PJC interview: SparkCharge
PJC Interview with Joshua Aviv, CEO & Co-Founder of SparkCharge
“You can play a pivotal role in changing the landscape of an ecosystem and in helping improve people's lives for the better. I think that's something that can go unnoticed when it comes to entrepreneurship.”
- Joshua Aviv , CEO & Co-Founder of SparkCharge
About SparkCharge: SparkCharge is building the first mobile, scalable, and intelligent Electric Vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure. They are doing this by partnering with companies to create an EV charging network, thus democratizing energy around the world. As electric vehicles have increased in popularity (due to the significant impact they can have in reducing carbon emissions), so too has “range-anxiety.” Range-anxiety is the fear of running out of your battery before you reach your destination. That is where SparkCharge comes to the rescue.
Josh describes SparkCharge as “the UberEats or GrubHub for Hungry EVs. Essentially an EV owner can be anywhere they want and push a button and have range delivered to them on the spot. Whether it be grocery shopping or at the movies, they have the freedom to charge their car now.” SparkCharge’s mission is to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles on a global scale, creating a cleaner, healthier, safer, and more sustainable world. You can learn more about SparkCharge by visiting their website: https://sparkcharge.io/
About Josh: Josh is a certified Data Scientist and the Founder & CEO of SparkCharge. His experience in entrepreneurship and startups spans over 6 years and he is a dynamic figure in the clean-tech community. Joshua is also the most recent winner of the world’s largest pitch competition, 43North. Joshua holds a B.A. in Economics and a Masters Degree in Information Management and Data Science from Syracuse University.
What motivated him to start SparkCharge: Josh was motivated to start SparkCharge after taking an environmental economics course at Syracuse University. His professor at the time said, “If you are really looking to change the world, look to electric vehicles.” Josh was interested to learn more and began meeting with his professor after class to discuss his ideas in more detail. At the time, Josh was also part of a program called Blackstone Launchpad, which was designed to help college students grow their startups and their businesses (a program he is still involved with to this day, but now from an advisor standpoint). Josh continued developing his idea for SparkCharge from his dorm room in Syracuse and it took off from there.
On his experience with PJC: Josh has been working with PJC since late November 2017. His introduction to PJC came while pitching at a conference in NYC. Mike Cunningham, a PJC partner at the time, was at the conference and reached out to Josh to chat with him more about his company. What started out as a mentorship relationship soon turned into a financial one, with PJC ultimately deciding to invest in SparkCharge. Joshua explains his relationship with PJC further by stating, “It still has that mentorship aspect to it. I go to PJC for guidance and advice all the time. They are always available and willing to go into the trenches with you to help make you a success. If you're an early-stage founder, I don't think there's a better firm that you can work to really have good guidance as you grow your business.”
Top 5 takeaways from our interview
The impact a startup can make on a larger community and ecosystem. Josh has a clear passion for clean-tech, but that passion is amplified by the positive impact SparkCharge can have on communities. He explains, “You really get to see the impact that you have on people's lives. Such as the impact on hiring and the overall impact on your community. You can really play a pivotal role in changing the landscape of an ecosystem and in helping improve people's lives for the better. I think that's something that goes unnoticed and untouched when it comes to entrepreneurship.”
What it was like pitching on ABC’s Shark Tank and walking away with 2 shark’s backing SparkCharge! On October 16, 2020 Josh was joined by his Co-Founder Christopher Ellis to pitch to the Sharks on ABC’s Shark Tank. They walked away with a deal from 2 sharks -- Mark Cuban and Lori Greiner -- and an estimated 4 million people tuned into the network broadcast. When asked about his experience on the show, Josh replied, “It was definitely an experience I won’t forget. We’re super grateful to have gone on the show. We really enjoyed it. I think there’s always more to what happens than what people see in that edited segment, but we thought that the outcome was amazing. Now, millions of people know that they can have their car charged anywhere they want, and we’ve helped spread the idea of clean tech and electric vehicles to millions of households - that is something we’re really proud of.”
See their product on Shark Tank: https://allsharktankproducts.com/shark-tank-products-auto/sparkcharge-electric-car-charger/
When it comes to fundraising, every dollar raised needs to have an end goal. While speaking with Josh about fundraising and the lessons he has learned over the years, he gave this advice to other entrepreneurs: “Any dollar you raise needs to have an end goal. You need to go into it strategically thinking, X amount of money is going to get me X distance towards my next goal. It's going to improve my startup by doing this and it's going to allow me to bring in X amount more dollars. So, I think that’s something that every entrepreneur needs to approach fundraising with.”
Warm intros always work best when you are looking to work with VCs. When you fundraise as a founder you quickly find what works and what doesn’t. For Josh, warm intros were always a huge help during the process. He explains, “I think one of the things that has always been helpful is warm intros. I'd say to do the research on that VC firm first, make sure their mission and vision are aligned with your mission and vision, and that it's a good fit as well as a good value add for their firm. From there, look to see who you know in their network who can make a warm introduction to that firm or partner. That has always worked best when working with VCs.”
BoostEV is the new UberEats of the EV world. Following the momentum from their SharkTank debut, the team announced the launch of their new app, BoostEV. BoostEV is an app that is available on your phone through Google Play or on the Apple Store. The app will allow EV users to be connected to those who partner with SparkCharge and can provide charging on demand, meeting you where you are. The Roadie charging system by SparkCharge is portable, modular, fast and flexible. The batteries can be recharged in 4 hours making it easy to reuse them more than once a day. You can easily achieve over 1500 cycles without significant degradation. This means you can complete a charge every day for over 4 years! You can find out more about their portable chargers here: https://sparkcharge.io/portable-chargers/?v=7516fd43adaa.
We can’t wait to see what Josh and the team have in store and for their continued success in transforming the EV market while also helping us create a cleaner, safer, and more sustainable world.
This interview was conducted on November 4th 2020.