The idea of starting something from scratch helped draw Patrick McCullough to Amonix Inc., a Seal Beach-based company that makes concentrated photovoltaic commercial solar power systems.
A concentrated photovoltaic system is more efficient than traditional solar technology. It uses lenses to concentrate sunlight into solar cells, generating electricity that requires less land and water.
Amonix’s history goes back more than 20 years, and the tagline “startup” might not appear to be fitting.
But for the majority of the company’s life “it’s been a research and development experiment group,” according to McCullough. “It was only three years ago that Kleiner Perkins invested in the series and started bringing in a sales leader, a finance leader, and people who can actually build out the company.”
Major investors besides Menlo Park-based Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers include Angeleno Group LLC in Los Angeles and Chicago-based Adams Street Partners.
McCullough joined the company in June 2010, shortly after Amonix moved into the 78,000-square-foot facility in Seal Beach and hired a new chief executive officer.
McCullough helped turn what was a small engineering shop with fewer than 30 employees into a commercialized business ofabout 160 workers making solar power systems.
He was honored in the Rising Star category at the annual CFO of the Year Awards presented by the Business Journal and the Orange County and Long Beach chapter of the California Society of Certified Public Accountants on Jan. 17.
“At Amonix, we were essentially building out the organizations and key business systems from scratch,” McCullough said. “In the past, I’ve always worked with big companies. So that was kind of appealing and why I was interested in jumping into this thing.”
McCullough was chief financial officer and senior vice president at U.K.-based global engineering firm IMI PLC’s severe service division prior to joining Amonix. He led the unit’s global tax initiatives, among other duties, and oversaw 100 employees in finance and information technology across 14 countries.
Colorado Project
Amonix’s operations aren’t as far flung, but they’re getting there. The company has solar power systems established in Pomona, North Las Vegas, Arizona and Spain. It also is working on a 31-megawatt project in Colorado.
“We’ve installed over 50 megawatts in the world,” McCullough said.
One megawatt of energy can power about 650 homes, on average.
Amonix saw about $80 million in revenue last year.
“Only recently, we had zero sales,” McCullough said. “We’re on a high growth rate, and we expect to achieve profitability in the short term. If some people were to come in and invest in us today, they would probably see it as a private equity investment [rather than a venture capital investment] now that we’ve commercialized and matured.”
McCullough focused on “structuring the company ahead of commercializing,” as he recognized the significance of a strong infrastructure.
“As you’re scaling to zero to $100 million—which is the course that we’re on—a contract with partners is important,” McCullough said.
He credits software systems from Redwood City-based Oracle Corp. and a fast implementation of its latest system for helping Amonix grow fast.
“With Oracle, we have a platform to grow internationally,” McCullough said. “We can do business between companies, between Amonix [offices] across the world, which couldn’t be done as well before. It allows us to improve all of our metrics. This was not really possible before.”
It took 10 weeks under McCullough’s watch to complete the implementation of the new system.
“That was key—no one’s ever done it that fast,” he said. “We have 18 modules. We did not do a little piece; we did the whole thing.”
Funding Rounds
McCullough also worked on a $100 million funding round last year. That followed an earlier round of raising $129.4 million in 2010. Amonix also received $6 million in stimulus funding as part of the federal American Recovery Act’s Advanced Energy Manu-facturing Tax Credit in 2010, according to the company.
“Probably the biggest challenge is raising money,” McCullough said. “On the other hand, you’re raising money into a plan, and you’re working the operating side of it. You have to be nimble.”
McCullough thanked his family, co-workers and colleagues during last week’s award ceremony before offering honors of his own for late Chief Executive Brian Robertson, who oversaw Amonix’s progress from startup to commercial operations before his death in a plane crash last month.
McCullough dedicated his rising star award to Robertson’s “legacy and vision.”
Amonix has named Silicon Valley venture capital executive Jan van Dokkum its interim chief executive while a search for a permanent hire continues.
Dokkum is a partner at Kleiner Per- kins.
