Listen to the Investor experience conversation with Andrew Smith and Mike Wilson.
Transcript
00:00:00 Andrew Smith
Good morning, Mike. How are you doing?
00:00:01 Mike Wilson
I’m good Andrew, yourself?
00:00:03 Andrew Smith
Yeah, I’m good, thank you. I’m speaking to you from Glasgow. I think you’re probably up in in Banchory, is that right?
00:00:08 Mike Wilson
Yes, I’m up in the sunny Aberdeenshire this morning.
00:00:12 Andrew Smith
Excellent, excellent. So Mike, thanks for joining me this morning. You and I were having a chat about our own Greenback second close and you came up with a suggestion that it might be of interest to prospective investors in that second close to hear from you. Full disclosure, you were kind enough – I would say of course – smart enough to participate in in our first close at the end of March this year.
00:00:36 Mike Wilson
Yes, that’s right, Andrew. Smart enough – time will be the judge of that, but I’m enjoying it.
00:00:42 Andrew Smith
Excellent. Before we get into your reasons for making that investment and your experience of us since then, it might be helpful to lay out a little of your own background. Could you tell us a little bit about how you came to where you are now?
00:00:56 Mike Wilson
I’m an inventor, an operations guy, I have spent a lot of time offshore in the energy business and discovered I’ve got a strong commercial slant. I look for problems and I look for solutions. I’ve been a technology development lead and I’ve developed solutions which have led to successful business exits and have now got experience as an investor or my in my own companies and other technologies and with third party companies and technologies.
00:01:20 Andrew Smith
And that track record, Mike, extends over some 38 years. You’ve been in businesses at senior management level. And actually, 2018 was a great year for you; you had a successful personal exit, I think. Is that right?
00:01:35 Mike Wilson
Yeah, I sold my company Ecosse Subsea Systems to Oceaneering for £54 Million and inside that business there were some of the technologies that I had invented.
00:01:44 Andrew Smith
Excellent, excellent. And following that, you set up your own Mike Wilson Consulting Group to actually help develop those and indeed other technologies. Mike, could you tell us a little bit about that?
00:01:56 Mike Wilson
Yes, there were some technologies that I didn’t sell with Ecosse Subsea Systems and within the MW group there’s RivTide Power, which is a tidal estuarial power device. It’s developing its patented massive water turbine, which generates power uniquely from slow moving and potentially shallow water such as reversed tidal estuaries and eventually, we hope, with the ocean currents. Other technologies in the group includes IR Power, which is a very clever machine which is a high-speed fly rule like on a Formula One car and it can actually recycle electricity from industrial machines and put them back into factories and reducing power consumption. We’ve also got power cable storage solutions, a unique subsea buoyancy device for installation and decommissioning. Just the other day we were speaking to a nuclear facility who’s interested in using that.
00:02:48 Andrew Smith
You’re really right at the cutting edge of where our mission sits as Greenbackers, you know, we sit around capitalising venture investment, strategic investment that’s required to build a more sustainable society, by connecting that disruptive technology and the founders of those technologies into our network of climate focused funds and effectively we’re trying to back the planet – as we say on our website – one deal at a time. Your own personal experience both before and since your exit looks, on the surface, like a fit with what we’re trying to do, but let’s get into this a little bit more and ask you the kind of pertinent question which is why you decided to invest in Greenbackers given your background.
00:03:35 Mike Wilson
Well, I guess the first thingis that I look carefully at any investment in making a turnaround that I take forward and I’m sure that’s the same with every seasoned investor. And we knew each other before I made this investment. We’d had lots of discussions around the clean technology space. Clearly, we’re both in the same sector, albeit in different places, and we have an understanding and respect for one another’s experience and approach in the clean technology sector. I look closely at the Greenbackers business, the market in which you’re operating is essential to the acceleration of the adoption of the right sorts of clean technologies, and I know how challenging that can be from personal experience. The business model you’ve developed is generating early revenues and the number of income streams are emerging, not least the corporate services which you’re providing, to the likes of Technip FMC. I can only see growth in that area; big corporates are not very good at doing technology scouting themselves. And I spoke with each of the Greenbackers executive team yourself, Mark Hannigan, Robert Hokin and I was impressed by the deep sector knowledge and the focus on your business objectives.
00:04:40 Andrew Smith
And I may say that the time you took to speak to us all was very much appreciated. It did indicate your real interest and your thoroughness in kind of checking us out and checking our business out and making sure as far as you were concerned that there was a fit. And of course, as part of the investment, you were kind enough to agree to be a board observer, of course, looking after your own investment too. And we’ve had a few board meetings since then and perhaps you could talk a little bit about your experience so far as an investor in us, Mike.
00:05:12 Mike Wilson
OK well as an investor so far, and my interaction with you guys, which has been not just in the board meetings but outside too, I’ve been impressed with the fact that you’re all receptive to advice and I have experienced life as a Greenbacker customer too: Some of my companies are on the platform and Greenbackers as an entity has a great customer manner, you know, so I’m kind of seeing it from both sides of the coin and I’m enjoying the journey so far.
00:05:40 Andrew Smith
Good. And I may say, we are too. We value your input at board meetings, but also as somebody we can go to a resource when we when we’ve got something we want to check out for you. And again, as you say, having you as a customer is very helpful to us because you can give us honest, straightforward feedback in that role as well. So, I guess one of the questions that people might be interested in in hearing you talk about is what you actually look for when you’re investing in in a company like ours. What’s your driver for that sort of investment, Mike?
00:06:10 Mike Wilson
Well, a company like Greenbackers, is actually the same or broadly similar to every other investment that I like to make. You’re investing in a product that’s attractive to me and the market. You’re looking for a company that’s actually got a route to market and you’ve demonstrated that in spirits for the kind of people you have on your platform. And you need a strong team; when any of these legs are missing from an investment, then typically it doesn’t work out.
00:06:37 Andrew Smith
Yeah, and I always remember in one of our very early conversations, long before the idea of an investment was even on either of our minds, your analogy of the three-legged stool and I’m sure you’d be delighted to discuss that with anybody that might show an interest in what we’re doing. So, anything else you’d like to you’d like to add to the conversation? Do you have any questions for me?
00:06:59 Mike Wilson
Well, I would say, the interesting thing about being part of Greenbackers is that it’s giving me diverse opportunities in my own business, which I wouldn’t have had without being behind the curtain. For you, Andrew, the question I have is: what does an ideal round two investor look like for Greenbackers?
00:07:20 Andrew Smith
Yeah, good question. Of course, there’s a glib answer, which is somebody with a cheque. But that’s not the real answer, it’s not the right answer. I think ideally, we’re looking for somebody who gets the problem we’re trying to solve, which is, clean technology, which is undoubtedly a part of the answer to the dreadful climate change challenge that we’re all facing. And yet the ways in which clean technologies get to market, the way they find investment is fundamentally broken and much too slow. And we’re trying to do our bit to solve that problem. And demonstrably in in a way that gives a return. So, I really think somebody who gets that, who understands it, who can add a little bit more than money in exactly the way that you have, Mike, that would be the ideal investor. Hopefully that gives a step for a hint as far as that’s concerned, like. And listen, Mike, I want to say thanks very much for participating in this and I think you’ve indicated previously that if there is a prospective investor and they’d like to chat to you about any subject around your investment, you’d be happy to have a conversation direct with them in the absence of us is that is that right, Mike?
00:08:31 Mike Wilson
Absolutely. I’m happy to talk with them jointly or separately. You know, when people do their due diligence, they like to ask questions. And who knows, we all might learn something.
00:08:43 Andrew Smith
Well indeed. And one thing I know is whenever they do that, you’ll give them a straightforward, honest answer, that’s for sure, Mike. Listen, it’s been a pleasure. Thanks for chatting to me and let’s see if we can get this second close done. Thanks very much, Mike.
00:08:57 Mike Wilson
Good luck, Andrew. Bye bye.
