FountainBlue

We welcome your continued participation and input and hope to connect with you soon.

• Members may visit http://www.meetwith.me/lindaholroyd to suggest a good time to meet with us to discuss:
• Your current and future hiring needs;
• The business model and expansion plans for your clean energy, high tech or life science start-up;
• Your career path or your current or anticipated transition;
• An upcoming event or topic of interest to you; or
• Other?
• Join our community on Wild Apricot by visiting http://fountainblue.shuttlepod.org
• See the list of upcoming events for the month and register to attend one soon!
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• Browse our web site to find out more     
• Send us an e-mail to tell us how we can best serve you! info@FountainBlue.biz

FountainBlue December Newsletter

FountainBlue's monthly newsletter is designed to communicate regularly with our members, to announce FountainBlue events for the month, to make special offerings to our members, and to share wisdom gained from our community. It is sent monthly, and we welcome you to forward it on to interested others, with proper reference to FountainBlue, our community, and our speakers. This is our final newsletter sent to a combined audience as next month, we will have individual newsletters sent to our clean energy, life science, women leader, and executives and entrepreneur communities.

Happy Holidays

Thank you for all you have personally done on our behalf throughout the six years we’ve run our events and built our community. We are especially touched by the responses and feedback from last month’s newsletter regarding sunsetting our events – people who have not participated in a long time, or people who have never attended, yet appreciated our work.

Silicon Valley is special because of people like you! We invite your inquiries, suggestions, feedback and interest as we continue with our consulting, coaching and recruiting efforts and wish you the very best for a successful new year! If you’re interested in catching up over the phone or in person, please visit http://meetwith.me/lindaholroyd and suggest a good time to connect.

What’s New with FountainBlue: Membership Benefits

Thank you for your generous support and understanding as we transition into recruiting, consulting and coaching services. Below is an updated list of membership benefits. We hope that you will renew your membership, if our services serve your needs and support your objectives, and welcome your feedback and input.

Career Support Benefits:

• Half hour phone call with job-seekers to strategize on search objectives with follow-up e-mails to selected contacts, available once a year. Other support is available at a members-only rate of $175/hour (or a non-member rate of $200/hour).
• Discounted rates for filling job reqs for members and their companies, depending on the position, level, role, location, etc
• Members will have access to full open job req information and are invited to submit applications for open positions or forward the job req to interested others in their network.

Event Admission Benefits:

• Discounted admissions to any FountainBlue events. Although we sunsetted all of our entrepreneur events effective January 1, 2012, we continue to offer our monthly When She Speaks, women in leadership series events, and may also run other events on occasion.
• Discounted and free passes to partner events in Silicon Valley when available.

Promotional Benefits:

• Members may nominate a company for our monthly 'profiles in innovation' article, part of our weekly newsletter.
• Opportunity to promote events produced by other organizations within the Silicon Valley, focusing on serving early stage clean energy, high tech or life science entrepreneurs or women leaders. Regular recommendations are sent out roughly weekly to FountainBlue members.
• Members may introduce us to early stage entrepreneurs in their network who may be in need of our coaching, consulting or advisory services.

Early Stage Company or Intrapreneur Benefits:

• Opportunity to meet one-on-one for one hour of complementary discussion on early stage clean energy, high tech or life science entrepreneurial efforts. Additional ongoing support is available on a consulting basis for $200 an hour, and includes e-mail follow-ups and introductions, as well as optional participation as an advisory board member.

• Ongoing strategic introductions to potential strategic investors, partners, founders and customers in support of your entrepreneurial cause.

• Facilitating an introduction to US Trade and Export for consultation on marketing products and services outside the US.

• One facilitated strategic or executive session a year, at a discounted rate of $100/hour.

• E-mail feedback and input on business model or executive summary.

Notes From Last Month's FountainBlue Events

It is our hope that the notes we take during an event will stimulate thinking, continued conversations and connections one conversation, one leader, one organization at a time. We make our notes available free to all attendees, and to the general community and are happy to share a synopsis of these notes below.

• Partly due to the manufacturing and process innovations introduced by China, (and neglecting the environmental impact of these changes) solar panels have become largely a commodity, impacting the industry overall.
• Led by Germany’s embracing of the solar market potential through subsidies, many European countries followed and enjoyed leadership in adoption and market, but financially-imposed policy changes in most European countries other than Germany makes it now difficult for both innovators and customers in Europe. Hence, people are looking more closely at markets in Asia and Latin America.
• The US with its huge market, technology innovations, entrepreneurial culture and great weather has the potential to be a leader in this space. However, local, state and federal policy hurdles, infrastructure challenges, lack of cooperation and coordination between major stakeholders, funding challenges, local government bureaucrats and policies are making it difficult for entrepreneurs to succeed.

The complete set of notes is freely available at http://www.fountainblue.biz/cleanenergy/cleanenergynotes.html.

The complete set of notes is freely available at http://fountainblue.biz/lifescience/lifesciencenotes.html.

In The News: Weekly Radio Show

Starting in January and for six months, we are pleased to partner with our sponsor and producer Monali Jain, to conduct weekly radio interviews on KLOK 1170 AM, owned and operated by Principle Broadcasting Network. This radio show will feature prominent India intrapreneurs and entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, and interviews will reach an audience of approximately 200,000 Indian women in the Bay Area. Below is a tentative calendar for our upcoming radio shows over the next six months, to be held on Thursdays at 10 a.m. Please e-mail us at info@whenshespeaks.com if you have suggestions on topics and speakers for each of these interviews. We hope that you will join us in this conversation.

January Theme: Leveraging Technology To Add Value To Our Community

         1/5: Technology To Foster Mentorship in Education with Usha Sekar

         1/12: Technology To Connect People and Communities with Sudha Jamthe

         1/19: Technology In MedTech

         1/26: Technology To Automate Our Lives

February Theme: Negotiation Secrets for Women

         2/2: Negotiating Your Value at Work

         2/9: Negotiating With Your Spouse

         2/16: Negotiating with Friends

         2/23: Find Your Walking Point

March Theme: Expanding Your Network

         3/1: The Value of Networking

         3/8: Supporting Your Community

         3/15: Mentors and Ambassadors

         3/22: Strategic Networking

         3/29: Leveraging Social Media to Expand Your Network

April Theme: Giving Back

         4/5: How Giving Back Pays Off

         4/12: Deciding Which Nonprofit to Support

         4/19: Profiling a Nonprofit: (one that supports Indian women in technology)

         4/26: Profiling a Nonprofit (one that supports girls in technology)

May Theme: The Mothers In Our Lives

         5/3: My Mother and Me: Interview with Indian professional woman (4 different interviews)

         5/10:

         5/17:

         5/24:

         5/31:

June Theme: Work-Life Balance

         6/7: The Juggling Act: Interview with Indian professional woman (4 different interviews)

         6/14:

         6/21:

         6/28:

Profiles in Innovation

Beginning with our next newsletters in January 2012, FountainBlue will be highlighting a clean energy, high tech and life science entrepreneurs, with a different theme every month - see below for the draft themes. If you are interested in nominating a company for an upcoming newsletter, please visit www.svcleanenergy.com for clean energy submissions, www.svlifescience.com for life science submissions and www.sventrepreneurs.com for high tech submissions or e-mail your profile to info@svcleanenergy.com, info@svlifescience.com or info@sventrepreneurs.com with the following information:

   Name and Company:

   100-word description of why it is innovative:

   Link for more information

   URL with picture of innovation.

Clean Energy Monthly Themes

January Theme: Software Innovations in Clean Tech

February Theme: Water Purification and Distribution

March Theme: Clean Tech Meets Biotech

April Theme: Entrepreneurs Working with the Utilities

May Theme: Energy Efficiency Solutions

June Theme: Sensors in Green Tech

July Theme: Clean Green Financing Options

August Theme: Transportation Greening Advances

September Theme: Energy Storage

October Theme: Innovations for the Built Environment

November Theme: Next Generation Solar Solutions

December Theme: Materials Innovation in Clean Tech

High Tech Monthly Themes

January Theme: Hot Tech Investment Areas for 2012

February Theme: Hot iPhone Apps

March Theme: Social Media Innovations

April Theme: Business Analytics in Energy Management

May Theme: Cloud and Storage Innovations

June Theme: Sensors and Software for Consumers

July Theme: Hot iPad Apps

August Theme: Business Analytics in Healthcare

September Theme: Virtual World Innovations

October Theme: Hot SaaS Solutions

November Theme: Business Analytics in Telecommunications

December Theme: Freemium to Premium Success Stories

Life Science Monthly Themes

January Theme: Investors Speaking on Life Science Investment Trends

February Theme: Medical Devices: Medical Diagnostics

March Theme: Maintaining Food Safety and Integrity

April Theme: Software Automating the Patient Experience

May Theme: The Future of Pharma

June Theme: Medical Imaging

July Theme: Medical Devices for Baby Boomer Market

August Theme: Software Automating

September Theme: Personalized Medicine

October Theme: Medical Devices: Mobile Health

November Theme: Medical Device: Drug Delivery Innovations

December Theme: Robotics in Med Tech

Recommendations from the Community

Announcing: Resource to Stop Burn Out!

Removing barriers to performance is essential and a responsibility shared by many — HR, T&D, supervisors, managers and team leaders. To support that shared responsibility, Camille LIVE, videos to work and live by, presents: The Bright Side of Burn Out: How to recognize & fix it! Why? Because you and your people have more important things to do than burn out!

This lively, 30-minute video guides viewers through a 4-step process to reduce burnout and focus on what matters. The single seat license ($29.99) includes an 8-page Learner's Guide with easy-to-follow exercises and a complete transcript. Also available: multi-viewer rates, DVD with unlimited seats, and Team Facilitation Guide. Go to http://www.wipcoaching.com/the-brightside-of-burnout to hear what people are saying, then hit the “Sign Up Now” button. Got questions? Contact Camille@wipcoaching.com or call 831-685-1480.

This Month’s Leadership Quotes

Each month, we celebrate a different leadership theme, with a different quote each day from a recognized, or not-so-well-known leader. December Theme: Balance: Balance your successes with your lessons, your work with your life, your community with yourself.

1. Balance your heart with your mind, your mind with your hands. Linda Holroyd, FountainBlue
2. The invaluable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous with the common. Ralph Waldo Emerson
3. Harmony makes small things grow. Lack of it makes great things decay. Sallust
4. There’s no secret to balance. You just have to feel the waves. Frank Herbert
5. Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony. Thomas Merton
6. Our greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another. William James
7. The most important human endeavor is the striving for morality in our actions. Our inner balance and even our very existence depend on it. Albert Einstein
8. Next to excellence is the appreciation of it. William Makepeace Thackeray
9. If you listen closely, your body will tell you if you are out of balance, and your mind will tell you why you are and how to fix it. Linda Holroyd, FountainBlue

10.  When people speak ill of thee, live as if nobody may believe them. Plato

11.  It is not length of life, but depth of life. Ralph Waldo Emerson

12.  Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances. Thomas Jefferson

13.  Now and then, it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy. Guillame Apollinaire

14.  You perform better when your thoughts, feelings, emotions, goals, and values are in balance. Brian Tracy

15.  Adopt the pace of nature. Her secret is patience. Ralph Waldo Emerson

16.  A well-developed sense of humor is the pole that adds balance to your steps as you walk the tightrope of life. William Arthur Ward

17.  Most men pursue pleasure with such breathless haste that they hurry past it. Soren Kierkegaard

18.  Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving. Albert Einstein

19.  Aim not for a complete balance every day, but an overall balance over many days. Linda Holroyd, FountainBlue

20.  "Balance, peace, and joy are the fruit of a successful life. Thomas Kinkade

21.  Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking. Marcus Aurelius

22.  "Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some. Robert Fulghum

23.  Everyone should take time out once in a while to recharge and revitalize their energy. The key is to have a balanced life. Michael Lee

24.  The foundation stones for a balanced success are honesty, character, integrity, faith, love and loyalty. Zig Ziglar

25.  The word happy would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. It is far better to take things as they come along with patience and equanimity. Carl Jung

26.  Look for loyalty, integrity, a high energy drive, a balanced ego and the desire to get things done. Colin Powell

27.  Everything that rises sets, and everything that grows, grows old. Sallust

28.  Happiness is the absence of striving for happiness. Zhuangzi

29.  Have a vision you're passionate about, the drive to make it happen, and the perspective to keep them balanced. Linda Holroyd, FountainBlue

30.  Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony. Thomas Merton

31.  Whether what you do or what you have is really good or really not, it is what it is. Acceptance is a first step to a life of balance. Linda Holroyd, FountainBlue

Quotes from Women Leaders

FountainBlue is honoring our fifth birthday by celebrating the wisdom gained and shared by our speakers from our When She Speaks series, which was launched in May 2006. We have encapsulated their remarks and contributions and compiled them into 101 truths, with overarching themes, and ten specific ideas and suggestions for each one. Each month, we will cover an overarching theme and then describe concepts or ideas around that theme, as well as quotes from our speakers as they eloquently express the concept. Your comments are welcome. E-mail us at info@whenshespeaks.com.

This month’s theme is on mentorship and how having the right mentors will help set you apart

It’s Not Personal, It’s Just Business

51.  Emotions are a double-edged sword – it could indicate passion, or it could color your judgment.

Emotions have their place, under the guidance of the head, fueling the passion for the cause.

For best results, engage the left brain to think strategically and the right brain to act and communicate passionately. Eileen Sullivan

52.  Learn to read people quickly, and make corrections quickly if they aren’t who you thought they were.

When you’re a leader working with a lot of people, it’s important to have filters and stereotypes in place so that you can access the situation at the highest level. But it’s equally important to delve into details in interacting with people to check those filters, assumptions and stereotypes.

Give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but not to the point of folly. Only open up to your trusted network. Darcy Kiefaber, Human Resources Manager, LifeScan, Inc. – Diabetes Franchise with the J&J family of Companies

53.  If you choose to climb the corporate ladder, you must be tough enough to navigate politics and people issues and challenges, without taking things personally.

Many people decide that politics is not for them when they start succeeding and become a victim of the game. But when you’re more experienced and see that there is a game, and make a choice about whether to play the game, you will be better positioned to succeed in the game.

Be the kind of results-oriented, strategic people person who is courageous enough to consciously and proactively play that game and band people together to create order from chaos. Kristen Dearing, Strategic Sales, Global Communications & Media Practice, Sun Microsystems

54.  Where there are people, there will be politics. Be resilient and savvy enough to play politics, and remember it’s not personal, it’s just business.

Don’t let the actions and intentions of small-minded people push your buttons. Rise above the noise and stick to the higher cause.

Don’t let it get personal. Focus on the facts, the actions and build upon what you can do together, one conversation at a time. Ruth Gaube, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Symantec Corporation

55.  Learn to navigate the inevitable politics by planning strategically, communicating clearly, acting decisively.

One way to rise above the emotions in politically charged situations is to keep a tight rein on the emotional side of you, and having impersonal, left-brained responses in the moment – not something easy to do!

Effectiveness is rooted in thinking strategically, communicating passionately and collaboratively driving bottom line results. Shari Atwood, Vice President, Global Solutions and Programs, Symantec

56.  Have a trusted circle of colleagues who will help you react and respond when emotions run high.

When you rein it in all day, make sure you have a support group, a place to turn to release your frustrations and energies especially when there’s a lot at stake.

Keep your cool in the moment, but create a trusted sounding board you can turn to when emotions are charged, when the situation is stressful. Vidya Venkatesh, Senior Specialist, Global Product Support, Life Technologies

57.  Build trust-based relationships and networks, but make business choices based on what’s right for your project or the business, not based on relationships.

Who you know and associate with will impact how well you get things done.

Build a broad and deep strategic, trusted network committed to driving mutually beneficial results. Pat Perry, VP-GM IT Sales and Marketing Solutions, Intel

58.  When under personal attack, take the high road and think about why something is happening and what you can do to fix it, rather than reacting strongly and emotionally to a personal attack.

When you get feedback that you don’t like, yet part of you think that you might have heard before – have the courage to admit that there’s a kernel of truth there, the fortitude to explore what that truth is, and the grace to be thankful to the person giving you feedback.

Be open enough to invite input and feedback, particularly when it’s something you don’t want to hear. It will help you grow in your thinking and your doing, and encourage others to support your growth. Peggy Wolf, Manager, Services Global I&D, Cisco

59.  Never stoop to the level of those around you, but do challenge them to raise the bar.

Keep your chin up, your eyes forward when you feel someone inviting you to stoop below yourself and play their game.

It’s hard not to take things personally, but stepping into that higher space and understanding why someone did what they did will help you clear the air between the two of you and look for common ground. Yvonne Huygen, Worldwide PR Director, Synopsys

60.  It’s a balancing act to keep matters about business when people are involved, but essential for delivering quality results.

It’s a fluid balance between the facts and results and the people who drive them.

For best results, be centered in the facts and results and sensitive to what people do to detract from the results and their motivations for doing so. Karen Catlin, Vice President, Core Services, Adobe

We hope to see you at one of our upcoming events!

Date & Time: Monday, December 5 from 5:30 until 7:30 p.m.

FountainBlue’s FINAL Clean Energy Entrepreneurs’ Forum

Title: Materials Innovations in Clean Tech

Location: PARC, 3333 Coyote Hill Road, Palo Alto

Pre-registration Cost, by Friday, December 2 at noon: No-Cost for members, $32 partners, $42 general

On-Site Cost: $42 members, $52 non-members

Members and Prospective Members can pre-register at: http://fountainblue.shuttlepod.org/cleanenergy

Non-Members and Partners can register at: http://www.svcleanenergy.com

To add questions, answers and resources on this and other FountainBlue topics, visit our crowdsourcing resource at Quora http://www.quora.com/Linda-Holroyd/questions

Audience: Entrepreneurs, Intrapreneurs and Investors only. No service providers please.

Facilitator Jill Weir, Product Manager, TE Connectivity

Panelist Scott Elrod, Vice President, Director of Hardware Systems Laboratory, PARC

Panelist Annie Hazlehurst, Associate, DFJ

Panelist Alissa Peterson, Director, Product Marketing and Business Development, Primus Power

Presenting Entrepreneur Alok Gupta, Director of Technology and Sustainability, pureSilicon

Presenting Entrepreneur Phillip Roberts, CEO and Founder, Ionex Energy Storage Systems Inc.

For more information and to register, visit http://www.svcleanenergy.com.

Date & Time:   Friday, December 9, 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m.

FountainBlue’s When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series

Topic: Leadership in a Time of Accelerated Change

Location: eBay Inc, Whitman Campus, Building 7, Voices Conference Room, 2065 Hamilton Ave, San Jose

Pre-register by December 8 at noon: $22 members, $32 partners, $42 general, $156 corporate passes for up to 10 people

Late and On-Site Registration: $42 for members, $52 for non-members

Members and Prospective Members can register at: http://fountainblue.shuttlepod.org/whenshespeaks

Non-Members and Partners can register at: http://www.whenshespeaks.com

To add questions, answers and resources on this and other FountainBlue topics, visit our crowdsourcing resource at Quora http://www.quora.com/Linda-Holroyd/questions

Audience: Women and men who support having women in senior technology positions.

Facilitator Amy Gonzales, Director, Women Unlimited

Panelist Erna Arnesen, Head of Global Services Channels and Alliances, Cisco

Panelist Deepika Bajaj, Marketing Director, Fierce Wombat Games, Inc.,

Panelist Elisa Jagerson, Founder and CEO, Speck Design

Panelist Leila Pourhashemi, Director, Technical Services, PayPal, an eBay company

For more information and to register, visit http://www.whenshespeaks.com.

Date & Time:     Monday, December 12 from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.

FountainBlue's FINAL Life Science Entrepreneurs' Forum

Topic: Robotics in MedTech

Location: Bay Cafe Clubhouse, 1875 Embarcadero Rd, Palo Alto

Pre-register by December 9 at noon: No-Cost for Members, $32 partners, $42 general

Late and On-Site: $42 members, $52 non-members

Members and Prospective Members can register at: http://fountainblue.shuttlepod.org/lifescience

Non-Members and Partners can register using the PayPal link at: http://www.svlifescience.com

To add questions, answers and resources on this and other FountainBlue topics, visit our crowdsourcing resource at Quora http://www.quora.com/Linda-Holroyd/questions

Audience: Life Science entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs and investors, no service providers please

Facilitator Jack Moorman, LeVaunt, LLC

Panelist from Intuitive Surgical DaVinci to be confirmed

Presenting Entrepreneur Robert Horst, Ph.D., Vice President of R&D & Cofounder, Tibion

Presenting Entrepreneur Mike Ouren, Clinical Development Manager, Restoration Robotics

Presenting Entrepreneur Bruce Richardson, CEO, Accel Biotech

Presenting Entrepreneur Dr. Ramesh C. Trivedi, President, Calbiomed International, Inc.

For more information and to register, visit http://www.svlifescience.com

Give Us Feedback

Please let us know how we can better provide value to you as a member.

We welcome your program ideas and suggestions.

We welcome your ideas on how we can enhance our green commitment.

We welcome your active participation in other ways.

Until we next connect,

Linda