EXECUTIVE WATCH NATE CALVIN


AEROLEDS’ CEO & FOUNDER By Rick Weatherford


Small business owners and entrepreneurs often feel like they’re little David with only a slingshot going into battle against strong and tested giants. After nearly 18 years of battle, it is safe to assume AeroLEDs is slaying giants armed with a “slingshot” that is the simple ability to outpace the competition. “I knew that the main competitive edge we held was our ability to work longer hours and more days, with less mistakes and higher efficacy,” says Founder/CEO Nate Calvin. “My work ethic was formed by the ethos of family, my upbringing in a rural environment, and experience as a young kid in wrestling. After you get your butt kicked a few times, you figure out that hard work always pays off if you want a different result.” The former wrestler and current jujitsu practitioner is deftly taking large competitors down to the mat by leveraging advantages that an agile, small business has over big, established competitors. He explains, “We had no business on paper going up against any of these industry giants, but you have to play to your strengths. For the first dozen years of AeroLEDs, I was working 80 to 100 hours a week every single week with a dogged pursuit of survival. Like any grappling match, I could live with failure as long as I knew I worked at my best.”


That best-work ethic pushed AeroLEDs to its current place as a leading innovator of LED (light-emitting diode) aerospace lighting. That innovation “is equal parts inspiration and perspiration,” according to the company’s website. Since its inception in 2005, the company has been on its mission to redefine expectations for aerospace lighting with modern design that relies on brighter LEDs that require less electricity than old-timey traditional lights. Calvin says, “I saw what I thought was a severe lack of innovation in aerospace lighting and started AeroLEDS while I was still working in the nuclear power industry.” What? Nuclear power industry? Was this lights guy a nuclear engineer? Well, he was. Here’s his story.


14


Jan/Feb 2023


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