Why I'm Joining Pika

My career has taken me from hyper-growth startups to philanthropic organizations to co-founding my own company. My decision around what to do next is always based on how much positive impact I can have on the world as well as how much I can learn. That's why I’m excited to share that I’ve joined forces with the amazing team at Pika Earth to work on climate. We build tools for residential and commercial services businesses (e.g. electrical, HVAC, plumbing) to drive adoption of energy-efficient systems. Our mission is to build the data layer of energy to help the world transition to a greener future.

This decade is a crucial time for combating climate change. We have an opportunity and a responsibility to act, to do as much as we can to mitigate the chaos that we are passing on to our children. It feels imperative to use not just my spare time but my working hours to do something. Yet, as a software engineer, it felt hard to find something that feels high leverage. I don’t have the skills to directly shape policy or invent new ways to generate renewable energy or capture carbon, and I already vote every chance I get. I kept asking myself - what can I do with my skills that will make a real difference?

I found that one way software can drive major impact on climate change is to focus on technologies that are already available, but aren’t being adopted quickly because of operational blockers like awareness, permitting, and other obstacles. That’s why I was excited to learn about Pika Earth. I had already been talking up heat pumps to anyone who would listen. My first encounter with heat pumps was in 2019 when our gas furnace needed to be replaced. I already knew that I should ensure my house is well insulated and choose energy-efficient appliances. But I am fortunate to have a friend who’s an expert in energy-efficient buildings, so I asked if there was anything else I should be considering. She told me that I need to ditch gas appliances NOW because by the time it’s replaced, we’ll have missed our emissions goals. She then told me about something called a heat pump — an electric alternative to a gas furnace that can also serve as an air conditioning unit. You can kill two birds with one stone and eliminate the largest remaining source of fossil fuel usage residentially!

According to a comprehensive study from NREL, full adoption of heat pumps across the residential sector would reduce our overall national emissions by 5%–9%. That’s HUGE — the equivalent of taking almost 70 million cars off the road! Everyone’s heard of electric vehicles and solar panels — how come I’d never heard of heat pumps before??

It turns out, heat pump technology has come a long way in the last decade, but it’s still not a commonly installed appliance in America. In 2020, only 15% of households had a heat pump, and a survey found that half of respondents had never heard of a heat pump, let alone its neglected cousin the heat pump water heater. In addition, there’s still a great deal of confusion about the effectiveness of heat pumps at colder temperatures, even though the leading heat pumps sold now can handle temperatures down to -10F.

In addition to awareness, there are economic barriers to adoption. Heat pumps generally cost less to operate than the furnaces and AC units they’re intended to replace, and are cheaper than buying an AC + furnace combo. That’s why in new installments, heat pumps are increasingly popular. However, in the majority of residences, people replace HVAC appliances when they break. A heat pump generally costs more than either a furnace or an air conditioner, which makes it a hard sell when replacing just one system. However, if we want to reduce emissions in all the existing residences in America, we have to make that sell easier.

OK, so I was already pumped about heat pumps, but what made me believe that Pika Earth would be successful at impacting climate change?

1. Talent density: For a <10 person company, Pika already had such a powerhouse team roster. Everyone I talked to was so passionate about the mission, knowledgeable about the HVAC space, and fired up about working together. Between them, they had co-founded companies, worked at fast growing startups, and had significant domain expertise. In my first two weeks, we closed two new hires with a combined 15+ years of industry experience in design and marketing. Those roles hadn’t even been open when I accepted my offer weeks ago! Which brings me to point number 2…

2. Business strategy + execution speed: Pika’s leadership team has demonstrated a combination of business strategy instinct and execution speed that boggles my mind. The ability to make good business decisions consistently and execute on those decisions well is a powerful 1-2 punch, and to do it all at the speed I’ve witnessed so far at Pika is truly astounding. The product and business has made such huge progress in a matter of months that I am confident that we’re onto something important, and we’re doing it well.

We're still a small team and we have so much yet to do, but I am so grateful that my path brought me to Pika Earth, and I’m excited to see what we can do together!

<3 Alicia