Interview with Dennis Grant, WildCharge

Tag : electrical outlets & plugs

Founded in 2005, WildCharge Inc. ( www.wildcharge.com ) has developed a novel method for recharging portable electronicdevices. The Boulder, Colo.-based company's potentiallyrevolutionary system involves a charging pad that is slightlylarger than a CD jewel case and plugs in to standard electricaloutlets. After purchasing and installing product-specificaccessories, consumers can simply lay their devices on the pad torecharge them.
Dennis Grant, WildCharge's chairman and chief executive, recentlyspoke with Techrockies.com about his company and its products.
How does WildCharge technology differ from conventional methods?
Dennis Grant: Charging with WildCharge is quite similar toconventional charging. Both methods use a conductive approach.
With conventional charging, you have to plug in a wire to thedevice every time you want to charge. With WildCharge technology,you simply need to place the device down, an action you would doanyway. So WildCharge makes charging simpler.
In addition, with conventional charging, you typically havemultiple cords, one for each device being charged. With WildCharge,you get away from all the clutter of those cords and all the hassleof finding adapters because our solution gives you one simple,elegant pad on which you can charge multiple devices.
What do you call this pad?
Dennis Grant: We call it a WildCharger Pad.
And it can charge devices just as well as conventional power cordsand adapters?
Dennis Grant: WildCharge technology supports charging at the samespeed as the OEM charger; it's easy to see why, since bothtechnologies are, in fact, conductive.
What about safety? Since the pad's conductive surface is exposed,is there any risk of shock or electrocution?
Dennis Grant: WildCharge has built proprietary technology into thepad so that whenever an unintended loadkeys, metal or otherconductive material, including a human hand or other bodypartcomes in contact with the pad, it shuts off immediately. Whenthe problem load has been removed, the pad turns itself back on.
WildCharge has patented this safety system as part of its IPportfolio.
Don't the devices have to be modified so they can charge on thepad? Dennis Grant: Yes, there's an adapter, either in the form of a skinor a charging pack, that can be attached to the device.


Our company is basically a licensing model. For example, this is aWii controller with our charging adapter embedded.
So, if you go into Best Buy, you can buy two adapters and a pad andthen throw your batteries away, plug the adapter in and charge itand you're in business.
Does the adapter retail separately from the pad?
Dennis Grant: For some devices, yes, but you would tend to buy themtogether, anyway. For example, if you owned a BlackBerry, you wouldgo in to the store and buy the Skin for it and a charge pad.
For the game controllers, however, one of our partners is offeringa bundle that comes with two adapters and the WildCharger Pad.
What would those items retail for?
Dennis Grant: That varies and hasn't been completely finalized. Butif you thought about $80-$90 for a pad and a Skin, you'd be in theballpark. The pad and two adapters for the Microsoft Xbox 360, theSony PlayStation 3 or the Nintendo Wii game controllers are comingin at about 50 bucks.
I see the pad is magnetized.
Dennis Grant: It is. That's partly to make sure there's a goodcontact with the four balls [conducting leads]. It's also to keepthe devices from sliding off, so you can keep the pad in a car orlay it on an angled surface.
So you're developing a version of the pad that will plug into a carcigarette lighter?
Dennis Grant: We are. We've already developed a prototype car unit,as well as some other options. These are reference designs that canbe leveraged by our licensing partners.
That's the second time you've mentioned licensing. Care toelaborate?
Dennis Grant: We are a licensing company and we're heavily involvedin supporting the numerous companies working with our technology.Those companies develop and market products that range fromafter-market accessorieslike the game controllersto embeddedapplicationscell phones, video games, etc. There's also theinfrastructure sector: hotels, transportation, coffee shops.
The surprising thing is how fast these three verticals are reachingout to us.
Why has that surprised you?
Dennis Grant: The timing. I did not think we would be talking tocompanies needing infrastructure applications, such as hotels andcoffee shops, until well into next year. That just surprisesmevery pleasantly, of course.
We conducted our market research and all that, but you're stillbetting on people actually wanting to adopt your technology, and itjust seems to be happening faster than we ever anticipated.
I can't name names, but there are some very, very big playersinvolved. What's interesting is some of these players have beenlooking at the market for years and they've chosen us.
Was it always your intention to graduate toward a licensing model?
Dennis Grant: We had hoped, but we weren't always sure if it werepossible because it's quite challenging to pull off. It has to bereal; people have to want to license your product.
And now, we've totally switched to that model because of theincredibly strong interest from diverse verticals, whichunequivocally tells us that this is a licensing model play and thebest way to get our technology out into the market.
We did it from a position of strength as opposed to one ofweakness. We didn't try something and it failed so we triedsomething else. By going to a licensing model, the unknown waswhether we could actually pull it off. What's clear now is themarket is strongly coming toward us.
Does WildCharge still manufacture a product?
Dennis Grant: We are ideating products; we are building prototypesto kickstart markets.
For example, we have embedded our technology into laptops and we'vealso accessorized it, but we haven't taken those products directlyto the market. Instead, we're talking directly to laptop vendorsand letting them run with it.
Does this pad have applications beyond what we've alreadydiscussed?
Dennis Grant: Yes. Laptops, power tools and two-way radios wouldalso benefit from WildCharge technology. Our technology can beadopted for a very wide variety of applications. Pretty muchanything that uses an external power adapter or rechargeablebatteries can be adopted to WildCharge technology.
We've developed prototypes of numerous laptop models withWildCharge technology embedded and as an after-market accessory. Atthis time, I cannot mention the companies we are working with inthese endeavors, but the laptop application required the design andproduction of a 90-watt pad, which we have completed. We plan to goto market with this technology next year with numerous partners.
What would the use for such a pad be?
Dennis Grant: You could lay a pad in the middle of a table, andthen you could charge three or four laptops by attaching dongles tothem and laying those dongles on the pad.
We could also build a pad that is 7 feet long and putting out 150watts, so, say at 5 watts per device, you could have 30 devicescharging on a single pad.
What sort of client would benefit from that?
Dennis Grant: We've had interest from large offices, stores, firestations, police stationsplaces where there is an enormous numberof devices needing to be charged.
Tell us about your funding.
Dennis Grant: We have raised about $5 million from privateindividuals and now we're going out for our [Series A]. We'relooking to raise $8-$10 million.
Any progress so far?
Dennis Grant: I would say, despite this tough economy, we aregetting a lot of strong interest.
How would you use that money?
Dennis Grant: To hire more sales and marketing people, businessdevelopment people, and to develop more prototypes for othermarkets. We got this far by kickstarting the market, by doing someof this ourselves, so we'd like to go and work on tools and medicaldevices and other things of that nature.
Is your product already at market?
Dennis Grant: Yes. We had a product in the market last year for theRAZR phone. That was a great proof of concept, so now we'refollowing up with the game adapters, which should start hittingBest Buy stores this week. They should reach Toys R Us andGameStop stores by Dec. 15.
The company behind the game adapters is Griffin InternationalnotGriffin Technology, which makes cases for iPod and other Appleproductsand they will be sold under the Psyclone PerformanceProducts brand.
We may also see the Curve and Pearl Skins under other brands atretail stores later this year, although early next year is morelikely. The Skins are already available at WildCharge.com.
We're also scheduled to release some Apple products very late thisyear, but perhaps not in time for Christmas. We can't be morespecific on the nature of those products due to our licensingagreement with Apple.
Eventually, we hope that you'll be able to buy adapters forvirtually any handheld or portable electronic device in retailstores as more and more of our partners pick up this technology.
Last, but certainly not least: Where do you hope to be in a coupleof years?
Dennis Grant: Incredibly profitable...[laughs]...and the de factostandard.
posted on Friday, October 31, 2008