What happens when you close your seed round the day that Covid-19 shuts down the world? “The best path is keeping your doors open.”

For Claros CEO Michelle Bellanca, it was a lesson in survival. On this episode of The Twin Cities Business Show, she shared how their company pivoted quickly to make masks using their anti-microbial, anti-viral textile technology, which allowed them to keep their lab open and pay their bills until they could operate normally.

In the years that followed, their company shifted gears once again to focus entirely on PFAS remediation. They built a world-class analytical lab to allow them to rapidly innovate. In 2022, Claros had a major technological breakthrough as they went into their Series A fundraise that showed them they would be able to destroy every type of PFAS on the planet. They went from having a reactor that could handle 10 gallons per day to a 24/7 continuous process that destroys 99.99% of PFAS.

“There’s this perfect storm building around PFAS remediation,” Bellanca shared on The Twin Cities Business Show. They shifted to focus entirely on PFAS because “you need to skate to where the puck is going to go.”

Bellanca also shared insights from her years working in Asia for 3M before launching Claros. What did she learn from her time in Japan?

“Go slow to go fast.”

In this episode, she talked to us about nemawashi, the concept of building consensus and strategy with your team before executing. She has brought that approach to Claros, and shares why it has made a big difference for them during their ascent.