# Fuse CEO Alan Chang: The Revolut Playbook of Speed & Ownership, Why Founders Aren’t Ambitious Enough Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4-sSCxiU4c Recap page: https://rapidrecap.app/video/T4-sSCxiU4c Generated: 2026-01-05T15:37:23.255+00:00 --- ## Quick Overview Fuse CEO Alan Chang advocates for an extreme work ethic, believing that building a generational company requires intensity where leaders accept total blame for failure, contrasting this with a desire for work-life balance, and he applies the Revolut playbook of speed and ownership to his energy company, Fuse. **Key Points:** - Alan Chang believes that to build a generational company, a "very, very strong work ethic" is the only way, stating, "If you have a gun pointed to your head today, would you have done more? If the answer is yes, that means you're not doing a good job." - Chang emphasizes absolute ownership for leaders: "If you fail, you get all the blame. And it does not matter why you fail." - Fuse Energy is replicating the Revolut strategy, aiming to "beat incumbents to own energy," with revenue increasing 10x yearly, moving from £2 million to a projected £200 million in the current year. - The key differentiator for Revolut's early success over competitors like Monzo and N26 was "ambition and the speed of execution," achieved by having small, independent teams with clear goals, replacing teams that fail to perform. - Chang’s single cultural value at Fuse is "never settle," though he agrees with picking battles and not applying this standard to every role, only the most important ones. - He criticizes the idea that 100% renewable energy is achievable without massive, often non-existent, long-duration storage, noting that energy companies claiming 100% renewable often just buy certificates, proven when their tariffs rose with gas prices after the Ukraine invasion. - Chang’s advice for UK energy policy is to "deregulate building anything physical" and "delete all subsidies," arguing the goal must be the lowest cost energy achievable through free market construction. **Context:** The interview features Alan Chang, co-founder and CEO of Fuse Energy, discussing his philosophy on building high-growth companies, heavily influenced by his early experience working at Revolut under founder Nick Storonsky. Chang contrasts his intense approach to business building with conventional expectations of work-life balance, using his current company, Fuse, as a modern parallel to Revolut's disruptive entry into the fintech space, aiming to similarly dominate the energy sector. ## Detailed Analysis Alan Chang champions an aggressive, high-intensity culture necessary for building 'generational companies,' directly contrasting this with desires for work-life balance, asserting that leaders must accept total blame for failure without excuses, referencing Nick's past feedback analogy about the janitor versus the VP. He details how Revolut succeeded by prioritizing speed and ambition over competitors who had similar roadmaps, implementing this via small, independent teams and swiftly replacing underperformers. Chang advocates for hiring people who 'lean in' physically during interviews and prioritize deep caring over just high IQ, stating that those who internalize negative feedback well are the top performers. Regarding company strategy, he counters the typical startup advice to 'focus,' arguing that companies should instead focus on hiring more leaders to pursue multiple parallel opportunities, citing Revolut's success in product diversification (like trading revenue offsetting interchange revenue dips during COVID). In the energy sector, Chang argues that the UK is already in a deep energy crisis characterized by falling per capita consumption and high volatility, caused by overregulation hindering physical infrastructure builds (like power plants) and inefficient, non-technology-driven incumbent companies. He dismisses the idea of 100% renewable energy claims as false due to the correlation between solar/wind output and the inadequacy of current battery storage, and he believes China's aggressive, non-ideological building approach to all energy forms provides the model for low-cost energy. ### Revolut Playbook & Work Ethic - Speed of execution differentiates winners - Small, independent teams with clear goals are essential - Leaders must accept total blame for failure, as "excuses don't matter." ### Hiring and Performance Management - Hire people who 'lean in' and 'deeply care' over just high IQ - Reject formal PIPS; use verbal warnings and rely on self-awareness of top hires - Compensation is based purely on interview performance grade (A vs. B), not current salary or language skills. ### Energy Sector Critique (Fuse Thesis) - UK energy consumption per capita dropped 25% in 25 years due to overregulation making physical building extremely hard - 100% renewable is a lie because solar/wind are correlated and battery storage is insufficient for days/weeks. ### Policy Recommendations - UK energy policy needs deep deregulation to make building physical assets easy - Delete all subsidies because they shift cost burdens to ratepayers and signal unprofitability - China's aggressive, comprehensive buildout of all energy types is the model for low cost ($8/kWh vs $25-$30 in UK/EU). ### Early Stage & Funding Lessons - Built the MVP for a full-stack energy company with only $1 million by acquiring necessary skills/assets creatively - Regrets accepting a low valuation in the first seed round, advising founders to underestimate their value less.