Ep 4: Dark Times, Bright Lights

Rally

In 2009, just as the full effects of the recent financial crisis were being felt, two longtime friends decided to start a small business. Greenwich natives Ron Young and Bob Ostrander believed their business had huge growth potential, but some told them it was “just a fad.” Their company was premised on the growing LED-lighting industry. By 2010, the founders realized they had a lot of work to do before Tri-State LED could expect to sell many lightbulbs. For the first two years, Young and Ostrander focused on educating potential clients about the advantages of transitioning to LED lights. Meanwhile, they both refused paychecks, opting to hire and pay employees over giving themselves salaries. On this week’s episode of Rally, Hearst Connecticut Media’s new podcast about business leaders facing failure and bouncing back, the co-founders tell their story of overcoming obstacles, such as the tumultuous economy and early-stage LED technology to build Tri-State LED into a successful business that was acquired by Revolution Lighting in 2013. The high school friends turned business partners grappled with banks unwilling to give them loans, regulators challenging the safety of some of their most popular products and industry giants slow to adopt LED technology. Within a decade, Young and Ostrander have built Tri-State LED into a national business that’s nearly outgrown two offices. Business reporter and Rally host Macaela J. Bennett has spent a year collecting these stories of hardship and missteps in people’s careers to share with listeners inspiring examples of overcoming obstacles. Follow Rally_Podcast: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram Email: [e-mail] Media: A segment of “The Oceans Continue to Rise” by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under CC BY 4.0 A segment of “Room with a view” by Jahzzar is licensed under CC BY 3.0 Beautiful Piano by Sergey Sereda A segment of “Be Nice” by Jahzzar is licensed under CC BY 3.0 A segment of “Talk to Me” by Jahzzar is licensed under CC BY 3.0 A segment of “Shake It” by Jahzzar is licensed under CC BY 4.0 A segment of “Dirt” by Jahzzar is licensed under CC BY 3.0 Links: Learn more about Tri-State LED +http://www.tristateled.com/ + "Revolution Lighting Acquires Tri-State LED” https://blog.ctnews.com/financialmines/2013/11/18/revolution-lighting-acquires-tri-state-led/#_ga=2.227858264.479523927.1528680669-1459597948.1517245450 +Revolution Lighting https://www.rvlti.com/ Learn more about LED technology +Think Progress https://thinkprogress.org/5-charts-that-illustrate-the-remarkable-led-lighting-revolution-83ecb6c1f472/ +Scientific American https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/led-there-be-light/ +Energy.gov report https://www.energy.gov/eere/downloads/revolution-now-future-arrives-five-clean-energy-technologies-2015-update +Goldman Sachs report http://www.goldmansachs.com/our-thinking/pages/new-energy-landscape-folder/report-the-low-carbon-economy/report.pdf