Alex Butakov

Alex Butakov grew up in Novosibirsk, where winter starts in October and doesn't ask permission. He came to the US for a computer science degree, ended up in LA, and rented a Glendale apartment with a window AC unit that looked older than the building. That unit died on the first heatwave weekend he ever experienced — no calls answered, no techs available, just him, a laptop, and a service manual he had to run through a translator. He got it running again by 2 a.m. That was the first HVAC unit he ever touched.

Three years and a C-20 license later, he partnered with a guy who'd been doing residential electrical work since 2016, and they opened COLD CLOUD out of a rented warehouse on Wilson Ave. The name is the running joke at the office: back home, clouds meant snow was coming. In LA, they just mean someone's compressor is about to ruin their week.