By Amanda C. Kooser, Special to NMBW
Businesses are a lot like children. It is exciting to watch them grow, and hard to set them free in the world as independent entities. Lem Hunter knows that firsthand. He started engineering consultancy Mechtronic Solutions Inc. (MSI) in 1993 in his spare bedroom with a computer bought on credit. After growing the company to 55 employees and branching into new areas of business, he left in late 2006 to helm spinoff Vibrant Corp.
“Lem’s strength is starting something from nothing, and making it successful and providing a foundation so that it can move on beyond him,” says John Spruce, CEO of MSI. “That’s a skill that not a lot of entrepreneurs possess.”
Vibrant specializes in nondestructive testing of aerospace components, using resonance technology to determine whether parts have gone bad. “It’s faster and more accurate than the technologies they currently use to look for parts that are cracked or beginning to fail,” says Hunter.
He likes to fly airplanes in his spare time, making Vibrant a particularly good entrepreneurial fit. “He has a passion for aviation, and he’s a very strong technologist,” says Spruce. “Marrying technology with aviation is a perfect business for him that plays to his strengths.
Vibrant is still in its startup phase, but the company already has $1 million in seed money, an early-stage investment round from Verge Fund and a joint venture with a British nondestructive testing company under its belt. Vibrant has six employees in the U.S. and two in the U.K.
Hunter sees the recession as an opportunity to grow Vibrant at a reasonable pace.
“I believe in building the systems that add value over time and in getting companies self-sufficient. If we can get more people back on focusing on building value over the long term, that’s the biggest challenge,” says Hunter.
Hunter likens building a successful business to preparing for a siege, rather than a battle. That focus on the long term has shaped him into a successful technology entrepreneur.
“I really enjoy beating long odds,” Hunter says. “I like seeing plans come into fruition, and having the courage to change the plan and making the course corrections needed.”
Spruce sees Hunter having an impact on the technology business in New Mexico for many years to come.
“I see Vibrant growing to the point where he will turn it over to someone else to run, and he will go find another technology to develop,” says Spruce. “Whatever he sinks his teeth into, he’s going to make it successful.”
Fusion. If we ever really got there, it would fundamentally change the economics of the planet. With fusion in place, we have the ability to meet everybody’s fundamental needs very easily. It boils down a lot to energy. Everybody has light, everybody has heat.
From “New Mexico Business Weekly Who’s Who in Technology,” July 24, 2009
Reprinted with permission