Successful Engineering startups

A solar company president who introduced President Barack Obama at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, showcasing how the sun powers the museum’s environmental system.

Two engineers who lead what Forbes magazine named the most promising company in America.

A president and CEO whose company saves money for commercial building owners through modular-based energy efficient heating and cooling recovery systems.

A spine surgeon who created health beverages.

What do they have in common? They’re all Vanderbilt engineers who launched successful businesses. Their methods?

Creativity and collaboration, a focus on giving people what they want, plus access to capital, savvy management and a singular passion for making great ideas reality.

Opportunity is Everything

Blake Jones, BE’96, says opportunities are everywhere for entrepreneurs who are motivated and willing to learn. His Boulder, Colo.-based company, Namasté Solar, emerged from his 10 years as a civil engineer and project manager in the U.S. and Egypt for an oil services company. Later, he was engineering and service manager for a renewable energy company in Nepal. His return to the United States in 2004 coincided with Colorado’s passage of legislation mandating that a portion of the state’s power come from renewable resources.

“I realized that everything I’d been doing had led me to this point, ” says Jones, who credits his Vanderbilt engineering education with turning him on to the potential of solar energy. He says that Colorado’s abundant sunshine—along with Boulder’s educated, affluent residents—reinforced the choice of location for Namasté Solar.

In February 2009, Jones introduced President Obama at the signing of the American Recovery and Reinvest­ment Act in Denver. Since clean energy and the creation of green jobs were a large part of the president’s stimulus package, the connection was natural.

Presidential connection aside, Namasté Solar still faces the challenges of being an entrepreneurial startup. Jones advises rising entrepreneurs to do work they love, to network continuously with other professionals and in their community to find new opportunities, and more important, “never be too proud to ask for ideas and help.”

Chris McKinney, director of the Vanderbilt’s Office of Technology Transfer and Enterprise­ Development (OTTED) and adjunct professor of engineering management, says that is good advice. “Entrepreneurship is a team sport. The best entrepreneurs look for the best people to complement their skills. It’s about leveraging your assets and finding others to help with the rest.”

OTTED is Vanderbilt’s own entrepreneurial link. It protects the intellectual property assets of Vanderbilt, licenses technology developed by Vanderbilt inventors and innovators, and assists in the startup of companies that commercialize Vanderbilt technology.