Altitude Water, located in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida, is a leading manufacturer and installer of several types of Atmospheric Water Generators (AWG’s) from residential and light commercial machines to heavy duty military-grade machines that produce water anytime, anywhere. The company’s Founder and Chief Operations Officer, Jeff Szur’s career in the AWG sector began in 2008. In 2009 he developed the first ozone purification machine in Trinidad before bringing his knowledge to the U.S. market.
With decades of experience in the atmospheric water generator (AWG) industry, Jeff’s innovative approach has made significant impacts across the globe. He has created a one-of-a-kind Disaster Relief Trailer for use during hurricane season (which is capable of providing pure drinking water, solar power energy, cell service, and internet service to in-need communities) as well as has supplied clean water to communities in Cameroon, Maui, Colombia, and Costa Rica.
Szur’s work has been recognized by numerous other organizations committed to environmental sustainability and disaster relief. In 2024, Altitude Water’s Disaster Relief Trailer aided relief efforts following Hurricane Helene, providing water, electricity, and wi-fi to those impacted across Florida and North Carolina. Jeff Szur was also honored during the 2024 Forbes Best of Africa Award Ceremony for his company’s ‘Water to Africa’ initiative as well as was a speaker at the Global Fashion Industry Summit 2024.
In 2025, Szur will be featured on the cover of Top 100 Magazine as well as listed among the Top 100 Innovators and CEOs. He will also be featured in the season premiere of the Fish Guyz Lures to Legends.
Company: Altitude Water
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Jeff Szur: A pleasure to be here and thank you for allowing me the opportunity to discuss our life saving technology.
My name is Jeff Szur, and I’m the Founder and COO of Altitude Water. For the last 17 years I have been focused on providing safe, pure drinking water to people in need and in a sustainable and resilient manner. Whether it be in a condo on the coast of Florida or a remote village in Africa, Altitude Water can ensure you have access to the purest and safest drinking water.
Altitude Water has an established team that has transformed the Atmospheric Water Generator Industry as well as becoming a diversified water company that meets various needs in the water sector.
Altitude Water began by manufacturing a Made in the USA Atmospheric Water Generator. These are machines that generate safe, pure drinking water from the air. We tap into nature’s water cycle to make the purest water and make water the way nature does. We have expanded our product portfolio to include Disaster Relief Trailers and purification boxes (that use our patented ozone purification system to purify existing contaminated water).
We are also expanding into the bottled water sector using our Atmospheric Water Generators to put in glass bottles.
If you were in an elevator with Warren Buffett, how would you describe your company, your services or products? What makes your company different from others? What is your company’s biggest strength?
Jeff Szur: Hopefully it would be in an elevator going up in the Freedom Tower so I would have the most time with the Oracle from Omaha.
Mr. Buffet, you have been built your fortune as a value investor, buying undervalued stocks with sound fundamentals for a discounted price, then holding them as long-term investments. You concentrate in sectors of need like insurance and batteries and companies that are based in the United States.
As you know there is nothing more important than safe drinking water. The water industry has experienced accelerated growth over the past decade as we are experiencing two factors that have affected this sector:
1. Results from years of following the engineer’s creed, “the solution to pollution is dilution”. We have spent decades using our aquifers as dumping grounds for harmful chemicals and pharmaceuticals and we are now paying the price as we have elevated levels in our water.
2. Climate change has created droughts and areas that do not have access to safe drinking water.
This is evident based on the fact that bottled water has become the number 1 beverage sold in the world.
Altitude Water taps into a pure source of water by harvesting the water in our atmosphere. Due to the unique properties of water, Mother Nature has the water cycle which is a process that cleanses our water. When water is evaporated or goes through the process of condensation, the water is pure and none of the contaminates that we dumped into the groundwater adheres to that process.
Altitude Water’s AWGs produce the purest water (distilled) and then keep it pure using our patented ozone purification process that includes adding minerals to enhance or raise the pH of the water, so you are drinking the purest, oxygenated, alkaline water available.
In addition, we have used our experience in Atmospheric Water Generation market and the disaster relief industry to come out with new products that meet a need in the expanding water crisis. We have a Disaster Relief Trailer that encompasses our water making technology with our purification technology and couple it with solar energy and Starlink to provide all of the needs in a disaster relief situation.
Finally, Mr. Buffet, we are an emerging, growth technology company that is undervalued based on the market sector which we operate in, and the track record we have exhibited over the past 15 years in this industry. It has taken time for the education of the water issues to be understood by the consumer and now that there is a common understanding of the water issues in front of us, the consumer will understand how we meet this massive need as we as observing all of the projects, we have completed the last 2 years
Basically, Mr. Buffet, Altitude water has hit all of the foundations for investing that you have successfully developed for your fund and believe would be a great addition to your investment portfolio.
Quiet quitting, The Great Resignation, is an ongoing trend causing many businesses to struggle to keep talent engaged and motivated. Most are leaving because of their boss or their company culture. 82% of people feel unheard, undervalued, and misunderstood in the workplace. In your experience, what keeps employees happy? And how are you adapting to the current shift we see?
Jeff Szur: This is a great question identifying a huge shift in HR and what affects the growth potential of companies.
Building a culture of “teamwork makes the dream work” is an important foundation for a company to establish the importance of its employees and that they are heard in the company, but this process starts at hiring. We continually use the hashtag #teamworkmakesthedreamwork in our social media as a reminder of how important we feel this is to our growth, not just with our employees but our partners as well.
You can’t build a team that has a common vision and works together to meet it if you hire a lot of jobbers (those that don’t want a vision but just a check every 2 weeks. Just do their job and nothing else). There is nothing wrong with a person that will give their all when at work but don’t want to go that extra mile when the company needs to meet a deadline. Everyone has to determine what’s important in their life. If someone wants a job only, there is nothing wrong with that but if it doesn’t match with the company’s vision it is not a good fit.
At Altitude we have done numerous things that have established the culture we want and the requirements of our employees. First when we bought Altitude from the public company we made our two longest employees owners. It was a well-deserved reward for them, as they have been committed to our vision and have made personal sacrifices over the past 15 years to help us achieve our goals.
We also establish a chain of command in hearing the thoughts or views of our employees. We assure each employee will have their concerns heard as long as they go through the chain of command. We have an open-door policy. Go to your supervisor first, and if you are still not happy with his/her decision, you have a right to appeal to the next level of management. This way they know their concerns will be heard all the way up the ladder.
Just like any relationship, communication is the key. If you are not ready to listen to contrary views or areas that you may disagree, the other participant in that relationship will feel alienated or distant and you cannot move forward as a team.
We also look for ways of profit sharing and including our employees in our growth.
Bottom line is employees want to feel appreciated and part of the team. How management integrates this into their culture will determine if you can build a culture of a team rather than a place of work.
Online business keeps on surging higher than ever, B2B, B2C, online shopping, virtual meetings, remote work, Zoom medical consultations, what are your expectations for the year to come and how are you capitalizing on the tidal wave?
Jeff Szur: We have identified this trend and made the following changes:
1) We have totally revamped our website to be more focused on e-commerce and adding a Shopify store.
2) We have reworked our You Tube Channel to be more organized by adding playlists so the customer can find the information they are searching for quickly.
3) We have added a bi-monthly newsletter which focuses on 3 main themes and integrates current marketplace trends.
4) We stay consistent with our Social Media posts and try to address what is going on in the world today and how our products help solve needs.
5) We are putting training videos in a library to help educate the public or make servicing easier. We will also be adding financing opportunities to meet the needs of our potential customers.
6) We have integrated remote work for our business consultants as it relates to sales, marketing, and financial information but as a manufacturer we still need a majority of our employees to come to the factory to build our machines.
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as THE real challenge right now?
Jeff Szur: Wow. That is a GREAT summary. It is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities. What do you do or how do you act when you get punched in the face?
Since our products already created huge opportunities, we now have to focus on overcoming the obstacles. There are two obstacles that we are focusing on right now-capital and people.
As our sales are increasing, we need to raise capital to meet this growth phase. Structuring the right deal with the right partners is very important obstacle to overcome for the long-term success of our company.
We also need to add the right people in the day-to-day operations of the company. We will have positions on the assembly line as well as executive positions that will be important to fill in order to overcome new obstacles. We also realize that both are just as important. While the executive may be getting a larger paycheck-the guys that put the machines in the boxes are just as important in the growth of our company.
As your previous question asked- how do you build a company to overcome the changes in hiring and the workforce’s new requirements or expectations while maintaining the corporate vision and goals? It’s the obstacle we must overcome in this next stage of growth. Hopefully our track record in how we handle employees and our focus on providing an important resource to those in need-water, will help us in this process. We will concentrate on hiring quality people that reflect our values and will want to be part of something bigger themselves, that want to make a difference.
In your experience, what tends to be the most underestimated part of running a company? Can you share an example?
Jeff Szur: Hmmm that is a tough one.
There are so many things that are important and various different aspects in running a company, but I believe listening is the most underrated aspect of running a company. It’s not only the listening but taking the time to reflect and evaluate. We can listen but if we don’t process what we heard it’s just ear service.
As an entrepreneur, we have to have faith and belief in ourselves. We have to be confident that we have what it takes to overcome obstacles and run a company with employees that rely on you. But it is also important to realize we don’t have all of the answers. We need different perspectives to evaluate a course of action.
Taking the quiet time to shut off all the distractions and process information gathered from your team or someone else outside the company is tough. We think being quiet is a waste of time as we have things to do and battles to fight but even the most powerful general in the world has a battle plan and listens to his captains on how to develop that plan.
On a lighter note, if you had the ability to pick any business superpower, what would it be and how would you put it into practice?
Jeff Szur: So, I would guess having a “green” thumb and being able to grow a money tree is a standard answer. Having access to capital for your company is a huge superpower that would take a lot of stress off the day-to-day operations and give me the opportunity to focus on operations.
Discernment is another important superpower which would save extensive time. Being able to discern if a person or project is worth the time and money invested would create a huge benefit for growing a company.
What does “success” in 2024 mean to you? It could be on a personal or business level, please share your vision
Jeff Szur: In 2025 success would mean partnerships with some of the top Disaster Relief organizations with our trailers. While this would certainly be a financial game changer for Altitude Water, it would also mean that we are providing lifesaving resources to those in need.
This is success on so many levels:
Business- Selling our trailers to these organizations would represent great cash flow for Altitude Water and enable us to be a part of other ventures that give people access to water.
Personal- This success would be an answer to prayers and validate that I am fulfilling my purpose for which God created me. I have had many personal and financial battles developing this product and getting it to the point where it was ready to provide support in disasters. Having a dream that came to me a decade ago come to fruition would verify that I am on the right path. It would also help other projects for villages.
Environmental- Decreasing the use of these hazardous plastic bottles is great for our planet and a success for the environment and our own personal health.