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In this Open Letter:

• Smart moves: New energy tech to take the price fight to Eskom.

• Grok gets artsy, gaming gets going & Home Affairs’ big career move.

• Dream come true: The truth about getting high-quality inbound leads.

• The startup that sends a mechanic to your door: See who got it right.

• Lonely building your startup? Join The Open Collab and get support.

Together with:

TRENDING NOW

Taking the Tariff Fight to Eskom

Remember loadshedding? 

What started way back in 2007, came and went in ebbs and flows before peaking in 2023 with nearly 7’000 pretty dark hours throughout the year (almost 3x the amount of loadshedding than the previous year). We all hated the dark, but in the macro picture, it led to the birth of an entirely new industry.

Here Comes the Boom

In 2023, South Africa experienced a solar boom, with a record-breaking R17.5 billion worth of solar panel imports (3x what it did in 2022). 

Interestingly, these solar panels have a combined nominal capacity of around 5’000 MW, more than both Eskom’s largest coal-fired power stations, Medupi and Kusile, which have a nominal capacity of 4,800 MW each.

But suddenly, out of the blue, loadshedding was suspended on 26 March 2024… 

And despite many people around the country thinking SA would get plunged into Stage 8 darkness sometime after the last votes got counted after election day (29 May 2024), it remains suspended to this day (259 days and counting)...

All is not lost…

For consumers, the name of the game went from keeping the lights on during bouts of loadshedding to trying to maximise your solar savings by minimising your reliance on the grid.

And now that loadshedding might not really be a thing anymore, solar owners might be left wondering what to do with the R60k to R250k white elephant sitting on their roof.

Eskom has been increasing its prices steadily, with Eskom’s tariff hikes staying below inflation until about 2008 when it started to climb sharply. 

Between 2007 & 2022, inflation in SA was 129%; Eskom’s tariffs, on the other hand, increased 5x the rate of inflation: a staggering 653%.

And in 2023 and 2024, Eskom hit consumers with another 18% and 13% respectively. 

And there’s another multi-year increase on the cards:

• 36.15% from 1 April 2025

• 11.81% from 1 April 2026

• and 9.10% from 1 April 2027

Like some sort of sick multi-year April Fool’s joke if you ask us… 

The cost-benefit of using as little as possible electricity from Eskom is becoming substantial.

The local player helping SA get more bang for their electricity bucks…

Plentify is a home energy management platform that provides intelligent ways to optimise consumers’ home energy and load management. For starters, by looking at that energy-guzzling geyser – chowing between 40% & 60% of your electricity usage.

Plentify’s HotBot controller is a smart device that helps reduce your geyser’s energy usage. But the real magic happens when you have solar installed: Plentify’s SolarBot device helps your solar system optimally utilise generated electricity (when it’s free during the day, of course) by analysing weather patterns, human behavioural data (i.e. when and how you use electricity) not to mention loadshedding schedules when that was still a thing…

And with 8 years' worth of insights from tens of thousands of installed smart devices, Plentify knows what they’re talking about, allowing them to back it up with a solid software offering: 

• App: How you control your energy usage by getting real-time insights to optimise your home’s energy usage and save up to 30% of your water heating costs.

• Platform: Using data and insights to minimise your electricity usage over time.

And it’s the platform’s intelligence that gives it an edge. For example, Instead of programming a geyser timer, just tell it when you want hot water (say 6 AM or whatever), and it’ll do the calculations to make it so every time.

They also have big future plans for smarter energy usage: Plentify founder, Jon Kornik told us about “shiftable appliances” – i.e. one you can connect and decouple depending on its electricity needs at different times. Think geezers, pool pumps etc. 

And it’s this way of thinking that’s core to their business. 

With tech platforms like Plentify enabling more people to use their energy more optimally, we’re watching this space.

IN SHORT

Some lekke facts to gooi around the watercooler…

🎮 Gaming Africa. Local indie gaming studio Yellow Lab Games has just been acquired by ReForged Studios. This is ReForged’s third acquisition in the last few months after it acquired Ground Shatter and Extra Mile Studios both from the UK. We recently discovered the SA game studio space is quite big, with more than 60 active studios, nice.

👔 Legal Bot. African law firm Bowmans has become the first in Africa to integrate Generative AI platform ‘Harvey’ into its operations. ‘Harvey’ uses advanced AI algorithms to assist lawyers in efficiently and accurately reviewing contracts, summarising and translating documents, and performing redline reviews. If it’s as quirky as Harvey Specter, we might actually want to use it for something else…

🎨 Grok’s Artistic Side. xAI has just gotten its own AI image generator called ‘Aurora’. While it’s still unclear if ‘Aurora’ was trained by xAI, built on top of existing image generators, or built in collaboration with a 3rd party, Elon Musk has alluded to it having its own ‘image generation system’. It’s still in beta, but some of the initial images we’ve seen look pretty cool. Time will tell.

🎥 Speaking of AI creations. OpenAI released its video creation capability called Sora yesterday. Available everywhere, except, of course, Europe. The first videos look pretty slick, and if you have a ChatGPT subscription, you can go make some videos.

💼 Government Gigs. Fancy a job at Home Affairs? Well, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) has launched an eRecruitment platform that allows prospective job applicants to view and apply for all departmental vacancies online without the hassle of paperwork. Say what you will, but HA is making big strides in adopting digital solutions, we just wonder if it also takes a 2-hour lunch break…

😎 The Stack. Founders need tools and suppliers they can trust. Check out our Founder’s Stack with your own fractional CFO for less with OCFO, the easiest way to manage your finances with Xero and 12 more vital startup tools & services.

CHECK THIS OUT

How to Get Better Quality Business Leads

When it comes to lead quality, nothing beats a solid inbound lead. Zendesk found that 59% of marketing professionals believe inbound strategies deliver the highest-quality leads, while only 16% think the same about outbound.

And let’s be honest – it makes sense. If someone’s actively looking for what you offer, they’re already halfway to buying.

But here’s the catch: How do you ensure those buyers find you first? The answer lies in three key areas: Presence, Awareness and Nurture.

Presence: Can They Find You?

This one’s simple – if they search for your solution, do you show up? Your SEO game needs to be on point. But it doesn’t stop there…

Does your website have enough substance to guide their decision? When they check your company’s socials or even the founder’s LinkedIn profile, does it look like things are happening? 

Your online presence is your credibility, so make sure it says, “We’re the ones you’ve been looking for.”

Awareness: Are You the First Name They Think Of?

When their problem becomes urgent, are you the first to come to mind? You need to be visible – everywhere they are.

Are you sharing insights that resonate? Are you showing up on social, not just as a business, but as a founder who’s passionate about solving their challenges? Consistency builds familiarity, and familiarity keeps you top of mind.

Nurture: Build Trust That Lasts

Even the best leads need a little guidance. Does your content help them understand their challenges better? And, more importantly, does it tie their solution back to you?

This is where things like blog posts, guides and case studies shine. Drip campaigns can keep potential customers engaged, and a newsletter can keep your brand relevant. 

The goal is to create trust – trust that your solution isn’t just a fix but the fix.

The problem is most scaling B2B brands do one of the above, but it’s really when you do all three that the inbound magic happens. 

But “it’s a lot of content to create”, I hear you say… that’s why there’s Stream, your unlimited content generation subscription service delivered by the team behind The Open Letter.

Want to get yourself set up for inbound leads in 2025? 

Book a FREE content strategy session with us before 17 January 2025.

BUILDING TOGETHER

Happening over at The Open Collab

In the last few days alone, in our online community, we…

• Discussed some of the most outrageous HR practices.

• Voted on where to get out free coffee — hmmmmm… 😊☕

• Connected Elijah to a potential partner/collaborator.

• Helped Sebastian with some fire website payment options.

• Got our first glimpse of OpenAI’s Sora — now available!

• Ordered some beautifully marbled wagyu steaks via Christiaan’s new online portal.

• Had fun playing Laurie’s word game, Kwartel.

• Discussed YC’s move out of Africa and the Western Cape’s GDP potential.

• Welcome so many new members! (The consensus being that The Open Letter and Open Collab offer such a fresh local perspective as opposed to all the normal US-based startup fare.)

Thinking about joining The Open Collab?

• Supercharge your network in the SA startup landscape — get that introduction, get that customer, or meet that partner.

• Get feedback on your products, services and/or offers from others who have built and are building their own products right now.

• Join all our online and in-person events for free!

• Exclusive 1-on-1 sessions with startup consultants.

• All for only R500 a month!

SA’s only dedicated tech startup and scale-up founder community.

HAPPENING SOON

Upcoming Events

11 December 2024 — Year-End Reflection Workshop — Online: Our friends at Metavolve are teaching founders their super-strategic ideal way for startups to end off the year (to enable them to dominate in Jan) — register for free here.

13 December 2024 — Sales Masterclass — Online: Part 3: Keep your B2B sales pipeline filled with this Masterclass session with sales expert, Sebastian Chapman — Join The Open Collab community to attend for free.

View all our upcoming events here.

WHAT YOU SAID

The wheel deal…

We asked a vehicle startup-based riddle in the last Fast Five Friday, and not a lot knew that Michanic services your car at your house…

🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨 🛠️ WeFixCars: 38% 

🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜️⬜️ 🛻 Michanic: 25% 

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ 🩺 CarDok: 31% 

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🧘 RideGuru: 6%

Your 2 cents…

Solid bet, William. Not this time, though, right answer is Michanic. 🚨

Thanks for the intro, DJ, we gonna go check out Fixxr. 👀