The Shifted Energy team has decades of experience in software development, distributed energy resources and markets, and scaling innovative technology companies. We also have deep roots in community engagement and development with former members of the Peace Corps, Americorps and U.S. Navy.
Leadership
Forest Frizzell
Co-Founder & CEO
Forest Frizzell has spent his entire career in the tech industry with leadership roles in government, nonprofit, and utilities. He has significant experience leading and scaling technology teams and projects.
As Deputy Director of Information Technology at the City & County of Honolulu, he spearheaded several infrastructure upgrade initiatives that won the #1 Digital City Award by the Center for Digital Government. As Director of Information Technology at Hawaii Gas, he established and implemented an IT strategy which successfully scaled multiple internal infrastructure upgrades including transitioning from an on-premise to cloud-based infrastructure.
Forest also sits on the Board of Directors for Boys and Girls Club of Hawaii and plays a very active role as Board President for Purple Maiʻa Foundation. In 2012, he presented at TEDx Honolulu and was selected as one of 13 emerging local leaders in the Pierre Omidyar Fellows program. He received recognition as one of Pacific Business News’ Forty Under 40 Class of 2012, and Hawai‘i Business’ 20 for the Next 20: People to Watch in 2013.
Olin Lagon
Co-Founder and CTO
Olin Lagon is a technology innovator and social entrepreneur with a long-time passion for sustainability. He has co-authored ten technology patents, co-founded several companies, and helped invent groundbreaking technologies in diverse fields including content localization and crowdfunding.
His startup ChipIn helped launch the crowdfunding industry and directed nearly $100 million to causes worldwide. ChipIn also launched Sprout which was acquired by inMobi and renamed inMobi Studio, a visual tool that pioneered the creation of highly interactive mobile ads without the need for coding.
Half of Olin’s life has been spent in service including the U.S. Navy, the Peace Corps and several nonprofits. His service work has been recognized by numerous local and national organizations including Entrepreneur of the Year for Social Impact (HVCA), Small Business Advocate of the Year (SBA), Torch Award (BBB), Our Geniuses (Honolulu Magazine), 25 who will shape the next 25 years (Hawaii Business), and Petra Fellow (New York).
Born and raised in Hawaii, Olin grew up in a single parent household in public housing. He lives in Kalihi Valley with his wife, two young sons, and dog.
Team
Matt Motoki
Machine Learning Engineer
Advisors
Accelerator Partners
In addition to launching pilots in Spain and Portugal through EDP’s Starter Acceleration program, Shifted Energy competed against 500 startups and won one of nine spots at the grand finale at Web Summit 2019 in Lisbon, the world’s largest tech conference.
In 2019, we were accepted into Wells Fargo’s Innovation Incubator (IN2) which provides funding and technical assistance to smart energy and building startups that leverages the capabilities, facilities, equipment and deep expertise that exists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
In 2020, we were accepted into EnergyLab’s Smart Energy Accelerator, an intense three-month prototyping sprint to develop, iterate and deploy IoT solutions in Tasmania. Participants take a smart energy or smart cities idea, develop fully functional prototypes, and trial it with local partners.
We completed Elemental Excelerator’s Go-To-Market and Demonstration Tracks. One of the world’s best energy accelerator, the program is funded by a diverse coalition of utility and corporate partners, the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Department of Energy, state government, and philanthropic organizations.
We were selected as the only grid services company for Village Capital’s Energy: US 2016 cohort. Village Capital finds, trains, and invests in entrepreneurs solving real-world problems, and builds communities around entrepreneurs and their ventures to improve opportunities for growth and success.
The US Green Building Council Los Angeles Chapter selected Shifted Energy as one of 13 companies in its inaugural Net Zero Accelerator cohort in 2019.
Investors
Elemental Excelerator is a non-profit organization created in collaboration with Emerson Collective’s Elemental Platform, which is focused on balancing the needs of humanity and nature by supporting scalable, equitable and innovative solutions.
Ulupono Initiative is a Hawaii-focused impact investing firm working to improve the quality of life for island residents in four key areas: locally produced food; clean, renewable energy; and better management of water and waste. Part of the Omidyar Group.
Skyview Ventures was founded in 2008 to pursue investment opportunities in renewable energy. Investments fall along four themes: environmental commodities; solar project finance, development and ownership; electric vehicle infrastructure; and early-stage startups.