserved to be acknowledged.

Our role as leaders was to connect the dots. To show that nothing was being thrown away. The consumer work still mattered — it was the proof that made B2B possible. The team’s contributions still mattered — every engineer, every designer, every support colleague had a role in building trust with larger partners.

Selling the change internally was about creating belief. And belief doesn’t come from a single announcement. It comes from repetition, consistency, and patience. It comes from being willing to listen to doubts, to address them honestly, and to remind people of the bigger picture when the day-to-day noise got in the way.

Helping customers make decisions

Externally, the principle was the same. On the surface, enterprise sales should be simple: demonstrate the product, explain the benefits, and the customer decides.

But in reality, decisions of that scale are never just about features. They’re about belief.

Do they believe you’ll deliver? Do they believe you understand their needs? Do they believe you’ll still be there when things get difficult?

That kind of belief doesn’t come from one impressive demo. It comes from the slow, deliberate work of building trust. And building trust takes time.

It means being consistent — saying the same thing in every meeting, and then proving it in what you do. It means showing up with knowledge — not just of your product, but of the customer’s world. It means paying attention to detail, because customers notice whether you’ve really listened.

Passion can get you in the room. It might even buy you goodwill in the early stages. But passion alone doesn’t close deals. What closes deals is the accumulation of trust: the steady evidence, over time, that you’re reliable.

Trust on both sides

That’s why I think of our first year of B2B not as a story about numbers, but as a story about trust.

Internally, it was about trust in the leadership team, and then trust across the company. Without that, the shift would never have taken root. Externally, it was about customers choosing to trust us. Not because we shouted the loudest or promised the most, but because we showed up with consistency, with knowledge, and with care.

The numbers came, but they came because trust had already been established.

A lesson for others

If there’s a lesson I’d pass on from that first year, it’s this: the strategy and the numbers matter, but they aren’t what gets you there. What gets you there is trust.

Trust between leaders. Trust across a team. Trust with customers.

It sounds obvious. It’s not complicated. But it’s hard. It takes discipline to be consistent. It takes humility to listen. It takes patience to build relationships properly, without rushing.

And yet, it’s the only thing that really works.

That’s why, when I look back on our first year of B2B sales, I don’t see a story about revenue charts or growth metrics. I see the people — inside and outside the company — who made the decision to trust. That’s what changed the trajectory.

And it’s the point I’d leave with anyone going through a similar shift: numbers are the outcome, but trust is the work.