In 1991, Colin Calder, now in his early 60s, saw that the future of email lay in mobile phones. At the time, email was just used by big corporations. Phones could barely send texts, never mind emails. But to Calder, who had "a comfortable job" in the AA's corporate IT department, the potential "was obvious".
He quit his job and set up Paragon, a consultancy to advise telecoms firms on the changes ahead. As technology advanced, firms began developing email for the burgeoning PDA (personal digital assistant) market. But Calder still thought mobiles were the future. So in 1997, he turned Paragon into "a firm with a product".
He secured deals with telecoms companies to provide them with software that could help email work on mobile phones. He wanted to enable people to synchronise the email contacts on their computer with their phone. It seems basic now, "but back then there was nothing that could do that". With everyone else focusing on PDAs, he was able to sign deals with the major carriers. By the time others realised that mobiles, not PDAs, were the future, "it was too late".
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Calder developed synchronisation software for use across different phone models, computers and carriers. The product was shrink-wrapped so that phone companies could offer it with their new models. "The early version needed a large cable to make it work, but the technology was moving quickly."
By 1999, the market had finally caught up with Calder's vision of the future. He received a £310m bid for the company. It was a "huge" multiple of Paragon's annual sales, and he sold up. In hindsight, his timing was perfect it was the peak of the dotcom bubble but Calder admits that was "more luck than judgement". He was ready to sell in any case. "We were just one small piece in the mosaic of technologies that were needed to offer an integrated service to customers. We had taken it as far as we could."
Calder went into early retirement and spent seven years sailing and living the good life. Yet his luxury lifestyle eventually brought him back into the business world. In 2007, he began building a mansion in Italy and wanted to make it zero carbon' (highly energy-efficient, in other words). It was a major headache. "I ended up with 21 control panels, measuring stuff like energy use and solar panel efficiency." Convinced "there must be a simpler way", Calder began looking into the industry.
After meeting academics, policy makers and utility companies, he launched PassivSystems, to develop technology to manage energy use by domestic appliances. "By making these appliances talk to each other' and connecting them to a system, we could make them much more efficient."
His first product was a smartphone application allowing homeowners to use their boilers more efficiently, by adjusting the settings according to "daily usage". The next product helped homeowners control solar panels and ensure they were being used properly. So far PassivSystems has teamed up with utilities like British Gas and sold its products through energy-efficiency firms. Last year, it sold £3.9m-worth of kit, but Caldwell believes the market will rocket. Given his track record, he could well be on to another winner.
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