Today we’d like to introduce you to Elaine Sibert.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Elaine R Sibert is a graduate of University of Texas Arlington, with a BBA in Finance. She founded several entertainment marketing production companies from 1995 – 2018. As CEO and Executive Producer, she oversaw operations and produced projects across the country and around the world.
An entrepreneur throughout his life, Jim Sibert invested in restaurants, bars and real estate. With his latest venture, Rain Systems, Jim is focused on water conservation. With the goal of making a positive, environmental impact within his community and the world around him.
In 2018, Elaine R Sibert and Jim Sibert, both life-long entrepreneurs, worked together to launch Rain Systems. At that point, we became a portfolio company at the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator, where we were able to connect, fund and implement our proof of concept studies. Helping us to establish our brand and begin to build our company.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has not always been a smooth road, we were just launching our initial sales efforts in early 2020 when the pandemic began. Many of our promising sales leads and potential contracts were put on hold when schools closed and most businesses were struggling to deal with an evolving situation that no one had dealt with before that time.
We are thankful that we had case studies published in late 2019, and that LAUSD hired us to continue our Phase 2 Pilots with them during 2023 – 2025.
Based on our successful pilot results in 2018, California State University Northridge hired us for continued work on their campus in 2021-2022.
We were also fortunate to be included in a news story on ABC7 highlighting our services in 2022, which helped us reach new customers. We are now working with a number of new and on-going customers and building our company much more strongly at this time.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Rain Systems provides a long-term water conservation solution that reduces turf irrigation up to 50%. Jim Sibert invented, patented and built the working prototype of the Precision Injection Machine, which uses computer controlled water injection to implant hydrogels into existing turf at root-level, while keeping the grass pristine. Hydrogels reduce water usage for turf irrigation by increasing the water retention capacity of soil, absorbing water typically lost in drainage and evaporation and slowly releasing it back into the soil as needed.
Rain Systems offers hydrogel installation services to parks, schools, universities, memorial parks, communities and municipalities looking for ways to reduce water usage while maintaining sustainable green spaces.
Rain Systems’ proven results can be found in their published case studies with California State University Northridge, City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, and Los Angeles Unified School District. They have ongoing projects with LA Unified School District, Southern California communities and several memorial parks. Commercial customers are eligible for cash rebates through the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. A current Rain Systems’ customer was approved for a $76,000 rebate this year. https://www.rainsystems.com
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
My favorite childhood memory was when my Grammy visited us for the holidays when I was 5 years old. Grammy lived with us full time until we left the country to move to North Africa when I was 3 years old. She had been a constant presence in my life up to that point and it was a big transition.
I had only gotten to see her one time during those years, when we flew home to Florida for a visit before we moved again.
When she arrived at our new house in Bogota, Colombia to see us, it was the best moment I could imagine and I still remember it vividly.
Pricing:
- $4000/Acre for commercial hydrogel installation. Hydrogels are effective for 5 years, and the ROI on the installation is reached during the first year.
- Residential Installations are estimated on a per project basis.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.rainsystems.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rainsystemstech/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RainSystemsGrass
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rain-systems-llc/
