Dalraj Nijjar is the co-founder and chief commercial officer (CCO) of Concrete4Change, a startup that captures and mineralises CO2 to develop sustainable concrete.
The Nottingham-based startup has developed technology to capture CO2 from the atmosphere and mix it in with fresh concrete as an additive. Concrete4Change says the result is concrete that is 20% stronger and can prevent additional carbon leaks.
The startup has raised £4.5m in funding, including a £2.5m round in January.
In this week’s Founder in Five Q&A, the Concrete4Change executive explains why you should work for another founder before launching your own venture, shares tips for motivating teams, and explains why the domestic energy industry is ripe for technology disruption.
1. What advice would you give to a first-time founder?
Dalraj Nijjar: I would encourage first-time founders to work for an established founder for a period of time. By getting work experience and exposure in a startup that already has a proven track record of innovation and creating immense value, inexperienced founders can take these learnings to their new venture.
2. When should a founder CEO pass the baton on to a new chief executive?
DN: In my opinion, it should be avoided in most cases. Many well-established and iconic companies have been founder-led through the various stages of growth. The vision that founders have is almost impossible to replicate with a hired CEO.
Furthermore, the personal motivations of a founder CEO versus a hired CEO may differ. While founders often look to create a legacy that lasts through the lifetime of the company, a hired CEO is more likely to run the company for pure financial return – those two strands are different lenses through which to operate and grow a company.
3. How do you motivate your team?
DN: As a founder, the best way to motivate a team is leading by example, and setting high standards which you yourself are able to achieve. It’s also important to understand how each person in a team thinks and operates, as how you motivate one employee could be completely different to how you motivate another.
Nevertheless, having an overarching goal that unites the team should be a given. Founders and business leaders must go a few steps further to make it crystal clear to their team how each individual is contributing to this ultimate goal.
4. What’s a fact about you that people might find surprising?
DN: I played 8 ball English pool to a decent level when I was a teenager and played on a couple of occasions for the Warwickshire County 8 Ball pool team.
My family owned a pub when I was younger, so after working many hours behind a bar and cleaning up (for free), I was paid in the form of free games of pool!
5. Excluding your own, what’s a sector that’s ripe for disruption
DN: The domestic energy industry is ripe for disruption, particularly if technologies such as solar can get widespread adoption and the unit costs continue to go down.
I can see a scenario where there are impactful companies built off the back of empowering consumers to create energy-efficient homes, selling their excess energy back to the grid at scale.
Founder in Five – a UKTN Q&A series with the entrepreneurs behind the UK’s innovative tech startups, scaleups and unicorns – is published every Friday.
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