**Recycled Idaho Podcast: Interview with Eric Sonner**

**Host:** Welcome to another episode of Recycled Idaho with my friend Eric Sonner. How you doing, man?

**Eric Sonner:** Good.

**Host:** Eric, I’ve known you for about 15 years.

**Eric Sonner:** Yep. It’s crazy. I met you when you were singing Copper Pipe.

**Host:** Right in the rec center. I was running the rec center in Boise. I’ve met some of the coolest people that I’m now super close friends with just in that rec center. I hold that rec center really close to my heart.

**Eric Sonner:** Yeah. I started here in Caldwell.

**Host:** I’ve known your story, but I don’t know if you’ve told it on any other podcast.

**Eric Sonner:** I haven’t done any of that yet.

**Host:** I think your story is awesome, man. But I don’t even know all of it. I just know little bits. Like the hat you’re wearing now.

**Eric Sonner:** Yeah.

**Host:** So, we’ll start from the beginning. When we met, what were you doing?

**Eric Sonner:** Let me start before that. I’m from Idaho. I grew up in Bule, Idaho. Grew up on a farm. My dad farmed with my brother. We lived in a mobile home. I struggled in school, and it was hard. But I didn’t know what I wanted to do. When I finished school, I got into air conditioning and heating. I went to the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls.

**Host:** What did you do in college?

**Eric Sonner:** It was a trade school. I was going for HVAC.

**Host:** So, you kind of knew that was the path?

**Eric Sonner:** Yeah, it was something different. A friend said it could be pretty good money.

**Host:** So, Southern California was next?

**Eric Sonner:** I moved to Southern California when I was 19 to work for Ako, got in the union local 250 apprenticeship program, which was hard moving from a small town in Idaho to LA.

**Host:** That must have been quite an experience.

**Eric Sonner:** Yeah, it was a big culture shock. I lived in Long Beach and then Orange County.

**Host:** Was part of it cool, or did you just hate it?

**Eric Sonner:** It was cool, a good experience, but it was hard to be away from family. I met my wife in Idaho; she moved down with me. We lived there for two years before moving back.

**Host:** How did you end up back in Idaho, where I met you?

**Eric Sonner:** My dad passed away, and it was time for me to come back. I worked for JCI and then decided to start Echo in Boise around 2008.

**Host:** That’s pretty impressive. How old were you then?

**Eric Sonner:** Around 28 or 29.

**Host:** That’s incredible, man. You were already in a leadership role while others were just starting.

**Eric Sonner:** Yeah, I helped get Echo started and managed technicians.

**Host:** What did you learn from that experience about starting a business?

**Eric Sonner:** I learned a lot about starting my own business, the learning curves, managing people, and growing.

**Host:** So, how did you get into cryptocurrency?

**Eric Sonner:** I got into crypto in 2015 by helping a neighbor who was struggling with a Bitcoin mine. It got me interested, and I started investing and learning more.

**Host:** And now you’re building data centers and doing high-performance computing?

**Eric Sonner:** Yes, we partnered with Moonshot and are working on a massive project in New York for high-performance computing tied to AI.

**Host:** How big is this project?

**Eric Sonner:** We have 527 megawatts under construction, with the aim of revolutionizing data processing for AI.

**Host:** That’s groundbreaking. It’s amazing how you’ve grown from where you started.

**Eric Sonner:** Anything is possible if you set goals and have the vision. You can do whatever you want if you work hard and stay focused.

**Host:** Truly inspiring, Eric. Thanks for sharing your story with us.

**Eric Sonner:** Thank you. It’s been great talking to you.

**Host:** Looking forward to seeing what the future holds for you. Keep us updated!

**Eric Sonner:** I will. Thanks.

**Host:** Bye for now.