Tatsuya "Tats" Nakagawa is the co-founder and COO of a drinking water safe roof coating manufacturing company called Castagra. Castagra's Ecodur product is approved and used by world-class companies such as General Mills, Tyson Foods, Sysco, NFL, MLB, and McDonald's.
They launched their company and product, Ecodur on the reality show Dragons Den (Kevin O'leary, Robert Herjavec). Out of 4,000 companies, we were voted top "Greenvention" and won a $100,000 prize.
Was it a lightbulb moment or gradual moment to start Castagra?
It is a combination of both, actually. Growing up, I had a lot of business ideas that were fun but didn't go anywhere. Deep inside, I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur — but I needed more help to get there. When I was in college, I was seeking out a mentor. A friend of mine then introduced me to Peter Roosen, a gifted inventor.
Sometime around 2009, one of Peter's non-competes ran out (for those who want to know more about what a non-compete is, you can read more from this link). He worked on a building materials product that he built out and sold to a Fortune 500 company. In the process, he accidentally created a great coating technology. There were field trials in many different coating applications such as roofing, flooring, ferry decks and so on. It showed great promise, but nothing was done to commercialize it further. We decided that there was an opportunity to form a company and develop new intellectual property to redeploy this technology. While we were getting ready to organize in launching this company, we came across a reality game show competition through Dragon's Den.
For those that don't know, Dragons' Den is a TV show in Canada like Shark Tank in the US that features five to six top business leaders (at the time, leaders like Robert Herjavec and Kevin O'Leary were on the show) who evaluate and potentially invest in businesses and new products, which the hopeful entrepreneurs pitch on the show. At the show, there was a competition called “Greenvention”, which was not part of the regular reality show. However, they have put that in place to search for the top innovative green solution in the country. This was way better than the show’s original format since contestants could win the top cash prize worth $100,000 without giving up any equity. Contestants from all over Canada then poured in, and about more than 4,000 businesses were ready to take their chances to win the jackpot. Stakes were high.
We thought it would be great if we chose our plant-based coating and building material technology called Ecodur. Our only challenge was, “How do we make coatings look great for TV? It's not like paint, but it's just as boring watching its cure.”
Have you raised any money? How much?
We would mix the ingredients in front of the Dragons and pour the substance into a frying pan. Due to its fast curing abilities, the coating would cure and stick to the Teflon frying pan right before their eyes. It worked, and we won! The show aired a total of twelve times and reached millions of viewers around the nation. Essentially, we received $100,000 plus millions of dollars of free exposure. Thousands of emails and calls poured from all over North America. The response was overwhelming, but is was a nice way to get our early customers.
Who is your target demographic?
These days, we focus on serving the commercial roofing market in North America. We focus on helping roofing contractors solve the toughest flat roof coating problems they have. The property owner does not want the cost of tearing off the roof and replacing it. We provide a viable way to extend the life of a roof. Our coating Ecodur is particularly good at fixing tar and gravel which you can check out here, and cementitious roofs, also in this link. We're incredibly passionate about helping our contractors and property owners succeed.
How did you fund the idea initially?
After our win at Dragons' Den TV Show, we created a company called Castagra, and raised money privately and decided to start selling our sustainable coatings to the oil and gas industry. Our VP of Sales has experienced selling into the oil industry before, so it was an easy place for us to start. I know— it's a little ironic being a sustainable innovation company and to be working with the oil and gas industry. I justified this by thinking we could make a difference by displacing some of the toxic coatings going into that industry. Looking back to that decision, it was probably a mistake.
What motivated you to start your own business? What is the end goal?
Peter Roosen, my mentor whom I mentioned earlier, had developed the Windows Media Player and sold it to Bill Gates. He has also developed the technology that was the precursor to the MRI technology, and he spent time developing new 3D printing technology. We developed a friendship that led to working on many projects and companies together.
I spent the early part of my entrepreneurial career working with companies on developing and testing new product concepts and helping them launch them into the marketplace. Although I did not have any coating industry experience, my experience marketing various different products helped me when launching Castagra.
Most of our initial founding team members were people that we had long-time friendships and relationships with. Our early marketing strategies revolved around getting free PR through different media channels and then sharing those stories through social media and to our prospects. It was a lot of fun.
Do you have any advice for someone just starting out?
As you increase your knowledge in various personal development and business disciplines, you'll start to connect the dots between these areas. This is when you start to make some big breakthroughs. Connecting areas such as marketing and finance, storytelling and sales, or economics and business strategy are valuable. Great entrepreneurs have this magical ability to see opportunities that others miss. Having a diverse knowledge base is part of this. You'll find that knowledge compounds like money. The more you learn, the more significant advantage you'll have in life and business.
What are the top 3-5 apps your business could not run without?
We use monday.com to stay connected on projects. Facebook's workplace allows us to share key insights and connect socially within the company. I also use a daily habit tracker called Strides.
What are your favourite books?
I enjoy reading books, especially books that deal with mindset, entrepreneurship and personal development. Dr. Gay Hendrick wrote a great book called The Big Leap, that talks about the limiting beliefs that stop us from achieving our true potential. Gino Wickman wrote a book called Traction, which I find particularly useful to help entrepreneurs become more structured with their approach.
As you increase your knowledge in various personal development and business disciplines, you'll start to connect the dots between these areas. This is when you start to make some big breakthroughs. Connecting areas such as marketing and finance, storytelling and sales, or economics and business strategy are valuable. Great entrepreneurs have this magical ability to see opportunities that others miss. Having a diverse knowledge base is part of this. You'll find that knowledge compounds like money. The more you learn, the more significant advantage you'll have in life and business.
What are your favourite podcasts?
What has accelerated my learning the most is starting my Specified Growth Podcast tatstalks.com. There is no better way to learn than interacting with a world-class entrepreneur or business subject matter expert directly. I find that it will greatly improve your information retention and your ability to follow through. Why? Because you'll find out that they are just an average person like you and me. Sure, they have spent a lot of time working on their weaknesses and growing, but you get the feeling that "if they can do it, so can I!"
What are the next products you’re working on?
From day one, our mission has been to create a world-class company that will help make the world a better place. There are many sustainable options out in the world today, but many are not economically competitive with the products they are trying to replace. That's not a winning formula for change.
Our goal is to create and promote sustainable products that are less impactful to the environment and will help our clients succeed commercially.
| Company Name: | Castagra |
|---|---|
| Founder: | Tatsuya Nakagawa |
