Adrian Keen joined InstaVolt as CFO in 2017 and was appointed CEO two years later before stepping down to become a senior advisor in 2024. Founded in 2016, InstaVolt boasts the largest network of rapid electric vehicle chargers in the UK and is the leading international EV charging network, with hubs located in Iceland and more plans for Spain and Portugal.
I was the first one in my family — my dad was a builder and mum a nurse — to go to university and I didn’t really understand what professional life was like. I had this aspiration to enter the business world but didn’t know where my life would take me.
The most sensible thing to do, rightly or wrongly, was train to be an accountant as a good foundation. My first proper job was at Critchleys, a chartered accountancy firm in Oxford, which had a good training programme for young people to do their qualifications.
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I found the accountancy bit a bit dull but part of the job was going out to meet our clients.
My first boss in that role, Caroline Webster, encouraged us to go out and understand what good business practices looked like and all the different opportunities that existed and how it could give us more as a person.
Despite Caroline being a great mentor there was no avoiding the fact that for three years, I was just in this lane of being an accountant and doing spreadsheets.
She wasn’t your typically dynamic leader but had a rare, compassionate style. She was gentle, reflective and brought the best out of people by developing thinking through conversation. Aged 21, that was perfect for me.
She could see that I had an enthusiasm to go outside the office and I had a relatively quick rise through the ranks. I had turned from being quite introverted to being valued for my opinion and insight, all thanks to Caroline instilling confidence in me.
I later moved to KPMG and I kept watching this developing world that I was being exposed to. After one year, I had the chance to join one of my clients, a private equity backed software business. It had interesting people, innovative models and cemented my love for high growth international businesses.
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One of the privileges I had working with senior figures, CEO to CEO, and having a financial or accountancy background gives you the skill to talk to people with the same language. You aren’t talking in witchcraft but speaking in a commercial way that resonates with people.
Instavolt is currently the largest rapid-charging network in the UK and essentially it’s about replicating the fuel station model. To match the rate of growth, we have ambitions to have 10,000 chargers active in the UK by 2030.
Until Elon Musk came along with Tesla (TSLA), there wasn’t really talk of a transition that we had to do. But Instavolt, founded in 2016, believed in it and saw it as an opportunity to professionalise the charging experience.
We were the first to do contactless charging (rather than having to sign up to clubs or apps), we put a 24/7 call centre in place and did the obvious things that others were forgetting about in the pursuit of moving quickly.
That was the core of our thinking before we realised that good locations were also key. We were considerate around site location and for a period of time we were the only company with good funding, consistent model and a disciplined mindset and that goes back to financial training.
Fast forward, EV’s are on everyone’s minds and as a result there are lots of new entrants and it’s super competitive.
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That makes it fun and inspiring and goes back to my love of high growth, dynamic, international private-backed business.
Accountancy was my starting point but there was alway this drift away from the core financial piece, inspired by the people along the way to have a front and centre role which a CEO has.
It does come back to that belief and Caroline was core to this that, despite being an accountant, there was some really exciting stuff out there which could take me so much further.
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