"We’re ready to make noise": How three Newcastle entrepreneurs are disrupting the energy industry

The founders of fledgling Newcastle-based company Kudos are incredibly passionate about honesty being at the centre of what they do; this was clear when they took the time to chat to Bdaily about their new venture.

True to their values, they pulled no punches when looking back on their company’s inception. You could say Kudos rose from the ashes of a local economic tragedy - the collapse of energy giant Utilitywise - prior to which, the three colleagues were made redundant in November 2018.

“It was a hard time going through the redundancy,” Kris Aitman, commercial director of Kudos, explained: “It’s not just the financial impact that it has on the North East economy - 600 people without a job - it’s the emotional impact as well: the stress, anxiety, all the families you know that have been impacted by it.”

He recalled: “I was getting married, and I found out the day I got back from my stag do that I was made redundant.”

“I was completing my mortgage,” client services director Stephen Armstrong remembered.

Talking about when he considered starting a business: “[My wife] said ‘why don’t you just get a salaried job like a normal person?’”

Fiscally-minded financial director David Ritchie echoed: “Of course, the safe option is to go and get a job.”

However the three former sales managers didn’t go for the safe option, instead opting to flex their entrepreneurial muscles and create something new.

Influenced by the upcoming Christmas deliveries rush and their collective backgrounds in the energy industry, Kris, Stephen and David initially came up with an idea for an inner-city carbon-neutral delivery business.

Upon meeting former Sainsbury’s head of new business development and energy specialist Adam Zeiderman at a networking event however, Adam said the trio were given some sage advice: “He said to ‘stick at what you’re good at and concentrate on energy for now?’”

Discussing the motivation behind the brand name, Stephen explained: “We were brainstorming different ideas… It was [David who] came up with the name.

“It’s a positive word, it’s a sense of achievement… And we wanted to create a name that we could branch into different markets. So, while Kudos For Saving is obviously our utilities business, we’re ambitious and we want to continue to push and grow the brand.”

Using the example of the Virgin brand, which the founders cited as a source of inspiration, David continued: “The brand transfers across all of them, it’s the same ethos for each of those businesses.”

And with that Kudos was born. Now, just six months later, the team are on the verge of re-launching the Kudos brand and opening the company’s first office. As Stephen commented: “It’s been crazy hasn’t it? It’s been so fast.”

![]( The Kudos team plan to spread their message across the North East region and beyond.

So what exactly is the Kudos mission? According to the founders, the company’s ethos is firmly rooted in relationship-based business.

By working with firms to save them money on utilities and also providing social media exposure, the business hopes to foster long-term relationships and benefit the local economy. Kris outlined the Kudos vision: “Our aim is to reduce utility costs, to give businesses within the North East a sound financial footing.

He continued: “If they’re a restaurant, they’re battling against these huge chains. The margins are so tight for independent pubs, clubs and restaurants, they can’t afford to make a bad decision on an energy contract.

“This is where we step in. We’ll give a transparent offer, they’ll know exactly what they’re paying, and then we’ll go and help drive people within the local area into these businesses, so that’s how I think we’re different.”

Social media and vlogging serves a double purpose for Kudos: forming a large part of its marketing strategy as well as a tool for cementing relationships. Stephen explained: “What we’re trying to do is make a huge social media presence, and we’re trying to demonstrate how transparent we are that way.

“We’ll go out to [businesses], videoing it, and we’ll do competitions with them… We’ll just check in with them really, see how they’re getting on. They get full face-to-face account management.

“By pushing that out on social media, it’s demonstrating what we’re doing - which is vital.”

The founders’ time at Utilitywise inadvertently provided them with useful insight into the industry, as David explained: “The best thing we took from our time at Utilitywise, other than the experience and how we progressed individually, was what not to do, or what didn’t work.”

“We’ve seen some of the malpractice that’s happened, where the market’s not transparent and everyone’s out to rip customers off,” Alex elaborated: “It’s got such a bad reputation, and we wanted to differentiate ourselves from the stereotypical view.”

Choosing his words carefully, Stephen added: “[Our ethos] will disrupt competitors because we’re being transparent, we’re telling people what they shouldn’t listen to on a sales call, and competitors won’t like it. But it’s just honest, it’s being transparent.”

Working at Utilitywise held another unexpected bonus for the entrepreneurs: it allowed them to handpick Kudos’ first outbound calling team, recruiting four former colleagues in the wake of the firm’s collapse.

It was this moment that marked a significant growth milestone for David: “We took the four guys, gave them jobs, and all of a sudden the whole dynamic changed. We essentially stole them from under the nose of local competitors.

Despite being in high demand, the staff came to Kudos because, according to Stephen: “They believed in the story.”

“They wanted to be part of a new smaller local business that has the right morals and the right ethos,” Stephen explained: “They wanted to grow something with us, so it’s a real team mentality. Everybody is pulling in the right direction.”

Following the hiring of its outbound calling team, the firm is set to move into its brand new office this Friday (May 31) at Cobalt Business Exchange. Stephen explained: “It’s a lovely office, and it’s got room to expand.

“At the minute, there’s going to be seven or eight of us in there, it can fit in another eight people comfortably. We want to stay lean but you know we will grow inevitably, there will be more heads.”

David added: “We’re looking at bringing some apprentices, we see that as a really good way of growing, but giving back as well. You have got to invest heavily into them.

“What we’ll not do is what the competitors do, which is put as many bums on seats, cast as bigger net as possible and hope for the best, cold call people to death,” David stressed: “That’s not how we want to operate.”

To round off our chat, the entrepreneurial trio shared some advice: “We just want to inspire anyone who has felt down, has been made redundant or isn’t having the best time at work - keep the faith, have hope.

“Take a risk! Drive and determination and passion, that’ll get you through.”

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