You are a two-time cancer survivor, battling back-to-back instances of advanced stages of laryngeal cancer, having lost your voice for three years after the removal of voice box. How has this driven you to become an even stronger tech entrepreneur and CEO?
Daniel Badran: I think when life forces you into a corner that you literally need a product that could sell itself because you can’t speak, it teaches you a lot about eliminating barriers and roadblocks. Plus, the inevitable challenges that every CEO faces, don’t seem so insurmountable.
How has your health and overcoming cancer impacted you and/or helped drive your passion in educating the tech sector on Energy-Efficiency-as-a-Service (EEaaS)? And how does Minimise USA come into play?
Air quality is very important to me in how I live my life. When it becomes so personal, in that, each and every decision you make each day, you see the fine detail. The nuance. EEaaS is not an ESCO. It is fundamentally different. The nuance is everything. When I get the chance to explain how it works to the right person the effects are apparent and light bulbs start popping overhead with minds thinking about the opportunities it represents.
Can you explain the importance of “zero-dollar” energy efficiency, and how this impacts our tech industry? You previously explained how you can simply take any client, examine their energy bills for let’s say, the past 2 years, get your measurements, and provide immediate feedback that doesn’t cost high-dollars. Explain.
For technology, it is everything from the intersection of real-time monitoring to the remote application of data via the IoT, to the smart switches and beyond that enable the financial model to work. We are born of now. The technological innovation of the current times with the timeless mantra of…if you give first you will get…creates the magic. You need both.
Your company recently received a $400 million facility, which Biz Journals covered. Tell us about that and how you intend to integrate that in your mission of helping grow Tampa as a cybersecurity and tech hub?
Tampa is very important to us as a partner. It’s our home base. Our origins changed the game at the public schools. But Tampa is far beyond just the schools. There are so many collaborative opportunities with other firms to deliver solutions worldwide from the innovators in this market.
Do you see your tech ever-expanding to the music industry, let’s say for small and large record labels/distribution companies? Do you see a future where this can come into play?
That’s an interesting question for me as I was associated with the music business at the height of the boy band mania. Everyone has energy waste, and with margins being slim in the music business, the idea of finding new revenue streams is something I assume would be welcomed.
What’s the most challenging part about this type of technology and service you offer? How does COVID-19 play into this, if at all?
I think the hardest thing is that people struggle with a too good to be true offering. But if they take the time to understand that it all works because the measuring of the energy waste is so exact that it becomes a bankable currency, then the heads start nodding. COVID-19 has shown the world how fragile everything is…if there are opportunities to be had, like the No Capital Outlay Plan Agreement, take advantage of them because the wheels of government turn slow where private enterprise can enable a huge victory.
We have also added COVID 19 re-opening protocols to the NCOPA which exemplifies the times and our ability to model it to the times and our clients’ needs.
You recently entered the Arizona market in a big way. Tell us about that project and what’s the biggest advantage in using this type of tech for governments in the U.S?
Our Arizona award is a state-wide solar opportunity, we have been greenlit as one of seven firms. We have an amazing partner that we will announce in the near future that creates a nearly unstoppable team. Governments and municipalities are usually the last to get state-of-the-art solutions, but we reduce before we produce an approach to energy management, solar solutions are just part of what they get for absolutely no cost.
