Okay people, let's talk power. No, not the commercial power we've talked about that's fueling AI's demand. I'm talking about the power in your home. Residential power. Which, as a creature of suburban America in the 21st century, is the most important type of power. Jeff, I bet you’d agree.
Is that a first-world problem? Absolutely. And I recognize that. But when hour three of no power rolls around, I suddenly wish I was more a part of the candle-buying process at TJ Maxx this past year. Light another lavender candle? Or maybe “Seashore Eucalyptus”? Who the hell is coming up with these names? I’ll pass. I'd rather stub my toe half a dozen times on furniture I can't see.
But this isn't just about small inconveniences. How about losing the food in your refrigerator and freezer? That's not cheap. How about the serious situations? Power outages during extreme cold, heat waves, or flooding can quickly become deadly. Historically, the answer has been a loud gas generator humming in somebody's driveway for the next two days.
Enter Base.
A company changing the game with a home battery system that kicks in automatically the second the grid goes down. No flashlight scramble. No deciding which rooms get power and which don’t for those with a legacy generator. We’re talking about a whole-home backup from a system installed in an afternoon.
Is it exciting? No. But it's not supposed to be. It's just power when you need it most.
Okay but how
Here's the TLDR of the install process. In a normal home, city or county power runs from the street to your meter. The meter connects to your electrical panel (breaker box), which sends power to the rest of your home.
Base breaks that connection. Instead of the meter to the breaker, Base reroutes: the meter goes to Base's disconnect box, which connects to both the “Base Core” (their new battery box) and your electrical panel. When everything is normal, Base’s disconnect panel charges the Base Core and sends power to your breaker. I highly recommend the video below.
But while power is normal, your battery isn't just sitting there waiting to back you up. It's working. Think about it in terms of a week:
Mon: Normal night, normal energy use. Your battery charges up because electricity's cheap overnight, and Base's system knows the optimal window to do it in.
Weds afternoon: One of those 95-degree days. Everyone's cranking AC and the grid feels the pressure — like a highway during rush hour. Your battery shares some of its stored power back.
That's actually how Base makes money: buying energy cheap when demand is low, then selling some of it back to the grid at a higher price when demand spikes.
Thurs night: Heavy storms are forecasted, and Base's system already knows. It starts holding extra reserve before anything actually happens.
Fri night: The storm knocks out power all around you. But your system kicks in before you even notice.
Sun: The power company finishes repairs and restores the grid. Your Base battery kept your house running for 36 hours.
Charging when it's cheap, sharing power when the grid needs it, and keeping your lights on while everyone else is sitting in candlelight. Sounds like a good investment if you ask me.
The guys who started it
Zach Dell (Co-founder and CEO). A University of Southern Cal. grad who started three different companies before he graduated. But who’s counting. From there, he went straight to Blackstone and Thrive Capital. A venture capital, private equity, startup-founding, psychology, and economics grad. Talk about a recipe for business success.
During his tenure at Blackstone and Thrive, Zach found a niche in batteries. Pair that with his longstanding interest in energy, and in 2023, Base Power was founded.
And yes, he’s the son of Michael Dell. But I think of that more as a footnote than a headline. Make no mistake about it… Zach earned the reputation he has today. You can't fall into a multi-billion-dollar startup valuation.
Justin Lopas (Co-founder and COO). A University of Michigan mechanical engineering grad who skipped the finance track and went straight into building. SpaceX for nearly four years, where he built and led a 70-plus-person fabrication and integration team on Starship manufacturing. Then Head of Manufacturing at Anduril, leading a 150-plus-person team. No big deal… just two of the most talked-about startups in recent memory.
Why leave SpaceX and Anduril? To quote Justin's own LinkedIn: to build "the next generation of the electrical grid." Now we're freaking talkin'.
So when the finance guy and the builder met, they leveraged both their skills and built exactly that — the next generation of home power. From inception to a $13 billion valuation in three years…
The honest take
Okay, let's talk about how this actually works. Base operates in one of two ways:
As a partner to your existing utility (they keep control and Base gets paid for access to your battery's stored energy when it's needed).
As your energy provider outright.
Either way, you're paying an installation fee — $695 for a single battery, $995 for two — plus a monthly membership ($19-$29) covering monitoring and maintenance for the life of your system.
So are you being used by Base to store cheap energy and sell it back to the grid when demand spikes?
Well… no, not really. Yes, that's happening, but in exchange you're getting a home battery system worth thousands with virtually no upfront cost and zero maintenance. Plus a real backup system for when you need it most. No refrigerator purge in your future.
Can you order one today? Maybe. Base is still predominantly operating in Texas and Illinois, with expansions underway. Their new Austin factory is targeting ~4,000 units a week by the end of the year — which should tell you they're planning on going national.
If you can't get one today… be patient. Because I’d bet a company that went from inception to a $13B valuation in ~3 years will get to your area quicker than you think.
If they pull this off
Supporting the grid when energy demand is highest, and backing up your home when you need it most. That's what Base set out to do. Not one megaplant propping up the grid from a central location — but a network of thousands of homes each doing their part, while getting a genuinely good deal out of it.
Were these guys inspired by Allen from The Other Guys? A collective of unified citizens, stepping up and doing their part? I'd like to think so.
And turns out, it's needed. The U.S. Energy Information Administration published a brief a few days ago confirming that hourly peak load on ERCOT (Texas's grid) hit an all-time high on July 22nd.
And in a state where everything is bigger, they may just need millions of socially conscious citizens doing their part. It seems like every week a new project or startup is moving to Texas (cough cough the new Tesla and SpaceX Terafab facility). That's more demand, commercial and residential, on a grid that just broke its own record. If Base can pull this off, they can be a part of solving the actual energy crunch.
Want to work out there?
Base is hiring — a lot. 171 open positions as of this post, across almost every department: engineering, manufacturing, finance, accounting, marketing. You name it, they've got it. As they state themselves, "Every battery we deploy secures critical infrastructure, lowers bills for Americans, and moves the U.S. toward true energy abundance." Sounds like an aspirational company to be a part of.
Open roles → https://www.basepowercompany.com/open-roles
Welcome to Left Field
Left Field goes out every week. One company. No filler. Know a company that belongs out here? Hit the comment button and let us know.
If someone sent this to you, subscribe here: