Bloom Energy Corp. became a hot startup more than a decade ago by promising to upset the utility industry with devices that could power the nation’s buildings. Today, it’s a reminder of how a rapidly changing industry can foil even the most driven entrepreneurs.
Bloom’s founder, KR Sridhar, helped develop fuel cells for NASA before forming the company in 2001. The next year, he packed his technology into three U-Hauls and headed to California.
Fuel cells use chemical reactions to generate electricity, and proponents hold they will go mainstream one day as a clean, reliable energy source. They have defied broad commercialization, but Mr. Sridhar told a powerful story: Bloom would sell the technology in “Bloom Boxes” running on natural gas and providing power more cheaply than the utilities on the electric grid.
Silicon Valley bought in, and media attention followed. Bloom’s first investor was venture capitalist John Doerr, known for early bets on Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google. Its board includes Gen. Colin Powell and former General Electric Co. chief Jeff Immelt. Among early customers were Google, eBay Inc. and Walmart Inc.
As with many Silicon Valley startups, Bloom presented the kind of bold technological and revenue prospects that persuade investors to look beyond profitability. Mr. Sridhar’s vision: a Bloom Box in every American home. “It’s about seeing the world as what it can be,” he told “60 Minutes” in 2010, “and not what it is.”
