Zinvent Industries

MATT ZOLNOWSKY: Founder of Zinvent Industries

Est. 2017

18 E MAIN ST RAPID CITY, SD 57701

WWW.ZINVENT.COM

We manufacture fish-friendly water pump filters so baby salmon, for example, don't get harmed when firefighters pull water out of lakes and streams. Right now, these are mainly used by Federal wildland firefighters battling fires in remote areas of the West Coast in salmon habitat.

What led you to entrepreneurship?

I've always been fairly inventive. In the summer of 1999 I had an internship with the US Forest Service while getting my degree at SD Mines. The need for a product was first seen then. We have a couple of marginal designs that came out of the internship. Every summer since then I kept sending the Forest Service updated designs. Some years I would make 20-30 filters, some years none. I kept refining the design over this long period then it finally took off. Now, I'm up to my 'gills' in work.

What has been your biggest lesson/ surprise/takeaway since you became an entrepreneur?

There are two things that stand out to me. One, the length of time it took for this product to get traction in the Federal system. The second is how it doesn't have to be any crazy technology to be innovative. These filters took 20+ years to get in the hands of all wildland firefighters battling fires.

What has been your biggest struggle?

The Forest Service has stated for many years that they would purchase the filters in a large quantity 'soon'. Playing the waiting game year after year (while having other full-time jobs) was difficult and stressful.