Talk to your customers!
Talk to your customers! I learned this early in my career—and re-learned at every SPAN & Powerwall installation I supported over the years.
This week, we launched Pila Energy at SXSW, and the highlight has been putting real products, in real home contexts, in front of a wide range of people—from tech-savvy early adopters to tech skeptics.
💡Flashback: My first week at Tesla, I was handed a plane ticket to Australia and a set of 3D-printed Backup Gateway prototypes to meet with electricians (“sparkies”) across the country. Those conversations led to a complete rethink of busbars and metering strategies—simplifying wiring and unlocking metering for three-phase loads. The lesson: Listen. Don't be afraid to make big pivots when the feedback is clear.
💡Later, helping train disaster relief orgs to deploy solar + Powerwalls after Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas, I saw firsthand that resiliency products need to be modular, ultra-reliable offline, and have clear physical indicators. We built those same principles into Pila’s design.
So, what are we learning from our customers at SXSW?
🔋 Outages are personal. No matter where people are from, they (or someone they love) have recently dealt with a power outage. Many aren’t just responsible for their own home—they’re also looking out for an elderly parent or a vulnerable loved one. For them, physical design matters. People love the compact size and the built-in screen—because seeing backup time at a glance (instead of pulling out an app) could save that stressed-out phone call from a parent during an outage. One-time setup and automatic backup is a must for these folks. Features like remote monitoring with cellular backup are resonating for the same reason.
🛠️ Specs alone don’t resonate; real-world benefits do. This one’s obvious, but a useful reminder in fast-paced conversations. It’s not about "1.6kWh capacity"—it’s about "32 hours of backup time for the average fridge." Framing energy in ways people relate to makes all the difference. This has kicked off great discussion among the Pila team about how we tune our messaging to make immediate impact.
🏡 Renters have lit up when they realize Pila is for them. A home battery they can actually use—no rewiring, no landlord approval, no installation hassles. And for apartment dwellers, we’ve heard again and again that floor space is critical, making Pila’s size and flexible placement a major win. We're excited to pull this thread and uncover creative ways to make Pila even easier to access for renters.
We’re just getting started, but these conversations shape everything we do.
If you’re at SXSW, come see us at Expo Booth 821!
