The honest journey of taking on a trillion-dollar market with Joe McDonald (tem) and Adam Chirkowski (Albion VC)

In this 40 Minute Mentor episode, we’re joined by Joe McDonald, Co-Founder and CEO of tem., and Adam Chirkowski, Partner at Albion VC, to hear the unfiltered story of building one of Europe's fastest-growing energy companies and what it really takes to back, build and scale a mission-driven startup.

Joe has spent over a decade in the energy industry and has seen first-hand how broken the infrastructure underpinning it all really is. After selling his previous startup in 2019, he’s back in the Founder seat building the fix through an AI-native energy transaction infrastructure built for the way modern businesses actually operate - from Premier League clubs and Formula 1 circuits to local cafes and independent retailers.

Adam was one of the earliest believers, spotting Joe at an online demo day and backing the team before almost anyone else would. Although ultimately a generalist investor, he has a particular focus on EnergyTech and has invested, advised, and sat on the board of companies across a broad range of sectors, including raising and deploying over £150m of funds into Renewable Energy.

Together, they share a candid and honest account of the inception moment that launched tem., the early mistakes that nearly derailed it, the philosophy behind closing a $75 million Series B in two weeks, and why Joe spends 70% of his time on culture.

Whether you're a founder, operator or investor, this episode is full of hard-won lessons on hiring, fundraising, mission, and what it actually looks like to build a generational company.

Episode Chapters:

➡️ The origin story [05:45]

➡️ Early mistakes and what Adam saw in Joe and the team [09:15]

➡️ Fundraising lessons [17:50]

➡️ Building a people-first company [23:00]

➡️ What the modern company stack actually looks like [26:20]

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