One-on-One: Gregoire Charillon, CEO of NeoSan Labs and NeoSan Systems

After visiting Albuquerque for a business meeting, Grégoire Charillon said he fell in love with the weather and the landscaping. He called his wife and told her if she was serious about moving, he'd found the place. They have lived here for 12 years now.

Charillon is in the business of starting startups. Over the past 30 years he has created 12 businesses both in France and America.

NeoSan Labs is the startup he is currently nurturing. Alongside it he started NeoSan Systems and he hopes soon to launch NeoSan Pharma.

NeoSan Labs is a chemical cleaning company, servicing products for public infrastructure such as the Los Angeles metro buses or the Bernalillo County courthouses. He also sells to militaries that are part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Charillon leases his cleaning formulant patent through Sandia National Laboratories. The need for it started in 2001 when four letters sent through the U.S. Postal Service were found to be laced with anthrax.

What is the science behind the cleaner?

"So Sandia National Labs was tasked to come up with a solution to protect the U.S. population in case of an outbreak of terrorism. They spent a few years and a lot of money and they came up with a new generation of chemicals. They came up with this formula. The first thing is that all the ingredients in the formula are not new. They are very well known and they are commodity products. They didn't invent it; they engineered it. The second aspect is that it is the only formula in the world and the patent belongs to the U.S. government.”

Why not just use bleach?

“People say ‘Your formula doesn't smell good,’ but there is no smell. When they say that what they are telling us is it doesn't smell like bleach and it is disturbing because we are not used to it. Bleach, first of all, is super toxic and it is carcinogenic, so cancer.”

What makes this cleaner different?

“We have one formula that neutralizes any chemicals and at the same time kills any biological agent. Also, it is non-toxic and biodegradable. At the beginning (people would say) 'No, you are full of it.”

What does decontaminating a room look like?

“It is like a sprinkler system, but you don’t see it. It is a 21st-century sprinkler. They have very small nozzles and the mist is dry, so you do not feel it. We decontaminate indoor environments in 15 minutes.”

Are there any health risks?

“The concentration is so low that there are no concerns. It is nontoxic to people, pets and plants.”

What is the catch?

“Because it is biodegradable, the formula is active at 100% efficacy for 12 hours and then it biodegrades.”

What is your solution to its short shelf life?

“It is a two-part product.”

Tell me about your plans with NeoSan Pharma.

“It is what I call the missing link, meaning that with the chemical and with NeoSan Labs Systems, we have a comprehensive offer for infection control and cross-contamination management, but not for people, not for their bodies. NeoSan Pharma is in the research and development stage but is working on a topical solution to do exactly the same thing but on human beings' skin.”

How did you get into this?

“In 2007 I got involved in the service business for indoor air quality management and remediation. We realized that we had a problem with chemicals because we need chemicals to clean crime scenes, to do air quality and more. You need to use bleach, ozone, oxidizers and it is nasty. It is a really nasty business because everything is super toxic. Everything is super corrosive. Nothing really works. It is a nightmare and it is dangerous to the crew members. I was not so happy, (so) I decided to find a better way.”

What was your first business?

“The real true first business that I started was in the last year of my Master of Business Administration. With four friends from my year, we decided to go after the French Tennis Open contract. I was 19, 20 or something like that and we were full of a lot bravado. It was to manage the entire merchandising business for them during the tournament. We are talking about tens of millions of dollars during the two-week tournament. So it is a big responsibility. It is a bidding process and we won it. For the first time ever, we don't know what to expect. Then after, we had to put it together for real. We spent nights and days over a month working on it, plus school, of course. No more parties. We won the contract because at that time they did not have a credit card system.”

What lessons have you learned?

“Make sure you have enough money to feed your family; don't use your own money. Don't reproduce my mistakes because I have a tendency to use my own money only. So when you win, you win big and you are okay for years but when you lose, you lose big. Then you have to go back up.”

Are you planning to retire?

“I feel like I have at least 10 years in front of me, of fun, hopefully not too much stress. It is an ongoing conversation with my wife because we are just the two of us now. She would like me to retire and I can’t. I tried when I turned 40; we sold everything pretty much but after three or four months, I was getting crazy and turned her crazy too. So no is the answer.”

What is your advice to up-and-coming entrepreneurs?

“Don’t give up. Anticipate. This is something I learned from one of my teachers because he was always saying anticipate, anticipate, anticipate. At the time I was like, ‘Okay, okay, come on,’ but I agree 100%. Try to understand the environment, to have the next play.”