Interviewee
Michael Markesbery, Co-founder and CEO of the innovative Oros Apparel: The outerwear brand that is tearing their technology straight from the cosmos - the same stuff NASA uses to insulate spacecraft - and science's it into max-warmth, zero-bulk apparel destined to take you beyond.
Transcript
Michael Markesbery: Thanks for having me. I'm super excited. So I'm Michael Marksbury. I'm the co-founder and CEO of OROS. We are a material technology company. We create the most advanced thermal materials on the planet. We took the same tech that NASA was using to insulate spacecraft like the Mars Rover and figured out how to re-engineer it for applications here on earth like apparel. So that's, that's oral in a nutshell.
Elisa Muñoz: So I know that you have a science science major, so why the interest in or why entrepreneurship?
Michael Markesbery: Yeah, when I was in college my sophomore year I went backpacking across Europe and I ended up climbing the tallest mountain in the Northeast West Alps. Incredible experience. One really big problem, I got to the top of the mountain and I looked like the Michelin man. Tons of bulk and tons of layers and I thought that there had to be a better way to cut the bulk and still stay warm.So I came back to the US and in college I was a science geek and I started looking at every single industry or vertical that was using insulation to try to find a solution for this Michelly man problem that I had on top of the mountain.
And I found out something pretty interesting. I found out that the problem that I had with insulation in apparel was the same problem that was had in every single vertical of insulation. Cold chain packaging, for example, there's 35 billion of temperature sensitive medication wasted annually due to failings in temperature control in buildings and structures. We're spending 50% of the world's global energy consumption simply to heat buildings and structures. It's incredibly energetic. Inefficient defense was begging for advances in thermal materials and energy. And so, two things became clear to me. One, there was no solution for this Michelin man problem. And two, the problem was a lot bigger than just the peril. The problem was insulation.
So I, I then ended up getting pretty lucky. I got a scholarship created by the Mercury seven astronauts called the Astronaut Scholarship. And through that scholarship I learned, learned about this NASA technology called aero gel and NASA said, Hey, this is the lowest thermal conductive solid in existence, meaning it's the best insulation on earth. And so I'm like, well hold on, wait a minute. You know, it can get down to negative 450 degrees Fahrenheit in space. Like if this thing is really that good, if aero gels really that good of an insulator, how come it's not being used ubiquitously like in every piece of insulation on Earth? Like, which certainly solved the Michel Man problem I had right where I like the Michel man on top of the mountain and found out that aerogel is super brittle, if you poke it, it shatters into a thousand those pieces.
So really bad news for pretty much any application. And at that point, the co-founder of OROS and I became maniacally obsessed with figuring out how do you take the best insulation on earth, this aerogel stuff and just make it flexible and durable so you can use it in whatever application you want. The school went by the wayside, but by our senior years of college we ended up creating the world's first flexible and durable aerogel composite in the world Solar core foam, which is what's out in the world today.
Elisa Muñoz: Wow, that's super interesting. Okay, so I mean how, how long ago was this? Like five years ago?
Michael Markesbery: Yeah, so we graduated college in 2015, so in 2015 is when we launched the company.
Elisa Muñoz: So it's been a long time. Is there a way that you can break down maybe the advantages of OROS talking about technical superiority?
Michael Markesbery: Yeah, of course. So Solar Core has two benefits over every other insulation on earth. The first is it's warmer, it's been tested against over 250 other installations. Every synthetic, every natural, every foam, every loft insulation we have yet defined something that beats it from a thermal performance perspective. And that's great, it's warmer. The real value proposition gets back to the challenge that I had on the mountain, what I looked like the Michelin net. And it's the same challenge that exists ubiquitously in insulation, everything from building and home insulation to rocket ABLs.
Every insulation that's ever existed has needed bulk or loft to work. That is not true with aerogel, thereby not true with solar core. Meaning for the first time in history you can have a thin amount of insulation that gives you significant thermal value. That's really the big difference. Or said another way for apparel for example. It means for the first time in history you don't have to look like the ULA man to stay warm. That's really the big difference. And so with our original technology, Solar P foam, those are the benefits compared to other inflation.
Elisa Muñoz: Wow, very interesting what you're sharing. And I wanted to ask you like since you are the Co-founder and also the CEO, like how do you balance between product novation and then the business building?
Michael Markesbery: That's a great question or else's internal model is signs to shit out of everything you do. And certainly that started with me in a college dorm room creating a solar core. But that mentality holds true ubiquitously across the business. Take marketing for example, you have a hypothesis that adding A is gonna work better than adding B. You put both out in the world and you test your theory, right? Just like you would in science or innovation.
And you learn either you're right at A does work better than add B or you're wrong, Add B works better than add a. And in that case there's a beautiful opportunity for learning right now you have a new best ad and you can question why that's the case that this ad's working better and you can reformulate your hypothesis and try again.
And so to me innovation is, is company building I guess is what I'm saying, cuz this philosophy of science to shit added everything you do holds true ubiquitously across every aspect of the company.
“Michael, you have two choices: You can either hire a CEO to build this company, or you can build a group of advisors and mentors that know far more than you do about the various areas of your business”.
Elisa Muñoz: I am pretty sure that you have had a lot of challenges in between. What would you say it has been the biggest one? Maybe talking about the business or the technical part?
Michael Markesbery: There was a, one of OROS core values is have grit and it's, it's such an important quality in people. And something that Ruth and I really value Oros itself means is ancient Greek for mountain and for Ruth and I, it's a symbolic reference to the sacrifice in the climb that's involved with reaching the peak. That's why we call the company Oreos. That's how much we believe in grit.
And when we raised our first round of capital, we got a term sheet which is great, we signed the term sheet and in the term sheet there's a no shop clause, meaning you can't, once you sign it, you can't go pursue other investors. And so we signed this term sheet and then this, this investor dragged their feet for several months up to the end of this no shop clause, you know, which is kind of taboo. You don't really do that. And at that point we were really low on cash and then I got a call from the, the, the investor that put in the term sheet saying hey, sorry, we're not gonna do the deal. And the term sheet falls apart.
And then not 30 minutes later a car that was driving on the highway veers off the highway and drives straight through ORs offices totaling everything. So in about an hour, our lead investor dropped the term sheet, we're running really low on cash and now the entire office. And at that point Ruth and I had an all hands on deck meeting, not at the office obviously cuz it was destroyed. And we called it and all of our advisors, all of our board members explained the situation. And in about a two hour period we came up with a roadshow, we had a bunch of investors planned and we were gonna drive cross country and meet with all of these investors. And in about a month we ended up signing a term sheet with better terms than the terms that we had initially. And so to me this quality of having rip is immensely.
Elisa Muñoz: Are you planning to expand anytime soon?
Michael Markesbery: One of our largest customers on the apparel brand side is Japan, believe it or not. Yeah. A good portion of our revenue comes from the Japanese market. They've been a great partner and it's been really incredible to see the traction and success in the Japanese market. And for example, I mean I know that this is not like the typical outward, if you can put it like that because it's so special that not a lot of people, I think they can fully understand what this is about, what this new tech is about. So most of the people I'm thinking about probably think that it's expensive or that it's not worth it or I don't know, people can think things. Right. So how will you say you have educated people in some kind of way in order to demonstrate the value proposition that RS.
Elisa Muñoz: Do you have any advice for future entrepreneurs starting on this path?
Michael Markesbery: When Rick and I were graduating college, we had an advisor friend who said, “Michael, you have two choices: You can either hire a CEO to build this company, or you can build a group of advisors and mentors that know far more than you do about the various areas of your business”. And we obviously went the latter route. And that advisory group and those mentors have been key for r and mine and orals is success. So I guess my advice is don't be afraid to have the humility to engage mentors and advisors, but it's a dichotomy because you wanna also have the confidence to take action and pursue your goals and not spend all your time strategizing.
So it's a double edged sword and it's a tough balance to find, but don't be afraid to engage mentors and advisors.
Elisa Muñoz: Perfect. Thank you so much for sharing that advice. Super helpful, especially for all of the entrepreneurs listening to us at this time. So thank you so much Michael for taking the time. Do you have any social media handles working upon you or can people follow you?
Michael Markesbery: Yeah, our website is www.orapparel.com. You can find any OROS apparel gear there. We also have social handles, same social handles on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook.
Elisa Muñoz: Perfect. Thank you so much. And remember guys of far more information, interesting articles, interesting interviews, just like this one with Michael directly on our website slash builder nation. We would love to hear from you. And once again, Michael, thank you so much for taking the time and for sharing your advice with us.
Michael Markesbery: Thank you. Honor to be here.
