(violet photo)
The arrival of the pandemic forced the world to turn away, but what about essential workers in cramped, poorly ventilated spaces who didn’t have that option?
For Brandon Doyle, a former nuclear engineer at the US Department of Defense, this scenario was a serious health safety concern on the aircraft carriers and submarines he worked on.
His experience led to the creation of Seattle startup Violet, which has developed a technology to disinfect the air using ultraviolet light.
Doyle and his team did extensive testing on existing air filtration products, but could not find an effective solution. “There were claims on the boxes that weren’t necessarily true when you tested them,” Doyle said. “I knew that if I was going to come up with a solution, I’d have to do it myself.”
Founded in late 2020, the company is now primarily selling and distributing products for healthcare and elderly care, but also reaches schools and fitness centers. It landed $400,000 from investors last year.
Using their extensive background in engineering, technology and molecular biology, Doyle and his co-founders Adam Ibrahim and Jesse Perez had to completely rethink the underlying technology for portable air purification.
Brandon Doyle. (violet photo)
In their product, air enters the base of the unit from all directions and first passes through a HEPA prefilter to eliminate any larger particles and pollutants. In the light chamber, a unique cyclone technology then holds the air longer than competing offerings, Doyle said, and maximizes UVC exposure, effectively killing any pathogens in the system. The disinfected air is then released back into the room.
Doyle, who has spent more than 12 years with the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, said that with this high level of disinfection, about 800 square feet can be purified in just 15 minutes.
“We had such an important piece of technology during the pandemic when people were dying and we knew we could save lives if we got it out fast,” Doyle said. The biggest challenge was balancing his full-time day job at DoD with the development of Violet, but the impact of the product led Doyle to move on to Violet full-time.
The company has three full time employees. Ibrahim previously worked at Abara Technologies and was a propulsion engineer with the US Air Force, while Perez spent two years at Nanostring.
Violet was most recently a finalist at the Seattle Angel convention in November.
Violet plans to expand its business model with industrial solutions such as direct HVAC integration and to address global issues such as water pollution with cost-effective water disinfection.
We contacted Doyle for this Startup Spotlight feature. Keep reading for their answers to our questionnaire.
Our ‘secret sauce’ is: our technology. I know many people probably say so, but we have technology that allows our product to perform much better than anything else. We also have a team that has spent years designing, researching and getting it done. We have the right team and we have the right technology to constrain the air purification space.
“We have the right team and we have the right technology to disrupt the air purification space.”
The smartest move we’ve ever made: Good mentors to help us find the right people to work for and on the right path. Being a career engineer who has led teams but never built a company before, I like to surround myself with people who are smarter than me in many different areas and I encourage everyone to do it. I will give advice Even if you are a 5 time entrepreneur, it is still a good idea because you can only know so much. I now have a lot of smart people helping to make sure we’re headed in the right direction.
Biggest mistake we ever made: When developing a team, it’s important to take the time to make sure it’s a good fit before taking the plunge because startups are tough and they’re not for everyone. It’s a big investment when you bring someone forward and it doesn’t work out. So, take a lot of time in advance to make sure you do as much as you can.
The biggest thing we look for when hiring is: Willingness to raise one’s arms and do whatever is necessary. If you have someone who really wants to do one thing, but they are unwilling to do other things, then it may not be suitable for an early stage startup. Maybe in a year or two, they’ll be a perfect contributor, but they’ll probably burn out and become more of a burden than a help.
What one piece of advice would you give to other entrepreneurs who are just starting out: Find a good group of mentors who have done what you’re doing before and interview them as much as they would before you start. Go inside with open eyes. Lucky for me, I’m the type that once I start doing something, I’m going to do it no matter what. But not everyone is like this. Going through what I’ve done, I’d hate to see people try to do this – quit their jobs, and then realize it’s actually harder, more stressful, and more frustrating. So, go out and request it to talk to people you don’t know who have done it before. For the most part, people are willing to share the knowledge they have with others who want to do the same. Take the time
