In the conclusion of our conversation with Norman Crowley, the founder of CoolPlanet, Frank explores Norman's latest venture that's turning heads in the automotive industry. In 2022, Norman founded AVA, a company that's transforming some of the world's most desirable classic cars into electric vehicles. It's a project that seamlessly merges innovation with nostalgia, and Norman tells us all about the inspiration behind this exciting new venture. As a climate change advocate and visionary entrepreneur, Norman also has some invaluable advice for the next generation of entrepreneurs who are passionate about sustainability. We'll hear about the mindset that's needed to make a meaningful impact in the fight against climate change, and what he believes the future of sustainable business looks like.
About Norman Crowley: Norman is a serial entrepreneur, who founded and sold three businesses for over three-quarters of a billion dollars before the age of forty.
He began his first business, a welding company at age 16, employing a team of 8 within a year, and sold that business when he was 20.
He then started a computer and internet business called Trinity Commerce, growing the company to 170 employees by the time he was 28 and selling it for $21 million.
He went on to co-found Inspired Gaming Group (the world’s largest company in the server-based gaming domain), which was sold for $500 million, and Europe’s largest Wi-Fi hotspot provider, The Cloud, which was bought by Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB for $77 million.
Feeling his next venture needed to be about more than making money, he founded energy efficiency and decarbonization company CoolPlanet (www.coolplanet.io). He wanted to set up a business that made a real difference in addressing the global climate change issue.
The company combines in-house developed software Clarity™, advanced engineering and world-leading expertise to help firms reduce consumption, lower emissions and achieve net zero. To date, the business has saved customers over $450 million in energy, and 3 million tonnes of CO2. Its clients include GE Healthcare, Zimmer Biomet, Bombardier, Takeda, and Louis Dreyfus Company.
He also founded AVA (www.studioava.com) in 2021, a company which transforms some of the world’s most desirable classic cars to electric. AVA brings together a team of Formula 1-grade engineers who have led some of the biggest brands in the automotive industry, from Lotus and McLaren to Williams Advanced Engineering, and whose combined credits include the prototype design of some of the world’s breakthrough supercars – from the Jaguar C-X75 to the Aston Martin Rapide-E.
The company is on a mission to create cars that not only have the lowest carbon footprint on the road, but that are built in a way that has the least impact on the planet.
Choosing to be part of the global climate solution instead of the problem, Norman is not afraid to call it as it is and identify those that are failing our planet or shirking their responsibility in making this required change. He believes sustainability as we know it is defined by the limits it places on our lives – having less, doing without, choosing a less convenient option. People like the feeling of helping the planet, but they still want to get that flight, buy that food, drive that car.
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