Innovation is Critical and Saying It’s Hard is an Understatement
Last month, I wrote about Hawaii’s 100 percent renewable energy goal and the history behind it through stories told by Maurice Kaya. In my conversation with the man who led the Hawaii State Energy Office from 1988 to 2008, he mentioned innovation and how important it is to Hawaii reaching its energy goals, “When you are pushing toward that type of a target (100% renewable energy by 2045) you are deploying a new set of assets. You’re breaking new ground and it is going to create problems…That is why we have the need for innovators and entrepreneurs.” Ask almost any CEO and executive in Hawaii’s energy space and they will say the same thing.
But, despite how critical innovation is; saying it’s hard is an understatement. I’d like to introduce you to Bryan Ho. Bryan is a 2002 graduate of Iolani School and co-founder & former CEO of an energy storage startup called Ballast Energy. Former CEO because he decided to wind down the company’s operations at the end of 2015.
Two weeks ago, he so bravely took the stage at X: Moonshot Factory, the source of innovation for Google, at Energy Excelerator Interactive. As each Elemental Excelerator company stood up and gave a one to two minute presentation with the intent to gain investors’ interest, Bryan took the stage with a different agenda.
He stood in front of 150 of the biggest investors in Silicon Valley and told the following story. It reads somewhat like an unscripted screenplay.
Act I: When Desire Trumps Doubt
Ballast Energy started as an idea rolling around in Bryan’s head as he completed his Ph.D. at MIT. In 2009 he and his co-founder, also named Bryan, raised their seed round of funding and opened their lab space in Berkeley, California.
Bryan Ho: For the first year and half, neither of us took a salary. There were times where we questioned if this is sustainable. But, you have the freedom to pursue what you want; you have the challenge of difficult problems. There’s just overwhelming excitement. There’s probably a personality trait that leads people to start their own companies. You can call it megalomania, but it’s more the desire to be part of a team and see your impact.
Along the way they had help. Joyce Chung was a mentor to Bryan and Ballast Energy. Joyce is Managing Partner at Garage Technology Ventures — a Silicon Valley Venture firm founded by Guy Kawasaki) — and Aina Haina Elementary & Punahou alumni.
Joyce: The thing that differentiates good business people from great entrepreneurs is belief and leadership qualities. As an investor, I want to find someone who’s commitment level is much greater than my commitment.
Act II: A Profound Lesson Learned
I asked Bryan a question I’m sure he had thought a lot about since he closed the doors on Ballast Energy five months ago. If there was one thing you could have done differently, what would it have been? He brought it back to the fundamental tension that exists as a startup founder.
Bryan: You need to be unrealistically optimistic because this world is trying to crush you…But at the same time, you have to be an incredibly cynical person. You need to want to kill your own idea. You have to want to poke holes in it. Where you can’t poke holes is where you get validation. We erred on the side of being too optimistic.
Act III: Not All Companies Succeed
Joyce: There’s a whole variety of reasons companies fail. When you look at an investment, you’re looking at people, markets, and technology. Sometimes the problem is timing, sometimes it’s technology, and sometimes it’s people.
For Ballast Energy, it was the second of the three.
Bryan: We were too wedded to our technology. It was our baby and we wanted it to succeed. Therefore we weren’t critical enough in the early days. We lost assumptions on touch because, subconsciously, we were afraid of what we would find if we dug into it.
Act IV: The Next Chapter
As Bryan stood on stage telling this story, the entire audience of investors, who are well versed in the success and failure rate of startups, leaned forward in their chairs listening intently. This was not a pitch and there was no investment opportunity, just a smart human being with a desire to make an impact.
Bryan: I went into it knowing that I wouldn’t have any regrets and I was right.
The audience erupted in applause. Joyce — sitting in the front row — rose to her feet and gave Bryan a big hug.
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Originally published in the Honolulu Star Advertiser in May 2016
