The profile of Helicon Chemical Company has been tracking upward for quite some time now.
A recent $1.9 million tactical funding increase with the Air Force is just the latest win.
But despite a growing impact in the arena of rocket fuel technologies, Helicon continues to struggle in one key area: messaging, to the general public and potential investors alike.
“I’m not saying we have to dumb this down but it’s a very nuanced space,” said retired U.S. Navy Captain Wes Naylor, the company’s CEO. “We have to explain it to multiple constituencies so they can consume it, realize our value and that it’s appropriate to invest in it.”
For the most part, the company continues to impress the right people.
The recent contract win is a small part of the roughly $10 million in government funding it has won thus far, mostly to develop its technologies. The funding has included Phase 1 and 2 small business research contracts.
The company specializes in supplements that enhance existing products built by the Department of Defense and other industry partners.
“We don’t make the engines,” he said. “We take a legacy product and improve it substantially.”
The Air Force grant, for instance, was awarded to Helicon so that the company could push forward research that would enhance the performance and production of solid rocket propellant.
As the company has grown, it has benefited, as well, from a collaboration with UCF’s Business Incubation Program.
“The partnership has made some great folks at UCF available for us to leverage their skills and infrastructure,” Naylor said. “When you are a young startup, for instance, you don’t have a lot of money for labs or materials. Our ability to leverage those resources was key.”
“It has been critical to us discovering, growing and maturing our technology,” he said.
In fact, the initial work done by cofounder David Reid was done while he was a doctoral student at UCF.
The Air Force job has helped buoy Helicon, which has an eye now on expanding commercial and government use of its technologies and has grown to 16 employees, who work primarily in the science and laboratory arenas.
The relationship with the agency started rather innocently.
The company’s association with the U.S. Air Force started when the company won a pitch day in front of officials, which raised the company’s profile significantly.
“It’s the recognition that what you are doing is bringing value to the larger Department of Defense and that you are on the right track,” Naylor said of the grant wins.
Still, while they work on satisfying requirements for their Air Force agreements, the company has worked to simplify its messaging for one simple reason:
“Yeah, this actually is rocket science,” Naylor said.
