This chat was part of Evolve: The Next Evolution of Oil & Gas, a virtual summit presented by Digital Wildcatters and FreightWaves on Wednesday.
TOPIC: Understanding the landscape for oil and gas startups
DETAILS: Hardware and software startups both have exciting ideas to improve the battered oil and gas industry. But the road to billions is slowed by the industry’s unsavory reputation.
SPEAKERS: Diana Grauer of TechnipFMC and Ryan Gurney of Montrose Lane
BIOS: Grauer is the director of research and chief research engineer for TechnipFMC. She came from Hoerbiger, where she was vice president of engineering. She held management roles within Cameron, OneSubsea and Schlumberger following a stint as a research engineer and laboratory program manager at the Department of Energy Efficiency & Industrial Technology at the Idaho National Laboratory.
Gurney is the co-founder and managing partner of Montrose Lane, formerly known as Cottonwood Venture Partners. He was previously the chief financial officer and executive vice president of corporate development of Basin Energy Services, an associate at White Deer Energy and Lime Rock Resources and analyst at Merrill Lynch.
KEY QUOTE FROM GRAUER:
“We’re just seeing some really, really interesting designs. And I think some of this is coming out of the layoffs we’ve seen in the industry. We’ve just got people who have sort of been released back into the wild. And they have the opportunity to think now.”
KEY QUOTES FROM GURNEY:
“Oil and gas has been easy to hate over the past five years or so. It’s been incredibly volatile. You’ve had the carbon criticism, et cetera. Negative crude prices last year. I mean avoid that industry like the plague.”
“Tech’s a fun thing to invest in. It plays well at the cocktail party. People want that. It’s just a matter of getting in front of those people at the right time. It’s also a matter of building trust. For a seed [stage startup], you aren’t investing in a company. You’re investing in people.”