few years Before that, Casper mattress company founders Philip Krim and Jeff Chapin were banging their heads against a wall. Karim was on Long Island in New York while Chapin was in Wyoming. The weather in New York can be very different from the weather in Wyoming, but when bad storms pass, both suffer blackouts.
“I spent most of my COVID cases on Long Island, where the power lines are old,” Karim told TechCrunch+. They’ll come down during bad storms. I had solar, and my wife is like, “We have solar, why are we losing power?” I’m like, “Well, we don’t have a battery.” I tried adding a battery. I went out with three different electricians. I called the guys who They installed our solar system. They said we’re not going to roll the trucks just for the battery.”
And then I called Jeff because he’s smart and honest. I’m like, “How do I do this?” He was like, “It’s really hard.”
Chapin’s experience wasn’t much better. After moving to Wyoming, he worried that his home would be without heat if, during a snowstorm, the nearby cottonwood trees began to shed their limbs on power lines. He said, “This is how they survive in a windy climate: they drop branches.”
His neighbor was a solar installer, so the process should have been easier than it was for Karim. But his neighbor’s company was only installing the batteries in conjunction with the solar panels, and Chapin’s roof was too complex and shaded to run on solar energy.
After the two spoke, they knew they were on to something.
Chapin, a former IDEO designer, said, “Because of my background, when you’re faced with a consumer experience that’s almost impossible to navigate, it generally means there’s a new process or system that can be designed. And maybe there’s a business opportunity there.”