Power Of The Urban Wind: Mariah Power CEO Mike Hess (Part 4)

SM: How much money did you raise through the angel process?

MH: The first time we raised $750,000. We then did $2 million in convertible notes. After that we did a VC round.

SM: How far were you able to get with your angel financing alone?

MH: We were able to complete the design of the Windspire and we were able to start the testing process. It can take 12 months to test a unit. We were able to introduce the product to the market at the Wind Show in June 2008.

SM: Who are your early adopters? If you are targeting residential then why go to the Wind Show?

MH: We had to do two things. First, we had to convince industry that a vertical axis wind turbine would work and could perform to its specifications. The industry had seen many frauds and fakes. We were going to convince them that it worked.

The second aspect was that when we started to introduce the product we started putting units in the field. In March 2008 I put a unit in the Botanical Gardens in Washington, D.C. As people saw the product and understood how it worked, we started getting more and more attention. People were attracted to its design and aesthetics. We found more and more early adopters and dealers who were willing to take a chance on the product.

SM: On a granular level, who were your early adopters?

MH: There are schools and universities trying to do training around renewable energy. Our system is a low-cost method for them to integrate a system into their environment to be used for education. It is a fully integrated product with an inverter, generator, rotor, and pole. They get to see the full aspect of wind.

Second, there were a lot of cities trying to get into sustainability. We offered them product at a discount so they could start to show people in their communities the things which are coming. That worked in Indianapolis. It shows people what green energy looks like.

We also started going after some designs in buildings. We talked to people at Adobe where they could put units around their building in San Jose. We showed them what those designs looked like. That is going to get installed this year. It takes a long time when you are trying to move to commercial applications for people to accept what you are doing.

In June of last year we started conversations with Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. They just finished the installation of 25 units, which is the first large micro grid on a single university. We showed the architect what we thought we could do. The architect bought off on what we could do. A lot of our early adoption is created by our ability to show them applications and uses which are not typically available to customers.

SM: When you raised money from VCs did you have any of these installations on board?

MH: In November of last year we had 75 installed units. That is when we raised on first round of venture funding.

This segment is part 4 in the series : Power Of The Urban Wind: Mariah Power CEO Mike Hess
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