We are excited to share some incredible news with our community – Octane has been featured on the front page of the Orange County Business Journal (OCBJ)! This recognition underscores the remarkable progress we’ve made and the bright future ahead for our organization.
In an exclusive interview with OCBJ, our CEO, Bill Carpou, discussed his bold vision for Octane, highlighting our mission to accelerate innovation and drive economic growth in Southern California’s tech and medtech sectors. Bill shared insights on the strategies and initiatives that have positioned Octane as a pivotal player in the region’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Highlights from the Interview:
Highlights from the Interview:
- Visionary Leadership: Bill Carpou’s thoughts on the future of innovation and the role Octane plays in fostering a thriving startup ecosystem.
- Strategic Growth: Our plans for expanding support to tech and medtech companies, helping them scale and succeed.
- Community Impact: How Octane’s initiatives are creating jobs, attracting investment, and driving economic development in Southern California.
This feature is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our entire team, partners, and the innovative companies we support. We’re proud of the achievements we’ve made together and are excited about the opportunities that lie ahead.
Thank you for being part of our journey. We look forward to continuing to make a significant impact on the innovation landscape in Southern California.
Stay tuned for more updates and exciting news from Octane!
To read the full article and dive deeper into Bill Carpou’s vision for Octane, click the link below:
‘The Octane Guy’ Plans Big
BY KEVIN COSTELLOE
Bill Carpou occasionally will be sitting in a restaurant when someone comes by and says, “Hey, you’re the Octane guy.”
While Octane goes all out for OC tech and medtech businesses, people who pitch to Carpou while he’s dining out are generally disappointed.
“It’s unfortunate because you can’t help everybody,” Carpou told the Business Journal.
Carpou often receives pitches, including would-be entrepreneurs just walking in the door at Octane’s office in Newport Beach, seeking support for their ventures.
“At our events, I have so many people coming at me all at once it is difficult to move from one person to another,” Carpou said. “I don’t mean that in a negative sense. It’s just that I’m trying to move from one part of the event to someone else I want to talk to. And I got two people actually pulling on my coat saying, ‘I want to pitch you on something.’”
Carpou, who grew up in the village of Garden City on Long Island, came West for a key post at Ikon Office Solutions in 1998 and eventually became an operating partner at investment firm Blackstone Inc. before joining Octane about nine years ago.
Octane was founded in 2002 by five well-known local executives—Jim Mazzo, Dwight Decker, Mike Mussallem and Matthew Massengill, as well as Tom Moebus, then the vice chancellor at University of California, Irvine. Its board of directors and advisers total almost 90 people, including many well known in business circles such as Alteryx co-founder Dean Stoecker, FivePoint founder Emile Haddad and Medtronic Executive Vice President Brett Wall.
Giving Back
Carpou emphasized that the organization is helping develop tech and medtech companies in Orange County and the rest of Southern California. Octane can attract successful entrepreneurs to its events. Last month, it hosted a Tech Innovation Forum that featured talks by Palmer Luckey of Anduril Industries, which is aiming for a $12.5 billion valuation, and William Wang of TV and media company Vizio Holding Corp., which is being bought for $2.3 billion by Walmart. The tech forum attracted more than 500 people.
The forum was expanded into a full OC Innovation Week this year, with about 1,100 people attending.
“We had 31 companies presenting in panels at Tech Innovation Forum, 11 companies presenting for capital on stage, we also had another 32 companies that presented for capital on the day prior as a part of Innovation Week,” Carpou said.
He said
it’s still too early to say if any business deals were cut during the event, though there are several possibilities.
it’s still too early to say if any business deals were cut during the event, though there are several possibilities.
“The intent here is to build something that’s a little bit similar to South by Southwest in Austin or Denver Startup Week or any of a number of other things that are going on comparable to that in innovation cities around the country.”
Carpou likes to say Octane’s goal is to make Orange County a “hub of innovation” in Southern California, including in artificial intelligence.
“We think there is an opportunity to do a defense and aerospace vertical,” Carpou said.
“We’re embarking on an evaluation to see if that makes sense for us in 2025.”
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