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Why this energy company succeeded by understanding psychology, not just engineering

Riding Unicorns · Marketing Icon: Rory Sutherland (audio only)

“And in that parallel universe, it would have 15,000 customers and would have gone bust.”

38:33 / 38:55

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And in that parallel universe, it would have 15,000 customers and would have gone bust. Now I absolutely venerate Greg, okay, the founder of Octopus. But one of the things I will say, and I think it's an engineering, big piece of engineering genius, and also it's a very psychologically brilliant company because it understands that actually part of the solution to the climate crisis is to actually change behavior.

About this clip

Rory Sutherland explains how Octopus Energy's success comes from understanding that solving the climate crisis requires changing human behavior, not just engineering excellence. He argues this psychological insight is what separates successful companies from those that fail despite having good products.

Why this clip

Reveals the counterintuitive insight that psychology matters more than pure engineering in building successful climate companies.

38:33 - 38:5523smarket insight
behavioral-psychologyclimate-techcustomer-acquisition

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