A Q&A with Nick Mashburn, CEO & Founder, Tank Utility
Tank Utility recently joined the Greentown Labs community, so we sat down with founder, Nick Mashburn, to learn more about his company! Tank Utility, which has a Kickstarter campaign beginning on October 22nd, as announced in the Boston Herald, is a propane monitoring app that allows users to track their fuel use and shop for the best rates. After working as an engineer with energy giant EnerNOC, Mashburn founded Tank Utility because he recognized a hole in the market.
The idea seems relatively straightforward: attach a meter to your tank and never worry about running out again. But Mashburn’s product isn’t just a monitor strapped to a tank, it’s also an interactive app that gathers pricing information and sends a notification when fuel levels get low.The consequences of not checking (frozen pipes and no heat) are serious and potentially costly. With Tank Utility’s monitor however, the user is alerted through their phone when they need to refuel. No icy trek necessary. This is great for homeowners and even more invaluable for vacation home owners.
Rapid Fire
Favorite book: Breakfast of Champions
What could you not survive without? A challenge
What do you want as a superpower? Teleportation
Favorite city that you’ve visited: Bogota, Colombia
What did you want to be when you grew up? A restaurateur
Advice for other entrepreneurs: Don’t underestimate your network. People around you want to help you succeed. You’ll be surprised how much help they can offer if you just ask.
What made you want to start Tank Utility?
About a year and a half ago, I bought a little cabin in New Hampshire. It wasn’t connected to the grid, I had to schedule deliveries, and I thought, this is crazy. I realized there is no central repository of information for consumers. It’s an opaque market. Even if you’re a consumer and you have twelve different suppliers in your area, there is no website to tell you these are the twelve, these are their rates, and this is how they’re evaluated by the Better Business Bureau. So I got a little nerdy, made a spreadsheet, started listing suppliers and realized that, with all the different rate structures, things were actually getting more confusing. I thought, “there needs to be a solution to this.” With Tank Utility, you can monitor your fuel levels and also compare rates to potentially save some money.
What is the installation process going to be like?
The consumer can actually install this themselves. Two minutes or less, no tools. That was a big goal for us, to make it simple to install. We were focusing on the worst case scenario: It’s the middle of a snowstorm and you just got this in the mail. You need it now, you don’t want to wait until the spring. So that’s the thought, it shouldn’t be a hassle.
What brought you to Greentown?
I think the community of people solving similar issues is the most compelling reason to be a part of Greentown. Already, I’ve had the opportunity to talk about things that I haven’t previously had exposure to, like cell phone communication technology. I have also been able to take advantage of IP consulting from Greentown sponsor, Wolf Greenfield, as well as the shared 3D printer.