Thought Leaders in Internet of Things: CleanConnect CEO David Conley (Part 1)

David discusses problems, solutions, and open problems in this interview about AI and IoT in the Oil and Gas sector.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by introducing you to our audience and talk about your background and the company.

David Conley: I’m the CEO of CleanConnect. CleanConnect was founded three years ago. We came across a problem in Colorado where the energy industry was being regulated heavily. There was a regulation that teed up opportunities for machine learning, computer vision, and AI to solve around emissions monitoring.

It went from a quarterly inspection to 24/7. Continuously monitoring energy sites, oil & gas facilities, and refining facilities. We dove in. We were, technically founded, in March of 2020. The day we were founded, oil was at negative $40 a barrel. It was a daunting day. There’s always opportunity in that especially as people need to get leaner and the world needs energy.

Sramana Mitra: What is your background?

David Conley: My career has been in engineering for oil & gas facilities. I was on the mechanical side. I was a mechanical designer. I’ve always had an entrepreneurial bug ever since I was a kid. I remember when I was nine. I asked my mom for office supplies. I’ve always wanted to be a business guy. I always had ideas for companies I worked for. It was always difficult to make those happen. Not all the time but it depends on the culture of the company.

Oil & gas is very cyclical. Because I was in a skilled position, most of the time we would get laid off in downturns. You get laid off and then you contract. Downturns again. I was tired of that. This last time, this company I was at went out of business. I knew one of our co-founders, Mark Smith and Luke Coats. I started pitching this idea to both guys. Mark had a media background. He’s done a great job in media and marketing.

Sramana Mitra: I’m a computer scientist from MIT. This is my fourth company. I’m not a media person per se. One Million by One Million is a full-fledged accelerator. Media is part of our business.

David Conley: It’s an ecosystem. Absolutely. That’s what we’re building at CleanConnect as well.

Sramana Mitra: How did you find the problem that you decided to solve?

David Conley: This is a funny story. I was working for Luke doing mechanical design work. I had just gotten laid off previously. I was with Mark. He had run a podcast called IoT Playbook. He started teaching me about IoT and all of these different things you can do with IoT. He was encouraging me to start a business for IoT in oil & gas. We started looking for a problem.

A lot of people get caught up on solutions looking for a problem. Find the problem first and then go figure out the solution.

David Conley

This segment is part 1 in the series : Thought Leaders in Internet of Things: CleanConnect CEO David Conley
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