Kent Campbell and Victor Rivas, Quantum Qool
Kent Campbell (left) and Victor Rivas (right) are the co-founders of Quantum Qool and alumni from the NMotion Accelerator 2023 cohort. This duo have navigated the past two years by leveraging their respective strengths.
Quantum Qool helps advanced electronics manufacturers battle their number one enemy, heat, using patented femtosecond (ultrashort bursts) laser structuring technology developed by Rivas. The technology creates more surface area, which significantly improves power and heat management by factors of 10 times or more.
As advanced electronics become faster, smaller and more powerful, heat and power issues with components inside of batteries, CPUs & GPUs, solar arrays and spacecraft have become a glaring problem in terms of thermal management.
Higher power means higher operating temperatures, which causes performance issues, operation failures, shortened lifecycles and even direct dangers, such as fires and thermal runaway, costing billions of dollars in losses.
Without real innovation in manufacturing, components such as heat sinks, heat spreaders, heat pipes, electrodes, solar cells, and thermal radiators will not be able to sustainably handle more heat, along with diminishing energy capacity as we electrify our future.
To overcome the challenges of a hardware-driven startup, Quantum Qool has leveraged Victor’s longstanding relationships in the field and Kent’s experience building industry collaborations to make significant progress. Industry partners have contributed in-kind equipment and services, not only reducing development costs but opening up the opportunity to leverage those partners’ customer bases.
We caught up with Kent to see how things were going and to ask him to share his insights on a few topics.
1. If you could teleport back to when Victor and you started Quantum Qool, what advice would you give yourself?
It's always going to take longer than you originally thought, but you can also do way more than you originally imagined. Put your head down and do the work, but also stay open-minded on how you can reach the outcome you desire.
2. What has been the toughest decision you have had to make?
I don't know if there has been one really tough decision, but a series of smaller ones - when to raise capital, who to hire/fire, biz strategy, etc. - that you eventually have to stop debating and just make a decision and live with the consequences. Indecision is what kills you more than anything and can be paralyzing. Just have to decide and move forward.
3. Who do you lean on to help refuel and recharge your mind/body/spirit?
I lean on a number of people and honestly should do it even more: my family, my friends, and my fellow founders. You need to get different perspectives on situations and life in general, otherwise you get tunnel vision and can really get off track mentally and emotionally.
4. What hacks and tricks have you developed to connect with customers?
The biggest hack is to be politely persistent. Everyone is busy, everyone has a lot on their plate and is running 100mph. They're going to dismiss your email, your call, your message and if you give up on the first or even second try, you won't break through. Be polite, be personal and know what they actually do. The ones that matter will eventually give you a response you can work with.
Learn more about Quantum Qool here.
