How do you make energy connections quick, easy, and maybe even a little bit fun?

Let us show you...

What we do

We create beautiful, human-friendly digital experiences that solve problems for businesses and consumers at the intersection of the property and energy sectors.

In fact, our products streamline over 60,000 energy connections every year for tier-1 energy retailers, builders and property managers across Australia.

Connect Express app

Philosophy

We believe technology is only truly successful when people find it simple, engaging, and effective at solving their problems... without creating new ones. Everything we do is guided by this single core principle.

Experience

Years of extensive in-depth domain knowledge give us insight into the challenges of the property and energy markets. Understanding these problems first-hand is critical to delivering effective products.

Process

Our solutioning revolves around talking to customers and partners. We design and rapidly iterate concepts based on both machine data and human feedback, then repeat this process to continually enhance our products.

Research

Design

Validate

Repeat

Our story

In 2008, Ben Rich and Carl Healy were working in sales and tech respectively for a major Australian energy company and were frustrated by the glacial pace of innovation in the industry...

They witnessed first-hand the slow, cumbersome and frustratingly complex process of arranging power and gas supply to a new building site, with the primary tools of phone and fax leading to poor levels of transparency, accountability and reliability.

At the same time, iPhones were quickly being adopted by builders (traditionally not a very tech savvy demographic) and the energy market had just been de-regulated. Ben and Carl saw the massive potential for industry disruption and left the corporate world to tackle the energy connection problems of builders with a new, streamlined digital solution which they called Connect Assist.

Connect Assist began in typical startup fashion, bootstrapped (self-funded) out of a tiny unit in the Brisbane suburb of Morningside. Ben was sales and Carl was dev. The first iteration of Connect Assist was simply a digitised version of the paper-based forms used to arrange supply of power and gas. But they were the first of their kind and proved extremely popular!

Connect Assist then evolved into the first New Connections Platform, which builders could use for free. The business grew quickly based purely on word of mouth... no-one else really understood and solved their problems like us.

Over time, by listening to the needs of builders, Connect Assist grew into a sophisticated cloud app that could easily arrange, track and manage supply of power and gas for any number of concurrent sites. The ability to transfer energy accounts into the home owner’s name at the end of the build was added to ensure the power stayed on when they moved in!

Today, Connect Develop has in-house product design, engineering, support and sales teams; thousands of registered builders who arrange over 60,000 connections every year; and partnerships with multiple national energy retailers.

Alinta Energy logo

In late 2017, Alinta Energy made a large investment in return for an equity stake in our company, a move which enables us to scale and innovate across new market channels.

Our mission now is helping all types of customers arrange power and gas connections quickly and pain-free. One day, we dream of building an integrated digital marketplace for a range of utility services which will make even more people's lives easier and less stressful.

Ask us a question!

Our products

We currently have two platforms which we constantly evolve based on testing and feedback from our awesome users. Thanks guys!

We're also working on a few secret squirrel projects we can't tell you about just yet...

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Connect Express

CX Movers is a simple yet powerful digital solution that streamlines energy and service connections for tenants, property managers and 3rd party providers.

Connect Assist

Connect Assist is a smart platform enabling quick and easy management of energy connections to new building sites, reducing data re-entry and improving transparency via live status updates.

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Meet the team

Ben Rich, Co-Founder and CEO, Connect Develop

Ben Rich

Co-Founder and CEO

My main focus is ensuring internal and external stakeholders have clear lines of communication, while managing expectations and building industry relationships. A lot of my time is spent researching our market and understanding our customers' needs, wants and behaviours.

I also constantly question systems and processes to determine if we can use our agility to improve, or where possible replace anything associated with the phrase “because that’s the way it’s always been done”.

Curious fact
Ben is an extroverted introvert, an avid gamer, and loves his family and whisky. Oh and he once died for 43 seconds. But he's pretty healthy now, thanks.

Product team (Brisbane)

As a small but highly skilled team, we move quickly and stay focused on constantly improving our products based on user feedback.

Loves pina coladas and getting caught in the rain. Plus travel, photography, coffee, glamping, and his kids. Most of the time.

Warren Prasek - Product Design (UX)

Warren Prasek

Product Design (UX)

Space is the limit.

Chris Kim - Engineering

Chris Kim

Engineering

Tech-hippie, music nerd and video game player. Probably obsessing over a single pixel right now.

Ben Follington - Engineering

Ben Follington

Engineering

I may be a junior, but I’m the Chief Bop Officer.

Zaymon Foulds-Cook - Engineering

Zaymon Foulds-Cook

Engineering

...

Samuel Crook - Product Design

Samuel Crook

Product design

Tom James

Engineering

Gary Jackson

Engineering

Ken Tan

Engineering

Careers

Come work with us.

We're not hiring right now, but feel free to drop us a line if you'd like to be considered in the future.

Perks

We offer a long list of benefits to make your day easier and more fun. Because we know a happy team is more effective and enjoyable to work with.

Latest tech

We use F#, a bit of C#, React & Redux, AWS, Azure, and a dev-ops culture where we operate what we build. Design is a mix of Figma, Sketch and Invision.

Flexible hours

We understand you have commitments and interests outside of work, because we do too. Just let us know what you need and we'll figure it out together.

Awesome workspace

Our spiffy new office has lots of space and natural light, plus electronic adjustable desks, Aeron chairs, and more. See for yourself.

Professional development

Everyone gets a generous annual allowance to attend industry conferences. And no you don't have to use your annual leave.

Cool toys

Spend your annual hardware budget on whatever you like. Except flamethrowers. Those things are dangerous.

Barista coffee

We have an account at a local cafe because friends don't let friends drink nespresso. Or instant. (Shudder)

Chill area

Super comfy lounges, beanbags, 4K screen with gaming consoles and streaming via AppleTV / Chromecast ... because why the hell not.