Thomas Healy is the Founder and CEO of Hyliion, a provider of innovative generator technology to produce clean, efficient and affordable electricity. As an entrepreneur, he has founded two start-ups prior to Hyliion while he was in college and holds over twenty patents.

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Guest Resource

Hyliion – Powering a cleaner future. Check their website to join their company or to invest in them.

3 Value Bombs

1) A lot of people think success is monetary-driven but for some entrepreneurs, it is changing the world and creating multigenerational companies that has a positive impact in the society.

2) Companies are trapped into doing the easiest which is to keep doing what you have been doing but that is the actually the most risky.

3) Just get started. So many people come to analysis paralysis but you can’t predict what is going to happen tomorrow. Until you become committed and an expert in the space, you can’t map out the trajectory even if you are an expert to it.

Sponsor

NetSuite: Over 41,000 businesses have future-proofed their business with NetSuite, by Oracle – THE number one cloud E.R.P. Download the CFO’s Guide to AI and Machine Learning for free at NetSuite.com/fire!

Show Notes

**Click the time stamp to jump directly to that point in the episode.

Today’s Audio MASTERCLASS: Taking Your Startup Public.

[1:22] – Thomas shares something that he believes about becoming successful that most people disagree with.

If you are a risky start up and really want to change the world, you have to have something different that drives you. For him, it is changing the world and creating multigenerational companies that has a positive impact in the society. A lot of people think success is monetary-driven but that is not the case for many entrepreneurs.

[2:15] – Thomas talks about his Startup Journey: Going From the dorm room to IPO.

He dropped out in his grad school at Carnegie Mellon University to pursue his business full time. It started in his dorm room in Pittsburg where he run the company with a few people. Fast forward to 2020, he opened his company in New York and went public.

[4:06] – Thomas tells us about his accolades being the youngest billionaire (Forbes 30 under 30).

It was a wonderful accomplishment. Their stocks went up close to $10 Billion market capital and because of his ownership in the company, it projected him to becoming a billionaire.
It is a step along the journey and there’s a lot more to accomplish today because it can also change.

[6:32] – Thomas shares the top 1 or 2 challenges and struggles he faced as a CEO and the lessons learned.

He founded the company which produces semi-electric trucks in 2015 and they went public and raised $100M and got them a $10B valuation. They were part of the hype of electric vehicles that everyone thought will become electric overnight but it took longer which costed more and also there were less mandates that are put in place.
They thought of pivoting from that space and go to a different sector which is power generation. Generators that can produce an onsite power plant that sits outside of the facility. It can power a hotel or a hospital that became the focus of the company.
To make that change, they had a 70% reduction in workforce, shifted their burn rate and financial span reduced by two thirds. This put the company in a new trajectory which was one of the most difficult times through the evolution of the company.
It impacted peoples lives and also making a bold move , taking the company into a new journey that is going to be better than the last one.
As time goes, many of their competitors in the electric vehicle space has gone bankrupt or facing bankruptcy and in a bad situation. Thankfully, in hindsight, its fantastic that they have gone out in that space into a new area of opportunity where power generation is what everybody is talking about especially in this AI gold rush that is going on.

[9:06] – A timeout to thank our sponsor!

NetSuite: Over 41,000 businesses have future-proofed their business with NetSuite, by Oracle – THE number one cloud E.R.P. Download the CFO’s Guide to AI and Machine Learning for free at NetSuite.com/fire!

[9:41] – Thomas tells how he managed to weather some pretty intense Industry Curveballs.

Being the CEO of company makes him the no.1 problem solver. In the early days of the company with 5 employees, he is wearing all the hats but as time goes on, his role evolves. The one thing that remains is being the no. 1 problem solver at the end of the day.

[11:07] – Thomas gives a specific example of being thrown a curveball.

They expected billion of dollars in 2023 to build semi-electric trucks and they were working on that but they saw the industry moving away from them. Seeing a situation wherein you have invested many years and so much dollars in building a solution that is right there and ready for primetime but suddenly the market is moving away from them.
They had two options, to keep pushing forward and hope that the market will change momentum on electric vehicles and will come back or to exit that space and go to another direction.
Companies are trapped into doing the easiest which is to keep doing what you have been doing but that is the actually the most risky. They saw that and they pivoted from that space to power generation and have seen a positive shift in the stock price momentum.
They made that tough choice to pivot out of electric vehicles into power generation and it was a good move.

[14:02] – Thomas shares the transition of Hyliion from powertrain to power gen.

The transition is the 70% reduction in workforce and changing and expanding from $150M per year to$50M per year.
They brought in new talents that knows the power generation space. They made a complete evolution of the company in a strategic way. Having $300M cash, they know they are financially in a strong space and has an awesome technology in power generation, they made the decision to go all in on it.
Everyone is underestimating how much power is going to be needed but there is the evolution shift. Due to the AI boom massicve data centers will need much power to solve the AI problems that are ahead of us.
The beauty of start ups is you can come in and shape things up. Thinking in a different way and moving in a different space while having brilliant people with you that will create things people thought would be impossible.

[16:46] – Thomas gives his top Entrepreneurial advice.

Just get started. So many people come to analysis paralysis but you can’t predict what is going to happen tomorrow. Until you become committed and an expert in the space, you can’t map out the trajectory even if you are an expert to it.
You don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow so the best thing to do is to start the journey early on, figure it out as you go and make decisions about the best trajectory to take the company and hopefully reach to the stock market and opening it to the public.

[18:42] – Call to action.

Hyliion – Powering a cleaner future. Check their website to join their company or to invest in them.

[20:24] – Company’s Mission

Disrupting power generation by enabling the concept of onsite power to run data centers, EV chargers and bring us to a cleaner and economical future.

[22:21] – Thank you to our Sponsor!

NetSuite: Over 41,000 businesses have future-proofed their business with NetSuite, by Oracle – THE number one cloud E.R.P. Download the CFO’s Guide to AI and Machine Learning for free at NetSuite.com/fire!

Killer Resources!

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