Jenkins MBA Alumn’s Startup Secures Support from Triangle VCs
Tethis water treatment systems, a startup working to commercialize a water treatment technology developed at North Carolina State University, has achieved a major funding milestone.
The year-old company, led by CEO Scott Bolin, an alumn of the NC State Poole College of Management Jenkins MBA program and its entrepreneurship and technology commercialization concentration, has obtained $800,000 in financing and the support of some prestigious Triangle area venture capitalists.
Accomplished entrepreneur Chris Evans, who helped Bolin develop Tethis, invested $100,000 of his own money, and will serve as the executive chairman. Cherokee Investments and Durham, N.C.-based Acorn Investments, led by Tom Darden and Michael Noel respectively, also made significant funding contributions.
Collaboration with NC State College of Natural Resources
NC State scientists Ryan Chan and Moataz Mousa, in the College of Natural Resources, developed the company's technology which removes salt and minerals from industrial brine. In partnership with Bolin and under the direction of NC State's Fast 15 – a university led initiative to double the number of startups launched by faculty and students – as well as the Blackstone Entrepreneur's Network, the group founded Tethis in the fall of 2012.
With the company's successful capital backing and the widespread applicability of its technology, the future for Tethis looks bright, Bolin said.
Solving the Brine Problem
“Removing salts and other dissolved materials from water can be a difficult and expensive task,” he said. As a result, “there's a host of applications for our technology. Our unofficial motto is that 'everyone has a brine problem.' We even own the url, brineproblem.com.”
Bolin explains that the Tethis technology could be used to make water desalination work better in the oil and gas industry, to clean up waste streams, and in other industrial or mining applications.
For the time being, Bolin and Tethis plan to use the funding they have won to file patents domestically and abroad, and most importantly, to expand the production of their technology.
“Our most important goal for 2013 is to move the technology from the lab to commercial scale,” Bolin said.
Five Tips for Startups
With a bit of success behind him, Bolin agreed to provide a few insights he has gained regarding successful entrepreneurship.
- Exercise humility. “Since the very early days of Tethis, we've eagerly and consistently sought mentorship and advice from the experts. We didn't take every piece of advice, but we listened to and evaluated everything.”
- Read voraciously.
- Build trust capital. “From the business plan and pro forma, to the way we present ourselves, everything we've done is centered around the idea that people and businesses are built on trust. For me, it didn't make sense to keep re-writing business plans that I knew could change on a moment's notice, until I realized that investors, customers, and partners are all looking for proof that we could be trusted. In that light, we go out of our way to demonstrate trustworthiness in every part of our business.”
- Develop your own judgment. “Double-check everything you read or are told.”
