When Dan Caruso stepped down from his CEO role at Boulder-founded telecommunications giant Zayo Group Holdings Inc. in October, his plan was to pursue his other passions in the entrepreneurship and startup space.
He had done some investing and mentoring alongside his work at Zayo and began to pursue those and other interests, letting his curiosity guide him forward.
Caruso held the top spot at Zayo for nearly 13 years, recently guiding the company its $14.3 billion acquisition deal with EQT and Digital Colony Partners.
Although his plans were initially to let go of his executive responsibilities, Caruso is back at the lead of a promising local startup, mixing his passions with a deep scale-up background.
Boulder-based quantum startup ColdQuanta today announced that Caruso has joined its team as executive chairman and interim CEO.
ColdQuanta is a fast-growing startup focused on Cold Atom Quantum Technology, a scalable, versatile, and commercially viable area of quantum tech. The company’s technology is moving toward the commercial availability of quantum computing, sensing and networking applications.
For years, Caruso had an interest in quantum and its future applications.
“I kept saying, I hope I live long enough for quantum to make it into the real world,” he told Denver Business Journal. “Because, if you went back 20 or 15 years ago, people didn’t know if it was 10 more years or 30 more years.”
As CU Boulder grows its quantum footprint, including being named one of 12 research institutes formed by the U.S. government, Caruso was asked to help sponsor an upcoming forum.
He agreed, with one condition.
The researchers and scientists were invited to have dinner at his home to discuss the future of quantum. That’s where the connection with ColdQuanta was made.
Caruso’s involvement with the company began late last year, as he joined as an investor. After additional conversations with the leadership team, Caruso saw an opportunity to help.
“When I realized the potential they had, I also realized they had some serious gaps. This is an R&D company that’s beginning its transition to a commercial company, but they don’t have the business or marketing skillset,” he said. “I couldn’t help myself by saying 'I think I can help make this happen.'”
In joining the company, Caruso has big plans for scale-up.
With 85 current employees, he sees the chance to quadruple the company’s headcount, with many of those hires focused in Colorado. Additionally, the company is narrowing its gaze on its first products, namely in a commercial quantum computer and quantum positioning systems.
“I think ColdQuanta has an opportunity to be a north of $10B company [in valuation] and I’m not talking about 20 years from now; I’m talking a handful of years from now,” he said.
In November, ColdQuanta raised a $32 million Series A round co-led by Global Frontier Investments and LCP Quantum Partners, with current investor Maverick Ventures and new Boulder investor Foundry Group also participating. With that Series A funding, the total amount raised by the company grew to nearly $49 million.
Caruso said additional fundraising is likely as ColdQuanta scales up.
“Ramping up will require us to raise more money and at some point in the future that will be a focus,” he said.
While Caruso’s plans have changed since he stepped down from Zayo CEO in October, he said he never would’ve expected to be back involved in an executive role with another startup so soon.
“No, I would’ve said there was 0.0000 probability of that, because I have no interest in that,” he said. “The only reason I’m making an exception is that I’m not going to be CEO and I won’t be going forward.”
Caruso is filling the role after former-CEO Bo Ewald retired in conjunction with today’s announcement.
“My goal is to find the right CEO to take this company forward,” Caruso said. “This is a great platform for a been there done that CEO that’s entering the prime of their career because they don’t have to come up with a great business idea, it already exists. They have the opportunity to scale it up.”
