Fuse CEO Alan Chang: The Revolut Playbook of Speed & Ownership, Why Founders Aren’t Ambitious Enough

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

January 5, 2026

Duration

1h 6m

Channel

The Twenty Minute VC

Watch on YouTube

▶ Open ↗

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Alan Chang, Co-Founder and CEO of Fuse Energy. Alan has scaled Fuse Energy from $2M in revenue in the first year, to $20M the second year to now $400M in the third year. Like Netflix beat incumbents to own media, Revolut beat incumbents to own banking, Fuse will beat incumbents to own energy. Prior to founding Fuse, Alan was one of the first three hires at Revolut where he played a crucial role alongside Nik (Founder) in scaling the company to over $75BN valuation. ----------------------------------------------- Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 01:20 The interview process that led to the $150M pay packet 04:58 How Revolut drove speed and urgency in their teams 08:35 You cannot have work-life balance 10:56 What I disagreed with Nik on most 13:50 Is Nik right that Revolut should have got a banking licence earlier? 18:18 Energy Crisis 25:20 Why China is the shining light for regulation to follow 30:28 Interview Process: Green & Red Flags 39:31 Lesson from Nik about ownership and excuses 40:58 The signs of truly top performing people in a team 48:15 You need to work weekends to win 54:00 Every single year we 10x revenue - now at ~$400M 55:45 Why Eastern European engineers are the best 57:33 What People Get Wrong About Having Money 59:12 Quick-Fire Round ----------------------------------------------- Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3j2KMcZTtgTNBKwtZBMHvl?si=85bc9196860e4466 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-twenty-minute-vc-20vc-venture-capital-startup/id958230465 Follow Harry Stebbings on X: https://twitter.com/HarryStebbings Follow Alan Chang on X: https://twitter.com/alanchanguk Follow 20VC on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/20vchq Follow 20VC on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@20vc_tok Visit our Website: https://www.20vc.com Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://www.thetwentyminutevc.com/contact ----------------------------------------------- #20vc #harrystebbings #alanchang #founders #fuse #revolut #nikstoronsky #engineers #worklifebalance

🎤 SPEAKERS

• Alan Chang

  guest

• Harry Stebbings

  host

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of The Twenty Minute VC, featuring Alan Chang and Harry Stebbings, Fuse CEO Alan Chang: The Revolut Playbook of Speed & Ownership, Why Founders Aren’t Ambitious Enough explores alan Chang on ruthless speed, extreme ownership, and fixing energy Alan Chang, former Revolut executive and now CEO of Fuse Energy, explains how Revolut’s culture of relentless speed, extreme ownership, and ambition shaped both his career and his new company. He argues that most founders are not nearly ambitious enough, and that the real differentiator between similar product roadmaps is execution velocity and talent density, not ideas. Chang dives into hiring philosophy, performance management, and why he rejects work–life balance for anyone who wants to build a “generational company.” He also lays out a provocative view of global energy policy, why the UK is structurally behind, and how Fuse aims to become bigger than Shell by making power cheap, abundant, and tech-driven.

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