Interviewer: Francisco, please tell us about your background and prior expertise before co-founding Hydrog.
Francisco Ramirez: I have an engineering background and over 30 years of experience in Manufacturing, Program management and driving artificial lift innovations in the oil and gas industry. One highlight was receiving a patent in 1997 for a progressive cavity pump drive head technology. This design was successfully tested by PDVSA in Venezuela and the IP and technology was eventually licenced and commercialized. This taught me the end-to-end process of nurturing a concept to an impactful product.
Interviewer: How do you apply that prior experience in your role as Strategic Director and co-founder of Hydrog?
FR: As a co-founder, I’ve focused on the long-term strategic product roadmap leveraging my deep artificial lift expertise. A key priority is speaking with users worldwide to understand their reliability and efficiency challenges to guide development. I also leverage my prior knowledge around testing, verification and commercialization planning to derisk our innovations. With every initiative, I emphasize real-world value - will this tangibly help an operator reduce deferred production or lower energy costs? My experience launching disruptive products keeps the team grounded around customer-driven development.
Interviewer: What exciting plans can you share in Hydrog's product pipeline?
FR: We have revolutionary designs in concept phase to push efficiency boundaries even further. I'm also exploring products tailored to offshore, Arctic environments building on patented cold-resistant materials. My aim is expanding our portfolio over time to support customers producing in more extreme locations unlocking previously stranded reserves. The team jokes I won't be satisfied until we have the entire well schematic covered with best-in-class Hydrog solutions!
Interviewer: The materials show the total addressable market for artificial lift systems reaching $17.5 billion by 2027 - can you share more details on what specific segments you are targeting within that broader sector?
Francisco: We are laser-focused on the long stroke hydraulic pumping niche which comprises almost $1 billion annually and is poised for above industry average growth over 5% CAGR. Our patented technology specifically overcomes reliability and installation challenges holding back wider adoption to date that existing providers
Francisco: I have over 30 years spanning the full range of design engineering, business development and project management specifically for the oil and gas and energy industries. For 10 years, my focus was leading a large-scale oilfield equipment fabrication facility, handling all scheduling, personnel and supply chain. Later I shifted to spearheading new product R&D teams from conceptual stage to commercial rollout.
Interviewer: How have you applied this background in your Hydrog founder responsibilities?
Francisco: My expertise around coordinating complex operational systems has been critical setting up Hydrog’s manufacturing and inventory control processes. We implemented project management frameworks from the energy sector to systematically capture market requirements, translate those into technical specifications guiding prototype development, and establish quality assurance criteria to track progress. My analytical nature ensures we have stage gates and objective measurable go-no go milestones to sharply execute on our yearly technology roadmap.
Interviewer: Can you share an example of a key milestone under your guidance?
Francisco: One recent large initiative was completion of the Hydralift Pilot Test Unit design - this involved coordination across 20 engineers providing status updates on a weekly cadence. By integrating learnings from 3 years gathering customer maintenance history data, we produced an innovative modular skid form factor to minimize installation labor by 45%. Seeing tangible big performance leaps like this is why I get up everyday passionate about driving efficiency for an essential industry
Interviewer: How does your stage-gated product development roadmap align with capturing share in those fast-growing markets?
Francisco: We will roll out additional capacity models tailored for offshore rigs and unconventional wells leveraging our modular, customizable base Hydralift design through 2025. Innovation is also focused on efficiency - with only fractional improvements unlocking tremendous fuel savings and emission reductions when multiplied across thousands of units over years of continuous operation.
Interviewer: The financials show strong expansion potential ramping from ~$7 million in 2023 sales to over $56 million by 2027. What are the key business model enablers allowing for that ambitious growth trajectory?
Francisco: A strategic driver is our planned joint venture alongside our American fabrication partner securing greater price efficiency while retaining IP control. We also have our robust distribution channel mix - spanning independents, service operators and NOCs - providing global diversification mitigating policy risks concentrated in any single region. Finally our flexible financing options make adoption simple even for smaller customers through deferred and contingent shared savings arrangements.
Interviewer: Thanks Francisco for your time and share this exiting journey with us