Ben Lagrange co-founded AirGuard out of a problem he kept stepping into running his own HVAC companies in North and South Carolina: mold shows up in crawl spaces and duct systems constantly, but by the time it's visible, the damage is already serious. He and his co-founder Chris, both career engineers, spent a couple of years building and training a sensor that detects the chemical off-gassing signatures tied to mold before the damage is obvious.

We get into how they validated the idea through a small business bootcamp, built out an affiliate network of indoor environmental professionals, and are now piloting with a remediator referral network so that an alert in Kansas City doesn't dead-end because they're based in South Carolina. Ben walks through the three types of homeowners they encounter, why the industry trained techs to never say the word mold and how that creates a real sales headwind, and how to explain the product to a homeowner without triggering alarm or skepticism. The smoke detector analogy is the right one, and he explains why.

We also touch on their 12-month goals, the dream of embedding the sensor inside an OEM heat pump at the factory, and a new vertical they're quietly testing through a USDA lab.

Guest: Ben Lagrange — Co-Founder, AirGuard

Host: Owen Gagne

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