INTERVIEW WITH EBEN BAYER
When did you decide to start Ecovative?
Eben Bayer and Gavin McIntyre
Well, it wasn't a clear cut choice because I was actually swimming in possibilities: I had a job offer to design de-mining robots, I had a full scholarship to become an architect, and this thing Gavin and I were looking to start, but no one was paying for. Fortunately. I had a great professor who really believed in Ecovative, Burt Swersey, who called me every morning after I graduated, and asked me: "Are you gonna do it?" And I'd say: "Oh, I think I'll just go work on it in my free time". But then he'd say: "You can't work on it in your free time, it'll be a hobby, if you're gonna do something, you gotta do it". I really hated him that month. And then my first day of work, I called him, at 7AM, to tell him I was headed to my new job, and he said: "You really need to do this". And at that moment, I changed my mind. So, I drove to work on my first day, and told the great people I was going to work with that I was quitting before I got started. So that was a big turning point.
I can imagine, then you HAVE to start.
Yes, and I think that's important, because then it's both feet in, sink or swim, which I think is crucial when you're starting a business and you want it to be a success, because if you do it on the side and still have a day job, you never quite get that hunger, that make this work feeling, you know. We went out to raise money when we founded the company, but with the exception of Burt Swersey, no one was very interested in investing in us. Luckily we won some smaller business plan competitions that helped us fund a place to rent and get some lab equipment. The big accelerator for us was the Postcode Lottery Green Challenge. We'd spent little over a year going from an idea to a sort of proven concept, we were starting to have customers who were really interested in the material. We just had to win this. We had people who were willing to invest, but it would have been painful. It's very hard for an entrepreneur to raise money early on.
Did you have a structured business plan in place at that time when you were starting out?
Absolutely, but I've learned that is not the best approach. Our first business plan was 40 pages, very detailed, a lot of market research and graphs. Now our business plan is about a page, because if it takes 40 pages to tell your business plan, it's not very good. When you start out you tend to think: How can I add more to this plan, when really you should be looking at what you can take out.
There should be a couple of things in your business plan: What do you do that's unique? Who do you do it for? And how are you going to do it? And usually the how is: Who's on your team? And what are the next couple of steps? When you read a forty page business plan it's more of an academic exercise in convincing yourself there's a reason to do it. For use inside the company I have a 1 page plan. Which is also good because it's easy to update. And then if we do a formal presentation to a group, we might have a 5 page plan, which has a little more details. You know, a page on the technology, a page on the market, a page on the team, a page on the strategy and then an overview and financial summary.
When did you start to hire people?
We were a team of 3 when we won the Green Challenge: Me, Gavin and Sue van Hook, who is a mushroom biologist and also a former teacher at Skidmore college. And after we won we started to hire people. We hired 4 or 5 over that period. Really what we used the Green Challenge money for was relocating and building. We rented a big warehouse where we built the factory that's there today. We had 10,000 square feet, and we just leased another 25,000 square feet in the same spot. Our first factory is something like a prototype, because there is a lot of duct tape and we use strange used equipment from the food industry like chocolate chip dispensers. The next factory we're building is far more state of the art, and meant to be a showcase facility.
Do you have any tips for starting entrepreneurs?
My biggest tip is commit a 100% of your time to it, jump in and don't have a job on the side, because you will end up doing that instead of figuring out your business and making money.
My next tip is: As soon as you think you've got a new idea, go out onto the street and start asking people what they think of it. Also, don't just say you want to make a car, a horseless carriage with a motor in it, you have to actually make one, a prototype, so you can show it to people. See how they react, and it's very important to get that feedback immediately, because you can waste a lot of time working on something that nobody wants. They may tell you: This sucks, but what I really need is this. And then you'll have a new idea, so in the very early stages you have to be very willing to not fall in love with your first idea, but just add to it.
You have to constantly re-evaluate your plan, and demand it to be better. That was something I learned from our professor Burt Swernsey. He always said we had to have three wins. It can't just be a win, it has to be a win win win. It can't just be green insulation, it has to be cheaper than foam and fireproof too! Even if it seems impossible, you have to make those things happen.
Ecovative is a very young company isn't it?
Yes, we have a very young team, which is generally great. It's great, because they haven't been corrupted by other work environments or standard ways of doings things, they are energised, creative, and ready to work hard. They only downside is that a work environment is very different than college or an internship, so we do a lot of education early on. Some simple stuff (like how to run an effective meeting) and some more complex stuff (like how to provide coaching and feedback based on skill level). Of course, Ecovative itself is a young company, so we are learning about best practices as a group, which is kind a fun, and we are also fortunate to have seen some spectacular wisdom on the team.
How do you keep your employees involved and informed at Ecovative?
We do this 2-day retreat twice a year, when we rent an eco-lodge which is in the forest of Cambridge, and we spend 2 days with the team. We'll do a variety of exercises like sourcing values, sharing recent research, or just cooking meals together. We also meet more frequently as a team to talk about what's happening in the company and where we are going together, it's a pretty transparent atmosphere. Of course, the biggest factor may be our small offices, it leads to lots of interaction and impromptu conversations you can't help but participate in.
How many hours a week do you work?
Let's see, maybe between 50-70. 50 hour weeks feel really good at this point but its hard to get to. I believe strongly that you can work more by working less. Sometimes it's better for me to leave work at 4 'o clock and go for a run. Then I come back full of ideas, and I end up working more, but it doesn't feel like work to me, it feels like I'm being creative, I'm really engaged. And in general, what could be more amazing and energising than working at Ecovative? I'm coming into work every morning and there's this factory of people working away trying to change the world and I get to be a part of it!
Today's perception of work ethics is changing. I think it's crucial, you spend so many hours at work, how is it even possible to do work you don't love? That should be the first criteria in our society. We have so many resources, everybody should be able to do a job that they're good at and that they like. We're really not set up to do that for people. Even at Ecovative we're trying to figure out how to do it better.
Aren't you scared sometimes? Being responsible for a company, a larger factory, hiring people, and only being 26 years old?
Mostly it's energising, but the one scary thing is: I have 40 employees who have healthcare through us and have jobs through us. You want to make sure these people have jobs, because they have families and they depend on Ecovative for their livelihood. They may have given a lot, they may have moved here to work for the company, or they may have made a sacrifice to be a part of this, so in most ways it's important we succeed for them. I don't worry about failure on a personal level, because there is no failure, just outcomes and new information. The interesting thing about a start-up is, every day you're still alive, is a day that you've reduced the risk and moved closer to success. In our case, we have great customers, we have a brand new facility, we have supportive investors like DOEN Foundation and a 3M corporation, and tons of demand, so we are getting established. In fact, this will be Ecovative's 5th year anniversary which to me means we are basically Started Up! So as always, our goal is continuing to focus on what we do well, and finds ways to do it even better.
What are you working now on with Ecovative?
The new plant is really optimised to make packaging materials, but we also have a project now to do composite building boards. They are very strong and have laminates on either side, so those are for naval applications and boats, automobiles and building instruction. We've also got a new thin material, which is almost like cellophane, very thin, that we hope to use as an alternative to plastic sheets. We are also launching a version of this material that you can grow a home in your kitchen, in the form of Grow-It-Yourself kits. These kits are distributed by mail, just add water and you can come up with your own art or functional object, like a bowl or a case for your iPhone.
Who inspires you?
Steve Jobs has been my hero ever since I was a child, since I was 5 years old, he was probably the most and only public figure that was a motivation for me. And my dad is also an inspiration to me. He's a farmer, he taught me how to work, and be contrarian. And my mom too, she nurtured my creative technical side, even when I was very little.
