Aaron Crumm: AMI in Twelve Months

Adaptive Materials Inc. is operating a business in an industry that I was not really aware existed. I had heard of portable fuel cells but never took the time to investigate what what all was involved in this type of business. The company seems to have a very good and well structured plan to advance in the industry and looks to take the lead and become big players in developing new technologies. One questions I have for the CEO Aaron Crumm, is why he began his business in the Ann Arbor area? Is there a large market for fuel cell companies? How much research was done before deciding on this location? Also, I believe that Adaptive Materials Inc. will has developed a strategic plan a has all the necessary tools to provide exceptional service and products for its customers. If they continue on their path towards a new facility, new partners and making big partner announcements, then they will most certainly become big players in the industry. Also in the video the interviewer talks about the need for advancing the fuel cell life of laptop batteries. My questions is how does Adaptive Materials plan on addressing this need? Does Adaptive Materials Inc. have a plan in place? I think if they play their cards right then they can become the industry trend setters and take their business to new heights.

I listened to all of the interviews with Aaron Crumm of Adaptive Materials Inc., in Ann Arbor and this is an innovative company if there is one! The company started out seven years ago, working to supply the armed forces with more efficient fuel cell technology. Aaron Crumm is CEO of the company and earned his PhD at U of M to be a nuclear waste specialist, but decided to switch to Materials Science (which is focusing on making something work better). The company focused on creating a "true 10X" fuel cell which means that it contained ten times the energy as other batteries of the same size. Soldiers were carrying battery packs that were up to 30 pounds and this company supplied them with the same power in a package that was only 2-3 pounds, so one thing they had was an improvement in efficiency! Then Aaron brought up the fact that the original 20-30 pound packs would cost the army $15,000 and he could sell his 2-3 pound fuel cell battery for only $5,000, which gave them an advantage on price. After U of M, Crumm had years of experience working in the field of ceramics, which led to his discovery of making fuel cells out of ceramic powder, which was very inexpensive. The company also aimed at producing a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell, which avoided more expensive components such as platinum and they applied the idea to more readily available fuels such as Propane, as opposed to Hydrogen, which also made the production process more inexpensive. The Department of energy had used the same concepts on a bigger scale to create Megawatts of power, but AMI shrank it down to a portable system. He mentioned that allot of companies have the capability to produce fuel cells, but no-one has been commercially successful, but he believed his company had a shot! He stressed the importance of a Patent and pointed out how a company needs to establish a patent portfolio, think ahead in order to create roadblocks for your competition at key points down the road and make sure that all variations of your concept are patented. AMI does not actually produce the entire fuel cell system; they produce the fuel cell itself and sell those to the big producers who attach the additional components such as controls and pumps, etc., in order to sell the entire package. The company is now opening up a new 40,000 square foot building and looking to partner with other companies (which it wasn’t ready to disclose)! Since the interview was a few years old, I looked up their website at adaptivematerials.com and found out that they are still going strong and have partnered with DARPA, NASA, Next Energy, and many others!

I have worked with new technology companies such as AMI over the past few months, such as startup EV manufacturers and Lithium Ion Battery companies. It sounds as if Mr. Crumm is on the verge of taking his company to the next step and hopefully he has a mass-market ready technology to back up the statements he is making. I can understand the frustration in his voice as he states that he is not able to talk about his customer base yet as this is due to contractual confidentiality agreements that I am sure he is under. This inability to voice the future of the company can be very difficult, especially when trying to secure funding for things such as expansion, as Mr. Crumm discussed. When writing a business plan for review by investors, they are going to want to know who the consumer of the product is going to be. This is critical information for the investor to feel that they are making an educated decision. Solutions to the problem would be Non-Disclosure Agreements between AMI and their investors that could be drafted to prevent the release of the information by the investor to other parties. These would have to be agreed to by AMI’s customers as well. It sounds as if Mr. Crumm has found a creative solution to the problem if they are moving forward with the expansion. I can imagine that promoting the company to investors in general has been difficult. The idea of a fuel cell is actually very old, but the technology has not really been fully invested in until the past 10-15 years or so. It has been called the “holy grail” solution to energy storage and there have been many companies who have stated they have figured out the best way to manufacture reliable systems, and few that have actually made it to market. That has made many investors very shy toward the technology. Good luck Mr. Crumm, we in Michigan wish you the best of luck in your endeavors!