Episode Description

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Episode Transcript

Cortney Piper
Bill and Lance, thank you both for joining us today.

Bill Malkes
Great to be here Cortney, thank you.

Lance
Great to be here. Yeah, thanks for coming.

Cortney Piper 
All right, now this is not the first time we’ve talked about the Spark Innovation Center on this podcast, but it’s Bill’s first time on the show. So welcome, Bill. Can you talk about your background and how you joined the team at the UT Research Park?

Bill Malkes
Absolutely. Great to be here and Cortney, thank you for all the work you do and for what TAEPC does. It’s really what enables Spark and makes this place special. I’ve been a serial entrepreneur, doing that for about 35 years now, I guess, and I’ve been blessed enough to sell four companies. And after we sold the last one, I joined Spark as an EIR, entrepreneur in residence. I was just really attracted to the progressiveness of the program, the way we fold into the community, the energy community in particular here.

And then about six months ago I took over as executive director and that’s just our natural evolution. We’re kind of tightening things up a little bit here and we’re leaning big time into the nuclear renaissance and the advanced energy environment around here. So just a great time to be in East Tennessee and a great time to a spark.

Cortney Piper 
Well, Bill, the gratitude is mutual. We are so thankful to have you in East Tennessee that you have stayed in East Tennessee and now you are part of growing this entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem. what is the Spark Accelerator program? Tell us a little bit about that.

Bill Malkes 
So you know a lot of people talk about place-based innovation and I think they get it wrong. They think it’s something you can take a template and set it down but it really is you know the place is the yeast that makes it grow and what Spark is is we’re part of that evolution here so Spark is using the resources of Energy Valley to support companies and who are building in the advanced energy supply chain. We help them define what they’re selling, understand their regulatory path and we try to get them in front of the right customers and

right partners. I know we’re blessed to have Centris Energy here in this area and I know they do a lot to support the community from helping people with regulatory through supply chain issues as well as building their own exciting business. So that’s what Spark is and just again place-based thrilled to be part of the University of Tennessee and here in Eastern Tennessee.

Cortney Piper 
So a 12 week cohort, lots of great experience and access to our wonderful ecosystem. The Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council is pleased to support the Spark Accelerator program through our partnership with Launch Tennessee. And we’ve done this because advanced energy is such a vibrant part of our economy. It employs more than 420,000 Tennesseans in all 95 counties. So this is the one.

extraordinarily vibrant part of this ecosystem that is just so exciting to see it unfold and come to life through this 12 week program. So Lance, let’s talk a little bit more about you right now and your experience with Spark and your company, Witching Hour, but let’s step back a moment. Had you always wanted to be an entrepreneur?

Lance 
For as long as I can remember, so from some time in high school, you know, when I was thinking about what I wanted to do when I grew up or went to college, from around the age of 16, 15, wanted to run a business.

Cortney Piper 
So tell us more about witching hour, what is it?

Lance 
Yeah, so power lines are a really common cause of wildfires and all kinds of other grid disruptions. So what we do is we build robotic systems that retrofit power lines, like the power lines that you see running through your neighborhood, for example, with insulation so that if they touch something, it won’t cause any issues like wildfires, for example.

Cortney Piper 
talk a little bit more about how prevalent that problem is. Cause I think a lot of people think about these wildfires and they think, California, West coast, wire fire, wire fires, wildfires. So talk a little bit more about how prevalent the problem is and maybe ways people don’t think about.

Bill Malkes (03:59.792)
Ha

Lance
Yeah.

Lance
Yeah, so there are a lot of different ways that wildfires start, but a lot of wildfire destruction comes from power lines. And it’s because power lines are typically near communities, towns. And when these power lines cause fires, they usually cause lot more damage than maybe a lightning strike fire, for example. So it’s about 50 % of the wildfire destruction in the United States comes from power lines. So it’s a really big chunk.

And it’s a problem that we’re definitely seeing moving out of California, moving eastward. So I think we’ve been seeing wildfires in parts of the country where you wouldn’t expect, for example. I think there was one in Brooklyn a couple years ago, which is very strange. So we’re seeing wildfires that are just growing all over the United States. So it’s a problem that’s moving all over the country.

Cortney Piper 
So where did the idea for Witching Hour come from? There’s clearly a problem here, but how do you turn that problem into a business? Solving that problem into a business.

Lance
Yeah, I was. Yeah, yeah, I was. So I had a different company before we did food and beverage stuff. we were I was doing consumer packaged goods, doing food and beverage stuff. Really didn’t wasn’t, you know, a huge fan of it anymore. I wanted to do something that had more of an impact. So I just kind of went down a rabbit hole and was looking at wildfires and looked at lightning strike wildfires for a long time, for about a year. And during this time, I was working as a contractor for a utility company in California called Pacific Gas and Electric and

I was looking at lightning strike fires for about a year and didn’t put two and two together. I was working for a utility company that has a big issue with wildfires. So once I realized that, I turned my attention to utility-caused wildfires and started looking at what caused those, what utilities were doing to solve this problem, and then started with Wichita.

Cortney Piper 
Now, Shirley, you have a lot of your customer base out west. So why are you headquartered in Tennessee?

Lance 
Yeah, I think Tennessee is just one of the best places in the country to build anything in the utility or energy field. There’s just so many resources here. An amazing community. I everyone here just really wants to help. And I just, there’s just so many partnerships in, yeah, partnerships that we have here that make it just a really great place to build something in the utility industry. So TDA, KUB, yeah, happy to talk about.

Cortney Piper
Can you talk about some of those partnerships and some of those partnerships specifically and how they have enabled witching hour?

Lance
Yeah, KUB has been an amazing partner. I think we got introduced to them through one of the accelerator programs that we went through in Knoxville, but they’ve been an amazing partner thus far. mean, we’re able to go out there and, you know, we were building robotic systems, materials that insulate power lines, and it takes a lot of iteration and testing and we can’t do that on, you know, real power lines in the field because that would be very risky. A lot of things could go wrong. So…

A lot of our testing occurs at KUB’s pool yard where they train linemen. So we’ve been able to go out there many, many times and test things and things can go wrong there and it’s not going to be a problem. So that’s been hugely helpful. TVA has also been a great partner. They’ve been helping us a lot, connecting us with other local power companies and they’ve been amazing partners as well as Spark. there’s a lot of great resources here. I could go on and on about how many people here in East Tennessee have helped us out, but there’s a lot of people here that keep us here.

Cortney Piper
Well, I’m going to ask you to expand on that in a moment here, but KUB is the Knoxville Utilities Board. In the state of Tennessee, there are eight really big local power companies and KUB is one of those eight. So Lance, you were not working with a small utility or a small local power company here to pilot or demonstrate your technology and your business. This is what we call the big eight.

So just talk a little bit more, if you can, about that relationship with KUB, what it has enabled you to do, and if you’d like to expand on the other partnerships and resources you’ve been able to take advantage of, now is the time to do it.

Lance
Yeah, I mean that that KUB relationship has been one of the most important because it’s just really hard to find a utility company that’s willing to let you go out and try. mean, one, they’re lending every time we go out there and do testing, they’re lending, you know, three or four linemen. It’s time to us to go out there and in test. it’s it ends up being a lot of time that they’re they’re spending with us. So I mean, just the connections with the linemen alone are I mean, that’s a huge resource and just being able to chat with them. But being able to

quickly adjust things, adjust what our systems are doing and go out and actually test them on real infrastructure is hugely helpful. It just, I can’t ever state how helpful that is for us to quickly iterate and test different things. It’s really hard to find utilities that are willing to have relationships like that. Most utilities are very conservative and they usually are not open to relationships like that. So it’s been really great. mean, within, know, if I reach out to KEB now within

you know, two or three weeks, it be out there testing. So it’s, very quick. so that’s just been an amazing, amazing partnership. also, yeah, there’s, there’s been a couple others. So there’s a guy named Evan Turner who lives, in Tennessee and he’s a really great drone pilot. And I was introduced to him through Jim Biggs at the Knox Blanchard North Center. And he’s also been critical in building out the system. So his, you know, we happen to have one of the best drone pilots in the world here in East Tennessee. So he’s.

Cortney Piper
Doesn’t surprise me.

Lance 
And he’s yeah, so he actually lived in the same building as me, which is crazy But that’s also been a huge asset. So I mean, it’s just been it’s crazy how many resources beer I mean, it’s that’s it’s just been amazing. Yeah, that’s been an amazing asset as well mean, I don’t know where we’d be without him helping us You know build out our systems. I know I don’t know the first thing about drone systems. So having him around it’s been it’s been amazing

Cortney Piper
And Bill, you’ve gotten to meet so many entrepreneurs and innovators through this program. So what makes a submission to the Spark Accelerator program successful?

Bill Malkes
That’s a great question Courtney. think there’s two things that come to mind. The first of which is, know, we talk a lot about the play space, but the applicant really needs to understand why they want to be in East Tennessee because that shows that they have the diligence, but also the appreciation to leverage the resources here. This is again, I think such a unique opportunity. And if they don’t understand that coming in, they’re probably not going to be directed. The second thing equally as important is somebody who has a showing up

a of moving something from an ideal to the field. Lance is a great example. Lance was always about getting this into the field and not about just publishing. Publishing is great, but the idea of action and making things happen, that’s where we at Spark can make the biggest impact for companies that want to do that. So we need to see that alignment. So those would be the two things, the understanding and appreciation of the area coupled with just the entrepreneur hunger to see that product.

in the wild.

Cortney Piper 
And Bill, if I may, we are partners with Spark on the Spark Accelerator along with Launch Tennessee. And the reason why we did this and we have this partnership is we have a shared definition of advanced energy. It’s anything that makes energy cleaner, safer, more secure, more efficient. We’ve talked about how witching hour makes energy safer and more efficient.

You are looking for all kinds of advanced energy technologies, right? You shouldn’t limit yourself, be limited by a definition or a term.

Bill Malkes 
I think that’s exactly right. And thank you for bringing that up, Courtney. Um, it’s not just the generation. If you think about anything in the supply chain, advanced manufacturing materials, and again, these are all places, know, the manufacturing facilities and resources in our area are phenomenal. They’re world-class. I sit, I’m blessed every day I come in here and I sit about 35 feet from some of the greatest material scientists and applications in the world. Right.

You know, we have wins all over the place. And when I say we, that’s the royal we, I’m talking about the University of Tennessee Oak Ridge National Lab and all the great entrepreneurial companies around here. So yeah, if you’re touching that supply chain anywhere in advanced energy, come here. This is the place to make it happen. These are where the customers are. This is where the expertise is. And all of this stuff is not just vital and important in our national security and our national wellbeing, but it all has dual use as well that you can leverage.

from being here. So yeah, I can’t say it enough. This is the place to be if that’s what you want to do.

Cortney Piper 
Well, Bill, where can people learn more about the Spark Accelerator and apply for the next cohort?

Bill Malkes 
So you can look at our website, we’re at tennesseeresearchpark.org, or you can also go right to F6S, our application sits, also at the TAEBC website, where you can launch directly into our application. And we’d love to hear your story, we’d love to have you here. We kick off in late August, run through November. Lance has been through the program, a lot of other successful entrepreneurs. It’s just a great time. And I think the other thing I’ll add to this is,

the EIRs, it’s not just the programming and the location, it’s the entrepreneurs riffing off each other that just creates so much value. actually, I’d love to hear Lance’s, I’m going to go off script here a little, Courtney, but I’d love to hear Lance’s thoughts about the value of the core itself.

Lance
Yeah, I think, I mean, yeah, my opinion is the other members are the most valuable part of these accelerator experiences typically. I think for Knoxville specifically though, the ecosystem here is sort of unlike anything, I mean, I’ve lived in a lot of places and I haven’t experienced.

an ecosystem like Knoxville before where it feels so community driven. think because it’s that way, I think that the accelerator is a great way to get people, if you’re not from the area, plugged into the community. think that’s maybe the most valuable part, maybe second to the other members of the cohort. because the community is just so unreal, I’ve never seen anything like it.

in Knoxville and so close. Everyone’s just so willing to help. think having the accelerator and the people involved help you, know, plug you into the community is also hugely helpful. That’s how, you know, only being here two years, I feel like I’ve lived here my whole life because of how, how many people I know and how plugged into the community I am here. So one of, one of, one of those is probably the most valuable part in my opinion.

Cortney Piper 
Well, for those listeners that are new to our podcast, the reason or why East Tennessee is so unique and so special is because we have assets that are not available anywhere else in the country or the world located all within 30 miles of each other. So East Tennessee is home to the Department of Energy’s largest science and energy national lab, Oak Ridge National Lab. And then we have the nation’s largest public power provider, which is TVA.

And we also have the state’s flagship land-grant university, their flagship campus in Knoxville with the University of Tennessee. All those three assets are in one area and they are constantly fueling innovation and business growth and development. And all three of them, along with the private sector, have been laser focused on advanced energy and building out our entrepreneurial ecosystem. So…

Lance, to hear you say that you feel that community, you feel that welcoming volunteer spirit, that is great. That is great for us. That is what this community has built and the private sector is all in on that. That’s why we started the Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council is to champion advanced energy as an economic development and job creation strategy. And I do think that East Tennessee is a very unique and special part of the country and it is a great location for advanced energy.

entrepreneurs to start and grow businesses.

Lance 
I think it’s the best place in the world for…

Cortney Piper
One more time, Lance, for people in the back.

Lance 
Yeah, best place in the world to build an energy company or utility oriented company. This is the best place.

Cortney Piper 
That’s fantastic. Bill, we couldn’t get a better testimonial for the Knoxville region and the spark accelerator.

Bill Malkes
I think that’s right and Courtney I’d love to add a corollary to your beautiful explanation of the area but I think a lot of people don’t inherently understand that Oak Ridge National Lab is the birthplace of civilian nuclear energy. TVA literally lit up the entire southeast and the University of Tennessee has one of the world’s best nuclear engineering programs, one of the world’s manufacturing programs and we’ve already talked about what they’re doing.

material so it is the place to be and we just love having people like Lance here you know with the spirit again I’ve watched him since his Tech Star days through Spark and it’s just that drive determination that it’s why he fits in here because he has Tennessee grit.

Cortney Piper 
Love it. Okay, we are gonna put the links to apply to the next Spark Accelerator cohort in our show notes. Bill, when is the deadline to apply?

Bill Malkes
The deadline is May 27th and we’d love to have you here. We’d love to hear your story. We’d love to be part of your success.

Cortney Piper 
All right, Lance, where can people learn more about witching hour and what is next for witching hour?

Lance 
Yeah, so our website isn’t very descriptive. I’d say maybe our website, we are like sort of intentionally not putting too much out there right now, but what’s next? So think we’re looking forward to getting this out into the real world sometime in the next 12 months or so. So you should see us insulating wires in the real world.

Cortney Piper 
All right, great. Well, the Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council wants dibs on that news. So we’ll have to have you come back to the podcast. Maybe we’ll get some videos, some other sort of creative ways where we can help showcase your success.

Lance 
Yeah, that’d be great.

Cortney Piper
All right, Bill and Lance, thank you so much for joining us on Energizing Tennessee.

Bill Malkes
Thank you, Cortney.

Lance
Thanks Cortney.