A product manager at Moleaer on science-driven product innovation

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TLDR

In this episode of Product Mastery Now, I’m interviewing Christian Ference, Global Product Manager at Moleaer, about the company’s groundbreaking work with nanobubble technology. Moleaer’s innovative approach earned them the PDMA Outstanding Corporate Innovator Award, and Christian Ference shares how they’ve commercialized science-fiction sounding concepts for real-world impact, scaling the technology across industries from aquaculture to surface water remediation and even spas like Jacuzzi. The discussion dives into their 4D innovation process (Discovery, Definition, Develop, Demonstrate/Deploy), the messiness of innovation, and the importance of matching emerging science to customer needs.

Introduction

Your organization might be killing breakthrough products before they’re born. Most breakthrough ideas never see the light of day. However, that is not true for the case study we’ll examine in this episode. We’ll explore how to build an innovation engine that turns science fiction-sounding ideas into market winning products with Christian Ference from Moleaer. His company won PDMA’s Outstanding Corporate Innovator Award by creating an entirely new technology category – nanobubbles – and deploying more than 3,500 systems globally in under eight years. You’ll discover the innovation practices that made them successful and that you can use in your organization.

Christian is Global Product Manager at Moleaer, where he’s driven the commercialization of nanobubble technology from a mere concept with a two-person R&D team to what is now the standard practice across the industry. He holds degrees in Chemical and Environmental Engineering from University of Pittsburgh and previously co-founded Cropolis, giving him both startup and scale-up expertise in bringing emerging technologies to market.

Summary of Concepts Discussed for Product Managers

Nanobubble Technology and Its Applications:
Christian Ference introduces listeners to nanobubbles—tiny bubbles 200 nanometers or smaller, naturally occurring but now able to be precisely generated and used thanks to Moleaer’s technology. He explains how these nanobubbles are deployed to attain new levels of efficiency and sustainability in industries such as aquaculture, surface water remediation, and home spas and Jacuzzis.

Applying for the PDMA Outstanding Corporate Innovator Award:
The rigorous review process for PDMA’s OCI Award forced Moleaer to deeply analyze and articulate the scope of their innovation activities. Moleaer faces the challenge of simultaneously advancing science and developing product applications. In some markets, like aquaculture, the science is well understood and the company is confident of good product-market fit. In emerging markets, the science is developing alongside the product-market fit, so continual iteration is necessary.

Moleaer’s 4D Innovation Process:
Christian explained Moleaer’s 4D solutions development process: Discovery, Definition, Development, and Demonstration/Deployment. This process helps the team know how much risk is appropriate to take at each stage. In the early stages, fast iteration and experimentation is the priority, and in later stages the iteration speed is slower as the focus shifts to finding an optimal solution and scaling.

Case Study: Jacuzzi True Water Product:
Christian walks through how Moleaer collaborated with Jacuzzi to bring a new product to market. By following the 4D process, the team iterated quickly to address both customer desires for clean, odor-free water and technical constraints, ultimately succeeding in creating a market-ready solution that reduced chemical usage and improved user experience.

Discovery: The team used a “reason to believe” framework, asking if there is a reason to believe the capabilities of nanobubbles can achieve the customers’ needs. They determined they could use nanobubbles to recue maintenance, improve water clarity, eliminate odors, and reduce chemical usage.

Definition: The team rapidly prototyped nanobubble technology and quantitively measured the effects of nanobubbles in a spa, finding that nanobubble technology can eliminate chlorine smell and improve water clarity.

Development: The team made hundreds of iterations of a nanobubble generator that met Jacuzzi’s requirements, such as power needs, water quality, and price point. This phase also involved refining the scope of the project to achieve the desired timeline, budget, and performance.

Demonstration/Deployment: The team implemented their solution in a Jacuzzi factory. This stage is often the least exciting part of product development, but Christian points out that it’s important to execute well, because if you don’t do 100% of the work, you may get 0% of the value.

Useful Links

Learn more about Moleaer
Connect with Christian on LinkedIn

Innovation Quote

“Innovation is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.” – Thomas Edison

Application Questions

How do you balance developing new technology with ensuring it addresses real customer needs and delivers measurable value?
In your organization, what structures or processes exist to help move an innovation from messy experimentation to scalable deployment?
How can product teams stay motivated and maintain momentum during the less glamorous but necessary phases of product launch and documentation?
What methods do you use to translate qualitative customer desires into quantitative solution requirements?
When entering a new market or technology domain, how do you determine the right speed and level of risk for iteration and shipping prototypes?

Bio

Product Manager Interview - Christian Ference

Christian Ference is Global Product Manager at Moleaer at Moleaer, Inc. Christian’s research focuses on the use of nanobubbles for treating algae, algae toxins, and improving aquatic environments. Outside of aquatic management, his research focuses on the unique properties of nanobubbles and their application in a variety of markets. Christian earned his B.S. in Chemical Engineering and M.S. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh.

Thanks!

Thank you for taking the journey to product mastery and learning with me from the successes and failures of product innovators, managers, and developers. If you enjoyed the discussion, help out a fellow product manager by sharing it using the social media buttons you see below.

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