Now that you know what makes
EnergyWindow tick, learn what CEO Jack Mason, an MIT stud and
graduate of the Naval Academy, thinks about growing his second
business in the Boulder Technology Incubator. Mason, who has
already built a $40 million publicly traded company, also
shares his thoughts on the advantages and disadvantages of
raising money from the outside during current market
condition.
Jack Mason is president and CEO of EnergyWindow. He is a
Naval Academy graduate and has a master’s from MIT’s Sloan
School of Management, and a master’s and doctorate in
engineering from MIT. He’s been involved in the energy
industry for about 30 years.
EMH: You’ve been part of the Boulder Technology
Incubator since you started. How has that worked for you?
JM: We’ve been a bit unusual for a BTI company. All
three of the principals of EnergyWindow are experienced
executives. I ran a $40-45 million-a-year publicly-traded
consulting and software company [TENERA] and did a turnaround
there. Our CTO, Mike Usrey, built and sold an ISP [Internet service
provider] not too long ago. Our other partner is an
experienced executive in commodities. We made some early
contacts which led us to join the incubator.
We’ve gotten some good suggestions in the area of
fundraising, which none of us had done before and which is why
we joined the BTI. And we’ve ended up with a great group of
advisors. BTI co-founder Earl McLaughlin [who had been VP of
marketing at Public Service Company] helped us understand
these markets and made some early recommendations that led us
to go after the corporate energy buyers who have become our
primary focus.
EMH: But the BTI association hasn’t led to funding?
JM: The difficulty is that even though Colorado is
an energy area, for the parts of the market that we are
involved in, there are relatively few investors and companies.
We found that we really need to be looking at a national level
for strategic partners as well as investment.
EMH: Can Colorado be considered an energy center?
JM: Most of the energy-related activity in Colorado
has been in exploration and production in petroleum. A lot
less interest in electricity markets or even gas retail
markets.
EMH: What about timing?
JM: It has only been six or seven months since we
had a good working product and we have only recently started
generating some revenue. Unfortunately this has come too late
[to tap into the VC funding boom]. Fortunately, as a result of
our current business direction to offer a wider range of
services, we are relatively close to break-even. We will
probably ultimately look for some financing, but I’m confident
that we could go it alone if we had to. Obviously we could go
a lot faster if we had money. We don’t need too much for
product development. We actually need it more in the marketing
and advertising area. But we’re not talking about some sort of
national campaign here. This can all be very focused for us.
EMH: Can you talk about how your business strategy has
led to some financial decisions?
JM: While we provide value to the supplier, we
really want to position ourselves as an ally for the business
buyer/manager. Unlike some of our competitors, we’re not a
subsidiary of or strongly backed financially by an energy
company or utility. We’ve had a number of suppliers approach
us about working with us. While we don’t turn them off
absolutely, we’re cautious because we think that’s going to be
an important differentiation for us.
