OTT: Can you tell us more about the problem you’re trying to solve and how Pantheon™ solves that problem?
Our business really tackles two problems: the carbon impact of concrete and diverting waste from landfills. Our technology allows us to replace the most carbon-intensive cement in concrete with Pantheon™, which is a very sustainable product that takes less energy to manufacture. And for every ton of our material that goes into concrete, it creates a ton that doesn’t go to landfill. So our pitch to the recyclers that we work with is, we can help them find a solution that’s cheaper than sending material to landfill and paying landfill fees. For concrete manufacturers, we can make sure that our product can be easily used as a replacement, blended into their existing mix, allowing them to increase the compressive strength of their concrete while reducing the carbon it contains.
OTT: How did you find out about EnergyTech UP and how has participating in the EnergyTech UP competition impacted the development of your business?
We are involved with the Koffman Southern Tier Incubator, an incubator closely affiliated with Binghamton University, where we attended school, and they told us about EnergyTech UP and encouraged us to enter the competition.
Participating in EnergyTech UP was extremely beneficial for us. When you need to sit down and plan the current state and future direction of your business, this process helps you think through many issues that may not arise in the day-to-day running of your business.
All our fundraising thus far has been non-dilutive, so we haven’t done much pitching to investors, but the competition also helped us with our business pitch. We crafted a story that was easy to digest and understand in a relatively short time frame. I remember our first video pitch for a competition had to be under 10 minutes, so it was a useful exercise to ask ourselves, “What do we actually need to talk about here?”
The biggest impact of participating in EnergyTech UP is that we were able to do this work full-time after graduating from university. This was my team’s goal from the beginning. I don’t know if people at universities know that these business competitions are a good thing, but we found that these events really help entrepreneurs. It was very meaningful for us to be able to do this work without having to raise a seed round of funding.
