August 16, 2023 The Case for Joining an Emerging Industry

As electric vehicles take off, those who join the industry early stand to reap the rewards.

By Scott Swidersky, CMO of Blue Whale EV, an end-to-end EV charging consultancy

It’s 1994, and you get a call from a guy named Jeff Bezos. He tells you online shopping is the next big thing and asks you to join his company.

Knowing what we know now, who wouldn’t take that offer?

Unfortunately, the opportunity to join Amazon in the early days of ecommerce has passed. But many of us are in the position to ride the wave of other emerging industries if we’re willing to take the risk.

What is an emerging industry?

An emerging industry is simply an industry in an early stage of development, and they’re often marked by a strong potential for hyper-growth. Think of e-commerce in the mid-1990s, cloud services in the early 2010s, or generative AI right now.

While companies in every emerging industry are looking to attract talent, one of today’s most promising areas is the world of eclectic vehicles

EVs and EVSE as an emerging industry

Many people are aware that electric vehicles (EVs) have been on the rise for several years now. However, few people realize just how dramatic the rise of EVs has been.

Here are just a few statistics:

1. Annual EV sales in the United States have doubled each year for the past two years (IEA).
2. Electric car sales exceeded 10 million in 2022, making up 14% of the total market (IEA).
3. EV sales globally are expected to reach 35% of the total market by 2030 (IEA).
4. In California, zero-emission vehicles made up 25% of new vehicle sales in the second quarter of 2023 (California Energy Commission).

For automakers, there’s no question if EVs are the future. Jaguar has committed to going all-electric by 2025, Volkswagen recently pledged a $193 billion investment in its EV production to reach 20% EV sales by 2025, and General Motors plans to only sell zero-emission vehicles by 2035.

The EV revolution opens up a myriad of business opportunities. Just as the growth of the internet gave rise to web designers, domain providers, and e-commerce sites, the growth of EVs is giving rise to electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) – namely EV chargers – and EV battery production.

Why people are making the leap to emerging industries

Nearly every day, I talk with people interested in joining Blue Whale EV or getting into the industry. They generally share a few characteristics:

1. They’ve hit a career plateau: While the journey from entry-level to mid-level management can go quickly in mature industries, many people are forced to wait years to break into senior leadership. That’s not the case in emerging industries.
2. They’re tired of small year-over-year raises: When companies grow rapidly, as is often the case in emerging industries, employees stand to cash in through promotions, bonuses, profit sharing, or stock options.
3. They love innovation: In mature industries, innovation often crawls along, hampered by bureaucracy. In emerging industries, innovation is rapid.
4. They want to be around high-achieving risk takers: People who work in emerging industries by nature are looking for high-risk, high-reward, and this creates work environments full of all stars ready to go full steam ahead.

What’s stopping you from taking the leap?

If you’re interested in joining an emerging market, here are a few things I’d recommend:

1. Weigh the pros and cons
   While there are major upsides to emerging industries, they’re also more volatile. If you’re not able to take financial risks, then a new start in an emerging industry might not be for you. However, if you’re in a place to operate in a higher risk, higher reward environment, then an emerging industry might be for you.
2. Research the industry and find your niche
   Emerging industries often create ripple effects, spawning all types of sub-industries.
   Take EVs as an example. It’s far more than cars. There are numerous subsets of the industry you could get involved with. Before making the leap, consider where your skill set could be most valuable.
3. Look for positions that fit your skill set and apply
   Positions that might require 15 years of experience in a mature industry will only require a fraction of that in an emerging market. Therefore, aim high when looking at what’s open. Furthermore, emerging markets often have more open positions than qualified applicants, so don’t be afraid to apply for positions where you fit only 75% of the criteria.

The time is now

While many people would still relish an opportunity to work at Amazon, there’s no doubt that the offer in 1994 would’ve been much more valuable. In emerging industries, timing is everything. For those looking to get in on the ground floor of the EV industry, the time to act is now.

Scott Swidersky has over 25 years of experience working in the IT field, and for the past six years has served as Vice President of the Intelligent Information Management Practice at Konica Minolta Business Solutions, USA, Inc. and President of Quality Associates, Inc (QAI). As CMO of Blue Whale EV, Scott is responsible for Blue Whale EV’s go to market strategies. Scott holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Jacksonville University.

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