FOUNDER OF THE MONTH
ZACH DENNING
HANK
BY Russell Nichols
Summer heat in Sacramento can be stressful — especially for air conditioning units in office buildings . Hank , a Roseville-based tech company , uses artificial intelligence to manage a building ’ s heating , ventilating and air conditioning system in the background , finding and fixing problems before any service call needs to be made .
In 2016 , Zach Denning , Hank ’ s founder and CEO , launched Hank ( under the name EnerDapt ) as an AI-powered analytics platform . The startup won a $ 150,000 grant through the California Energy Commission ’ s California Sustainable Energy Entrepreneur Development Initiative program , better known as CalSEED , and , after eight months of research and development , Hank was autonomously finding and resolving software issues in buildings , generating more than 25 percent overall savings , he says . It taught itself how to control air quality and comfort more than 50 percent better than existing building technologies , he adds .
“ Originally , we set out to create an insanely advanced ( machine-learningpowered ) AI to solve the commercial building energy crisis ,” Denning says . “ Although we ’ ve proven that Hank saves massive amounts of energy , we ’ ve found it ’ s so much more than just savings .”
Virtual building engineering , he says , is the future for efficiency building management . As of May 1 , Hank has a team of seven , supporting clients in about 50 buildings . The startup is currently raising $ 2.5 million in its funding round .
PHOTO BY TERENCE DUFFY
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dedicated employees and
A startup can ’ t be successful without ...................................................... supportive families . ............................................................................................................... getting the first person to My biggest fear about launching was ...................................................... pay for Hank . ..............................................................................................................
If I could give my younger self a word of advice , that would be ................. start Hank sooner . ..............................................................................................................
WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO START HANK ? “ I had been in the smart buildings industry for over eight years , and the most successful projects I was a part of were energy-driven and direct to owner . Before I started Hank , I got enamored with machine learning and artificial intelligence and started seeing firsthand how impactful ML could be for smart buildings .”
WHAT HAS BEEN THE MAIN CHALLENGE IN GROWING THE COMPANY ? “ Identifying what Hank actually means to customers and realizing how big of an opportunity this can be .”
For more on Hank , read Russell Nichols ’ Startup of the Month column at comstocksmag . com
90 comstocksmag . com | June 2021