3 New Mexicans to know who are behind budding startups
It takes a special type of person to be an entrepreneur — someone comfortable with high levels of risk and very little certainty. Creating a small business flexes every muscle a business leader has, and many we don’t. It’s in that process that I’ve heard many individuals say they realized what they weren’t good at, which influenced hiring decisions, and quickly. Because of the immense challenge in creating a business and growing it, I’m always impressed at how many brave souls attempt it and, in New Mexico, how many succeed. This is not the easiest state in which to find capital or navigate the tax structure. Yet many do it and do it well. Here are three New Mexicans to know who have created businesses in our state, adding to our economy and creating jobs. ...
3. Hunter McDaniel, CEO, UbiQD. The Los Alamos-based startup McDaniel founded in 2014 is now close to owning its building after the County Council approved an interest-free Local Economic Development Act loan. One condition of the loan requires UbiQD, which manufactures nanocomposites that could give windows the ability to generate electricity, to create 20 technical, high-paying jobs by 2022. “The next scale of our expansion requires significant investments in the infrastructure and facilities here,” said McDaniel, a former Los Alamos National Laboratory researcher who got his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “We would like to be investing in our own assets rather than the assets of someone else.” The company has raised more than $1 million from investors since its founding.
Read the full article in the Albuquerque Business First.