FountainBlue’s Clean Energy Entrepreneurs’ Forum on the topic of Leading Edge Clean Energy Solutions

FountainBlue’s Clean Energy Entrepreneurs’ Forum on the topic of Leading Edge Clean Energy Solutions. Please join me in thanking our sponsors at Goodwin Procter, KPMG and SRI for their support of this event and for the series! Please also join me also in thanking our lively and engaging panel for so generously sharing their perspectives and advice:

• Facilitator Craig Lobdell, Director, CFO Advisory Services, KPMG
• Panelist Matthew Denesuk, Partner, IBM Venture Capital Group, IBM
• Panelist Kathy Fields, Co-Chair, Silicon Valley Office, Partner, Corporate and Private Equity and Technology Companies Group, Goodwin Procter LLP
• Panelist Barbara Heydorn, Director, Center of Excellence in Energy, SRI International
• Panelist Seth A. Hindman, Industry Manager, Autodesk, Inc.
• Panelist Sendil Palani, Senior Financial Analyst, Tesla Motors
• Presenting Entrepreneur Bob Frostholm, President, QSolar
• Presenting Entrepreneur Michael D’Amour, CEO and President, LUMEnergi
• Presenting Entrepreneur Tony McGettigan, President and CEO, Luxim

Below are notes from our conversation.
Clean energy holds so much promise for meeting customers’ business, economic, social and ecological needs. Indeed, clean energy solutions hold the promise for delivering the world from its current economic funk. But in order to realize its potential, clean energy leaders, from entrepreneurs to intrapreneurs to investors and policymakers must drive innovation in both technology and business model, to an industry which relies on so many technology, policy, social and economic factors. Indeed, a whole value chain of providers and players can both benefit from and pose barriers for innovation and entrepreneurship in the clean energy space.

Our panelists represented the sheer diversity of the industry – from energy generation to energy management and distribution, from transportation to building to smart device solutions, from services to manufacturing, from early stage emerging start-ups to established corporations diversifying into clean energy, to service providers and research institutions driving the technologies and business forward.

Our panelists agreed that the many clean energy sub-industries provide a tremendous economic and business opportunity to all. However, the challenge is that 1) technology innovation is necessary to research, develop and manufacture clean energy products and solutions at grid parity, 2) a technology-based infrastructure between all and parties in the value chain will help facilitate communication and collaboration between all parties, from the entrepreneurs to the intrapreneurs, from investors and policymakers to researchers and academics and utilities, and 3) standard business practices apply – from the need to identify a market opportunity, to serving customers, to providing efficiently delivered solutions by an effective team.

The panelists had the following advice for clean energy entrepreneurs:
1. Leverage existing and new software solutions to effectively research, manufacture, deliver solutions.
2. Build on the clean/green passion of your staff, partners and customers. They WANT to choose your company and its solution as they feel it’s the ‘right thing to do’. Leverage that passion to grow your business.
3. Help create a standard for clean green solutions which would help move the industry forward, within being too limiting in the early days.
4. Ensure that there is a NABC (SRI terminology): N for (customer) need, A for approach (solution/technology), B for benefits (to all parties), and C for competition (who’s doing what now and how will you differentiate?).
5. Consider financing options as you grow you clean energy company, and perhaps strategic partnerships that can help meet financing challenges. (What can you do to ease the financial pain of initial adoption for your customers?)
6. Partner with all players in the value chain to build a clean energy ecosystem which would benefit all.
7. Build a sustainable, positive, risk-tolerant company culture that will grow with you, focusing on rewarding your people, remaining focused on customer and market needs, continually raising the performance bar.
8. Diversify your products and services to serve the market needs. Your initial idea might diversify into multiple offerings rather than the initial offering. One example is Tesla is doing electric vehicles AND energy storage. Another example is that established technology companies from IBM to Autodesk are diversifying from software and hardware solutions into clean energy offerings, to meet market needs.
9. Know your target customer, but be willing to diversify beyond that niche market to open more channels.
10. Be opportunistic about funding and expansion opportunities.
11. Work with policymakers to develop a predictable policy in support of clean energy innovation and manufacturing. Outcome-oriented legislation, rather than prescriptions on what is adopted/how a requirement should be met, will help grow the industry, and entrepreneurs have an obligation to communicate this to policymakers and encourage and support long-term policy/administration leadership to ensure that these policies take hold.
12. Build clean energy focused synergies across divisions, companies, industries to benefit all.

The panelists raised the following questions and thoughts, to help entrepreneurs identify hot clean energy opportunities:
• What are some simple, non-sexy, solutions with existing technologies that can be re-worked with a clean-green objective? An example might be simple monitoring and feedback systems that work with existing devices. (The impact could be 10 to almost 80% energy reduction!)
• Even though solar is a crowded market, there are many solar opportunities ahead as well. But the technology and business model innovations must be there as well.
• Lighting retrofits for both home and business will continue to grow, and there’s an opportunity to partner with government and builders to create new lighting standards.
• Innovations in transportation including electric vehicles provide opportunities for innovation, and reducing dependence on fossil fuels.

Resources:
• Through January 2010, Autodesk is offering software grants to clean energy/clean technology engineers, designers, product developers, and manufacturers so they can visualize, simulate, and design digital prototypes of their products before building them. The Autodesk software grant, valued at up to $150,000, is being offered to emerging clean tech companies in North America who are ready to engage in an implementation plan with the support of our local reseller partners. For more information and to apply for a grant, visit http://www.autodesk.com/cleantech.
• For more information about Luxim and its lighting technology, visit http://www.lifi.com.
• For more information about LUMEnergi’s product line, visit http://www.lumenergi.com/products/ov/.

Stimulating Conversation, Building Community, Nurturing Industry
At FountainBlue, we support transformative leadership, one conversation, one leader, one organization at a time. We hope that these particular notes stimulate conversation on a topic of common interest, build a community of connected stakeholders, and in general, advance business opportunities in this area.

Our notes are copyrighted by FountainBlue for 2006-2010. We welcome you to forward our notes to interested groups, provided that you copy us on your distribution, and that you provide acknowledgment to FountainBlue and our sponsors and speakers.

FountainBlue’s When She Speaks Event: Corporate Women on NonProfit Boards

FountainBlue’s November 13 When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series event was on the topic of Corporate Women on Nonprofit Boards and featured:

• Facilitator Wendy Beecham, CEO, FWE&E
• Panelist Pamela E. Evans, Director, Executive Programs, NetApp
• Panelist Cecily Joseph, Director, Corporate Responsibility, Legal and Public Affairs, Symantec
• Panelist Marilyn Nagel, Chief Diversity Officer, Cisco
• Panelist Keren Pavese, Program Manager, Western Division Office of Sustainability, Community Outreach & Diversity Councils, EMC Corporation

Below are notes from our conversation.
Our panel emphasized that serving on nonprofit boards actually benefits them personally and professionally, provided that the board and 1) the cause is something they feel passionate about, 2) the people are people you enjoy serving with, 3) the projects are engaging, fulfilling, and require your support, and 4) the workload and expectations are manageable. Indeed, each panelist emphasized how serving on nonprofit boards helped them with enhance their professional knowledge and understand and even impact industry trends, with their community outreach goals, working in alignment with corporate objectives, and with their personal development, providing enriching experiences which stretches expertise and perspective.

If you’re considering joining a board, he key to a successful nonprofit board experience is to be strategic about which board is right for you. Start by understanding what you’re passionate about and where you might contribute. Think also about what you get back by serving, whether it’s connections or expertise or knowledge for example. Then, before making a board commitment, you may want to consider doing some volunteer work and getting to know the people involved. Remember that you are not just evaluating the leader or any individual, but the whole organization as a system, so things like how the staff and executive director and board members get along is a very important thing to consider.

Be also knowledgeable about responsibilities and expectations and terms, particularly when it comes to legal (do they have insurance for board members for example) and fiduciary and fundraising/development requirements (are their finances secure and transparent, are you required to contribute and fundraise and if so, how much) and terms of service (how long, how often). Treat the nonprofit board position evaluation like a job interview, and have both parties evaluate the fit before making a commitment.

If you are considering transferring from the corporate world to the nonprofit world, follow some of the strategies above, including identifying your skills and passion and getting to know the organization and its alignment with your objectives and your alignment to theirs. Although salaries are smaller, titles can be bigger, and the work may be more fulfilling in many ways.

Sometimes, board participation is in alignment with day-to-day work duties, and is part of your responsibilities in your role. Even when it’s not, board participation might be positive included in performance review meetings, particularly when direct results such as skills enhancement, partnership development, and other tangible results are outcomes from that participation.

If you DO decide to join a board, make sure that you do the ‘give/get’, know what you’re giving and what you’re getting, and know also when to ‘get out’, change your commitment if necessary to ensure that all parties continue to meet objectives. If you are unsatisfied with your participation on a board, consider also asking to change or enhance your role and contribution, or toning down time and task requirements before deciding to get out entirely. If you DO decide to leave, work with your nonprofit to recruit a replacement.

The panel concluded by reiterating how personally and professionally fulfilling it is to serve on nonprofit boards, and encourage others to evaluate for themselves whether this is also a good option for them.

Resources:
• Nonprofit Board Basics, from a workshop provided by Cisco, generously shared by Cisco: http://www.cisco.com/web/about/ac49/ac55/Nonprofit_Board_Basics_2009_11_10b.pdf
• If you’re seeking a board position, visit Boardnet USA http://www.boardnetusa.org/public/home.asp and search for a nonprofit match for someone with your skill set, education and interest.
• The Young, Nonprofit Professionals Network has a list of nonprofit resources which may be useful for those looking at going into the nonprofit sector. http://208.106.176.241/resources/ResourceLinks.asp
• CompassPoint in Milpitas which provides a range of services for nonprofit organizations http://www.compasspoint.org
• Foundation Center in San Francisco, which has a directory of foundations online http://www.foundationcenter.org
• Pamela Evans of NetApp has graciously offered to share information about board roles and board responsibilities. Please send an e-mail to info@whenshespeaks.com regarding why you need this information and I would be happy to share it with you.

For more information about our series, visit http://www.whenshespeaks.com.

Our notes are copyrighted by FountainBlue for 2006-2010. We welcome you to forward our notes to interested groups, provided that you copy us on your distribution, and that you provide acknowledgment to FountainBlue and our sponsors and speakers.

FountainBlue’s Clean Energy Entrepreneurs’ Forum

FountainBlue’s November 2 Clean Energy Entrepreneurs’ Forum was on the topic of Financing Clean Energy Solutions and featured:

• Facilitator Ryan Murr, Partner, Goodwin Procter LLP
• Panelist Jessie Denver, San Jose Solar Program Coordinator, Environmental Services Department, City of San Jose
• Panelist Paul Detering, CEO, Tioga Energy
• Panelist Jeremy Panacheril, US Head Clean Tech and Renewable Energy, Strategic and Commercial Intelligence, KPMG
• Presenting Entrepreneur Lee Edward Colin, VP Business Development, Green Vehicles Inc.
• Presenting Entrepreneur Taber Smith, CEO, Focal Point Energy

Below are notes from our conversation.
An inordinate amount of energy and attention has been focused on clean energy investments and trends and potential. With the peaks and troughs of clean energy investment trends of VCs, policy-makers and others, it has been difficult to navigate the financing path and options, and difficult to develop and maintain the range of relationships – from investor to policy-maker to foundations – necessary to fund the development and deployment of clean energy solutions. Add to this mix the change in administration, both in terms of leaders and direction, and you have an unpredictable funding climate indeed.

This month’s panel provided the following advice on how to finance early-stage clean energy solutions:
• In today’s funding climate, be creative and resourceful and collaborative in getting as far as possible on minimal funds. Building a working prototype and proof of concept with a great team will position you and your company for financing.
• Collaborate with partners who can help you remove barriers to R&D and manufacturing, whether the barriers are with permitting, with the utilities, with development, with production, etc.
• Visionary local, state, national and international leaders want to work with entrepreneurs to remove barriers and build the industry. These policy-makers will impact whether a clean energy company gets financing, so understand who they are, what their motivations and objectives are, and build relationships with them at the local, state and federal level.
• Get creative about financing options working in collaboration with investors, policy-makers, intrapreneurs, grant-makers, and other potential funders.
• When working with policy-makers to secure financing, consider some of their ‘hot buttons’: job creation, advancing the industry overall, solutions providing public benefit, etc.

There was a separate question about how customers of clean energy solutions can fund these purchases, and the following advice was given on that front:

• If you’ve created enough of a robust solution where customers want it, and need help paying for it, it’s a good problem to have! But remember that you must partner with your customers so that they can pay for the solution in order to build traction for your company.
• The biggest barrier to adoption of clean energy solutions is the cost, and entrepreneurs must work with their customers so that they can assume that cost, particularly if it’s not a need-to-have solution, and if it costs more than the existing solution in the short term.
• Consider federal and local grant programs which would help homeowners fund clean energy solutions, particularly when grants and loans and subsidies are involved. However, don’t build your business plan relying on these types of programs, as your product or service must be sustainable on its own merits for the long term.
• Partners who can help with performance guarantees can incentivize customers to make a purchasing decision.
• Long-term loans, perhaps tied to property taxes which may transfer to new owners, may motivate customers to take the plunge and invest in your company’s product or service.

The panel added the following advice to entrepreneurs:
• The clean energy industry is garnering international attention, and stakeholders from around the world are motivated to drive the industry forward. The market potential is huge as the stakes are high, the demand keeps growing, and collaboration between stakeholders becomes key.
• Although you must factor in incentives and how they will impact your short-term revenue goals, be as market-driven as possible and create a sustainable business to your customers, and be as flexible and nimble as possible in responding to the changing needs of customers and markets.
• Drive to grid parity, where your clean energy product or service costs about the same as more traditional energy options including coal and oil and electricity, but until you get there, leverage subsidies, partnerships and incentives to help customers make a purchase decision in your direction.
• When working with policy-makers either financing your own company or helping customers to finance your solution, remember that each local, state and federal entity is different, with different policies, requirements, and standards for different reasons.
• Take a systemic view of the industry, rather than focusing on any single element. For example, look not at where we are limited in a natural resource such as lithium, but instead focus on how the lithium supply chain can be streamlined so that we can cost-efficiently deliver attractive grid-parity battery options for everything from automobiles to electronics.
• The clean energy industry is a feel-good industry – people want to make a difference and select clean green products and services. Leverage this inherent advantage as part of your strategy for securing funding for your company and financing options for your customers.
o Note that because it’s a feel-good industry, sometimes emotions can overly taint the perspective of entrepreneurs, policy-makers and investors alike, and bad business decisions may result.

The panel concluded by remarking on the overall size of the industry – and the huge market potential in so many clean energy sub-industries. With such a huge market, and so many stakeholders working at collaborating to advance the industry, there will be a lot of winners in each sub-category. It is the resourceful, collaborative, persistent entrepreneurs who will reap the benefits for this booming industry, and their customers who will also benefit from the product and service offerings.

Resources:
• For more information about incentives and policies for renewables and efficiency within the state of California, visit http://www.dsireusa.org/incentives/index.cfm?re=1&ee=1&spv=0&st=0&srp=1&state=CA.
• For more information about the Property Assessed Clean Energy PACE Bonds: Innovative Funding to Accelerate the Retrofitting of America’s Buildings for Energy Independence, visit http://www.pacenow.org.
• For more information about the City of San Jose’s green vision goals, visit http://www.sanjoseca.gov/mayor/goals/environment/GreenVision/GreenVision.asp.
• For more information about Focal Point Energy, visit http://focalpointenergy.com.
• For more information about Goodwin Procter’s clean energy publications and reports, visit http://www.goodwinprocter.com/Practices/Tech-Companies-and-Life-Sciences/Clean-Tech.aspx?tab=publications&pa={BD7EEF90-E784-440C-BD51-EF900B57AC6D}.
• For more information about Green Vehicles, visit http://www.greenvehicles.com.
• For more information about KPMG’s Living Green Annual Report, visit http://www.kpmgcampus.com/gonotes/2008livinggreen_annual_report.pdf.
• For more information about Tioga Energy, visit http://www.tiogaenergy.com.

Stimulating Conversation, Building Community, Nurturing Industry
At FountainBlue, we support transformative leadership, one conversation, one leader, one organization at a time. We hope that these particular notes stimulate conversation on a topic of common interest, build a community of connected stakeholders, and in general, advance business opportunities in this area.

Our notes are copyrighted by FountainBlue for 2006-2010. We welcome you to forward our notes to interested groups, provided that you copy us on your distribution, and that you provide acknowledgment to FountainBlue and our sponsors and speakers.

Politics at Work: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

FountainBlue’s August 14 When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series event was on the topic of Politics at Work: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly and featured:
• Facilitator Bobbie LaPorte, RAL & Associates
• Panelist Mercedes De Luca, Global Customer Experience and Chief Information Officer at myShape.com, previously VP of Global IT at Yahoo!
• Panelist Lise E Edwards, Oracle Women’s Leadership (OWL), Program Manager, Oracle Human Resources
• Panelist Susan Lai, Senior Director, Finance, Symantec Corporation
• Panelists Eileen Sullivan, Group Director, Cadence

Below are notes from the conversation. These notes are copyrighted by FountainBlue in 2006-09 and all rights are reserved. You have our permission to forward the notes on to others, to help support further discussion and connections, but please ensure that the notes are INTACT, and that there is proper acknowledgement for our speakers and to FountainBlue.

About Politics
Let’s face it – office politics is a reality for everyone, regardless of the size of your organization or your position. But it’s good news that it’s a hot topic, and that people are more comfortable talking about it now than before, and supporting each other in addressing political challenges and understanding political nuances.

When asked to define politics, there was discussion about agendas and objectives and leveraging your personal influence and power, and that of others to build that agenda. The panelists concurred that at times there are unnecessary negative connotations around politics, so they advised that we know and accept that politics shapes their career and day-to-day work life.

However, there was also consensus that the WAY this is done will influence how others perceive you. There’s a difference between communicating transparently and building and leveraging relationships and achieving objectives no matter the cost to others.

Advice for Navigating the Political Waters in YOUR Organization
The panelists shared lessons learned about miscommunications and misunderstandings about intent, about motives, about objectives and emphasized the need to build relationships, ask questions, seek alignment, understand objectives, and work together in alignment to achieve shared corporate goals.

Repeatedly, the panelists emphasized the importance of building relationships with people at all levels, and the need to partner with people at many levels to make things happen. And a critical factor for developing relationships is clear and open communication, with an emphasis asking a lot of questions and reaching an understanding on motivations rather than working on assumptions and judgments.

There was an equal emphasize on understanding yourself, and your own passions and objectives, and maintaining relationships while staying true to yourself. Indeed, if you remain true to yourself, you will build your own brand and people will know what to expect when they work with you.

The panelists emphasized that it’s important to orient discussions around what’s right for the company and focus on facts and work, not taking actions and words personally.

Specific pearls of wisdom are listed below:
• Take the opportunity to interview with as many people as possible, to get to know the company and its people prior to starting there. Even after you land, dedicate some time to meeting with key influencers and develop those relationships.
• Don’t lose yourself, your own sense of style. Know when and where to compromise that style.
• In every situation, you have a choice. Be the person you want to be, or you may regret what you did.
• Even if you DO regret what you did, be truthful, forthright, humble in your communications with the people you hurt along the way.
• Decide whether which is the right battle for you at the right time.
• Don’t take sides.
• Don’t let it get personal.
• Seek to understand before being understood.
• Be clear to the people you’re working with.
• Ask for help.
• It can be tiring and lonely to constantly play political games.
• Network.
• Make your mistakes also your learnings.
• Men look at politics differently. They see it as a game, a competition, and they don’t take it personally.
• Not everyone has the best interest of all in mind. Handle closely those who don’t.
• Have the meeting before the meeting so that you can plan and align and avoid surprises.
• Spread your circle of influence.
• Lead with your passion.
• Be politically astute: pick up on things that are said and unsaid about a person, a group, an organization. Plan accordingly.
• Understand why someone you don’t respect might be valued by others, particularly if they are respected by others high up in the management chain.
• Rise above the bullying.
• Be self-aware while being other-centric.
• Be skilled at influencing up.
• Ask for what you want.
• Mentor others. Be a mentee.

Accelerating BioPharma Development

FountainBlue’s August 17 Life Science Entrepreneurs’ Forum was on the topic of Accelerating BioPharma Development and featured:

• Facilitator Peter Berger II, CEO, Alitora
• Panelist Ian Irwin, Director of Drug Discovery, Parkinson’s Institute
• Panelist Michael O’Donnell, Partner, Wilson Sonsini
• Panelist Ted Spack, Managing Director, Fast Forward LLC
• Panelist Craig Taylor, Co-Founder and General Partner, Alloy Ventures
• Presenting Entrepreneur: Yadon Arad, Tiara Pharmaceuticals
• Presenting Entrepreneur: Julia O’Connor, CEO, Accelalox Inc.
• Presenting Entrepreneur: David Zarling, CEO, Colby Pharmaceuticals

Below are notes from the conversation. These notes are copyrighted by FountainBlue in 2006-09 and all rights are reserved. You have our permission to forward the notes on to others, to help support further discussion and connections, but please ensure that the notes are INTACT, and that there is proper acknowledgement for our speakers and to FountainBlue.

Major Changes and Challenges in Drug Development
The panelists represented decades of experience in the life science industry and remarked on the accelerated rate of technology development and science advancement. However, policies, regulations, and cultural hurdles have collectively raised the standards for drug approval, making it difficult to develop and manufacture drugs and bring them to market, despite the rapid advancements in technology. Expanding concerns about drug safety represent both a barrier (to developing new drugs) and an opportunity (safer versions of existing drugs) to drug development.

Indeed, companies have had an increasingly higher standard to meet prior to approvals for each phase of development. Requirements for animal and human trials and innumerable requirements for proving drug efficacy have made it almost impossible for entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs and investors to bring drugs to market cost-effectively. Policy and regulation changes and poor management of the approval process have also posed imposing obstacles for companies.

The Role of New Government Funding
With the dramatic and rapid changes in policy and administration and outlook toward the life science industry overall, new interest has been placed on how to identify the key players in the biopharma market, and facilitate forward progress for people and organizations in this industry. As big pharma companies have become more conservative in this constricted market, entrepreneurs are looking more toward government fundings and partnerships with academia.

Advice for Accelerating Drug Development
Start-up entrepreneurs are generally thinking and acting at a more rapid pace than their corporate, academic or government counterparts. Time is of the essence for companies with few resources and small windows of opportunity. Below are some suggestions entrepreneurs can do to continue moving forward while awaiting partnerships:

• Start building relationships with key partners early, and make every effort to maintain strong partnerships and relationships.
• Project-manage effectively as a team to drive deliverables and ensure smooth transition between groups, phases, organizations, countries.
• Manage your resources tightly to make a good impression.
• Keep making the case that safety needs to be balanced with efficacy, and encouraging forward momentum.
• Manage risks. Raise safety concerns in a timely manner.
• Move your concept and organization as far as you can with as few resources as possible. Make a convincing case that additional partnership and support would build measurable and specific traction toward pre-defined milestones.
• Be flexible and creative in securing funding, utilize all sources of funding to move forward with early development, including private foundation, angel investment, SBIR/STTR. Government and foundation grants might be good resource during early development phases, They require forming solid partnerships, AND can be time-consuming AND they can’t provide the kind of investment dollars necessary to grow the company beyond early development, but are still worth investigating.
• Accept where your sphere of influence is with your partners in corporate, government, investment, etc. and leverage where you will have the best payoff, while also growing your influence.
• Leverage outsourcing where practical, but manage the outsourcing projects closely.
• Enlist the support of entrepreneurial industry experts with complementary skills.

Game Changers in the Near Future
There is hope for the hopeful, industrious and resilient life science entrepreneur! The following opportunities were highlighted by the panelists:

• India and China will play an increasingly important role in accelerating drug development, not only as CRO/CMO service providers, but also drive for technology innovation and represent great market. As such, there will be more opportunities and larger markets as countries such as India and China become active in this space.
• Changes to reimbursement policies will make it more practical for existing and new solutions to go to market.
• There are many early-stage concepts which could not navigate all the hurdles of the development process, yet the thousands and millions of dollars already expended has produced science and technologies, even prototypes and studies which may be cost-effectively leveraged into new solutions, if the hurdles can be overcome.
• Advancements in personalized medicine will not only provide custom solutions for patients, but it may also explain why some drugs did not pass regulations. These drugs might then be brought to market, targeting a more specific, more responsive patient population.
• In general, with the advancements in technologies, there is more likely to be knowledge-driven understanding about what went wrong with drugs that could not complete the approval process and how to bring them to market cost-effectively.
• There are opportunities in diagnostic tools, in genomics, imaging, informatics and other scientific areas which could lead to new drugs.

Energy Generation Breakthroughs and Challenges

FountainBlue’s August 3 Clean Energy Entrepreneurs’ Forum on the topic of Energy Generation Breakthroughs and Challenges featured:

• Facilitator Awais Khan, Director, Venture Capital Practice, KPMG
• Panelist Jonathan Forrester, Principal, Structured Transactions, PG&E
• Panelist Ripudaman Malhotra, Senior Scientist, SRI International
• Panelist Ryan Murr, Attorney, Goodwin Procter LLP
• Panelist Abe Yokell, Principal, Rockport Capital
• Presenting Entrepreneur: Fareed Sfard, CEO, Ahura Energy Inc.
• Presenting Entrepreneur: Jim DiSanto, CEO, BBE Energy
• Presenting Entrepreneur: Andres Wydler, CEO, Real Green Power

Below are notes from the conversation. The notes above are copyrighted by FountainBlue in 2006-09 and all rights are reserved. You have our permission to forward the notes on to others, to help support further discussion and connections, but please ensure that the notes are INTACT, and that there is proper acknowledgement for our speakers and to FountainBlue.

The Demand for Energy
As global consumption of energy moves from 3 cubic miles of oil a year today to almost 9 cubic miles of oil a year by 2050, due to population growth and growing affluence. People, companies and countries are challenged to meet the overwhelming demand for energy, delivered in a way that works with existing systems and infrastructure and policies. Even with a concerted and collaborative and global effort at conservation, we could reduce the projected demand to 6 CMO/year by 2050.

Even then we would have the challenge of generating more energy. Generating 1 CMO/year requires a battery of about 2500 one-GW nuclear power plants of energy. To meet this need, we would have to install one new nuclear plant, or one thousand wind turbines, or one quarter million roof to PV systems (2 kW each), each every week for fifty years, assuming the systems installed in the first year are still working. See the attached SRI report detailing our growing global energy demands.

Technology Advancements
Advancements in technologies for energy generation are being developed to meet the energy needs, however, finding cost-effective alternatives to fossil fuels remain a challenge. In solar generation for example, there are mechanical, optical, nano and other materials and system innovations, as well as business model and financing reforms, which would make it more attractive for people to adopt these technologies. Indeed, with hardware and software technology advancements AND the rising cost of power, we may in some regions approach grid parity, the point at which photovoltaic electricity is equal to or cheaper than grid power provided by local utilities, particularly in areas where there is plenty of sunshine and high energy rates.

Political and Social Factors Weigh In
Unfortunately, the political and social pressures are precluding energy generation options for different reasons related to safety, ecology, etc. There is continued and growing pressure from consumers to reduce the carbon footprint and produce energy at reasonable costs. With the overwhelming and increasing demand for energy, it is important to consider each energy generation option, from fossil fuel to nuclear to hydro, geo-thermal and other methods. It is important to work together and embrace the up-sides of these options, while working to mitigate the downsides through technology and policy and business model advancement. It is equally important to simultaneously remain unbiased during the decision-making process and focus on the bottom line results rather than on personal and political agendas at the personal, company and country levels.

Financing as a Hurdle
In addition, financing options for energy generation solutions can be quite expensive, and funding sources are limited, especially as venture firms continue to avoid capital intensive projects with projected returns beyond the 3-5 year mark. The vast majority of energy generation worldwide has been planned and paid for by government with some corporate support. Venture capital has played a very small role in energy and cleantech to date. So start-ups are challenged to come up with funds to de-risk their technology solutions sufficient to be worthy of additional investment. Options for financing include government grants and corporate partnerships.

The panel offered their insights on the opportunities ahead.
• Leverage opportunities provided by utilities like PG&E who are providing power purchase agreements which would encourage cost-effective production of energy ready to feed into the grid, particularly when there is the greatest demand – in the summers and during the afternoon hours. For more information, visit http://www.pge.com/includes/docs/pdfs/b2b/wholesaleelectricsuppliersolicitation/Feedin_Tariffs_FAQs.pdf
• Consider the various modules for the solution you are providing, and how technology innovation in any one component can increase the productivity of the overall system. For example, innovation in an inverter for solar panels, which accounts for roughly 7-10% of the overall cost of the panel, can maximize the output of the panels themselves, and also be cost-effectively manufactured.
• Consider the entrepreneurial opportunities around the storage of energy, including chemical (battery), compressed air, pumped hydro and other options.
• Although all sources of energy generation should be considered, some options will take a much larger investment to produce results. For example, tidal and wave energy might be a ready, natural and available energy source, but capturing it efficiently has historically been cost-prohibitive due to extremely harsh marine environment.

Leadership is Key
As we continue to face the growing global energy demands, the verdict is out on whether today’s leaders can maintain a bottom line perspective on our energy options, while showing political will power to deliver results which would benefit all. During this crisis, we need to focus on objectives. If it’s merely making life better for billions, we will need more energy. With climate change, we will need to solve new problems including effective desalination, building dykes and sensible zoning, amongst other challenges. In conclusion, we should all be informed and feel empowered to influence who leads and how they lead us through this problem-that-must-be-solved.

Entrepreneur Success Stories

FountainBlue’s June 8 High Tech Entrepreneurs’ Forum, our final high tech event, was on the topic of Entrepreneur Success Stories and featured:
• Facilitator Sara Rauchwerger, CCICE and BG Strategy
• Panelist Matthew Denesuk, Partner, IBM Venture Capital Group
• Panelist Victoria Livschitz, CEO, Grid Dynamics Consulting Services
• Panelist Pascal Lorne, CEO, Miyowa
• Panelist Lynda Ting, Director, Emerging Business Team, Microsoft

The stock markets are down, salaries are down and job security is low, which means that stress levels are high, as is unemployment. But it is the nature of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs to be resilient and remain optimistic despite all the bad news. Our rich infrastructure, integrated network, robust technologies and entrepreneurial culture support that optimistic nature. An integral part of that resilient entrepreneurial outlook is the success stories of entrepreneurial firms launched in partnership with corporate venture partners.

Notes on the conversation are below:
Our esteemed panel shared their wisdom and their learning with the entrepreneurs in attendance, emphasizing the importance of win-win partnerships, which benefit start-ups as well as corporations, fluidly serving the needs of customers and markets, leveraging your experience and connections, building and leading teams, and together, resiliently and passionately sallying forth to fulfill the corporate vision.

Corporations are under tremendous financial pressures to cost-effectively innovate to round out/expand solution offerings, and partnering with smaller, nimbler independent start-up firms in alignment with their corporate goals is a key strategy for fulfilling this need. Start-ups also need the infrastructure support, products and services, relationships, partnerships and channels that corporations can offer. But only the start-ups who are well prepared to partner with corporations, and who are best in alignment with the current and future needs of these corporations, and who are in a hot technology space in general, will be able to successfully develop corporate partnerships.

Whether the company is large or small, the focus must be on staying attune to the needs of customer and the shifts in the market overall. Feature set prioritization, channel partnerships, development schedules, etc., must be tied to the needs of the customer in order to maximize both sales and service. Fluidly tracking the customer needs and responding to these needs will separate a company from its competition, regardless of the size of the company.

In this time of difficult financing, it is more important than ever for early stage companies to find the customer BEFORE designing and implementing the solution, and only AFTER products and customers have been established is the company likely to secure financing. It is also more important than ever before for founders to be even more resourceful and resilient than before. The entrepreneurs on the panel each spoke of how they took advantage of serendipitous opportunities to connect with decision-makers for corporate ventures during the formative stages of their organizations, and how those initial conversations materialized into corporate partnerships that accelerated the growth and potential for their respective organizations.

The panel shared many words of wisdom for aspiring and early stage entrepreneurs:
• With IPOs real anomalies in today’s market, and with no end in sight for this trend, partnering with corporations is essential for start-ups interested in accelerating growth, but one must be strategic in terms of which organizations and individuals to partner with and how to go about initiating and managing that partnership.
• Focus on your core strengths, your specialized skills, and deliver technology solutions for a growing market.
• Plan your growth so that you can scale optimally.
o Design initial products so that they can be scalable, but don’t add the advanced features until after you’ve proven a market need with initial products with more basic features. Then collaborate with your customers to add features prioritized to their needs, and keep delivering products and services with the same standard of excellence.
o Don’t expand your sales and marketing teams too early, too quickly, especially if your product is not yet successfully developed and launched. Instead, rely on channel partners who would also benefit by distributing products and opening markets for you.
• The biggest risk is not getting your ideas to market, so err on the side of disclosure when it comes to IP, while using common sense on who you disclose what to when.
• Although partnerships are important, your focus must always be on the vision for the company. Find a way to focus on that, despite the external pressures you will receive from partners, investors, staff, even initial customers.

The panel concluded that success will always be dependent on having a compelling company vision well executed through clear, constant and transparent communication to all stakeholders. Collectively, they recommended the following books as resources:
• Crossing the Chasm, Geoffrey Moore http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_the_Chasm
• Founders at Work: Stories of Startups’ Early Days, by Jessica Livingston http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1590597141
• Reality Check (and other entrepreneurial books) by Guy Kawasaki http://www.guykawasaki.com/books/

Working with Millennials

FountainBlue’s June 12 When She Speaks event was on the topic of Working with Millennials and featured:
• Facilitator Lisa Orrell, The Generation Relations Expert, The Orrell Group, author of Millennials Incorporated
• Panelist Urvi Bhandari, Sales Manager, AT&T
• Panelist Megan Campi, Customer Service Relationship Manager, Cisco
• Panelist Kristen Dearing, Leader of Strategic Sales, Global Communications and Media, Sun Microsystems
• Panelist Claudia Galvan, Lead, International Program Management Group, Microsoft
• Panelist Shalini Govil-Pai, Lead PM, Google
• Panelist Lori Smith, Director of HR, Cisco

Working with Millennials
The Millennial Generation, otherwise known as Generation Y, is no longer made-up of just kids and teens. Born in the early 80s and 90s, the eldest are now graduating college and entering and impacting the professional workforce. As the earliest Baby Boomers are starting to reach retirement age, and with the increasing pressures for organizations large and small to recruit and retain in key talent from the millennial generation, it is becoming increasingly more important to understand and work with this generation of workers.

Millennials are in general energetic with a plethora of ideas and a direct, assertive style in communicating them, without necessarily following established business etiquette or without respecting chain-of-command expectations (speaking to top management over direct bosses for example). They are globally-minded and techno-philic, leveraging social media tools such as YouTube, FaceBook, texting and Twitter. They are used to multi-tasking (texting during meetings, committing to many work and life projects and juggling multiple priorities), to confidently speaking what’s on their mind (directly communicating their goals and objectives), and to being global in their interests and connections.

With all these strengths, a noted weakness is that many Millennials are more interested in generating ideas than in seeing them through to results and conclusions, often distracted by the next idea. There was also a conversation about the perceived sense of entitlement that many Millennials have, and how to better understand and work with Millennials who are perceived as having a sense of entitlement. There was general agreement that it is more a perception based on the confident, direct, salary- and role- centered communications and desire to move quickly and make a positive difference than an ACTUAL desire for privileges and rights and title, etc, without merit. Therefore, the suggestion from the panel is for Millennials to understand how they are coming across and folks of younger and older generations to understand the Millennials’ perspective and therefore be less likely to take offense to it.

The panel shared some sage and practical advice on how to recruit, retain and communicate with Millennials. The overall emphasis was on training managers to be more resourceful, more communicative, and more flexible in understanding what motivates Millennials, and in keeping them engaged in projects which interest them, and specific suggestions are listed below.
• Leverage the strengths and global interests of Millennials to direct them into leadership opportunities outside work, while also keeping them engaged at work.
• Challenge managers to make their projects appear more compelling and exciting to Millennials.
• Encourage managers to open communication channels between Millennials and senior management as an opportunity to share ideas, motivate Millennials and even provide reverse-mentoring opportunities.
• Initiate friendly competitions leveraging social media will help Millennials participate in strategic conversations ensuring that technologies and ideas address the needs of younger target audiences, for example.
• Help Millennials to develop patience while building successes and skills and personal brand as they strive to achieve their short-term and long-term career objectives.
• Provide continual feedback and communications to Millennials as they were raised in an age of instant communication and crave this level of feedback.
• Leverage global communication technology to better attract and retain Millennials.
• Take every opportunity to mentor and support high-potential Millennials, for they are our future leaders.
• Welcome and encourage play in the workplace, from scooters to XBoxes for example, as part of the corporate culture.
• Engage Millennials in strategies to better communicate with Millennials and others through social networking channels.

Leaders and organizations will find that following the practices noted above is not only going to better attract and retain Millennials, but it will positively impact workers and overall culture. Indeed, Millennials speak for other workers when they express displeasure or ideas for change, but they are more vocal and direct about expressing their ideas, and less tolerant if change doesn’t happen. Listening to the needs of Millennials and making the changes will positively impact working conditions for all.

Resources:
• Order one of Lisa Orrell’s Books, Millennials Incorporated by visiting http://www.amazon.com/Millennials-Incorporated-Lisa-Orrell/dp/1932279822/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194980814&sr=1-1. FountainBlue members may also receive a 20% discount off Lisa’s speaking and training services http://www.millennialsincorporated.com.

Life Science Leaders: From Strategy to Execution

FountainBlue’s June 15 Life Science Entrepreneurs’ Forum was on the topic of Life Science Leaders: From Strategy to Execution and featured:
• Facilitator Dick Haiduck, Partner to the CEO, Haiduck Consulting
• Panelist Rich Ferrari, Partner, De Novo Ventures
• Panelist Stevan Jovanovich, PhD., CEO, Microchip Biotech
• Panelist Yvonne Linney, VP, Strategy, Marketing and Business Development, Life Sciences Solutions Unit, Agilent
• Panelist Glen Sato, Partner, Cooley Godward Kronish, LLP
• Panelist Charles Versaggi, CEO, OsteoCorp

Below are notes from the conversation.
The panel agreed that an organization’s strategy must focus on the needs of the customer and be more market driven than technology driven. In other words, from its inception, and throughout a company’s life span, the focus should be on understanding and delivering the clinical value of the solution on the specific target market that they are serving, thereby focusing on delivering the company’s unfair advantage. This necessitates an alignment between the goals of the management team, the organization, and all its staff and partners to plan for, communicate and execute on delivering that value, and remaining fluid on HOW the organization will continue to serve its customers. Therefore, there must be utter clarity on who the target customers are, what value is provided through which project, and how the experienced team will execute to milestones based on this clarity of vision, communicated well.

The current economic conditions amplify the importance of both thinking and acting strategically. With resources so tight, it is even more important to ensure that the strategy is customer focused, targeting a specific unmet need and that execution is measurable and milestone driven, with the necessary adjustments in both strategy and execution along the way. There is an overwhelming emphasis on doing more with less, stretching precious dollars to meet milestones, and focusing on providing the core value to customers, making every decision, every action, count.

During these challenging times, when considering a company’s strategy, think about which elements of strategy you’re considering – from business to financial to clinical to positioning – as well as the timing for the strategy and how it is integrated with other strategies. Successful entrepreneurs ensure an alignment between overall company goals and implementing strategies to achieve those goals, even if it means changing the overall corporate objectives along the way. The most experienced entrepreneurs see strategy as a process, not a destination, and are adept at proactively managing the direction of the company, erring on the side of action/decisiveness, and hiring a management team with a similar mindset.

Based on questions from the audience on how to best focus on select projects when resources on tight, the panel recommended that entrepreneurs periodically evaluate individual projects to ensure that they are delivering anticipated value, both in terms of meeting the needs of customers and in financial returns, using the anticipated amount of financial and staff resources. The panel even went so far as to encourage a culture where everyone is rewarded both for originating projects, AND for disproving projects, so that resources may be allocated to other more promising projects. Making these types of business decisions objectively based on fact, rather than on popularity, emotions and opinions, will help organizations develop a more resilient, practical strategy that meets the needs of its customers.

In conclusion, the panel noted that start-ups are prized for their innovation and their nimbleness, and in these economic conditions, the stakes are higher, and so are the opportunities for those proven entrepreneurs who can survive the storm, executing on milestones for a vibrant, flexible strategy that serves customers well and brings rich financial returns.

Clean Green Transportation Machines

FountainBlue’s July 2 Clean Energy Entrepreneurs’ Forum was on the topic of Clean Green Transportation Machines and featured:

• Facilitator Lafe Vittitoe, Relationship Manager, Silicon Valley Bank
• Panelist Ann Chan, Director, California Programs, Center for Clean Air Policy (CCAP)
• Panelist Brad Mattson, Partner, Vantage Point Venture Partners
• Panelist John Suh, General Motors
• Panelist Elise Zoli, Partner and Clean Tech Chair, Goodwin Procter LLP

Our presenting entrepreneurs were:
• Panelist Neil Maguire, VP of Business Development, Imara
• Panelist Fraser Smith, CEO, ElectraDrive
• Panelist John Zajac, CEO, Zajac Motors
• Forrest North, Mission Motors
• Lee Colin, Green Vehicles

Below are notes from the conversation.
Our panelists agreed that the transportation industry is at a crossroads, and policy, technology, business and other innovations are necessary to revitalize the industry. Success is dependent on focusing on the needs of the customer – from the economic need for cost-effective products and services, to the social need for eco-friendly products and services, to the individual needs for comfort, safety, convenience and speed. But success is also focused on a successful collaboration between various stakeholders, (including policy-makers, entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, investors, providers, and others) who can work together to ensure the efficient delivery of products and services which would best suit the needs of the customers.

Transportation is such a broad category, with many opportunities for innovation – from software to fuels to hardware to infrastructure. Although there are many opportunities with such a broad category, entrepreneurs should consider barriers to innovation in any of these categories including:
• The large auto dealers are embracing new technologies and solutions, but manufacturing, distribution, sales and marketing channels pose challenges to adoption of these technologies.
• Infrastructure challenges from roads to mass-transit to fuel storage and distribution, to compatibility of fuels, parts, etc., make it more difficult to forge changes in the industry.
• Policy-makers may not be informed about the technology adoption challenges, or why it’s so important to help the large players in the transportation industry to adopt new technologies. This and other factors make it difficult for policy-makers to adopt policies that help the industry adopt changes which are an integral part of revamping the industry.
• Decision-makers in the automobile industry are trained and rewarded to be risk-adverse. Transformative cultural change needs to happen in these organizations in order to embrace the opportunities that change can provide.
• International companies are proving more nimble at adopting and leveraging new technologies, and competing with existing American products and services. There are even examples of how American innovation has been adopted by international organizations.
• The lack of a gas tax deters consumers from proactively electing more gas-efficient options.
• Development, testing, manufacturing, distribution, and other challenges are making it difficult for entrepreneurs to provide cost-effective products and services that compete well with existing offerings.
• Many transportation solutions require a huge financial investment, and investors who are leaning toward capital-efficient solutions are reticent to invest. However, with the federal stimulus package, dollars are still available, but entrepreneurs who are seeking those dollars need a new strategy to secure the funding, and policy-makers need to better explain the process for securing funding.

The panelists advised entrepreneurs to be nimble and innovative, while also focusing on strategic partnerships and investments, and finding a way to partner with corporate entities who may be resistant to the newest innovations. They also advised entrepreneurs to focus on modular solutions which would be compatible with the existing infrastructure, yet flexible enough to evolve with the infrastructure, while also ensuring that solutions address the larger objectives of climate change challenges and foreign oil dependency.

The panelists agreed that it will also take innovative approaches for the development, testing, manufacturing, and distribution of products and services, and entrepreneurs must partner with other stakeholders to realize real change in these areas. The odds and the challenges ARE overwhelming, with everyone having only ONE piece of the puzzle. But a positive attitude and a resilient disposition from all stakeholders are essential components for success.

Each panelist provided a different perspective about why all stakeholders should be heard during this crossroads in the industry. Working together, we can help policy-makers provide limits and constraints, and reconsider the allocation of subsidies, while also jumpstarting R&D efforts that would forge technological innovations benefiting customers worldwide. And working together, making small, incremental clean/green purchasing decisions every day (rather than focusing on one sexy killer app/solution, a panacea), and helping others make similar choices, entrepreneurs can lead the transportation industry out of this economic funk and into a new era of innovation for clean green transportation machines.

Resource:
Entrepreneurs and other clean energy stakeholders should consider leveraging the nonprofit think-tank Center for Clean Air Policy (CCAP) as a resource for providing policy recommendations to California climate policy decision makers. While CCAP is not an advocacy or lobbying organization, it does provide independent policy research and analysis (including economic and technical analyses) as well as stakeholder dialogue facilitation (to develop consensus type policy platforms with broad-based political support) in support of early stage clean tech companies and other stakeholders.

California’s progressive stance in the policy arena provides leadership for the rest of country – particularly with respect to fostering technological innovation, but there is always room for more innovative and better policies, and CCAP may be able to explore conduits for ensuring that the viewpoints and concerns of emerging companies are adequately communicated to state policy makers. For more information, visit http://www.ccap.org.