Don’t get stuck the calculations – just start doing it as fast as possible. This is Geert Slachmuylders’ favorite piece of advice. As Co-Founder of Turbulent Hydropower, Geert has experienced this first hand. Having launched Turbulent after doing his college thesis on engineering and environmental responsibility, the startup went straight to testing it in the market. As per many first time founders, they learned lessons from so called failures (such as their first iteration developed turbines that no one wanted or needed).
Turbulent designs and develops a new type innovative hydropower turbine – one that is more socially & environmentally impactful.
Turbulent designs and develops innovative hydropower turbines. Typical hydropower machinery in dams has negative consequences on rivers and local communities with tendencies to cause mass flooding. If you are like me, a turbine is a foreign word – turbines are the thing with rotating paddles that turn inside water and generate electric energy. They are used in rivers, canals or bodies of water to generate electric energy. Old school turbines were those water mills you see in the movies, the ones with the wheels spinning like a giant spoked wagon wheel and fueling the mill to operate. After a while engineers started to make these paddles larger and larger to be able to generate more energy. This way hydropower turned from something that was inclusive, socially acceptable and eco-friendly into a behemoth that impacts whole watersheds and forces whole cities to be moved because they are flooding the valley. Turbine technology is particularly socially and environmentally impactful in that they are designed to only need low pressure and use water as opposed to mainstream hydropower technology that causes the big problem of blocking rivers and causing floods that can be devastating to communities and ecosystems. Turbulent prides itself on producing turbines that exist in harmony with nature. And beyond that, they are putting the turbines in the hands of the people. Local communities can develop turbines themselves due to Turbulent’s ridiculously easy to understand technology. Transforming typically extensively intricate and confusing hydropower machinery into simplistic tech that is no more difficult than to repair your car. Okay, truth is that might not be as easy for me as most people…but I digress… Typically, hydropower used internationally especially by big organizations in Asia and Africa are so complex that when they do break down, no one is on the ground to repair it, rendering it useless.
Local communities can develop turbines themselves due to Turbulent’s ridiculously easy to understand technology.
Currently, Turbulent operates in Chile, Belgium, and France. They are exploring the legal feasibility of entering the markets in the United States and Puerto Rico; however, these are more expensive and harder to enter due to legal nuances and regulatory complexities. Turbulent sells to anyone who owns and manages canals or rivers, including all farmers. There are more than 570 million farmers around the world – needless to say, they have a sizable prospective customer base.
There are more than 570 million farmers around the world – needless to say, they have a sizable prospective customer base.
And they are continuing to ramp up their operations as they go from launch and start-up phase to a new maturity of growth. As per most entrepreneurs, the things they are currently most excited about are the same things that are the most challenging. Entering this new phase of growth and development at the company comes with its challenges in finding new management, creating efficient systems as they scale, and becoming actually structured. Geert and his co-founder Jasper Verreydt are a dream team though. Geert being an ideator, creative, and conqueror of chaos which made him apt at starting up. Alternatively, Jasper complements him in that he is completely opposite, bringing an expertise in organization, logistics, and systems. Since they launched in 2015 with two full-time employees, they are currently a team of 12 with roles across marketing, engineering, and sales.
Parallel 18 was particularly impactful – the team explored a new market in the United States & Puerto Rico which is renowned for being a bridge between LATAM & the US.
Participating in Parallel 18 was particularly impactful for the team and company. Turbulent was able to explore a new market in the United States and Puerto Rico which is renowned for being a bridge between Latin America and the US where startups can prototyping scaling in both these regions (just another reason that entrepreneurs should move to Puerto Rico). Likewise, they were introduced to investors, benefitted from the structured program knowledge, and were able to achieve major milestones fueled by Parallel 18’s KPI program feature which teams check in on weekly.
If you generate a successful lead to a new client, the Turbulent team will give you a kickback of 5% of the profits.
If you are interested in being part of a more impactful, environmentally friendly and innovative technology in hydropower and if whenever you have an idea for development, work with Turbulent. They are currently undertaking to map out hydropower hotspots with over 7,000 megawatts across Chile. Additionally, if you generate a successful lead to a new client, the Turbulent team will give you a kickback of 5% of the profits. Join the movement.
If you are interested in being part of a more impactful, environmentally friendly and innovative technology in hydropower and if whenever you have an idea for development, work with Turbulent.
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