Ep 320 Electrifying Homes & Decarbonizing the Future with Stephen Lake, Co-founder & CEO of Jetson Home; Vancouver, BC, Canada
Your home might be polluting more than your car, and the fix is closer than you think.
In this episode of Disruptive CEO Nation, I’m joined by Stephen Lake, co-founder and CEO of Jetson Home, a company making home electrification simpler and significantly more affordable. We talk about why heating and cooling is one of the biggest decarbonization opportunities, what’s been holding heat pumps back in North America, and how Jetson Home is scaling fast across the U.S. and Canada. Stephen also shares the founder's lessons behind rapid growth, the importance of building scalable systems early, and why he’s committed to mentoring the next generation of entrepreneurs.
Here are the highlights:
-The hidden emissions story: Why residential heating and cooling is a massive climate lever, and why most homeowners underestimate their home’s footprint.
-Why heat pumps haven’t taken off here (yet): The “green premium,” confusing rebates, and an opaque contractor process that makes switching feel like a major project.
-Jetson Home’s “make it dead easy” model: Online, upfront pricing in minutes, a remote quoting process, and a streamlined install designed to get homes converted fast.
-Scaling without breaking: How Stephen thinks about the tension between growth and chaos, and why the team prioritized systems, tools, and repeatable processes from day one.
-Founder mindset + giving back: Lessons from building his first company North Inc. (and selling to Google), launching Jetson Home in a completely different industry, and the role mentorship programs played in shaping his leadership.
About the guest:
Stephen Lake is the co-founder and CEO of Jetson Home, a home electrification company making the shift to all-electric systems more affordable and accessible. A mechatronics engineering graduate from the University of Waterloo, he previously co-founded North Inc. (formerly Thalmic Labs) and led the development of augmented-reality and wearable-tech products before the company was acquired by Google in 2020. In 2024, he turned his focus to climate tech and launched Jetson Home, which rapidly scaled with hubs in Vancouver, Colorado, and Massachusetts and has installed nearly 1,000 proprietary heat pump systems in homes. For his work advancing clean energy solutions, Lake was named to the 2025 TIME100 Climate list.
Connect with Stephen:
Website: https://jetsonhome.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/slake/
Connect with Allison:
Feedspot has named Disruptive CEO Nation as one of the Top 25 CEO Podcasts on the web.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allisonsummerschicago/
Website: https://www.disruptiveceonation.com/
#CEO #leadership #startup #founder #business #businesspodcast
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