Charles Upshaw and Joshua Rhodes partnered with Michael Webber to form IdeaSmiths in 2013 while working as PhD graduate students in the Webber Energy Group at University of Texas at Austin.  They had previously worked together on research and a few small consulting projects since joining Michael’s group, but the real impetus for forming the company was an unlikely one: Transformers 4: Age of Extinction.  Michael, being known to various folks in the movie industry as ‘The Energy Guy’ due to his PBS special, Energy at the Movies and other projects, was contacted by a producer on the movie.  They needed a ‘Wind Generator’ as a prop for the movie (which was filming east of Austin at the time).  One thing led to another, and Charlie and Josh ultimately got Paramount to agree to a custom-built prop – if they could deliver it within the next 3 days.  We channeled the ‘crazy garage inventor and junk collector’ (Mark Wahlberg’s character motivation in the movie) and got to work, quickly settling on a vertical axis wind turbine design made from bike wheels, PVC, salvaged channel strut, and a garage door opener motor.  Since this was a prop, we wanted it to be able to spin on-queue, so we rigged the motor to actually power the turbine (it truly was a ‘wind generator’). Paramount was pleased – pleased enough that it actually made it into the trailer (see below)! Once delivered, Paramount asked for ‘our company to send an invoice’ to initiate payment.