Our Founder/CEO
Peter “The AngelPreneur” Ortmann
Serial Social Entrepreneur | Visionary | Resilient Innovator
Peter “The AngelPreneur” Ortmann is an offshore sailor and relentless force in socially responsible entrepreneurship. Having had his first business at age 16, over the years he has managed to create and design over two dozen ventures, and an ocean focused non-profit foundation.
Despite a life defined by extraordinary trials and unwavering resilience, Peter has turned adversity into action today by building purpose-driven ventures - refusing to give up on his vision for a better, more equitable and sustainable future.
Peter “The AngelPreneur” Ortmann
Now a young 70 - known by some close allies as “The Shark” or “Big KaTuna” - Peter blends his sharp business instinct with deep passion, forging a unique path as both a principled angel investor in himself and a business rebel committed to driving real change. His final “Dream” project is his proposed West Maui Resilience Center
that creates a campus-like environment that will bring clean food, renewable energy and water together with the local community.
Equally important is his goal to build and run his Maui-based non=profit Clear Blue Oceans Foundation (CBO Foundation), once retired to Maui, in 2028, with its CBO Marine Group and his Lahaina Business Fund to help west Maui entrepreneurs restart their lost businesses due to the wildfires of 2023. All are an integral part of his long sought after Maui-based working retirement and GridZero exit strategy.
“At any moment, man must decide, for better or for worse,
what will be the monument of his existence.”
Viktor Frankl (Man's Search for Meaning)
A Life Shaped by Challenge
Peter’s entrepreneurial journey may have started at age 16, but it took a dramatic turn after the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York, which led to the collapse of his HVAC and metal fabrication contracting businesses in 2003, which also caused the loss of his beloved country club estate home to his business bank in 2004.
In August 2005 a deeply personal loss followed — the tragic death of his first granddaughter, Marissa, born on his birthday, lost to a flash flood in Arizona. That began a multi-year journey to build Marissa’s Reef For Heavenly Helpers – an aquatic memorial he designed to honor her life - now destined for Maui, Hawaii.
In 2007, betrayed by trusted business partners further tested his resolve and trust of close associates. That set off a multi-year adventure that included extended trips to Vancouver, Canada, Playa Del Carmen, Mexico and the British Virgin Islands (BVI) to explore new business opportunities.
In late 2011 Peter and Dave, one of his business partners, set out to build the Hybrid Sailing Club, an all electric sailboat yacht charter business in the British Virgin Islands (BVI). As they celebrated the upcoming launch with their wives during the Christmas Holiday in the BVI, on Christmas Day Dave died next to Peter, with wives in the car, on the way back to their hotel. That event also ended that venture (RIP Dave).
By 2012, Peter became an early adopter of Bitcoin, inspired by the promise of decentralization and digital independence. Although he lost several thousand coins to failed exchanges and fraud in those pioneering years, he gained priceless wisdom about crypto technology, affiliated programs and timing of events — themes that echo through all his ventures today.
Fast forward to 2017 just as Peter was ready to launch a large scale Plastic2Power project in Puerto Rico, which took years of planning, Hurricane Irma, followed by Maria two weeks later tore through the Island causing extensive damage. As a result, the project was terminated.
By late 2019 Peter had revised his company business plans and set course to finally building his proposed Maui retirement projects. However, just as he planned to start presenting them to Maui officials in 2020, the Covid Pandemic hit, ending those projects and sending The Shark swimming back to the drawing board.
These pivotal moments combined, as hard as they may be to believe, led to a profound shift in Peter’s overall worldview, forging a deeper understanding of government deceptions, false narratives, human nature, personal loss, and the unspoken truths of the business world. These experiences are now embedded into his final projects. As The Shark – always an optimist views it - “Nothing worth having ever comes easy – but I have paid my dues and now is the right time to bring my life’s design work to life.”
Global Experience, Grounded Vision
Peter has lived and worked in California, Hawaii, Canada, Mexico, and the British Virgin Islands, absorbing lessons from diverse cultures and economic systems. These experiences fuel his geopolitically aware approach to business and government today. Now based in Las Vegas, Nevada, Peter resides in what he calls America’s vast “creative entertainment and sporting capital,” a hub of energy where he’s plotting his biggest move yet – the road back to west Maui, Hawaii to build a sustainable working coffee farming retirement business.
A Mission That Matters
Peter is now focused on building GridZero, a sustainability-conscious company driving a network of real socially responsible businesses working together to deliver regenerative infrastructure, clean energy, food security, and atmospheric water generation within its projects.
To support and fund this mission, he developed ClubZERO Rewards, a revolutionary new self-funding membership platform where like-minded entrepreneurs fund meaningful projects and non-profit initiatives while earning real-world perks and even real cash. Member dues are allocated directly to member benefits, his web series, GridZero ventures, and his nonprofit fighting ocean pollution and water insecurity.
The AngelPreneur Building The Dream In Real Time - Web Series
Peter’s unfolding story is becoming a web series beginning later in 2025 called The AngelPreneur: Building The Dream In Real Time. It will be streamed exclusively to ClubZERO members and share an unfiltered web series documenting the ongoing operations of his GridZero businesses, ClubZERO growth, Clear Blue Oceans Foundation and his boldest project yet: the West Maui Resilience Center. Located on the island of Maui, this integrated campus-like project will provide renewable energy, clean water, sustainable agriculture, and affordable housing — creating a resilience hub for West Maui and a model for others to follow. More importantly – it will become The Sharks final working retirement project by 2028.
The Shark with a Cause
Whether known as “The AngelPreneur” or “The Big KaTuna,” or The Shark,” Peter is driven by a singular purpose-driven goal of creating what others think impossible. To inspire others to see “I'm-Possible” as The Shark defines that word. His legacy, however won’t just be wrapped in his various companies, initiatives or projects — it will be found in the lives they improve, ecosystems that get restored, and truths uncovered. The Shark is out to win this time, and all signs indicate he will.
“I’ve been reeled in more than a few times — but I escape and keep swimming upstream.
My secret is I never let life events, or other people’s perception of me, my projects or goals
become my reality. Because sometimes it takes a Shark to protect what really matters to them.”
Peter "The AngelPreneur" Ortmann