Why renewables?

Not because the idea seemed super ridiculous, but if I’m honest with myself, back then I wasn’t really thinking about purpose. I was pretty damn focused on progression.

Let me rewind to the early days

I moved to Bristol after university and never really left. For a good number of years, I knuckled down and got on with my career and worked my way up from entry-level commercial roles across agencies, media groups, publishers, events businesses, and client side. In that time, the work spanned, tech, IT, data, fintech, accountancy, affiliate marketing, a lot of variety and plenty of different pitches. 

Looking back, it was the ideal learning experience and gave me the opportunity to build the skills tool-kit and meet some genuinely brilliant people who came into my life along the way. Those same people (you know who you are), I still count as good friends and confidants to this very day.

By the end of it, I was up in the SLT and managing teams of amazing people. I am genuinely proud of that chapter, it wasn’t perfect and there were a few ‘moments’ along the way but I do look back with fondness. However, as you can probably guess, the story doesn’t end there.

Something was nagging at me

It was hard to put my finger on it at the time. Looking at things objectively, it was ‘going well.’ But there was something right in the centre of me that felt absent. A kind of low-level restlessness and as the years stacked up, it got harder to ignore. The work was fine and my career was progressing in the right direction.

But the why wasn’t there. And that matters more than I’d given it credit for.

Meanwhile, a completely different part of my life was quietly doing all the heavy lifting.

During those trips as a kid and then a teenager, it was clear that change was happening. It was just too much to ignore. The snowlines got higher, the ‘big days’ got more spaced out and the marginal nature of Scottish skiing got more stark with each passing season. To this day, I keep an eye on a pretty obscure web forum that tracks the final operating dates of specific lifts in Scotland and it makes for grim reading. If you’re into Scottish skiing, you’ll know exactly the kind of obsessive, evangelical community that surrounds it. There’s a Facebook group dedicated to Scottish ski touring and often the posts are massive days out in the hills, walking, biking, carrying skis with a few turns in the middle of it all. 

What the forums and groups are documenting is how change is affecting my home hills. What we are seeing now are whole winters with barely any snow. The winter conditions that used to be (somewhat!) reliable are becoming genuinely uncertain. The evidence of climate change isn’t abstract, it’s personal. The lower slopes me and Dad used to ski back in the day are now rarely, if ever, in condition.

Family adventures

Since becoming a parent, the stakes have shifted again. Taking my boys out into the hills, be it on bikes or skis, is part of our family adventures. I want them to have what I had. Those mornings getting up early into the mountains, the views, the picnic stops, the sense of space. That matters more than I can properly articulate.

The pivot moment came through a conversation with Karl Davis at Empire Engineering. Karl was growing his business, confident in his engineering skills and had the market insight, but what he recognised was that he was finding the commercial side harder to navigate.

It started with a simple, “Could you come and help?” The first engagement was a hastily arranged training day for his team of engineers. It was all pretty informal and lightweight. We spent a few hours together looking at pitches, doing shadow games on prospect Q&As and practicing our introductions. The idea was to help the team feel supported around the basic BD touchpoints.

From a side quest to the main event

That training day turned into some follow up support. “You know a bit about websites, right?” Over time, what started as a bit of freelancing on the side of a full-time job slowly revealed something bigger.

And that was this: the renewable energy world is full of genuinely exceptional technical minds, people doing extraordinary work, who find the commercial bit quite hard. Not because they’re not capable. But because ‘doing BD’ was never where their passion and purpose was pointed.

That was the light-bulb moment. I knew it was not an engineer’s life for me, I cannot draw a straight line. But what if I could take all of my commercial craft and put it to work in a sector that actually matters? What if I could help brilliant, purpose-driven people go to market with the confidence and clarity they deserve?

And so it was time to Make the Break

In February 2020, I made the jump to go full time as a solo consultant. It turns out that was pretty bold timing. Not only because of the obvious, but my wife was pregnant with our second child. It really was a leap!

A couple of chance encounters came my way. It just so happened that in the final days before the first lockdown I met two co-founders, Paul and Gabby, who were growing their own start up in offshore wind O&M software. We met purely by chance at a networking event and agreed to terms in the hours before Boris’ famous speech. Their burgeoning software, Sennen Tech, became a mainstay client for the next three years. I had the absolute privilege of supporting them all the way to a successful acquisition. Had we not met, the story could have been so different.

By 2023, the time felt right to stop operating as a solo consultant and actually build something. Between 2020-2023 while I enjoyed renewables work, I also took on other projects. That was about to change. And so, Make the Break became a proper business and we started on the path that we find ourselves on today. A few years on and Make the Break has matured into a BD and marketing firm with a laser focus. Now, in our 7th year of trading we’re growing the team, adding to our capabilities and have a back catalogue of work we are collectively proud of.

Why renewables

So, why renewables?

Because when I found this sector, I found the missing piece. A community of people who care deeply about what they’re building and why they’re building it. Work that connects directly to something I’ve been watching change in front of my eyes my whole life.

I’m not an engineer. I’m not a scientist. My contribution is never going to be designing turbines, laying cables or performing the geotechnical analysis.

But I can help the people who do that work by enabling them to tell their stories so they land with maximum impact. That’s my why.

We found our vibe and found our tribe

It might sound cheesy (and frankly I don’t care if it does) but I absolutely love what we do at Make the Break. We know exactly who we’re here for. Technical businesses in renewables, with big ambitions and the brains to back them up, who just need the commercial direction to match. That clarity has changed everything. When you stop trying to be all things to all people, you get very good very quickly at the things that matter.

The brand is growing. We’re doing our best work. And the sector we chose to plant our flag in is only getting more important.

There’s a lot more to come. And we’re very ready for it.

That’s why.