Innovating In Sustainable Building Materials: Hycrete CEO David Rosenberg (Part 4)

SM: Was the funding you raised from venture capitalist based on your value proposition of durability or was it based on your value proposition of waterproof construction? Can you tell me about your funding strategy?

DR: Our A round, which was in the single digits, was based on the durability business model. We raised that funding from a small fund in New Jersey. We used that round to validate our technology and its effectiveness in applications.

We made the changes to our business model before we raised out B round. That round was led by NGEN and Rockport and was also a single digit round, and this is the round that proved our business model worked. We went after the best advanced material and clean tech funds which were Rockport and NGEN.

Our C round was led by Mohr Davidow and was a double digit round, and this round was done with expansion in mind. Our goal with this fund was to bring in one of the best generalist funds. It became apparent to me after talking with many people that there is something special with the big generalist funds in Silicon Valley. They are really good at building great companies. Our goal is to build a really great company. Once we set the goal of having a billion dollar company, decisions are simply different.

SM: Can you give me an example of how those decisions differ?

DR: When it came time to get a VP of Sales we brought in a big shot from Oracle. That is very different than what you typically see in our industry, but we consider ourselves a technology company and he has a history of scaling up technology companies. He is good at selling innovation in a consultation sales process. He did not know a lick about concrete but that has changed in the 5 months he has been here. We have a world class management team which is something Mohr Davidow has helped us put together.

SM: Who do you sale to today?

DR: Right now we focus on commercial construction. With al the infrastructure spin we are starting to put more emphasis on infrastructure. We have nine US locations and three international locations. We focus on decision makers and influencers. The building owner, developer, engineers, architects, contractors, and concrete producers are all people we spend time with. We spend most of our time with general contractors and architects.

SM: How many clients do you have today?

DR: We have done about 150 projects, and we go into very big construction. Our first project with Microsoft was a fountain outside a building. We then did a roof over a mechanical room followed by an 8 acre green roof. In 2010 we are going to be doing a couple of more buildings. We are going into the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. This year we are going into the Nintendo headquarters and the Amazon headquarters. Our focus is big construction. Our repeat customers are the largest contractors in the world.

This segment is part 4 in the series : Innovating In Sustainable Building Materials: Hycrete CEO David Rosenberg
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