SM: How did you fix your sales issues after you fired your first VP of Sales? KS: I went and got a new VP from the semiconductor industry. She had built $300 million businesses and knew solution sales.
SM: How do you view Serious Materials in the cleantech space? KS: Going forward, cleantech probably means a lot more building energy savings than it does solar, wind, and bio fuels. That is because the cost of carbon mitigation is a positive cost with all the supply-side dynamics.
SM: What was the closing chapter of Air Communication? KS: There was real technology and we had orders coming in. People wanted to buy product, and the skeleton office sold a few hundred thousand dollars a year for the next several years.
SM: What was the purpose of starting Air Communications? KS: In 1992 I met some people and came up with a business plan to start Air Communications as a wide area wireless device company. You could surf the web and recieve a fax with a little dial-up phone called an Air Communicator.
Kevin Surace is on a mission to significantly reduce the use of fossil fuels and their effect on the environment. As CEO of Serious Materials, Kevin leads the company in its mission to reduce energy use and CO2 generation of the world’s largest contributor, our buildings. SM: Take us back to where your personal story