Charging the Future: Kobby Osei-Kusi on Building Pirl Technology and Solving the EV Infrastructure Gap

1 - > SPEAKER_00: Today on Financial Forward, I sit down with Kabi, 2 - > founder and CEO of Pearl Technology, a company working to 3 - > solve one of the biggest challenges facing electric 4 - > vehicle adoption, accessible charging infrastructure for 5 - > renters and residential communities. 6 - > Kabi's journey is extraordinary. 7 - > From growing up in Ghana to Wall Street at Credit Switch to 8 - > Harvard Business School, and now building a climate-focused 9 - > technology company.

10 - > He brings a unique perspective on innovation, infrastructure, 11 - > and entrepreneurship. 12 - > Cobbie is also part of the Conscious Ventures Lab Cohort 15 13 - > alongside McCarthy Hatch. 14 - > And after this conversation, I can tell you clearly, I believe 15 - > Pearl is a company with real potential. 16 - > In this episode, we talk about the future of EV charging, the 17 - > realities of building a startup, leadership under uncertainty, 18 - > and why solving practical problems is where true 19 - > innovation happens.

20 - > I'm Jim McCarthy, and this is Financial Forward. 21 - > Let's get started. 22 - > Hey Kobi, how you doing? 23 - > It's great to see you outside of Baltimore.

24 - > Wonderful device. 25 - > Yeah, and you're here on Financial Forward. 26 - > So listen, tell the audience who you are and um how you got to 27 - > where you're at today, and then we'll dig into that. 28 - > SPEAKER_01: Yeah, sure.

29 - > Jim, thanks, thanks for this opportunity. 30 - > Um it's really great to spend more time with you. 31 - > Um and uh I'm always very inspired by your story. 32 - > Um, but uh to start with my story, I I grew up in Ghana uh 33 - > in the 80s, and um I'm the son of an engineer.

34 - > And um in the 80s in Ghana, engineers didn't make a lot of 35 - > money. 36 - > So my dad um, you know, directed, you know, uh, all four 37 - > of us of his kids to um head more in the direction of 38 - > business. 39 - > Uh, so I studied economics uh in high school, and I came to the 40 - > US for college and continued to study economics and business and 41 - > started my career on Wall Street. 42 - > Uh, I was an investment banker at Credit Suisse, which no 43 - > longer exists.

44 - > It was acquired by UBS. 45 - > And I had a really fantastic time on Wall Street. 46 - > It was a really great um preparatory uh period. 47 - > You built a lot of really strong skills uh really around how 48 - > businesses are financed, but also how you present your 49 - > understanding of business, right?

50 - > So finance is just another communication medium for how an 51 - > operating business uh works. 52 - > And being able to be fluent in that was an incredibly uh uh uh 53 - > strong um preparatory period uh for you know sort of what I've 54 - > been able to do uh afterwards. 55 - > Um I was fortunate to work on things like the Hertz IPO. 56 - > Uh we raised over$2 billion for uh uh industrial companies.

57 - > Uh one of my favorite projects was um we financed a company 58 - > called Nina Fundry. 59 - > They make the manhole covers. 60 - > So when I'm walking on the street and I look down, I see 61 - > Nina Fundry, and you know, we're about to provide over 300 62 - > million financing for them. 63 - > Um so I just really had a really incredible time on Wall Street.

64 - > Um, then I went to get my MBA and my natural instincts or 65 - > direction of life started pulling on me, which was, you 66 - > know, um becoming a builder, becoming an operator. 67 - > Um, and again, being a son of an engineer, I think those started 68 - > to pull in that direction. 69 - > So um after I got my MBA, I um uh uh worked in project 70 - > management for a power plant company. 71 - > And specifically I joined the Africa group.

72 - > Uh, and our goal was to take about 1500 megawatts to about 73 - > 5,000 megawatts and uh list that company as a private entity, uh 74 - > separate from the from the main company listed on, let's say, 75 - > another stock market. 76 - > Um, and it was a fantastic experience. 77 - > I mean, I had some of the most fun in my professional career. 78 - > So, as a project manager in that particular company, you're the 79 - > mini-CEO of standing up a new power plan.

80 - > So you work with engineers uh to build the plan, you work with 81 - > the financing team, both internal and external, to raise 82 - > capital for the power project. 83 - > Uh, you work on the environmental assessment, right? 84 - > Um, and all the certification and regulatory mechanisms. 85 - > And so that company, AES, had because of the way it's 86 - > structured as project development expertise, spawned 87 - > off a lot of entrepreneurs because you have that training 88 - > in standing up uh, you know, uh an infrastructure asset.

89 - > And so uh the company just had this informal tradition of folks 90 - > leaving to go build you know power projects or build 91 - > different startups. 92 - > Um, and so I you know fell into that. 93 - > And uh after a few years at a company, I decided to leave and 94 - > launch Pearl. 95 - > And uh, you know, Pearl now is focused on uh delivering 96 - > profitable EV charging systems, but I think I I am now sort of 97 - > at the beginning of where I started, which is you know, I'm 98 - > the son of an engineer, I'm a builder, I'm an operator, and 99 - > I'm doing you know, something that is in my DNA, you know, 100 - > that I was probably born with.

101 - > Um, so that's sort of the arc of where my story is. 102 - > SPEAKER_00: That's fantastic, and I I love it. 103 - > And as a father myself, um, and the advice that I give my 104 - > children and the reason I give my children that advice, it's um 105 - > it's nice to see that you heeded that advice from your father, 106 - > and you took a path based on or at least gently guided by that 107 - > advice from your father that took you through business boot 108 - > camp 101 all the way through high-level finance.

109 - > So ultimately where you ended up is the best of both worlds, is 110 - > it not? 111 - > I mean, you picked up the skills that he didn't have that he 112 - > needed to be more um uh uh uh successful compensation-wise, 113 - > outside of engineering, because he didn't see opportunities in 114 - > engineering to make enough money. 115 - > So he encouraged you and the family to get educations in 116 - > business and finance. 117 - > You did that, and now you're bringing his skills, his 118 - > engineering mind, his his building and thought process 119 - > mind into your financial skills, and you have the best of both 120 - > worlds.

121 - > As a father, that's a beautiful story. 122 - > I'm sure he is amazingly proud of you. 123 - > SPEAKER_01: I I couldn't agree more. 124 - > I feel uh I feel that I have um the toolkits from engineering 125 - > and finance to be able to build um long-lasting businesses 126 - > around infrastructure.

127 - > And I think um, you know, one thing I've seen is sometimes 128 - > people get an engineering degree and then they'll go into finance 129 - > after, maybe get an MBA. 130 - > Um, or you start with the way I start, which is I started, which 131 - > was finance first and then uh engineering later. 132 - > However, you sort of go at it, I think it's that intersection, 133 - > it's that combination of both skills where you can thrive in 134 - > the world of atoms and you can thrive in the world of bits, you 135 - > know, which is just numbers on your screen.

136 - > Um, so I feel really fortunate to be able to have uh uh the 137 - > background. 138 - > Um, I didn't know how it was, you know, how the dots were 139 - > gonna connect to today, uh, but I couldn't be more happy and 140 - > glad and grateful for that journey. 141 - > SPEAKER_00: That's fantastic. 142 - > I like that a lot.

143 - > So I do want you to talk about Pearl a little bit, but I want 144 - > you to, in the in the context of when you tell us about Pearl and 145 - > what Pearl is, I really want you to focus on what led you from 146 - > large-scale energy development and investment banking into 147 - > founding Pearl. 148 - > I think some of it's obvious from your history, but not all 149 - > of it. 150 - > So I'd like to hear that story. 151 - > SPEAKER_01: Yeah, sure.

152 - > Um, when I was uh working at AES uh developing power projects, 153 - > one of the earliest things I saw was that um the capacity and the 154 - > the capacity of batteries were increasing and the price uh per 155 - > power of batteries was also dropping. 156 - > Uh, this was you know around uh the early 2010s. 157 - > Um around 2010, one of my professors' daughter uh was one 158 - > of the earliest employees at Tesla. 159 - > And so he had a Tesla roadster.

160 - > Uh I got to drive that. 161 - > Uh it was one of the earliest cars. 162 - > Um it was the first car that Tesla had built, but one of the 163 - > earliest, uh, you know, a few people had them. 164 - > And so, you know, being uh a project developer, but also 165 - > seeing, you know, what the infrastructure-wise around 166 - > batteries and the impact of that, um, you know, you started 167 - > to get some insight on this is going to be a transformative 30, 168 - > 40, 50 year transition.

169 - > Um, and uh, I started to think of what are ways where I could 170 - > directly actually be part of this transition. 171 - > And so um when I was ready to uh start Pearl, uh the decision was 172 - > to, you know, should we go directly into uh working with 173 - > batteries, uh building something that uses batteries, or go into 174 - > supported infrastructure for battery-enabled technology? 175 - > And uh to build a battery company, you know, uh the 176 - > financing, the permitting, the process is fairly large.

177 - > Uh, but to build the type of company we're building around 178 - > charging infrastructure, supportive infrastructure of 179 - > battery-enabled technology, that seemed to be something we could 180 - > bootstrap and get off the ground fairly quickly. 181 - > And so that was the decision point was that um uh we could 182 - > build charging infrastructure with a small team and get 183 - > something off the ground and still be uh uh sort of ride in 184 - > that 30, 40, 50 year wave transition to you know a future 185 - > of electrified uh uh transport, but also just battery-enabled 186 - > infrastructure.

187 - > SPEAKER_00: Okay, interesting. 188 - > So Pearl is a charging infrastructure for batteries, 189 - > specifically automobile charging stations. 190 - > Correct? 191 - > SPEAKER_01: Correct, correct.

192 - > SPEAKER_00: And what is um what is we'll get to this in a few of 193 - > the questions coming up, but what's different about your 194 - > model? 195 - > SPEAKER_01: So I'll I'll start off by saying that um, you know, 196 - > before I talk about the technology, um typically when we 197 - > interact with you know uh infrastructure, let's say our 198 - > homes, from uh uh from from the standpoint of um you if you 199 - > think of homes, until homes became long-lasting assets, 200 - > right, you couldn't write 30-year mortgages, right?

201 - > So if if a house sort of degraded, decayed in two, three 202 - > years, you really couldn't build, you know, uh uh sort of 203 - > the mortgage infrastructure that allowed a lot more people to 204 - > have homes. 205 - > So when I think about what Pearl is doing, I usually always sort 206 - > of come from the standpoint of that uh we're providing a 207 - > long-durable asset, right, for um battery-enabled technology. 208 - > And um and really sort of the key part of it is to make it a 209 - > stable financial asset.

210 - > Once something becomes a stable financial asset, like a home, 211 - > like a car, then things like mortgages and leases could be 212 - > layered on top of that. 213 - > And that financial technology accelerates the underlying 214 - > asset, right? 215 - > Uh, because we have mortgages, we can build more houses, more 216 - > people can afford more homes. 217 - > And so Pearl's approach is to turn um is to really start with 218 - > how do we turn EV charging into a stable financial asset?

219 - > And that is going to unlock a lot of demand and actually close 220 - > that significant gap that we face in the US between EV 221 - > adoption and EV charging. 222 - > And so specifically, when we move away from you know the 223 - > technology from the financial driver to the technology itself, 224 - > what makes Pearl different is we've developed a modular EV 225 - > charging uh system that allows EV charging to be profitable on 226 - > a single unit basis for the first time.

227 - > So currently, EV charging, the current EV charging operators, 228 - > the publicly traded ones, operate at a negative 57% 229 - > operating margin. 230 - > And that has been the case for the last 14, 15 years since the 231 - > industry started. 232 - > And uh, we believe that until we move the industry to per unit 233 - > profitability, um, it's it's we're still gonna have that huge 234 - > uh infrastructure gap between EV adoption and EV charging. 235 - > So in the US, we face a deficit of about 20 million charging 236 - > stations over the next four or five years.

237 - > That's just how far behind we are. 238 - > Um, and so Pearls Technology is a modular EV charging system 239 - > that allows owners to do upgrade repairs uh themselves, which 240 - > reduces reliance on expensive certified electrician labor and 241 - > also allows in-2 uh uh upgrades. 242 - > And so as we bring newer technology into the market, 243 - > whether it's bi-directional charging, for example, you don't 244 - > have to do the current model, which is rip and replace.

245 - > You can, with the charger installed, simply replace the 246 - > charging component, and boom, within 15 minutes, you have an 247 - > upgraded uh uh charger. 248 - > And so we bring predictability, stable cash flows, and 249 - > profitability to an industry that has not experienced that to 250 - > date. 251 - > SPEAKER_00: Which will lead to that stability, that economic 252 - > factor that allows those leases and financing to be layered on 253 - > top of that to scale and grow the environment.

254 - > Individual ownership, profitability, um, 255 - > marketability, um, adaptation, growth, and everything else 256 - > follows behind that. 257 - > That sounds absolutely great. 258 - > So, where where do you see the biggest disconnect today between 259 - > EV adoption and charging infrastructure availability? 260 - > SPEAKER_01: The biggest disconnect now is um in 261 - > destination charging.

262 - > So, destination charging is we can break it down into 263 - > short-term and long-term destination charging. 264 - > So, short-term destination charging is when you go to your 265 - > coffee shop or you go to a park and you're spending three, four, 266 - > or five hours there. 267 - > Um, and then you know moves into medium-term, which is you stay 268 - > at an Airbnb or a verbo, you know, for a few days, and then 269 - > long-term destination charging is you know, I'm renting a 270 - > property or I'm living in a in a condo, uh, and you know, I'm 271 - > staying there for months, uh, if not years.

272 - > So that destination charge-in, that is the biggest uh gap that 273 - > we have. 274 - > 30% of Americans uh uh live in condos and apartments, and um so 275 - > they don't control the parking space, you know, as in a single 276 - > family home. 277 - > That 30% of the customers uh of the market now is significantly 278 - > underserved. 279 - > Where the market is maturing is on en route uh uh charging.

280 - > So um highways, you know, the previous administration uh with 281 - > a bipartisan infrastructure law passed three billion dollars for 282 - > fast charging along highways and transportation routes. 283 - > That has you know deployed significant numbers of charging, 284 - > and so we're closing that gap. 285 - > So when I'm traveling from DC to New York, for example, I'm able 286 - > to stop frequently and charge, and there's no issue. 287 - > Um, you know, I'm not experiencing any uh charging 288 - > gaps.

289 - > But when I'm booking an Airbnb in upstate New York, you know, 290 - > it's hit or miss whether they're going to have a charger in that 291 - > particular Airbnb. 292 - > So it's a destination charging across, you know, short-term, 293 - > medium-term, and long-term charging. 294 - > That's where we're seeing the biggest gap. 295 - > SPEAKER_00: It's interesting to hear it articulated like that.

296 - > That's very interesting. 297 - > I remember when my son graduated from college, um, and it was I 298 - > worked with my kids in a car at that point in their life, and I 299 - > had offered my son a Tesla, and um, he was moving up to an area, 300 - > and um he came back and said, Dad, I I I just don't want the 301 - > Tesla. 302 - > I'm like, why? 303 - > It was a really cool car.

304 - > And um he said, Well, I'm living in an apartment now, and I have 305 - > one plug-in outside, and and uh it's a long ways away from my 306 - > vehicle. 307 - > I don't have any charging ability in the town that I'm in. 308 - > And he said, I would be I would have a beautiful car that I 309 - > could sit in and never drive. 310 - > And so he had to go for a he went for a hybrid situation 311 - > where he had gas and and electric.

312 - > So this that you describe is real life, it's really um it's 313 - > happening. 314 - > We don't maybe see it in the news, but that this is how that 315 - > market is working, um for sure. 316 - > So how does Pearl's approach turn EV charging into a viable 317 - > stream of income for small businesses? 318 - > SPEAKER_01: So we we uh focus on um predictability.

319 - > Um when when you have a predictable cash flow uh stream, 320 - > um then you become something that businesses or you know 321 - > owner operators uh as we call them are able to uh uh install 322 - > it on their site and actually embrace that. 323 - > Um so the really focus on our business model is to remove 324 - > uncertainty and make the revenue stream from charging 325 - > predictable. 326 - > Um and and the way we do that first is um uh uh by extending 327 - > the shelf life of EV charging.

328 - > So current public charging, you you know, because people it's in 329 - > the sun, people are using it occasionally, people's cars will 330 - > drive into it, the built environment experiences dramatic 331 - > wear and tear. 332 - > And so people are replacing these chargers at a three to 333 - > four year rate, right? 334 - > Um, with Pearl, we're using premium components, and so our 335 - > expected shelf life is somewhere in the eight to ten year range. 336 - > That gives a lot of you know uh uh stability for a new owner 337 - > operator who's interested in installing charging.

338 - > So durability is really sort of the first key component uh of 339 - > what we're bringing to market. 340 - > Uh, the second one is lowering the capital expenditure and the 341 - > operating. 342 - > Expenditure so lowering your uh uh capex and opex, right? 343 - > So um from the capex perspective, after the charger 344 - > it's installed, that durability means that you're not gonna have 345 - > to spend a lot of capex, you know, going forward.

346 - > And then really what we have the patent for is lowering the opex, 347 - > where the owner themselves, without skilled labor, uh, can 348 - > actually do most of the maintenance and the upgrades. 349 - > So the analogy is that think of a light bulb, right? 350 - > When you need to swap out a light bulb in your home, you 351 - > know, you don't call your favorite electrician, right? 352 - > If we had to do that, um, I think fewer people would have 353 - > you know light or light bulb-driven light in their 354 - > homes.

355 - > And similar to your son, right, um, you know, that sort of lack 356 - > of availability uh uh makes it very hard to adopt uh EVs. 357 - > And so what we've done is um say you are uh a small coffee shop 358 - > owner, or maybe you own a few property rentals, you know, um, 359 - > and um uh you want to repair the charger, all you have to do is 360 - > similar like a light bulb, unscrew the charger module and 361 - > we'll ship you a new one uh and you put it back in. 362 - > And within 15 minutes, you're back online.

363 - > Now, the current paradigm uh is that when a charger is broken, 364 - > you have to call an attrician, uh, schedule a visit, they take 365 - > a first visit to look at what is wrong, then they come back and 366 - > hopefully fix it. 367 - > And that takes about two to three weeks. 368 - > Um, with our approach, uh, we within 15 minutes, the owner 369 - > themselves uh can actually bring the charger back online if 370 - > something happens to it. 371 - > And so that is a very uh, first of all, we you know strip down 372 - > about 70% of the total cost of ownership of a charger over that 373 - > time period of ownership.

374 - > And that gives the owners tremendous predictability, 375 - > right? 376 - > In saying that, you know, if my light is off, I can unscrew the 377 - > bulb and put it back in. 378 - > Within a couple of minutes, I'm back online. 379 - > We're bringing that approach to charging, and so that gives 380 - > owners another layer of predictability.

381 - > And then the third piece is uptime. 382 - > So 29% of the time, uh uh uh on average, public EV chargers are 383 - > down, right? 384 - > Um, and so you know if you think about that as an owner operator, 385 - > about a third of the time you're not making money. 386 - > Um and it's usually because something in electronics in a 387 - > charger is down.

388 - > Now, with our approach, um, we we estimate that we can get you 389 - > to 99% uh uptime. 390 - > In fact, our pilots that we have installed now are responding at 391 - > 100% uptime rate. 392 - > Uh, and so as an owner operator, that means that that third of 393 - > the money, that third of the time when you charge it, wasn't 394 - > making money, that is gone now. 395 - > And now, again, we move you to predictability, to stable cash 396 - > flows, and then to something that now you can actually 397 - > finance the installation of EV charge in at your property.

398 - > So that's really uh you know, at a higher level, we're bringing a 399 - > level of predictable cash flows into an industry that so far has 400 - > been quite unpredictable and very unprofitable. 401 - > SPEAKER_00: Amazing. 402 - > Yeah, that's that's amazing. 403 - > It's just it's a great vision.

404 - > So, what role does the modular design and predictive AI play in 405 - > making your solution cost effective and reliable? 406 - > I'd like to know a little bit about that. 407 - > SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the the modular design simply means that 408 - > it works like Lego blocks. 409 - > And so we have our charging cable, uh uh, we have the cable 410 - > that goes into your power source, uh, you have the 411 - > mechanical module that holds all of them together, and then you 412 - > have the charging module where the electronics are.

413 - > Now, all of this is connected in a Lego-like fashion. 414 - > And so you can go and strip out each component, you know, you 415 - > can remove your charging cable and replace it with a new one. 416 - > Let's say a customer accidentally drove over the 417 - > charging cable, the owner themselves can you know, 418 - > literally by turning on and off a few levers, pull it out and 419 - > put in a new one. 420 - > Same with a charging module with electronics, that is enclosed in 421 - > a separate uh uh uh enclosure that plugs in into the base 422 - > station.

423 - > And so, again, you can pull it out by pulling down a lever. 424 - > Um, and so by making it almost like Lego blocks, right? 425 - > We can all put Legos together and disconnect them, right? 426 - > That is that is that is the modularity uh that we bring.

427 - > SPEAKER_00: That's fantastic, and again, the I so you you have 428 - > increased the life of the unit, which is a friendlier CapEx 429 - > environment, right? 430 - > So you can stretch that investment out, those earning 431 - > years out longer. 432 - > You've decreased the downtime through your modular design and 433 - > the ability to isolate the problem, replace only what is 434 - > broken, and in a modular fashion, snap and play. 435 - > Yeah, um, which gives you more uptime.

436 - > Right. 437 - > And you've you've created this business model where an 438 - > individual owner through these technical components you've or 439 - > the aspects that you've talked about, an individual owner can 440 - > cash flow, can make money on on owning a unit. 441 - > All of this works together to make it economically feasible 442 - > for that coffee shop to have a charging unit outside of its 443 - > facility. 444 - > Um I just think that's uh I just think that's absolutely uh 445 - > brilliant.

446 - > So how should all of that considered, how should financial 447 - > institutions and regulators think about infrastructure 448 - > investments like EV charging in terms of uh in terms of risk and 449 - > opportunity, thinking thinking at a high level? 450 - > SPEAKER_01: Yeah, let me let me add something to uh um you know 451 - > uh the uh uh the previous um uh uh sort of expansion on uh uh uh 452 - > what we're delivering and then we'll move into how um you know 453 - > financial institutions can think about the risk and 454 - > opportunities.

455 - > Um one key piece is predictive AI. 456 - > And I mentioned that because if we, based on the data that we're 457 - > seeing from the charger usage, can tell you ahead of time that, 458 - > Jim, perhaps you should stock up on a couple of charger modules 459 - > because this is what we're seeing from the data, right? 460 - > Then we're not even we're we're helping you see ahead of time. 461 - > Um, uh, because people are using and driving cars uh to your 462 - > chargers, they're pulling the cables, right?

463 - > Uh so we can measure voltage differences to say that based on 464 - > the data that we have, this is what you probably need to 465 - > replace. 466 - > And so you should stock up, you know, ahead of time. 467 - > And if you sign up for a particular service that we will 468 - > offer, we can actually automatically ship that to you 469 - > ahead of time. 470 - > And so that that again adds all to that peace of mind and 471 - > predictability uh for owners.

472 - > And um another thing I want to mention is um, you know, when 473 - > when you're starting off, uh you want to focus on a narrow 474 - > beachhead market, right? 475 - > Um, but and then you keep your eyes on uh uh the much bigger 476 - > markets. 477 - > So um, you know, commercial parking lots are really, really 478 - > large uh market that we would love to partner with and grow 479 - > into. 480 - > Um and so while we're starting with sort of like the 481 - > destination charge and you know, and you know, the short-term 482 - > rental and long-term rental uh folks, uh there are other much 483 - > bigger markets such as corporate parking lots, commercial parking 484 - > lots that we would love to partner with uh in the future.

485 - > Um now back to you know how financial institutions you know 486 - > should think about you know EV charge. 487 - > And I think I think it always helps to uh use reference 488 - > points, right? 489 - > So um one reference point is uh cell towers, right? 490 - > Um now, you know, that was an emergent industry, right, with a 491 - > mobile phone industry.

492 - > Um, and now it's a stable asset, right? 493 - > You know, a lot of private equity play into that realm uh 494 - > of buying, owning, operating, you know, cell towers that 495 - > supports you know mobile mobile phone adoption, right? 496 - > It's the back, it's the back end that allows you know iPhone 497 - > sales and Samsung sales to up, you know, to be, you know, it 498 - > and it allows Apple to be Apple and Samsung to be Apple, uh, 499 - > Samsung to be Samsung. 500 - > Right.

501 - > So um, you know, we we we we we use that as a reference point to 502 - > say that um you know when when when we think of making charging 503 - > into a stable, predictable financial asset, that allows, 504 - > you know, from a financial institution standpoint to 505 - > actually layer on all the financial tools that can 506 - > actually accelerate adoption, right? 507 - > Whether it's you know direct financing, project financing, 508 - > leasing models. 509 - > Um, from a risk perspective, um, the risk, you know, it's it's 510 - > all embedded in your cash flow, right?

511 - > So the first, you know, sort of risk is usually uptime. 512 - > You know, is the asset going to be operating at a high enough 513 - > uptime, right, to generate enough cash to pay off uh the 514 - > debt? 515 - > Um, cyber risk is another risk that is increasingly uh potent, 516 - > you know, especially with all the new AI tools, um, you know, 517 - > cyber, you know, malicious cyber actors uh uh might be able to do 518 - > some damage. 519 - > And so, you know, would they be able to break the sort of the 520 - > charge-in network and prevent it from operating, for example?

521 - > So uh that's one one risk to you know uh uh keep in mind. 522 - > Um you know, permitting is another is another significant 523 - > risk. 524 - > Uh, unfortunately, you know, for for large scale and even small 525 - > scale projects, right? 526 - > You know, so in a condo, for example, the condo association 527 - > needs to approve, and then you know, the local authority having 528 - > jurisdiction needs to approve.

529 - > And these permitting processes, you know, at even the condo 530 - > level can be six, nine, twelve months, right? 531 - > Now, when you go to DC fast charging and you install in you 532 - > know large you know charging uh uh systems along highways, the 533 - > permitting can be up to three years. 534 - > So permitting is another you know uh big bottleneck now uh 535 - > for you know uh uh uh for for deploying uh these systems. 536 - > Um and I would say maybe the the the last risk is SIDE-in.

537 - > Um so making sure that you know you're putting uh the charger 538 - > networks in high utilization areas. 539 - > Every day and every year, SIDEN risk goes down significantly. 540 - > So um every year we're adding a million EVs uh in the US, and 541 - > we're and that's 25% growth, right, year over year. 542 - > And so we're getting to a point where um there are gonna be so 543 - > many EVs, right, that um, you know, almost regardless of the 544 - > location that you put them in, you're gonna hit the minimum 545 - > utilization level needed for profitability.

546 - > So I'd say Sidon is there, but it's really significantly, you 547 - > know, uh being being reduced uh uh every day. 548 - > Um one thing that people used to think was a risk was demand um 549 - > for you know for charging and also for cars. 550 - > And we're adding we're adding a million cars a year. 551 - > That is even after the federal incentives you know have been 552 - > you know uh uh removed.

553 - > Um and so I think I think some of those risks are being sort of 554 - > solved, and some of them I think are below the threshold of what 555 - > we would call a risk factor. 556 - > SPEAKER_00: That's absolutely fantastic. 557 - > So you're what I and I I just am curious. 558 - > I'm I'm just curious.

559 - > What's the capital someone would need to start a project with 560 - > you? 561 - > I have a corner out here, I'd like to put one in. 562 - > I want to talk to Cobbie and I want to uh start the process of 563 - > getting this put in. 564 - > You know, what's the capital?

565 - > Forget the permitting and all that. 566 - > That's those expenses are ridiculous. 567 - > But um assume we have the permit and and we're ready to go, or 568 - > we're buying an existing station that we're gonna transfer. 569 - > Look like what kind of capital are you talking about for a 570 - > small business owner to get into something like this?

571 - > SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's um it's four thousand dollars, you know, 572 - > on the upper end. 573 - > Uh, so about two thousand dollars for our product and 574 - > software, and about two thousand dollars for the installation. 575 - > And um, we conservatively estimate that um most sites are 576 - > going to be generating about five thousand dollars per year 577 - > per charger. 578 - > And so, you know, within the first year, we expect you to 579 - > break even.

580 - > Um, and you know, Jim, my um uh part of my retirement plan is 581 - > for me to own hundreds, if not thousands, of these charging 582 - > stations, right? 583 - > Because I see the EV transition, it's gonna be plain out for the 584 - > next 30, 40 years. 585 - > I want to be owning, you know, uh uh uh, you know, uh hundreds 586 - > of uh uh charging stations that are generating passive income, 587 - > you know, uh for myself. 588 - > When we think of passive income opportunities right now, um in 589 - > the built in the fiscal environment, right?

590 - > It used to be ATMs, right? 591 - > We don't use cash as much anymore. 592 - > So that opportunity is declining. 593 - > Um, laundry mats are not growing 25% year over year, right?

594 - > And so EV charging represents one of it's an emergent asset 595 - > class. 596 - > Uh, and I think it's an emergent opportunity for um people to 597 - > generate stable passive income. 598 - > And I want to be one of them, right? 599 - > Uh right alongside our customers.

600 - > SPEAKER_00: Absolutely. 601 - > And if somebody wanted to get a hold of you or get a hold learn 602 - > more about this, I know you're you're you're building and 603 - > you're the business is coming together. 604 - > You and I are working together through Conscious Ventures Lab 605 - > Um and doing good work there, good partnership. 606 - > Thank you for your partnership in that lab.

607 - > You've been very helpful to me. 608 - > But um, yeah, talk to me about how someone might just learn 609 - > more, maybe reach out to you. 610 - > SPEAKER_01: Yeah, if you go to pearlcharger.com, you can sign 611 - > up for uh early pilots.

612 - > Uh so pearlpirlcharger.com. 613 - > You can sign up for early pilots, sign up for 614 - > notifications uh when we launch. 615 - > We expect to launch uh Q1 next year.

616 - > Um and uh I'm easily available on you know LinkedIn or even via 617 - > email. 618 - > It's cobby at thepearl.com, so k-o-b-y at t-ep-irl.com.

619 - > And uh we love to talk to you know uh uh uh all kinds of 620 - > potential partners uh and see how we can you know um assist 621 - > folks to be part of this uh ongoing transition. 622 - > So um, you know, Jim, I I've um really loved you know uh working 623 - > with you uh in Conscious Venture Labs and hearing about your 624 - > personal story uh and the depth of authenticity that you bring 625 - > to everything you touch is very palpable, right? 626 - > Um and very quite inspiring, to be honest.

627 - > Uh so I'd love to turn this to you and ask you um, what has um 628 - > this podcast and all the interactions that you've had, 629 - > what has it meant to you personally? 630 - > SPEAKER_00: Well, I want people to succeed, and there is no 631 - > better time to and also no more of a nervous time than to talk 632 - > to people who are who are building motivated and 633 - > personally invested in some direction in their life. 634 - > I don't care if they're preparing for a marathon and 635 - > that's what they have in front of them, or if they're if 636 - > they're um cobby building a EV business.

637 - > Um, I love the idea that people invest themselves and their 638 - > energies into a dream, something they want to do. 639 - > And I have the tendency to admire projects that will 640 - > improve the human condition, have some value to human life. 641 - > Um and so the podcasts and meeting the company owners and 642 - > and and meeting different um entrepreneurs and and uh 643 - > founders is is energizing to me because I can feel their energy 644 - > for what what they're trying to put forth, and and I'm not 645 - > sloppy in how I do it, right?

646 - > So I'm not um there are just come to me to my neighborhood 647 - > bar um some afternoon or night, and I can show you a whole group 648 - > of people that don't have the acumen to take an idea to 649 - > market, right? 650 - > They have all the ideas, but they don't have the acumen to 651 - > take it to market, and so I I pick guests that I think get it 652 - > and understand it, and you come at the highest on that list uh 653 - > in terms of not just understanding your product, but 654 - > understanding the market effects of that product.

655 - > So um and in the history that you have behind it, from the in 656 - > your youth watching your father as an engineer and learning 657 - > those um very systematic skills and processes that your father, 658 - > I'm sure, went through to do everything he did, and um, and 659 - > then moving through the finance industry and seeing how the 660 - > world of finance works. 661 - > Um, you've taken something that can be very complicated to a lot 662 - > of people, and you've simplified you've simplified it down to a 663 - > business model.

664 - > Um, and so these these podcasts and the people that I meet mean 665 - > something to me personally, and I kind of surf off of their 666 - > energy, and I try to find ways that I can personally assist 667 - > them if in any way I can. 668 - > And so I think by coming out and talking about what you're doing 669 - > and hearing that story, people this is how seeds grow. 670 - > Someone hears this and says, that man knows what he's talking 671 - > about. 672 - > He's thought this through.

673 - > I don't have to rethink that. 674 - > So the capex is already thought through. 675 - > Um, the extension of the life of the asset is two and a half, 676 - > three times, four times what we we're seeing in the market 677 - > today. 678 - > The modular components allow for lower costs of repair.

679 - > Um, the simplicity of the modular components or add to 680 - > that lower cost of repair. 681 - > The person can do it themselves, or a lower-paid electrician can 682 - > make the switches. 683 - > Um, and and then and then framing it in a way that an 684 - > individual investor could develop a uh a cash cash flow or 685 - > a return on investment over time after the first year. 686 - > Um these are all components of a good business person, and and 687 - > that's what you have, and that's what the people that are in the 688 - > lab have, and and that's why I like to talk to them and and 689 - > hear the stories and give them an opportunity to get that story 690 - > out there so people can hear that.

691 - > You as an example, uh, I grew up in banking, you know, and um 692 - > back in the early days in the eighties when I was in banking, 693 - > it was community banking. 694 - > And I had a lot of Customers that owned laundry mats. 695 - > And one of the biggest and laundry mats were a great 696 - > investment. 697 - > Let's face it.

698 - > They were a cash cow. 699 - > And uh, but one of the problems were the machines don't last. 700 - > When they break, you don't know about it until someone calls 701 - > you, or you happen to go in and see that it's broken. 702 - > Um, you have breaks and and um damages that can be caused by 703 - > water and um and other components of the machines that 704 - > are in there, and there's no intelligence coming back to you 705 - > telling you that a component's about to break, you might want 706 - > to stock up on this, or we're seeing this in other areas, you 707 - > might want to stock up on this.

708 - > So it's a great investment for a person that I have a lot of um 709 - > admiration for in the market, a small investor that can generate 710 - > wealth. 711 - > Um, but I can also see my friend at Prudential Capital in Dallas, 712 - > Texas, my attorney who who papers up all the windmill 713 - > financing around the country and uh uh liquefied LP gas and all 714 - > the energy ventures around the country through Prudential 715 - > Capital? 716 - > This is what he's looking for.

717 - > This is how you securitize an investment. 718 - > These components that you've talked about are scalable to a 719 - > very, very high level to make it a very attractive asset to a 720 - > very large pool of money. 721 - > Um, how hard would it be to really go hard on this and say 722 - > we're gonna we're gonna do 10,000 of these around the 723 - > country this year, right? 724 - > And that would take large level financing to do that, and you've 725 - > put together a program that makes that act actually 726 - > possible.

727 - > Yeah. 728 - > So from an individual investor being able to get a quality 729 - > investment that's helping you know the earth through electric 730 - > electrical use and drop of carbon use, um, and um and and 731 - > doing it in a way that is responsible. 732 - > Um and uh and and then once you've proven that individual 733 - > owners can cash flow on these investments, then you've got the 734 - > securitization aspect of it where you can start layering 735 - > other financial components on top of it.

736 - > So that's why I do it. 737 - > I know that's a long story, um, but I do it because I admire 738 - > you, I can see your passion, and um, I can see your dad in you. 739 - > Um, and the the one the when I say I can see your dad in you is 740 - > not your dad, but what your dad told you, how to be cautious 741 - > about your career, you know, and you and you're being thoughtful 742 - > and cautious, you're not pigeonholing yourself somewhere. 743 - > Um, you're being you're you're broadening out across many 744 - > industries, finance, um, engineering, um, you know, 745 - > securitization and all that.

746 - > So I'm I'm quite I'm I'm quite honored to to to know you. 747 - > I know I'm a better person for having heard you and and seeing 748 - > the work that you're doing. 749 - > So I I thank you very much. 750 - > SPEAKER_01: No, thank you, Jim.

751 - > I think your um your passion for um improving people's lives in 752 - > whatever way, whatever touch point, I think comes very 753 - > through very, very clearly. 754 - > And I think this podcast is one of many platforms that I think 755 - > you have to really elevate, you know, people that you feel are 756 - > contributing meaningfully to the human condition. 757 - > Um so really thank you for uh for your work. 758 - > SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I want people to be heard.

759 - > There are a lot of stories out there, and as you know, my 760 - > business listens to the written word, the written communication. 761 - > And um and it's a passion of mine that we start to listen. 762 - > We have the technology today to listen to that written 763 - > communication in a in a very um organized, um uh valuable 764 - > manner. 765 - > Um, and and we need to we need to be able to do that.

766 - > So I I want people to be heard. 767 - > Um and there's a lot of value in that, I think. 768 - > And you you've done a great job in finding your market and you 769 - > understand it, and um I appreciate this. 770 - > SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, thank you.

771 - > SPEAKER_00: All right, well, that thanks very much, and uh 772 - > we'll see you uh around the corner, I'm sure. 773 - > SPEAKER_01: Yeah, see you in Baltimore soon. 774 - > SPEAKER_00: All right, thanks, Cobbie. 775 - > Thanks for joining us on this episode of Financial Forward.

776 - > I want to thank Cobbie for taking the time to share his 777 - > story, his vision, and the mission behind Pearl Technology. 778 - > Conversations like this are important because they remind us 779 - > that innovation is not just about technology, it's about 780 - > solving real problems for real people. 781 - > The transition to electric vehicles and sustainable 782 - > infrastructure is one of the defining economic and societal 783 - > shifts of our time. 784 - > Companies like Pearl are tackling the hard and practical 785 - > questions that determine whether that transition actually works 786 - > at scale.

787 - > And personally, I've watched Cobbie operate within Conscious 788 - > Ventures Lab Cohort 15, and I can say he represents the kind 789 - > of thoughtful, mission-oriented founder that innovators, 790 - > communities, and industries should pay attention to. 791 - > I believe Pearl Technology has a very bright future ahead. 792 - > If you enjoyed today's episode, please subscribe and share the 793 - > show and follow Financial Forward for more conversations 794 - > with leaders shaping the future of finance, technology, 795 - > infrastructure, and consumer innovation.

796 - > I'm Jim McCarthy. 797 - > Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time on Financial 798 - > Forward.