Two recent case studies published by PBworks illustrate how the American Academy of Pediatrics and Curtis Brown, LTD use the online collabotion software.

The American Academeny of Pediatrics, attributues their increased “efficiency with completing tasks and providing updates for projects” to the implmentation of PBworks. Read the full case study here.

Curtis Brown, LTD says PBworks has “been a painless and simple entry to a way of collaborating and storing information that we really needed”. Read the full case study here.

Nick Daley, a Venture Partner at WV sat down with Paul and Jason from PointClickSwitch to discuss their startup.

By providing choice, PointClickSwitch.com, one of Wasabi Ventures’ earlier stage Baltimore startups is able to lower your monthly electric bill by as much as 15% per month. They can do this efficiently, painlessly, and with almost no work on the consumer end.  All you need is a copy of your bill and you can log onto www.pointclickswitch.com to start saving.

Nick: Hello, Jason and Paul.  Why don’t we begin with the story of how you all got started on PointClickSwitch.com?

Jason: Sure. We began work on the company in April of 2010.  I had always wanted to be an entrepreneur and in March of that year, my father and I were heading down to Florida to celebrate my birthday.  This annual trip has become a bit of a tradition for us.  So we hopped on the plane and we grabbed a copy of the Baltimore Sun for the flight.  I had been looking for a scalable opportunity that required limited inventory and allowed you to work from anywhere.  On the front page of the paper was an article about deregulation and energy choice.  In the article, they mentioned that only 5% of the market had taken advantage of this opportunity to date.  This opportunity really seemed to fit all of those criteria for my startup. So, I read the article and spoke with my dad about it over the Florida vacation.  When I got home, I did some additional research on the opportunity and I really thought we could pull it off.  Eventually, I went to my friends Phil and Paul because we were always bouncing ideas off of each other.  I was always the crazy one.  I had the more “out there” ideas in the group while they were more grounded.  I never really knew that they were interested in getting involved with something like this.  When I pitched the PointClickSwitch idea, they thought it was a good idea and expressed interest in pursuing it with me.  We worked up a business plan shortly thereafter and we knew that we wanted to be the “Expedia of energy choice.” We got a license, were bonded and insured; we were ready to start selling energy.

Nick: What would you say was your biggest challenge as you got the company up and running?

Jason: I just mentioned that we were ready to start selling energy, but we didn’t have anyone to whom we could sell.  We really underestimated the suppliers’ willingness to work with us.  We thought if we had covered all of our bases and were willing to spend some money, that we would have the opportunity to sell someone else’s product.  This really didn’t work out that easily and became one of our biggest challenges to date.  We now have those suppliers in line but it took a lot of hard work to get us there.  We now have a number of customers on both the residential and commercial sides of the market.

Nick: Talk about customer acquisition.  Who are you targeting with PointClickSwitch?

Jason: Well, PointClickSwitch is designed to be the one-stop shop for residential customers.  We aggregate the 7-10 most competitive offers in the marketplace and present them in a clean and easy to understand manner on our site.  Customers interested in comparing then can Point, Click, and Switch their way towards savings.  We like the comparison opportunity and the one-stop shop opportunity.  We also focus on the commercial side of the business.  The commercial accounts are a bit more complex because of their size.  We provide custom quotes for our commercial clients and are very focused on growing this side of our business as well.

Paul: The numbers tend to lead to the residential side.  Only 23% of the residential market has been penetrated in comparison to 95% of the commercial side.  There is a huge opportunity for us on the residential side.

Nick: Was there ever an interest in energy before reading that article in the paper or was it truly just a read and react to opportunity with no prior experience?

Jason: No, I knew very little about energy before working on MD Energy Advisors and PointClickSwitch.  It seemed like the right opportunity at the right time and it really fit well for us.  Our barriers to entry weren’t astronomical and our capital requirements weren’t high either but it looked like with some sweat equity and know-how we would be able to really bring this together and capitalize on the potential.  We got a lot of bumps and bruises along the way but we have learned a heck of a lot in the process as well.  I think we are positioned really well now to really leverage this market. It’s taken a little while to get this going, probably longer than we ever thought it would, but I think we are positioned well.

Nick: How long has it been start to finish?

Jason: We got licensed in late 2010 without anything to sell.  I’d say we had put in a concerted effort for around 6 months before that.  In the last 6 or 7 months we’ve really been making a big push getting the website up and functional and to build the relationships with the suppliers.  The infrastructure is now there and we are churning very well.

Nick: What are some of the things we will be seeing from PointClickSwitch to really scale the customer base?

Jason: Great question.  Along with developing the infrastructure, we have been fortunate to land some really large clients.  We have been reinvesting the profit to focus on that scaling effort. This summer and fall our residual should start to look very attractive and this will allow us to market our product a whole lot more.  We think you’ll start to see some very interesting things coming from us by the end of the summer.  We are planning some family events where the entrance fee to the event could be as simple as bring your BGE bill to the ballpark or Maryland State Fair or a children’s concert or whatever else it might be.  We want our consumers to see the value proposition and at the same we can save them 14% on their energy bill.  We think it’s very important to note that our customers do not need to change their consumer behavior.  Whether they want to keep the A.C. on 65 degrees during the summer or if they want the heat set to 80 degrees during the winter, we are lowering the price they pay per kilowatt and we can save the average person 14% on their bill.  You still call Baltimore Gas & Electric when the power goes out and you still pay a Baltimore Gas & Electric bill.  Our tagline is “Same Bill, Lower Rate.”  Literally everything else remains the same except the rate you pay per kilowatt.

Nick: When are you planning to pivot into the cell phone bill vertical? I really don’t enjoy seeing that bill in the mail!

Jason: Long term we really want to be the go-to site for all of your monthly expenses.  That’s the big dream or picture for the company.  This is very long term, but whether it’s cable or cell phones or water, we want to be the guys you use to find the most effective source.  We love the idea of being consumer friendly and providing the comparative shopping experience.

About the interviewer: Nick Daley works on consulting and business development in the San Francisco Bay area for Wasabi Ventures. His role is to identify prospective portfolio companies, opportunities, and entrepreneurs to bring into the WV incubation process.Once identified, Nick then manages, coaches, and supports the team.