Ep. 4: Christine Boyle - Dialing in on a Pain Point
I first met Christine Boyle about a week before I specialized in water at Imagine H20's annual winners announcement, where she was receiving the award for Best Early-stage Water Company in 2015. Fast forward almost eight years, she has been an extraordinary guide and mentor, and now a Partner at BIV. After selling her company Valor Water Analytics to Xylem in 2018, she remained with the company to head up much of their internal digital innovation efforts. She understands more than most the grind of company building in the space, building a market-leading product, picking your way through the utility sales process, hiring and managing brilliant teams. A veteran of both Y Combinator and Techstars, she also has an invaluable perspective on the standards for company building outside water. She's just excellent. Please enjoy my conversation with Christine Boyle.
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Tom welcomes Christine Boyle, a truly remarkable figure with a unique journey in the water industry. After winning the Best Early Stage Water Company Award in 2015, Christine's company, Valor Water Analytics, caught the attention of Xylem, a global water company. Driven by her dedication to build outstanding companies, save water, and create professional ecosystems to solve complex global dilemmas, Christine has been a Partner at Burnt Island Ventures since May 2023. In this candid conversation, you'll gain insights into Christine's incredible journey, the challenges of building a water-focused venture, the dynamics of water economics, and so much more.
Episode Highlights:
0:00 Start
0:48 Introduction
1:44 Christine’s start in water
3:31 The water problems she’s been trying to solve
7:06 Christine’s experience as a CEO
9:07 Exiting Valor Water Analytics
11:45 Comparing Venture building within and outside the water sector
14:23 Christine’s advice for entrepreneurs regarding rapid growth
16:43 Valor’s deployment process and the nature of the sales of utilities
19:16 What Christine has learned from top-tier training
21:06 Her perspective on the rise in data on water
23:41 The need for better technology and devices
28:09 What Christine has learned going from the start-up world to the corporate world
29:30 The tension between having an impact and creating something commercially viable
31:01 Her perspective on the macro water sector
33:03 The link between water and human health interventions
36:24 Christine’s reflections on China and its water
38:32 Her one lesson learned that she would pass on to future water founders
