This week’s interview is with a man that had extraordinary experience and advice to pass on to you. Stan has committed his life to creating ways to make food and the environment work for the future. Take some of the lessons around success and failure from a veteran of living a life that works.
As you read and listen to this look for his unique form of investment. He only invests when it makes an impact in the world AND helps his existing ventures. This gives you clues about how to talk with him and investors like him.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Rob:
Hi, this is Robert Steven Kramarz your host from Intelliversity, and this is your Vision Master podcast. And today we have a really interesting guest whose name is Stan Solomonson. I’m sure I got that correct, Stan.
Stan:
Yes.
Rob:
And Stan is both an entrepreneur like you, a vision master like you, and an occasional investor when it suits his purposes. And I think his experience and advice are perfectly germane to all of you that are both trying to make a difference and make some money at the same time and have some fun. So, Stan, let’s start with what you do, what your companies do so that people know, what they can relate to.
Stan:
I started out in the healthcare field, mainly in the natural products area. I’m a doctor of chiropractic and there was some need in the 70s when I went into practice for making natural products because they really didn’t exist, but the team I was with brought in melatonin as an example, and some other leading products that are mainstays in the natural products industry. I came up with a product, I made that, made money with it, and invested in two other areas; natural products and healthcare. One was environmental technology, which we’ll talk about. And one was cybersecurity. I’m not a programmer, but I had a friend that had a business, took a look at it, and saw it. This was a decade ago before it was the front-page headlines. So those are the three areas that I’ve been involved with successfully. We can go into the history and the details, and the lessons I’ve learned, and I’d be glad to share some insights I’ve had.
Rob:
As you summed up from me earlier, you’ve been involved in food, cybersecurity, and in environmental mitigation.
Stan:
Correct.
Rob:
So you primarily invest in your own ventures, however, you do also would consider investing in other companies in the form of licensing IP or making purchases from them, right?
Stan:
Correct.
Rob:
Right. So how should somebody, other than just sending you an email, what do you want to know about them and their company before you would consider licensing their technology?
Stan:
What I learned early on in this process was that the core technology, a company or a person, or a university has, or I have, or partners of mine have usually is not applied in all the applications that it can be. I’ll give you an example, a friend of mine invented the remote car opener. He’s a Finish, a very well-known gentleman in the field of innovations. And for infrared radio frequency, anyone that’s got a button that opens your car door, he invented that. He also invented conductive touch, which is what the iPads and iPhones, all the other Samsung devices, and all the digital devices depend upon, which is different than a membrane.
I had actually invested in a membrane technology prior to him doing that. So when we met, I could speak with him intelligently, and we’ve become very good friends. And I got a phone call to introduce him to Steve Jobs because my friend that called me manages his money. And I almost got to Steve before he became so ill that he couldn’t talk to people. So the core technology of those three, the food industry, the environmental industry, and the cybersecurity industry are my areas of investment and I’d be glad to talk in detail about all three of them.
Rob:
Okay. So when you meet a founder and you find that you’re compatible, and your businesses are compatible, you need each other in some way, what do you look for, if you look for anything in the founder, herself or himself?
Stan:
Well, I’ll give you a really, really good example, in the environmental world, is a short version of this long story as I invested with a friend of mine, who actually I trusted, because we, I actually trusted him with my life because he taught me how to do that sport of paragliding when he became an entrepreneur in the environmental business and I trusted him. Okay? But he was young. But anyway, that company that I invested in, in the beginning, made it to the five-yard line and it got mothballed. And then I got a phone call six months later from someone that knew that technology, that needed it for a friend of his, called me and asked to get one of the units. And I said, “Well, the units, number one are mothballed, they don’t make it, they don’t work, it wouldn’t be good for your application, it would be a different design for you.”
And I just happened yesterday, reluctantly to have gone to L.A., from where I live about an hour and a half and met a gentleman who had designed exactly what this guy had. At 8:30 in the morning and the next day called me. Now, I strongly believe there are forces at play to create serendipity. This was probably the most serendipity phone call I’d ever had because I was actually irritated at meeting this expert the day before who actually perfected what earlier had gone to the five-yard line. He made touchdowns and field goals, this guy was the genius. And the reason why, is that the first company had no chemist and it was a chemical process. They had some engineers and they had some physicists, and some of the heat sources, but nothing was integrated. This gentleman had integrated it.
And I had learned, it turned out being, that I was the lead investor of the first company. I just started small and then it needed more, and I stayed with it somewhat reluctantly. I had some security in terms of one of the things we’re talking about here, as an investor for that first company’s investment, we made them sequester. I had them define, this is a very important lesson for everybody, I had them define what this latter larger investment was for. It was specifically a piece of equipment that would work and that put it in an account with that written agreement, there were two people that ran the company, my friend I trusted, and someone that was not trustworthy or forthright. And that person finagled the accountant to release those funds, not for the equipment that I had allocated those funds for.
So have controls in any investments you have, legally, morally, agreement, trust, and all that have to be continually monitored. So that experience has given me, let’s say insights into the real world of investing that you don’t necessarily learn, you should hear from someone like me and says, “This can happen. Be aware of it, manipulation, money management, embezzlement, if you will.” So you have to trust the people you get involved with, and you have to monitor them after that, things happen and sometimes those things are not known. So the topic is, that the second person had done everything. He was a chemist, an expert in thermal chemistry. And he made… I invested in his company, he was doing medical waste in a closed version. So you put the pallet of medical waste in, and in four hours it’s gone. He was going against the big company’s Stericycle, and he’s actually giving them a run for their money and they will probably buy him.
But the point of the drama of David and Goliath, is he was David, big companies are Goliath, and he’s doing a better job. So about a year after I invested in him, I said, “Can you do a continuous feed as opposed to a bulk batch feed? Can you do a continuous feed for hazardous chemicals in toxic materials?” And he has looked at me and he said, “Yeah, and it would dwarf the medical waste.” So I invested and built a unit on more than trust, my experience prior, and then seeing what he did. We reviewed everything. And that led to a product called ThermGen, which is… There’s a video, THERMGEN.us is the environmental technology.
We’ve built two units, they’re both operating 24/7. The biggest challenge when you do any technology, Mr. Entrepreneur, Mrs. Entrepreneur, is any big company is going to say, “You have to show us that it works continually in commercial use, not just in the lab.” One of the early projects I made in the food business was when that no fat bad was huge, I had an $8,000,000 purchase order from Jenny Craig for a no-fat chip that a food technologist had made to my specs, with his core technology. And it was delicious, he could make any flavor. We could make a taco chip, a mango chip, any flavor you want and there was no fat. And it was, it worked, in the lab. And in the Bay Area, in Oakland, there’s a company called Granny Goose, they make a lot of chips and we busted a wall, and I mortgaged my home and bought a big oven for this project.
And the day came to mix it and make it, we had the purchase order, we had the technology. Well, we’ve all heard the term gummed up the works. When you mix the starch and water that’s glue. And it worked in the little lab, this food technologist had, but when you ramped up, and this is for any technology you invest in. It took him eight hours to clean the blender, much less, make the product that day. It failed the first day, because his technology thought it was not a bad one, it’s a great one and we had a purchase order, but it was not rampable.
Rob:
It didn’t scale well. Yeah.
Stan:
Will it scale? That’s the first question. And there’s a reason you can say, “Oh yeah, it’ll scale.” “Have you done it?” “Well, no.” So you got to say, “Yes, and here’s the proof it’s scaled,” and no BS. So that lesson is a huge lesson. And that itself, I think in this 15 minute or however long this goes, is a huge lesson for… That I paid dearly for obviously. So anyway, so that no fat business was obviously a fad. There’s good fat, which is a better market. We also were the largest fish oil marketing group before it was popular. We saw that as… We are pioneering, I have a very good team of scientists and I make things. So we, most scientists know things, but they don’t make things. They just they’re lab rats, if you will, they research and they find out, oh, this works, but okay, can you make me a capsule? No, I don’t think.
That’s, the trick is taking this core science and making it practical, and making it scale. So you have to have all those to be successful. And we were successful, and not successful at this, both.
Rob:
You’ve been very generous with your naming mistakes as well as successes, which is humble and also makes you trustworthy. Was there any large career mistake that you made, that you regretted and had to correct at some point along the line?
Stan:
Not thinking through what happens when you make starch and water.
Rob:
That was a big one.
Stan:
It was a big… I was embarrassed that I did not think that through. I mean, really, I mean, it’s the science, this is why you need a really smart scientist when you’re not the smart scientist. Trusting people in that company that allowed them to steal my money and my partner’s money, we both put money. So, not monitoring it and trusting someone. Basically, you’ve heard the thing, don’t trust, you can’t trust anybody. Well trust and verify is one level of making it a little more acceptable, but I haven’t thought of the third word other than monitor. Trust, verify, and monitor. Because people have agendas. People have stress, they have family issues, and there is Murphy’s law. And so we can make mistakes, but if we work as a team and communicate well when there is a difference, usually you can work through the challenges.
I mean, life is a challenge, especially in business, especially now, supply chain challenges, market challenges. I made a great natural product called cardio bar, which lowered cholesterol as good as statin drugs. The guy that made it made a great bar. We got it in sports authority, which 10 years ago was a big player. I had it, it made it to the Green Shop at Pebble Beach, where people pay 1,000s if not 100s of 1,000s of dollars to get their product. I got a phone call, my product was put in Pebble Beach by probably David Leadbetter, the golfer. Anyway, the bar was taken by the golf community they loved it. Johnny Miller’s family got it and loved it. So a bunch of famous people got it.
Athletes, Warren Moon, the first black NFL athlete got it and loved it. These people endorsed it. It was on my website, I didn’t pay anyone a penny. It was a great product, and the taste was great. I was making a medical food, my father was on a statin, which had side effects. I read an article, the core technology was printed in there. Mix these four ingredients called the portfolio diet and it lowers cholesterol. We did the study, everything was good, the problem…
Rob:
What happened?
Stan:
… per Murphy’s law, the guy made great bars, but he did not have expertise in sealing the ends of the wrapper. That’s a special technique in how you wrap them. And weevils got in and ruined a quarter 1,000,000 bars.
Rob:
Ouch.
Stan:
Fortunately, I was working on another major project which was ongoing cash flow. That one didn’t kill me, it hurt because it was a great product. Then 10 years later, which was three years ago, actually 14 years later, which was three years ago, what’s it called that bar out of Chicago? RXBAR, sold for $600,000,000. And I looked at the bar, there’s no claim. It was truly functional food. I mean, we literally had great endorsements and great science, and the back, just like, what do you call it? What’s that drink? Red Bull is a functional beverage in terms of margin. And it was really the first functional energy beverage out there. And the guys that marketed that were friends of mine because they were golfers. They tasted the bar and they took it on, they marketed for me, then COVID hit. So what I’m saying is that there’s these… You can create a great team, in your manufacturing, you can have a great product, but little things happen.
It’s just, that I was underfinanced and the first trial with the bugs and the weevils shouldn’t have stopped me. I was too busy and didn’t have another manufacturer. If I had a lot of money and a team effort. So, I guess my message to you is if you’re an individual entrepreneur and you’re by yourself or with a friend, it’s fine to do that, but make sure you have friends and family. They always say, “You just raise more than you need.” But it’s also with people too. You’re going to need help. You’re not going to know everything.
Rob:
Oh, that’s, thank you very much for that point. Taking that a step further, what advice, if any, would you give to a young person who wants to make a difference, say coming out of college or in college, and hasn’t yet decided what business or specialty area to make a difference in?
Any thoughts?
Stan:
… Yes. When I was in college, I spent more time looking at the catalog than doing my homework, because I couldn’t decide what moved me. I was a musician in college, actually a jazz musician at UC Berkeley. And I was the university’s jazz guitar, quintet guitarist. I loved it, played as a teenager and I still play and I still perform. That’s what I love, but I always thought I had another calling, a more professional calling. And so bifurcated my music obviously has grown slowly, it’s going well. But I have friends that got into the music world and they found something in that niche that they did well and they make money with it. And they weren’t, as let’s say craving fame and fortune, they craved what they loved. Right? Which is that’s what an artist is all about. And I really honestly have to admit, I really didn’t have the artist commitment, if I did it would’ve been easy.
So I stayed with science. I did not become a medical doctor or surgeon, not that I was lazy, but that seemed like a very hard life getting called at three in the morning. And I was probably sleep-deprived because of my youth working too hard and not getting enough rest. So I was driven by hindsight. I should have studied medicine because I’m fascinated by it. And it’s the most stimulating, fascinating field. It’s really a great area to be an expert in. So, you originally asked me about other mistakes I’ve made. I mean, there are those kinds of mistakes that I dealt with and how does a person decide what to do? Okay. All right. So for me, I look at everything in macro terms, in humanity, mankind is a cancer on the earth from the chemicals that we are pouring into the earth. So if I can do something to clean up the earth, that’s my legacy that I want to do.
And we have done it. This ThermGen project is a real breakthrough for compliantly destroying hazardous chemicals, it’s better… It’s the next stage after incineration. So I’m doing what I love and what I wanted to do, unfortunately, I’m 75 and three months, even though I might look 65, and I’m feeling 45, I need to kind of not take it easy. I’m going to be pushing still. It’s making sure that you have the energy, and the clarity, and if you need help ask for it, that’s basically it.
Rob:
Well, some days I don’t feel like I have all the energy I need for all the projects I have to do. And it’s, I have to ask for help on those days.
Stan:
Well, what people love is based upon what they think they love and how do you find out what you really love by doing it. And I would just say, get out there and do it. If you love music, do it. I mean, you may get a couple of bloody noses. If you like nutrition, if you like environmental stuff, sports, there are ways to make money even though… I have a lot of friends who have guitar shops, like a lot of really great and they’re both great guitar players.
And they went into the guitar shop business because they didn’t feel that they could make it as a musician. And both of them, all they want to do is make it as a musician and they hate their choice. One of them sold their business, and the other one is complaining about it. So, if you do what you love and you want to figure out a way to, the love part balanced with the money part, just keep that balance, keep a balance in life. Or don’t be an artist and be an imbalanced artist, which describes a lot of artists. So I don’t advise people anymore on these matters.
Rob:
Well, you’re a wealth of great advice. So, how do people get in touch with you, particularly if they have IP or technology that you could potentially license or utilize in your three areas?
Stan:
… The easiest email is stan@futurefood.com, food or foods we have both of them.
Rob:
Stan@futurefoods.com. Okay.
Stan:
… Yeah. Foods or food and, yeah, there are so many interesting projects I’m sitting on, we’re just scratching the surface and they all could be successful. If you’re an entrepreneur, you’d like health, but you don’t know what direction to go, I mean, I have some ideas that I know will work. So we know there’s an opportunity that I’m sitting on. Now I’ve kept the company small. One lady is my associate, she’s been with me 36 years now, I think. And she’s great. And it’s just the two of us as the core.
And we have some peripheral consultants, we’ve had for years, decades, but I keep it small. But I think it’s with the ThermGen that we do need to grow it. And I just spoke yesterday with the guy that was actually in charge of cleaning up Deepwater Horizon’s mess in the Gulf of Mexico, and he’s very interested in our technology. So it’s time for me to bring some people to the party.
Rob:
Perfect. Well, I hope some of our listeners contact you and we should talk further about some opportunities I have in mind, and for now, let me just let everybody know that this is Robert Steven Kramarz of your Vision Master, and this is a vision master here, Stan Solomonson. A vision master is someone who knows how to make the future not just see the future. And that’s what we’re here for. So you can contact me personally for consultation, @intelliversity.org and go to the connect page, and just make an appointment, it’s really easy. Thank you, everybody. Thank you, Stan.
Stan:
Thank you. Everybody. Feel free to write.