What does a decades-old rotary engine, a family locomotive-parts shop, and the scramble to power AI data centers have in common? And why does a self-funded founder believe the fix for the world's growing power problem was sitting in a 1970s engine design nobody had looked at twice? What you’ll discover today… (00:00) From automation apprentice to family manufacturing shop to EV startup — how the grid math led Leigh to Hydronexus. (03:40) Reviving a shelved 1970s rotary engine design and solving the cooling problem that made hydrogen combustion viable. (07:31) Inside the Electrify Nevada accelerator, and the investor conversations that forced the natural-gas-to-hydrogen pivot. (11:31) The honeymoon-phase question, and why the harder problem isn't the engineering, it's raising capital. (13:23) Early traction in the Caribbean and the Philippines, and the road to a working prototype. (15:32) The personal cost of self-funding, and what the journey taught Leigh about himself. (17:07) What's next: the case for angel investment, the five-year vision, and where the engine could go beyond data centers. What you’ll discover today… Leigh Killingbeck's path to founding HydroNexus started on the shop floor. He trained at an automation company, then co-founded a manufacturing business with his father making parts for locomotives and semiconductors, gaining hands-on experience with welding, CNC machines, and running a business. A stint at an EV startup convinced him the grid can't support an all-EV future. That gap led him back to a rotary engine concept largely abandoned since the 1970s, one he redesigned to solve hydrogen's biggest problem, excess heat, into a compact, power dense engine that beats fuel cells and piston engines on cost and complexity. HydroNexus is now building toward its first prototype after a run through the Electrify Nevada accelerator, where investor conversations forced a key pivot: rather than waiting on hydrogen infrastructure, the same engine runs today on natural gas, with a path to blend in and eventually run on hydrogen as it becomes available. The company is self-funded and early stage, but already fielding interest from microgrid projects in the Caribbean and the Philippines, with data centers, the AI driven power crunch that opens this episode, as the long-term target. For founders navigating hard tech, this conversation is a candid look at translating deep engineering into a fundable story, the discipline of bootstrapping while raising a family, and why the milestone that matters most isn't a valuation, but real, reliable power delivered to people who don't have it. Connect with us Peng-Sang Cau LinkedIn Website Leigh Killingbeck LinkedIn HydroNexus Energy Website
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Oct 14 202621 min
50 min
44 min