As Pepperdine students prepare to face the daunting “real world” in upcoming years they can look to Pepperdine alumnus Derek Zobrist as an example of achievement— and maybe even a knock-out internship. The 2007 graduate clambered up the corporate ladder in no time and is now gaining national recognition for his entrepreneurial accomplishments. His self-start venture is in the running for Entrepreneur Magazine’s Entrepreneur of 2010 Award.
He is now in the top five nominees for the esteemed award under the Emerging Entrepreneur category for his energy-saving company Enovative Kontrol Systems where he is both president and CEO.
“I wrote my own business plan and I envisioned what I thought the company can do and where it can go Zobrist said. I started circulating it to people that I knew and then I asked who they knew and I kept going outward and outward.”
As a business administration major at Pepperdine Zobrist interned for a real estate firm during his junior year where he saw an opportunity to create a company that could literally affect everyone on earth.
While interning at Harvard Development Group Zobrist discovered a piece of eco-friendly technology that significantly saves energy in a structure. Called the D’MAN CIRC it is “smarter” than most pumps: It deciphers when hot water needs to be circulated throughout a building versus conventional pumps that circulate hot water constantly.
After six-to-nine months of fundraising Zobrist raised a couple hundred thousand dollars just enough money to buy the rights of the D’MAND CIRC and start a company that would bring him to the top five entrepreneurs of 2010.
But the success was not instantaneous and the first year of business was a struggle for Zobrist and his partners.
“We basically figured out that no one has heard of this technology and no one has tried it before and it’s hard to get guinea pigs to try new tech out he said. And on top of all that the tech wasn’t ready for the market; it was more of a beta project.”
He also mentioned that during his company’s early development buyers were hard to come by because there was no proof that his technology saved people money. It was at this point Zobrist decided to take his company a step back.
“We took the company to the barebones minimum and we started doing case studies he said. Zobrist said he brought the company to the barebones minimum” and did case studies for the product which resulted in a gas company’s compelling research that the product could save 15-30 percent in energy usage.
By 2008 Enovative Kontrol Systems owned the rights of the D’MAND CIRC technology worldwide and have made one million dollars in profit as of last August.
Zobrist said he was excited to be nominated for Entrepreneur Magazine’s Entrepreneur of 2010 Award but beating out the other four finalists could prove to be a challenge.
“I was pretty excited about it. I’m not being featured yet— that’s where the votes come in— but at least right now I can say I’m one of five emerging entrepreneurs he said. I think it’s definitely an uphill battle because if you look at the stats my company is the smallest one out of the five.”
Despite being the smallest company in the finals and just barely earning enough revenue to be eligible to be in the annual contest Zobrist believes his company is the most unique as it brings new groundbreaking technology to the contest as opposed to an airline service or a high-rise window replacing company.
“Compared to corporate jets my company indirectly benefits everybody on the planet he said. I have that element to it that helps me out.”
Zobrist has hired interns to work during with his company and he said he believes college is about the process of learning finding information and how to utilize different tools. “I like to give my interns real projects that they are responsible for and they are expected to end up with a professional result he said.
A Pepperdine alumnus Zobrist said he may show some bias toward Pepperdine students that apply for internships as he knows and respects the University’s curriculum.
“There is a lot more reliability in choosing graduates from Pepperdine he said.