Scaling from $0 to $25M at the speed of (UV) light with CEO of R-Zero Systems, Grant Morgan
What if we told you that a technology that has been around since the 1910s is the secret sauce to a company that was founded in 2020 and has exploded in the year since? Well, that’s the story of R-Zero Systems, and it’s a great example of how, in today’s world, moving fast, innovating, and being able to solve problems in real-time is what separates the winners from the losers in the business world. Whether you’re in ecommerce, retail, healthcare, or some combination of verticals, the biggest problem a company has is the ability to sustainably scale. But it’s also a problem that R-Zero Systems seems to have solved. And that’s not the only solution the company is bringing to the table.
Grant Morgan is the co-founder and CEO of R-Zero Systems, a biosafety technology company that, thanks to its innovative products, helps customers create safer spaces for their employees, guests and patrons, where they can physically be safer, but also feel safer as well. It was created for the same reason as any other company — to solve a problem. The difference, though, was that Morgan and his team were able to first, ramp up production at a time when few others could, and second, bring something critical to meet the very specific needs of the market via a technology that was already proven to be effective, they just made it accessible. Turns out, that’s the key to scale — effectiveness and accessibility all at once.
Essentially, Morgan and his team built a more affordable way to use UV-C light as a disinfectant. The process of using UV-C light is not new. But the way R-Zero was doing it was novel. So even though the product itself was based on proven technology, Morgan said that he and his team still needed to build trust with potential customers.
“Everything we do is rooted in science,” Morgan said. “And although we know UV-C works beyond a shadow of a doubt, we had to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that our product specifically worked under the conditions that we’re saying it works under.”
The conditions Morgan was talking about vary. At its inception, R-Zero was tested in hospitals, where disinfecting surfaces is critically important. But the application of the products goes far beyond the medical field.
“It’s all about understanding what causes risk and how to mitigate it so that our products that are installed within a physical space can proactively mitigate risk and keep people safe,” Morgan said. “So we can actually understand the precise moment that people are likely to get sick, and do something about it in real time. And the outcome will be healthier humans, more productivity and improving the quality of life for people in our natural habitat, indoor spaces.”
With safer, cleaner spaces, the human population will not only be healthier, but we’ll also be more productive. That, Morgan said, is one of the reasons that businesses of all kinds should be excited about investing in this technology.
“Sick days are a massive, massive problem,” Morgan said. “Forty million Americans get the flu every year, somehow we just accepted that’s normal. And that’s not to mention all the other common pathogens like seasonal flu, common cold, E. coli, Norovirus or stomach flu, MRSA or staph, all of these different pathogens that are endemic to our customer spaces. And the CDC estimates that sick days cost the US economy about $600 billion a year. So there’s a real material ROI to any kind of organization to being able to reduce sick days, and keep humans healthier. And by virtue of doing that, increase the productivity of your workforce.”
There is already a huge demand for R-Zero’s products, and Morgan is banking on that interest remaining high. How is he preparing to scale further?
Find out on Up Next in Commerce.
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