Zac Penix · A practice of one
Capital needs a seasoned builder.
I help corporate development teams, family offices, and funds turn a mandate into a studio, a thesis, or a company that can be held accountable. First conversation is thirty minutes.
Zac Penix
Builder. Now on the capital side.
At Tenney 110 I helped manage a $250 million allocation for American Family — deploying through new companies, and as a voting member on M&A and portfolio investment. Built AES’s drone and robotics program across 17 countries, after introducing emerging technologies at ConocoPhillips. At ZOMM I was a named inventor and led the technology that turned the Wireless Leash into a product sold through Apple Stores.
Selected organizations
American Family Insurance
The AES Corporation
ConocoPhillips
Rokk3r
ZOMM
TraKid
$250M
Tenney 110 capital allocation
$25M
Put to work building companies
30+
Countries the work had to survive
150k+
Hazardous hours prevented
Selected work
The capital story first.
01 · Venture studioThe mandate proof
Tenney 110
American Family Insurance Group
American Family stood up Tenney 110 against a $250 million capital allocation — to build, acquire, and invest in companies for people who own and occupy homes, not to invent another insurance product. I helped manage that allocation. My operating job was to deploy through new companies: $15 million across 25 concepts. I was also a voting member of the leadership team that put capital to work through M&A and portfolio investment. Four concepts left as named companies and now operate on their own. The studio’s work is done. The companies are the residue.
$250Mallocation I helped manage
$15Mdeployed by building companies
Executivevoting seat on M&A and portfolio
4named companies that left
Energy Raven
Home energy intelligence
AI energy analysis for homebuyers, delivered through inspection firms — what the house uses, which upgrades pay, and which rebates apply.
Fixle
Home systems record
Scan a water heater or HVAC unit and keep the manual, dimensions, recalls, and energy guide in one place — for owners, inspectors, and techs.
Barkably
Pet-friendly rentals
An apartment marketplace for dog parents: pet rules on the listing, neighborhood pet scores, and a clearer path for multifamily owners.
Homestake
Shared-equity housing
A marketplace that pairs homebuyers with passive investors so a first home can be financed with equity instead of only a traditional mortgage.
02 · Enterprise programAES
Drone & robotics, 17 countries
The AES Corporation
A multi-national drone and robotics program across 120 subsidiaries. A team of 125 drone and robotic leads. The work had to survive an operating company, not a slide. Net benefits above $15 million. More than 150,000 hours of hazardous work taken off the board.
17countries
$15M+net benefits
150k+hours prevented
03 · EnterpriseConocoPhillips
Emerging technologies into a supermajor
ConocoPhillips · Emerging Technologies Architect
The job was to get drones, autonomous robotics, wearables, and IoT out of the lab and into global business units — at a company that does not move on slides. Introduction and integration across operations, so the work could be used, not just presented. This is the seat that came before AES: the same class of tools, inside a supermajor, as an architect rather than a vendor.
Dronesinto operations
Roboticsand autonomy
IoTand wearables
04 · ProductZOMM
“Find My” wireless leash
ZOMM · Apple Stores
Invention and early commercialization of the original Bluetooth wireless leash for mobile phones. Sold nationwide through Apple Stores. An early connected device that alerted you when the phone was left behind, and doubled as a personal safety tool. The idea later became ordinary. It was not ordinary then.
Inventedthe category beat
Apple Storesnationwide retail
05 · Also builtTraKid
TraKid Explorer Quest
$15 a day at parks and zoos
A GPS wristband families rent at amusement parks, zoos, and waterparks, with a live scavenger hunt on top so the safety product is also the day’s adventure. Built in North Carolina. Live at venues including Philadelphia Zoo and Jacksonville Zoo. Proof the same hands that allocate can still ship — not the reason to hire me for a mandate.
$15typical day rental
NCbuilt here
The engagement
What you can brief internally.
Zac Penix is a builder who sits with capital. He helped manage American Family’s $250 million Tenney 110 allocation — building companies, and as a voting member of the leadership team on M&A and portfolio investment — stood up AES’s global drone program, and introduced emerging technologies at ConocoPhillips. He takes one or two mandates at a time. First conversation is thirty minutes.
Copy that into a note to your principal
Write two paragraphs about the mandate ↗
Who
Companies, funds, and family offices with capital that needs a vehicle — a studio, a thesis, a program, or a direct allocation. Not a volume practice.
First month
Get the mandate honest. Write down what the capital is for, what it will refuse, and what success looks like — before a dollar moves.
After that
Design the vehicle and stay close through allocation. Build, acquire, or pass with a record someone can hold.
What I refuse
Coaching retainers. Decks for their own sake. Innovation theater. Anything that needs a team I do not have.
If you are building a company and the work is real, you can still write. This is not a coaching practice, and it is not the front door.
How a mandate moves
From capital sitting still to capital at work.
01
Get the mandate honest
What the capital is for, what success looks like, and what you will not fund. Most programs fail here, before a dollar moves.
02
Design the vehicle
Studio, check, program, or partnership. The structure has to survive the market — and the institution writing the check.
03
Put it to work
Allocate, build, acquire, or pass. Then stay close enough that the work leaves the committee and enters a live market.