Matthew Clare

Co-Founder of Arlington Energy

(Forbes 30 Under 30)

13 December 2019 9 Min Read

Matthew Clare on Revolutionizing Clean Energy Investment

Meet Matthew Clare, the co-founder of Masdar Arlington Energy, an investment company focused on acquiring, developing, and owning clean energy assets across the UK.

Matthew started as a research intern and assistant and dedicated five years of his career to Camborne Energy Storage before moving on to Arlington. However, his hard work and devotion to this business idea landed him a well-deserved place on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Europe 2019: Manufacturing & Industry list.

So, he has much to say about time management and running a business at a relatively young age. He also spoke about the must-have habits of successful individuals, coping with failure, and gave practical advice. I enjoyed the interview immensely, so I know you will too. So, without further ado, let’s get to it.

Meet Matthew Clare, the co-founder of Masdar Arlington Energy, an investment company focused on acquiring, developing, and owning clean energy assets across the UK.

The Logician

Hi Matthew, and welcome to this interview! Before we start, I would like to say a massive ‘Thank You’ for taking the time to participate in this journey! Now, do you mind telling us more about yourself? Who is Matthew Clare? What was the reason for choosing your current career path?

Matthew Clare

Yes, of course, thanks for having me.

I grew up in South London and went to school at a local grammar called Wallington.

From there I went to the University of Birmingham to study Geography.

My father is a locksmith and owns the family business which was founded in 1921, with my mum also working there after having a career as a civil servant and also at the NHS.

I have one brother who currently works at a PE firm and my sister who works as a researcher in sustainability.

At Wallington, I had a speaker called Paul Turner from Lloyds TSB attend class, to teach us about sustainability and business. This kick-started an interest for me and led to me working in a number of different roles during summers at The City of London and at a sustainability risk advisory firm.

My contributions back then were probably rather poor but I certainly learned a lot! I was then advised to go and work at a Solar PV consultancy in Shanghai by a mentor of mine, which also taught me a lot before returning to the UK to pursue my career in distributed and clean energy.

The Logician

I would also like to take this opportunity and congratulate you on being among Forbes’ 30 under 30! The honor must be excellent. Have you ever dreamed of being where you are today? What do you think contributed the most to this success?

Matthew Clare

Until that talk at school, I hadn’t realized I wanted to be successful. It certainly wasn’t something I had pictured or dreamt of.

I always found business really interesting and was very good at it, and so once I realized how much I enjoyed learning about the energy sector it became clear what I wanted to do.

Combining these two areas was the perfect fit for me, and after working ‘in the real world’ I realized pretty quickly being successful was exactly what I wanted to achieve.

Paul’s presentation kickstarted my appetite for learning, but the biggest contributing factor to my success without question has been the long list of incredible people that have taken me under their wing and taught, helped and supported me to achieve everything I have done to date.

The Logician

Can you explain what exactly Arlington Energy is? How was your business born? How did you know this is precisely what you are ‘meant’ to do in life? Why is your business important?

Matthew Clare

Arlington Energy has created a collection of companies to develop, construct, own & operate a major portfolio of distributed energy assets.

We currently build energy storage and gas peaking sites, but my background is in large-scale solar PV.
The business came into existence when I was introduced to Paul (an investment banker/fund manager) and Howard (lawyer), my co-directors.

We met in a pub on Arlington Street in Mayfair, giving birth to our wonderfully imaginative name! The timing for me was perfect and the combination of skill-sets was exactly what I felt the energy industry needed.

Bringing such extensive fundraising capabilities into an industry I loved was exactly what I had imagined myself doing for a number of years. Before we knew it, we had secured significant funding against a strong pipeline of sites.

When I started Arlington, I saw the business as predominantly important to myself — I wanted to feel I was successful, I wanted to enhance my financial position and that I was capable of making smart, commercial decisions whilst helping to contribute slightly to a more energy-efficient grid.

It has now become far more important as we have a growing team and a number of suppliers who we have been able to work extensively with. We are now contributing some meaningful scale to the UK grid and hope to be a major provider of electricity to the UK for a long time to come.

The Logician

How difficult is it to run a business at a relatively young age? How do you make sure you do not miss out on life? How do you manage your time? What are the best time-management strategies you know of?

Matthew Clare

A work-life balance is a very, very difficult thing if you want your business to be successful and also enjoy time with friends and do all the things you want to do.

It is no shock that, especially for the first year or so, my social life suffered. Three major things helped with this:

Very patient and caring family & friends. Despite going into a metaphorical black hole for such a long time, I never got any stick from any of them about my inability to join in with the plans and received continual support.
Creating a working environment that is extremely fun. The acid test for me is the feeling you get on Sunday evening. Mine is now completely different.
Supportive co-directors. Sometimes when I was ‘working for working’s sake’, I would get pulled up by my other directors and almost ordered not to work.

I still have not mastered it, but recently I have come to realize just how important breaks are for helping you to critically assess decisions and for your wellbeing.

The Logician

What was the hardship that you had to face working in your position? How did you overcome it? What are the best ways to cope with failure?

Matthew Clare

I had always had amazing mentors & managers. Wherever I worked I stayed as close to them as possible to learn their methods, assess their decision-making processes and learn from their invaluable experience.

Working as a Director who is entirely responsible for certain areas of the business meant I had no direct contact to take problems to, I just had to kind of figure it out.

This totally facilitated my ability to learn more as I had to get an answer, someway somehow.

In my opinion, the best way to cope with failure is to experience it.

There are a number of inspirational quotes along these lines and typically I am not a fan of them, but Thomas Edison’s quote “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work” is always a great reminder to yourself to keep going.

The Logician

According to you, do habits make us who we are? What are the top five must-have success habits? Why? Please explain.

Matthew Clare

I truly believe that with experience comes an ability to refine habits and actually get better at sticking to them.

I would say they are a learned skill, rather than something that makes a person who they are.

My top 5 would probably be:

Focus. Although those that know me well would say I have a short attention span, keeping the focus on the ultimate goal is entirely critical. Although I jump between tasks constantly, my focus always remains on the final goal.
Determination. Some things are always going to go wrong, and the only way to battle through that is to remain determined. Rightly or wrongly, my business has become almost an obsession that I just have to make work.
Ask for help. This should be self-explanatory, but I always make a habit of asking for help. I am always amazed at how far people are willing to go for you if you just drop the bravado and ask for assistance.
Make friends. People do business with people. Find things in common, find things you don’t have in common. Chat, laugh, share, open up. Sounds a little cringy, but letting your guard down shows people you are trustworthy, and trust is the most essential tool for having a successful business.
Work smart, work hard. I am lucky that I enjoy what I do now. I didn’t always enjoy it, and there are certainly times when I still question why I am taking so much on. I coasted through school doing just enough — this was not going to get me anywhere if I took that attitude into the real world. There is a reason I list work smart first, as this should always be the way you approach everything you do. Critically assess what you are about to dedicate your time to — are you approaching it in the most efficient manner? If so, go for it and work damn hard to make it happen.

The Logician

What does a successful business look like to you? What is your definition of success generally? Does it always have something to do with work and money? Why?

Matthew Clare

Happiness & a sense of fulfillment. In order for me personally to feel truly happy, I need to feel like I have accomplished what I believe I am capable of.

A successful business is clearly one that makes money, good money, but it doesn’t end there. I have managed to train myself to enjoy the journey and look forward to heading into work.

I have an incredible team who all work hard and are very intelligent. We accomplish a lot together and make money. We are a fiercely commercial business, but have a lot of fun together and enjoy the small wins.

The Logician

What would you be doing if you did not have your own business? What else do you enjoy doing? What is your definition of happiness?

Matthew Clare

Similar to the above, I would need something that gave me a sense of fulfillment.

If I was in the industry, I would only ever have eyes on running my own business.

Outside of the industry, probably a teacher.

The Logician

Where do you see yourself and your company ten years from now? Are there any milestones you want to reach by then?

Matthew Clare

We work in an extremely dynamic industry where change is continuous.

Writing 1-year business plans go out of date within 3 months. 10 years from now is a very long time, but we certainly would like to have a large operational portfolio of assets online, who knows what technology that may be, though!

The Logician

Last but not least, what is your best advice for anyone who fears they will not be successful?

Matthew Clare

Get used to feeling like it!

One of my worst habits is not acknowledging what I or our company has achieved to date.

I am getting better, but certainly, I still struggle. Whatever people say, self-doubt is a real thing that affects far more of us than people would let you think.

One thing I wish I had done earlier in my career was to pick a memorable date and write down what you would like to achieve in the coming 12 months.

On each anniversary, dig that piece of paper out and see how you are getting on.

My experience has been that you are further along than you thought you would be, and that should be celebrated.

The Logician

Thank you, Matthew, for being open and honest with your answers. It’s uncommon to find a hardworking individual who openly shares the secrets to success and the hard truths about experiencing self-doubt and failure. You inspire us all, and I wish you even more success in the future. As for my readers, let this story remind you that even when you find the thing that fulfills you, you still have to work for it, despite hard times and failures. Yet, if you do it right, it will be well worth it in the end.

The Logician

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Matthew Clare on Revolutionizing Clean Energy Investment

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