UTAH CHAPTER (2012 to 2025)

Religion: The mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon.

In the Fall of 2012, I drove to Utah and moved into a little cottage located at the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon. I went to work with Peter Metcalf*, Chris Grover*, Ryan Gellert*, and to walk the halls with my heroes.  The best thing about climbing culture is its humility.  Taking and managing risk as a climber forces you to be humble otherwise you die quicker than expected.  Same lesson goes for business.  I spent 5+ years at Black Diamond in various roles: North America Sales Manager, Interim Sales Director, and Senior Brand Analyst. In the Fall of 2017, Peter and Grove had retired and one of those Outsider “Fixer” CEO’s entered the building.  A “Fixer” apparently knows everything without ever asking a question or fail to wonder if it is acceptable that they can’t tie a figure 8 knot while leading the world’s premier climbing company.  Well, it is not ok and it came to a head.  I came under attack while climbing big lines in Yosemite with Hutch*. When I returned, I was presented with a Blue pill and a Red pill from Human Resources.  I choose the Red pill and accepted a severance package.

Now, I am no fool.  In fact I am a Deal Maker.  I knew my time was up so while I was being forced out by the “Fixer”, I was negotiating a deal to buy a local wellness business and the rights to a favorable long-term lease for an office space located at the center of what became the Holladay 4 corners business district.  Quick rewind: I met a woman in the Spring 2013 named Jessa Munion*.  Long story short, we got married, started Rocksteady, and lived happily ever after. (U4 - wedding pic of me, Jessa, David - JR to find)  Ok, so while I was standing up Rocksteady in Holladay, I also started into discussions with a man named Robert Fry*.  Robert Fry and I launched a business called Reasonworx in the Winter of 2018.  We wrote the business plan on the barren walls of Rocksteady.  Reasonworx was a collective of product innovators and business developers who owned, operated, invested in, advised and provided creative services for evolving organizations.  I participated in Reasonworx until the Spring of 2022.

In the Summer of 2022, I got on a plane to Portland for a 24-hour business trip.  I went to meet a man named Niclas Bornling* at a coffee shop in the Pearl.  We were discussing working together on launching a progressive European brand in the North America market.  After a thought-provoking meeting with Niclas, I met Dag Hinrichs* at a pub nearby.  Dag Hinrichs and I spent the next 22 hours talking non-stop about doing energy deals together.  I didn’t sleep for several days and the Roche Approach was born.  The Roche Approach is what I call a poor man’s private equity firm.  I take my money.  I put my money in a promising business venture.  I then work in and on said promising venture.  I look for liquidity events or monetization.  Sometimes it works out.  Sometimes it does not.  But it is really fun, it is high stakes, and it makes for wild stories.

In the Fall of 2022, Dag and I flew to British Columbia to meet with a Hydrogen start-up that was making one of the world’s 1st commercial power hydrogen generators. We brought all our commercial firepower from our years at Vestas and the Renewable Energy industry.  Pause: On November 25th, 2022, I got a phone call from Spence*.  David Sawyer* was dying. He had a heart failure and found himself on life support.  Spence put the phone next to David that day and I got to say my last words to David, “You were loved.  You are remembered.  I will continue the work.  Love you D. See you on the other side.”  Back to Canada, we worked with Makers and brothers by the name of Scott and Gary.  Love those guys. We even brought in our old friend Andrew Ragland* to do unit economics. Together, we restructured the company out of insolvency.  We took it from a $3M valuation up to a verified $35M investment banker valuation.  Then the working group tried to acquire a publicly traded fuel cell company that was distressed.  The deal was drawn up where a merger would occur then a reverse IPO would occur on the Toronto Exchange which would allow a capital infusion (and a possible liquidity event😊) into this newly formed hydrogen whole product solution with a target $60M valuation.  Well, it didn’t exactly go as planned but man was that an incredible 18 month run of learning and wild stories.

Meanwhile, I got introduced to a Carbon Capture deal in Wyoming with a man we call The Pope.  I got to know The Pope and watched him put on a top-bill pitch performance. I invested in his company and came alongside as a Project Developer.  I worked with Dag and Andrew Ragland to find new deals to complement the anchor project The Pope already had in the works.  I spent 6 months doing religion with The Pope but then exited the deal to try the last industry sector that had been targeted by the Biden Administration’s IRA and BIL stimulus policy of his presidential term:  domestic battery production.  Said another way, America was 20 years behind China and America needed to infuse growth capital, called build localized supply chains for domestic production in support of energy security.

In the Summer of 2024, I took a call with a man named JT.  JT was one of 3 company founders all originating from the Materials Science PhD program at the University of Colorado.  These guys were mind-bending nano scientists dressed as businessmen.  I spent 12 months working alongside them to streamline their business down from 12 business ideas to 3 foundational business divisions.  We had a lot of laughs.  They are still going and I really hope they make it because I have equity in that deal as well.  Plus they gifted me an external monitor.

In the Spring of 2025, I took a 3-minute call and accepted a severance package. You get the theme here right?  Severance packages are great, they provide you with a runway of time to think, reflect, and act differently when you re-engage.  The next 60-min call I took after that 3-min call ended was with the Voice in my Head, my Executive Coach.  After I got off that thought provoking close-out therapy call, I demoed the entire main floor of my house.  I did a 6-digit remodel in 6 weeks’ time.  I really like my house now and I worked with the most amazing, soulful craftsman in their respective trades. Then Jessa Munion asked me if I’d work on the family business, Rocksteady, for a little bit.  I tuned that business model and slammed my foot on the accelerator.  Rocksteady continues to clip at a 30% growth rate which is manageable and sustainable at the moment.  The business has a strong foundation. Foundations are good.

In the Fall of 2025, Jessa Munion asked me if I’d get involved in an important matter regarding our daughter. I learned that Granite School district was expansive, bloated, and in need of making tradeoffs in order to right the ship and stop increasing property taxes each and every year.  I jumped into the issue and suddenly realized that my Deal Making abilities could apply anywhere.  I have now done deals in public sector, private sector, BigCo, LilCo, start-up land, local business, family business, face to face deals, KSL classifieds deals, dog fight deals, cat fight deals, and everywhere in between.

2024:  My Daughter, the Future President.

So. Now you know the story of how The Roche Approach came to be.  Kinda wild right?  Dr. Darius Loghmanee* tells me I’m a storyteller. I liked that but I asked him, “Yes, but how do I make a living telling stories.”

Lightbulb.  I officially launched The Roche Approach brand and business model.  The Roche Approach represents Private Equity for Public Good. It has 3 primary practice areas: Scenario Analysis, Negotiation, and Business Model design. 

The Roche Approach serves conversation in the interest of public good via economic development, deal making, and shared equity.  Check out the website to learn more and see if you and I can work together on the Next Chapter.  Talk soon.