Alex Reed Interview on James West Podcast
Alex Reed, CEO of Fluence Analytics, was recently interviewed for a podcast hosted by James West, an experienced institutional investor with Evercore ISI. During the interview Alex discusses the emergence of Fluence Analytics, securing initial market traction, and navigating venture capital financing. Alex notes that Fluence Analytics was initially pushing its ACOMP technology to specialty batch manufacturers, including its first customer, Nalco. Alex goes on to mention that later discussions with companies identified opportunities in commodity polymers, even for continuous production reactors. Such processes had optimization needs, including product quality and consistency.
Toward the end of the interview, Alex discusses ACOMP’s competitive advantage. One of ACOMP’s key differentiators from the competition is that ACOMP is a holistic approach that generates multiple realtime measurements during polymer synthesis. The true value of ACOMP lies in its data. Using correlations and data trends over time, ACOMP can enable a customer to maximize production efficiency and the effectiveness of personnel. The interview wraps up discussing the various business models offered by Fluence Analytics. These include a CAPEX model, a platform-as-a-service, and a leasing model. Alex references that the Proof of Performance (PoP) trials are currently an adoption stage by companies of all sizes. This is because ACOMP is innovative new technology and many chemical companies want to experience ACOMP benefits first hand to validate that the smart manufacturing system is compatible with their processes before making a purchase. Listen to Alex Reed’s full interview on the James West Podcast below.