FountainBlue September Newsletter

The FountainBlue 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 to all FountainBlue members on BigTent, and the general network, and we welcome you to forward it on to interested others, with proper reference to FountainBlue, our community, and our speakers. To sign up for our monthly newsletter, join us on BigTent, LinkedIn or YahooGroups.

What's New with FountainBlue: Program Advisory Boards, Speaking Topics and Event Registration for Members

Announcing FountainBlue�s Program Advisory Board Members

The richness and relevance of our programs in a broad range of topics is largely due to the volunteers who have designed programs, recruited panelists, provided outreach, and so much more, for past and upcoming events. As program advisory board members, they:

• Assist in developing the topics and themes for our programs, and nominate and recruit speakers;
• Serve as ambassadors for FountainBlue and the series and/or program before the event by spreading the word, during the event in connecting people with each other, and following the event to solicit feedback and help make program and process improvements for the next event;
• Stimulate thinking and conversation between events;
• Make connections between people between events; and
• Generally assist in advancing the sub-industry within and outside FountainBlue and the Silicon Valley.
  • Clean Energy Advisory Board Members
  • Matt Lecar, Principal, Smart Grid Center of Excellence, Energy Applications & Systems Engineering, General Electric International
  • Tom Thayer, Thayer and Associates, Clean Tech Open Advocate for Alumni Companies in Transportation Segment
  • Dick Zeren
  • High Tech Advisory Board Members
  • Susan Brown, Brown and Associates
  • Sandy Orlando
  • Life Science Advisory Board Members
  • Aileen DeSoto, MyMedFax
  • Steve Rabin
  • Geetha Rao, PhD, Springborne Life Sciences, CEO and Founder, MyMedFax; Vice President of Strategy and Risk Management, Triple Ring Technologies
  • Virtual Worlds Advisory Board Members
  • Nina Gerwin, The NRG Group
  • Barry Holroyd, CTO, Masher Media
  • Dennis Shiao, Director of Product Marketing, INXPO; Blogger, �It�s All Virtual�

FountainBlue would like to recognize and acknowledge members of our program advisory boards and thank them for their contributions to the community.

Speaking Topics

FountainBlue is pleased to offer a range of two-hour workshops on leadership, entrepreneurship and networking to our corporate partners for our When She Speaks series, and to the general FountainBlue membership overall. A list of topics is below and your recommendation for other topics are welcome.

• Expanding Your Influence, With or Without Direct Authority
• Heart-Head-Hands Leadership
• Politics in the Workplace: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
• Building and Reinforcing Your Executive Brand
• Agility - The Key to Building a Successful Career
• Women Making Their Own Rules
• Fostering An Intrapreneurial Culture

Other topics presented by FountainBlue partners include:

• Standing on the Shoulders of Mentors
• Millennials in Our Midst!
• Women at the Top of the Game
• Tips for Enlarging Your Sandbox: Learn to play with people who don't act right (like you)

Event Registration for Members

To simplify the registration process, better facilitate connections between members, and ensure that only members receive membership rates, we have adopted Wild Apricot as a registration system for our members, and will continue to offer partner, general and membership-plus-admission rates for others. Current members will be sent an invitation to join the community. In the next week or two, only members of the community on Wild Apricots will be offered membership rates for FountainBlue events. Thank you for your support and patience during the transition. http://fountainblue.shuttlepod.org/

Something From Nothing

Over the next several months, we will be showcasing chapters from our upcoming book, 101 Truths About Creating Something from Nothing. Chapter Two, and the titles of all the chapters are below.

Chapter One: The Entrepreneur Litmus Test
Chapter Two: A Hard Look at Yourself
Chapter Three: Show Me the Pain, and I�ll Show You the Money
Chapter Four: The Whole Vision Thing
Chapter Five: The People On the Bus
Chapter Six: The First Shovelful of Dirt
Chapter Seven: Overcoming Adversity
Chapter Eight: The Chosen Path
Chapter Nine: Is It Them Or Is It ME?
Chapter Ten: The Pot of Gold
Bringing It All Together 

Chapter Four: The Whole Vision Thing: Do You Have It? How Do You Get It?

Vision is a defining characteristic of success. And the leader either has it or he/she doesn't. Many a company relies on the vision of its leader, and this is especially true for early stage start-ups. Odds are against success anyway, and without the vision to identify a need and inspire others to follow as investors, staff, partners, ambassadors and customers, So you can't make a company successful without that vision thing.  But how do you know whether a company has it? Here are some telltale signs of the qualities of a visionary leader.

1) Visionaries have the integrity to lead, and can engender faith in others through your words and actions, whether it's in the boardroom or the living room. Integrity is the very foundation of success. Even the most brilliant technologists with the best ideas can't succeed without the credibility established by having and acting on a moral compass.

2) Visionaries have a track record of success, preferably in a range of areas and fields. There is no substitute for competent execution and leadership. But nobody is perfect. In fact, the success record actually looks better if it is peppered with failures from which one has learned and grown. 

3) Visionaries can integrate their passion with current business needs and trends with their abilities. It has to start with the heart. I've met people who are advocating for a cause that doesn't resonate with me, but I've never met a visionary without a passion for a cause. 

4) Visionaries have enough of an in-depth view of a trend to understand how to capitalize on where the markets and customers are going and why. There's no substitute for experience within a field or industry. No substitute for deep thinking about what drives people to do what they do, within the context of a business opportunity. Visionaries understand the business trends, and see the opportunities around these trends. They create solutions which responds to  current and anticipated market and a customer needs.

5) Visionaries are strategists who always know why they are doing what with whom and how that would further the cause, drive the momentum.

6) It's not enough to be strategic about who you reach out to and why. Visionaries are compelling communicators who routinely inspire others to join the cause, and motivates them to stay engaged.

7) Visionaries have the following of competent, visionaries of integrity who are leaders in their own right. The people you recruit to join the team will lend additional credibility to your idea. How you support and grow the company's vision, and enfold their passion and expertise has the potential of either fanning your flames, or bringing your concept to a halt, perhaps to morph into a different solution altogether.

8) With the support of a strategic following of passionate others, visionaries can balance a razor-sharp focus on the cause with the external feedback of customers, staff and markets.

9) With the support of a strategic following of passionate others, visionaries focus on building forward momentum, course-correct continually, and ensuring that the right formula of customers, markets, technologies and trends are combined to continue moving forward.

10) Visionaries know when they are not the right person to lead, and step aside for the good of the cause.

We welcome your input and feedback We hope that you enjoyed this introduction and chapter from our upcoming book, and, as always, welcome your stories, opinions and advice. Please e-mail us at info@sventrepreneurs.com with your thoughts.

In The News

We will begin speaking and writing more frequently, and will share excerpts and quotes from our talks and write-ups.

It�s All Virtual, with Dennis Shiao

On virtual worlds and "where we're going", what is your opinion?

The opportunities in virtual worlds brings together the best of enterprise solutions which automate business process to better serve customers at all levels, the best of social media and its capacity to expand audiences virally leveraging technology, and the best of gaming with its fanatical appeal to extremely loyal customers. It is a hot Web 3.0 opportunity, which takes the technology, community, and monetizing potential of Web 2.0 to the next level. http://allvirtual.wordpress.com/2010/08/11/fountainblue%E2%80%99s-virtual-worlds-annual-conference-2010/

Please attend FountainBlue�s September 24 virtual worlds annual conference and meet the movers and shakers in the virtual worlds space! http://www.svvirtualworlds.com.

Top Ten Tips for Networking, shared as part of the networking panel for Right Management�s ExeConnect, August 30, 2010:

1. Make the Effort: No matter how bad you feel, how much you�ve BTDT, how many times you�ve seen the same people in a day/week/month.
2. Do Your Homework: Do the research to ensure that networking efforts will benefit all.
3. Associate with Positive People You Can Trust: Who you connect with speaks to who you are.
4. Build Breadth of Relationships: With the convergence of roles, technologies, and companies, breadth of connections will be as valuable or more so than depth.
5. Build Deep Relationships: Get to know yourself, and the people in your tightest circles well.
6. Practice Reciprocity: Ask for help when you need it, help others regardless of whether they ask.
7. Leverage Your Influence: As you build your network, don�t be afraid to leverage it for the common good.
8. Take the Initiative and Assume Trust: What goes around comes around, and benefiting others benefits all.
9. Strive for the Win-Win: Plan your communications strategy to ensure that all benefit from the time invested.
10. Sharpen the Saw: Continuously improving yourself and your network will provide endless rewards.

We offer workshops on networking, leadership and entrepreneurship to our members and partners. Send us an e-mail at info@FountainBlue.biz if you�re interested in details.

Services and Recommendations by Members

Every month, we promote free and discounted services provided BY our entrepreneurial members, FOR our entrepreneurial members. If you would like to submit YOUR offer to our network, please send an e-mail with a 100-word description and a link to events@FountainBlue.biz by the 25th of the month and we will consider profiling your product/service to our newsletter. Below is this month�s offering.

Introducing RAL & Associates� lunch-time, 30 minute mini-webinars, with Bobbie LaPorte, Executive Producer of the San Francisco "When She Speaks" series. All sessions will be recorded for later access if you can't attend, and the cost for the 5 program series is $45 for FountainBlue members. For more information and to register, visit http://www.regonline.com/register/checkin.aspx?EventId=891823 or http://www.bobbielaporte.com.

September 21: "Politics in the Workplace - The Good, The Bad & The Ugly"

October 5: "Your Personal Highlight Reel - Recognizing Your Achievements"

October 19: "Networking - It's Not a Dirty Word"

November 2: "Your Personal Brand - What IS That Anyway?"

November 16: "Getting to the Top of Your Game"

Notes From Last Month�s FountainBlue Events

FountainBlue stimulates collaborative innovation one conversation, one leader, one organization at a time, through our monthly events, our dynamic communities, and our strategic and business development consulting services for early stage clean energy, high tech and life science entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley and beyond.

Each entrepreneurial series serves clean energy, high tech, life science and virtual world entrepreneurs. Our When She Speaks Women in Leadership celebrates women tech execs and serves emerging women leaders and intrapreneurs, while facilitation cross-over conversations between women leaders and corporations and entrepreneurs.

• Clean Energy Entrepreneurs' Forum: Clean Green Transportation Machines
• Life Science Entrepreneurs' Forum: Navigating the FDA Approval Process
• When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series: Politics In The Workplace: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly 
  

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

FountainBlue�s When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series

Topic: Women Who Make Up Their Own Rules

Date & Time:     Friday, September 10 from 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m.

Location: LifeScan, 1051 S Milpitas Blvd. Bldg 2, Cafeteria Annex Room, Milpitas

Pre-register:      $21 members, $32 partners, $42 general, $156 corporate passes for up to 10 people

Late and On-Site Cost: $42 members, $52 non-members, $124 Ongoing membership plus admission

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on 9/9 using the PayPal link at http://www.whenshespeaks.com  

Facilitator Pat Obuchowski, CEO (Chief Empowerment Officer), inVisionaria

Panelist Daniela Bayer, Business Intelligence Manager for Central & Eastern Europe, Cisco

Panelist Sheryl Chamberlain, Senior Director, VMware Technology Alliance, EMC

Panelists Laurie Cremona and Elaine Miller, Services Marketing for the Information Intelligence Group at EMC, Founders, Mission Job Share

Panelist Sudha Jamthe, Social Media Strategist, PayPal

Panelist Sharon Vondera, Director, Americas Customer Solutions, LifeScan

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

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

FountainBlue Tech2Green Transition

Topic: Data Analytics in the Clean Tech Sector

Speaker: Matthew Denesuk, Ph.D., STSM, Partner, IBM Venture Capital Group, Scientist, IBM Research

Date & Time:     Monday, September 13 from 8:30 - 10:30 a.m.

Location: FountainBlue, 2500 El Camino Real, Suite 215, Palo Alto, between Page Mill and California

Cost: $32 members only, $135 Ongoing Membership and Admission

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on 9/10 at http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=203065 or visit http://www.tech2green.biz for more information

Audience: Limited to 12 FountainBlue members who served in the high-tech industry, wishing to transition into the clean energy industry. No Service Providers Please

For more information about this event or this series or to register, visit http://www.tech2green.biz.

FountainBlue�s Clean Energy Entrepreneurs� Forum

Topic: Energy Storage and Management

Date & Time: Monday, September 13 from 5:30 until 7:30 p.m.

Location: SRI Building G on Laurel Avenue between Ravenswood and Burgess, in Menlo Park

Cost: $22 members, $32 partners, $42 general;

On-Site Cost: $42 members, $52 non-members, $124 Ongoing membership plus admission

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on September 10 using the PayPal link at http://www.svcleanenergy.com.

Facilitator Kathy Fields, Partner, Goodwin Procter

Panelist Matthew Denesuk, Ph.D., STSM, Partner, IBM Venture Capital Group, Scientist, IBM Research

Panelist Dr. Angel Sanjurjo, Director Materials Research Laboratory, SRI International

Presenting Entrepreneur Michael McDonald, CEO, CleanShare

Presenting Entrepreneur Jit Bhattacharya, CEO, Mission Motors

Presenting Entrepreneur David Henkel-Wallace, Co-Founder, Solar Storage Company

Presenting Entrepreneur Linda Maepa, Founder & COO, ElectronVault, Inc.

Panelist from KPMG to be confirmed

For more information about this event or this series or to register, visit http://www.svcleanenergy.com

Audience: Clean Energy Entrepreneurs, Intrapreneurs & Investors, No Service Providers Please

FountainBlue's Virtual Worlds Annual Conference

Topic: Virtual Worlds: Where We Were, Where We're Going, What Does It Mean to YOU?

Date & time: Friday, September 24, 2010, from 8:30 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.

Location: Cisco, Great Dane Conference Room at MCCARTHY RANCH 3 (SJCMR3), 155 North McCarthy Blvd., Milpitas

Trends in the Virtual Worlds Industry: An Update on What�s New and What�s Coming

  Facilitator Jeff Pope, Founding Partner, Spark Sky Ventures, to be confirmed

  David Helgason, CEO and Co-Founder, Unity

  Chris Platz, Creative Director and Art Lead, Stanford Sirikata Labs

  Eilif Trondsen, Research and Program Director of the Virtual Worlds @ Work Consortium at Strategic Business Insights

  Mark Wallace, Conversation Manager, Linden Lab

Corporate Panel: Serving Customers, Building Communities, Training Users

  Facilitator Dennis Shiao, INXPO

  Facilitator Dennis Shiao, Director of Product Marketing, INXPO

  Sai Allavarpu, CITRIX

  Mic Bowman, Intel

  Kenny Lauer, George P. Johnson

  Dannette Veale, Global Virtual Event Strategist, Cisco, Lead, Virtual Component, Cisco Live

Entrepreneur Panel: The Tools, The Goods, The Immersion Experience

  Facilitator Nina Gerwin, The NRG Group

  Michael Gold, CEO, Electrotank:

  Steve Hoffman, CEO, Rocketon: virtual world for tweeners

  Albert Kim, CEO, Zenitum: Augmented reality with 3D displays

  Jim Parker, CEO, Digitell: SaaS 3D immersive virtual events and virtual training 

  Reuben Steiger, Founder and Chairman, Virtual Greats

Cost: Register by September 23 at noon: $42 members, $52 partners, $62 general

Late and On-Site Registration: $62 for members, $82 for non-members

Registration Link: http://www.svvirtualworlds.com by 9/22 at noon

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

FountainBlue's Life Science Entrepreneurs' Forum

Topic: Emerging Trends in Medical Devices � Mobile Health, Personalized Medicine and Consumerization

Date & Time:     Monday, September 27 from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Location: UCSC Extension, 2505 Augustine Drive, Santa Clara

Pre-register:      $21 members, $32 partners, $42 general

Late and On-Site: $42 members, $52 non-members, $124 Ongoing membership and admission

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on 9/24 using the PayPal link at http://www.svlifescience.com.

Facilitator Geetha Rao, PhD, Springborne Life Sciences

Panelist Anne DeGheest, Managing Director and Founder, HealthTech Capital, Managing Partner and Founder

MedStars

Panelist Dave Scott, Director, Imaging Systems, Intuitive Surgical, Inc

Panelist Clarence Wilhelm, LifeScan

Panelist from Intel to be confirmed

Panelist from IBM to be confirmed

Panelist from GE Healthcare to be confirmed

Presenting Entrepreneur Marc Bandt, CEO, Pelesend

Presenting Entrepreneur: Personalized Medicine

Presenting Entrepreneur: Diagnostic for Consumers

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

For More information and to register, visit http://www.SVLifeScience.com. 

FountainBlue�s Clean Energy Entrepreneurs� Forum

Topic: Sustainable Solutions for the Built Environment

Date & Time: Monday, October 4 from 5:30 until 7:30 p.m.

Location: tbd

Facilitator from KPMG to be confirmed

Panelist John Kerley, Donnelly Kerley Builders 

Panelist Josh Schoonmaker, SmartHome Manager, HP

Panelist Kevin Surace, CEO, Serious Materials

Panelist VC to be confirmed (Foundation Capital, NEA or Rockport)

Panelist from Federspiel Controls to be confirmed

Presenting Entrepreneur Brian Pierson, CEO, Tru2Earth

Cost: $22 members, $32 partners, $42 general

On-Site Cost: $42 members, $52 non-members, $124 Ongoing membership plus admission

Registration:   Please pre-register by noon on October 1 using the PayPal link at http://www.svcleanenergy.com.

Audience: Clean Energy Entrepreneurs, Intrapreneurs & Investors, No Service Providers Please

FountainBlue: When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series

Topic: Women Leading Innovation

Date & Time:     Friday, October 8 from 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m.

Location: EMC, 2831 Mission College, Santa Clara

Facilitator Francine Gordon, FGordon Group and SDForum Tech Women's Program

Panelist Daniela Busse, Director of User Experience, SAP Labs

Panelist Shalini Govil-Pai, Lead PM, Google

Panelist Mirjana Spasojevic, Research Leader, Nokia Research Center

Panelist from EMC to be confirmed

Panelist from Life Technologies to be confirmed

Pre-register:      $21 members, $32 partners, $42 general, $156 corporate passes for up to 10 people

Late and On-Site Cost: $42 members, $52 non-members, $124 Ongoing membership plus admission

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on 10/7 using the PayPal link at http://www.whenshespeaks.com.

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

FountainBlue's Life Science Entrepreneurs' Forum

Topic: Software Meets Healthcare: Forging The Win-For-All!

Date & Time:     Monday, October 18 from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Location: to be confirmed

Sponsor Facilitator to be confirmed

Panelist VC to be confirmed

Panelist from Intuitive Surgical to be confirmed

Panelist from Altera to be confirmed

Panelist from Affymetrix to be confirmed

Panelist from Applied Biosystems, a Life Technologies Company, to be confirmed

Presenting Entrepreneurs to be confirmed

Pre-register:      $21 members, $32 partners, $42 general

Late and On-Site: $42 members, $52 non-members, $124 Ongoing membership and admission

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on 10/15 using the PayPal link at http://www.svlifescience.com.

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

FountainBlue's Life Science Entrepreneurs' Forum

Topic: Personalized Medicine, Biomarkers, Invitro Diagnostics: The Science Advances, The Business Opportunities, The Cultural Dilemmas

Date & Time:     Monday, October 18 from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Location: Life Technologies, 850 Lincoln Centre Drive in Foster City

Facilitator tbd

Panelist from Life Technologies, to be confirmed

Panelist VC, tbd

Panelist from Stanford, tbd

Panelist Brandon Steele, Vice President, Commercial Operations, IncellDx, Inc.

Presenting Entrepreneur, Biomarker 

Presenting Entrepreneur, Invitro Diagnostics

Presenting Entrepreneur, Customized Treatments

Pre-register:      $21 members, $32 partners, $42 general

Late and On-Site: $42 members, $52 non-members, $124 Ongoing membership and admission

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on 10/15 using the PayPal link at http://www.svlifescience.com.

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

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

FountainBlue's August Newsletter

The FountainBlue 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 to all FountainBlue members on BigTent, and the general network, and we welcome you to forward it on to interested others, with proper reference to FountainBlue, our community, and our speakers. To sign up for our monthly newsletter, join us on BigTent, LinkedIn or YahooGroups.

What's New with FountainBlue: Serving Our Members

There has been some confusion about who is a member and what the membership benefits are, so I'm taking this opportunity to clarify membership and benefits. We have several free options for becoming a free member of the community on LinkedIn, and on various YahooGroups. Membership in these groups is free and you will receive regular information on upcoming events, weekly recommendations on Silicon Valley event recommendations, as well as follow-up notes from past events. Click on any of the links below to sign up for these lists.

Free FountainBlue Communities

• YahooGroup for clean energy entrepreneurs http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/SVCleanEnergy
• YahooGroup for life science entrepreneurs http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/SVLifeScience
• YahooGroup for high tech entrepreneurs http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/SVEntrepreneurs
• YahooGroup for executives http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/SVExecs
• YahooGroup for women leaders http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/WhenSheSpeaks

Premium Membership on BigTent https://www.bigtent.com/groups/fountainblue

To receive FountainBlue premium membership services, you must sign up for our community on BigTent. Annual dues are $50, prorated, or $100 for ongoing membership. Membership benefits are listed below:

• Publicizing event information to the FountainBlue community, offering partner rates.
• Please become a member before requesting event postings. Thank you.
• Discounted event admission fees, a savings of $10 per event.
• Please don't use the membership rate unless you are a member on BigTent. Thank you.
• Attendance at Members-Only functions, including our monthly tech-2-green series.
• Please become a member prior to registering for a members-only event. Thank you.
• Free hour-long face-to-face consultation for early stage clean energy, high tech or life science entrepreneurs who would like feedback on strategy, and connections to potential partners, funders or others.
• Our one-on-one time is reserved for members who are entrepreneurs. Please make sure that you fit both criteria before requesting a meeting. Thank you.
• Participation in program teams for upcoming events, including potential speaking opportunities.
• We welcome support from our members as we develop our weekly programs.
• Special members-only offers.
• For premium members, we currently offer birthday gifts and an annual gift, but welcome your ideas on what else we can to make you feel appreciated.
  

Thank you for being part of the community, and let us know how you would like to get more involved.

Something From Nothing

Over the next several months, we will be showcasing chapters from our upcoming book, 101 Truths About Creating Something from Nothing. Chapter Two, and the titles of all the chapters are below.

Chapter One: The Entrepreneur Litmus Test
Chapter Two: A Hard Look at Yourself
Chapter Three: Show Me the Pain, and I'll Show You the Money
Chapter Four: The Whole Vision Thing
Chapter Five: The People On the Bus
Chapter Six: The First Shovelful of Dirt
Chapter Seven: Overcoming Adversity
Chapter Eight: The Chosen Path
Chapter Nine: Is It Them Or Is It ME?
Chapter Ten: The Pot of Gold
Bringing It All Together 

Chapter Three: Show Me the Pain, and I'll Show You the Money

In chapter one, we discussed the importance of being other-centric and customer-centric enough to succeed. This is as important as being skilled and competent and passionate enough to succeed. In fact, without being outwardly customer facing, success is only arbitrary, despite your passion and skill. This chapter is focused on identifying a customer and their specific pain, a pain they feel enough to spur them to take action, as THIS is what will determine whether a customer will invest in your solution, whether there's a market for your product or service. Below are ten words of advice regarding customers and he pain they experience.

Pain: it can be a good thing. In the case of business, if the customer feels too comfortable, doesn't feel the pain, there's little impetus to act. In other words, people will sign up for a must-have rather than a nice-to-have, a painkiller rather than a vitamin. Most people settle for the status quo, not make waves, keep staying the course rather than choose change and take action. It takes money and time to take action, so they have to feel the pain to choose to do so.

Do the market research: who feels this specific pain in what way, who else is impacted, how does it affect customer relationships, internal communications and the bottom line, and who's empowered to take action?

Next think about what product or service you're offering and how it can address the pain felt by the customer in a way that improves service, improves communication, and supports the bottom line. Make a list of target companies that experience the pain enough to take action. This is your 'sweet spot'.

Once you identify a pain, and a prioritized target list of companies to approach, strategize on how you get a conversation with key people in the company. One way to do this is to work with ambassadors who bring you into the company, advocates who are your internal champion, and sponsors, who actually make the purchasing decision. In smaller companies, one person may play multiple roles.

An ambassador is someone not necessarily in the most relevant division or expertise, but it's someone you already have a relationship with who may or may not have a direct connection to the decision-maker, but may be able to give you warm introductions to others within the organization who would be advocates or sponsors. Ambassadors are great for initial introductions, but they are far enough removed from what you do that they don't remain engaged for long.

An ambassador may connect you to an advocate, or you may already have an advocate in your network. The advocate works in a relevant area and is a witness to the business pain, but perhaps indirectly. He or she understands the benefits of the products or services you provide, but does not have the authority to make decisions. But advocates have the influence, connections and authority to open doors within the organization, and are committed to the cause longer term.

If your advocate buys into your business case, he or she will make the introduction to the sponsor, the person with the authority and financial means to bring your product or service to the company. Often times this may take weeks of internal promotion/selling by the internal advocate.

The success of your ambassador-advocate-decision-maker strategy will depend on your dedication to it, your resourceful with it, and ultimately, whether the product or service you provide will provide the value they can realize.  If it does and you sign on the customer, great and congratulations! If it doesn't appear to, for whatever reason, be willing to regroup, take in the feedback, and consider why it's not a fit. Consider what needs to change from which end to create a fit, and finally, whether it is worth the effort to create a fit.

Partner with your customers to ensure that your solution is addressing a real and pressing need for them. Let them decide how your solution best addresses their needs, and proactively solicit their feedback regarding the need for support and new features.

• Be selective about who your first 5-10 customers are as they will define who you are as a company and what you do for whom.
• Be clear on your products and services, but open about how your customers will use them.
• Learn about the customer pain, and the ambassador-advocate-sponsor relationship and apply the knowledge to new prospects.
• Continue to learn from your customers.
• Leverage customers to expand into existing and new markets.

We welcome your input and feedback We hope that you enjoyed this introduction and chapter from our upcoming book, and, as always, welcome your stories, opinions and advice. Please e-mail us at info@sventrepreneurs.com with your thoughts.

Services and Recommendations by Members

Every month, we promote free and discounted services provided BY our entrepreneurial members, FOR our entrepreneurial members. If you would like to submit YOUR offer to our network, please send an e-mail with a 100-word description and a link to events@FountainBlue.biz by the 25th of the month and we will consider profiling your product/service to our newsletter. Below is this month's offering.

California�s First Biofuels/Cleantech Workforce Survey

BayBio and BIOCOM have joined forces in an effort to capture the first Biofuels/Cleantech Workforce data in the state. Our goal is to use this data to speak with one voice as we advocate on behalf of your companies in the state. Please take 3-5 minutes to complete this brief 12-question survey by August 13, 2010. This will qualify you for a chance to win a free registration (a $200 value) to the California Industrial Biotech Conference in San Diego on September 15-16, 2010. You will also receive an Executive Summary of the survey. Thank you for helping BayBio and BIOCOM advocate on your behalf. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/KHVDCYX

Social Media and Communities Roadmap

Today's buzz is around social media and the consumer-fication of the internet: how social media tools and strategies will help you build community as well as recruit, serve and manage customers, and spread the word in a cost-effective, targeted manner. Susan Brown for Brown & Associates is a marketing innovator who has been involved with social media solutions since its emergence four years ago, and witnessed and drove its increasing adoption for companies large and small. Whether you�re a small start-up or a big company looking for more engagement with customers and prospects, consult with Susan to build a Social Media and Communities Roadmap for your company. FountainBlue members will receive a 1-hour complementary assessment consultation. Reach Susan Brown at susan.brown@brownassociatesmktg.com or find out more at www.brownassociatesmktg.com.

Notes Last Month�s FountainBlue Events

• Clean Energy Entrepreneurs' Forum: Financing Clean Energy Solutions
• Life Science Entrepreneurs' Forum: Trends and Opportunities in Medical Imaging
• When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series: Women's Leadership Styles: What's Right for YOU? 

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

FountainBlue Clean Energy Entrepreneurs Forum

Topic: Transportation Greening Advances

Date & Time:     Monday, August 2 from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Location: Silicon Valley Bank, 3005 Tasman, Santa Clara

Cost: $22 members, $32 partners, $42 general;

On-Site Cost: $42 members, $52 non-members, $124 Ongoing membership plus admission

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on July 30 using the PayPal link at http://www.svcleanenergy.com.

Sponsor Tom Thayer

Panelist Ann Chan, Director, California Programs, Center for Clean Air Policy (CCAP)

Panelist Byron Shaw, Managing Director, General Motors

Panelist Dave Lyons, Entrepreneur In Residence, Accel Partners

Presenting Entrepreneur Krish Ram, OpticLanes

Presenting Entrepreneur Paul McGrath, CEO RideSpring

Presenting Entrepreneur Simon Saba, Saba Motors

Audience: Clean Energy Entrepreneurs, Intrapreneurs & Investors, No Service Providers Please

FountainBlue Invitation-Only CEO forum for early stage high tech and clean energy entrepreneurs

Topic: Innovative Business Models for Early Stage Companies

Date and Time: Tuesday, August 3, 8:00 a.m. until noon

Location: FountainBlue, 2500 El Camino Real, Suite 215, Palo Alto

Registration: invitation only

To inquire about participation in this and other invitation-only CEO forums, please request a Meeting During MTWF Office Hours: http://meetwith.me/lindaholroyd

FountainBlue Invitation-Only CEO forum for early stage life science entrepreneurs

Topic: The Pros and Cons of Outsourcing for Early Stage Life Science Entrepreneurs

Date and Time: Thursday, August 5, 8:00 a.m. until noon

Location: FountainBlue, 2500 El Camino Real, Suite 215, Palo Alto

Registration: invitation only

To inquire about participation in this and other invitation-only CEO forums, please request a Meeting During MTWF Office Hours: http://meetwith.me/lindaholroyd

FountainBlue Tech2Green Transition

Topic: Leveraging Software for Sustainable Solutions: The Home Energy Monitoring Opportunity

Speaker: Sunil Maulik, PhD, VP of Business Development and Program Management, People Power Co.

Date & Time:     Monday, August 9 from 8:30 - 10:30 a.m.

Location: FountainBlue, 2500 El Camino Real, Suite 215, Palo Alto, between Page Mill and California

Cost: $32 members only, $135 Ongoing Membership and Admission

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on 8/6 at http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=203064 or visit http://www.tech2green.biz for more information

Audience: Limited to 12 FountainBlue members who served in the high-tech industry, wishing to transition into the clean energy industry. No Service Providers Please

FountainBlue: When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series

Topic: Politics in the Workplace: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Date & Time:     Friday, August 13 from 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m.

Location: Synopsys, 700 East Middlefield, Mountain View

Pre-register:      $21 members, $32 partners, $42 general, $156 corporate passes for up to 10 people

Late and On-Site Cost: $42 members, $52 non-members, $124 Ongoing membership plus admission

Facilitators Krista Henley and Rossella Derickson, Corporate Wisdom and SBODN

Panelist Haripriya Devnath, Pricing Manager, NetApp

Panelist Yvette Huygen, Worldwide PR Director, Synopsys

Senior Manager Holistic Quality, PayPal and BAODN

Panelist Eileen Sullivan, Group Director, Cadence

Registration: Please pre-register by noon on 8/12 using the PayPal link at http://www.whenshespeaks.com.

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

FountainBlue's Life Science Entrepreneurs' Forum

Topic: Navigating the FDA Approval Process

Date & Time:     Monday, August 16 from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Location: UCSC Extension, 2505 Augustine, Santa Clara

Pre-register:      $21 members, $32 partners, $42 general

Late and On-Site: $42 members, $52 non-members, $124 Ongoing membership and admission

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on 8/13 using the PayPal link at http://www.svlifescience.com.

Facilitator to be confirmed

Panelist Madhuri Bhat, Vice-President, Clinical & Regulatory Affairs, Corventis

Panelist Brent Blackburn, President and CEO, Rpaidscan Pharma Solutions, Inc,

Panelist Dave Lustig, VP of Business Development, Optivia Biotechnology Inc.

Panelist Melanie Sit, Business Strategist, Optovue

Panelist Alice Varga, VP of Regulatory Affairs and Quality Systems, Geron

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

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

FountainBlue's When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series

Topic: Women Who Make Up Their Own Rules

Date & Time:     Friday, September 10 from 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m.

Location: LifeScan, 1051 S Milpitas Blvd. Bldg 2, Cafeteria Annex Room, Milpitas

Pre-register:      $21 members, $32 partners, $42 general, $156 corporate passes for up to 10 people

Late and On-Site Cost: $42 members, $52 non-members, $124 Ongoing membership plus admission

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on 9/9 using the PayPal link at http://www.whenshespeaks.com 

Facilitator Pat Obuchowski, inVisionaria

Panelist Daniela Bayer, Business Intelligence Manager for Central & Eastern Europe, Cisco

Panelist Sheryl Chamberlain, Senior Director, VMware Technology Alliance, EMC

Panelist Sudha Jamthe, Social Media Strategist, eBay

Panelist Preethy Padmanabhan, Team Lead in Cisco�s voice solution engineering team, Director of Professional Development in iCON Inclusion & Diversity Group

Panelist from LifeScan to be confirmed

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

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

FountainBlue Tech2Green Transition

Topic: Data Analytics in the Clean Tech Sector

Speaker: tbd

Date & Time:     Monday, September 13 from 8:30 - 10:30 a.m.

Location: FountainBlue, 2500 El Camino Real, Suite 215, Palo Alto, between Page Mill and California

Cost: $32 members only, $135 Ongoing Membership and Admission

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on 9/10 at http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=203065 or visit http://www.tech2green.biz for more information

Audience: Limited to 12 FountainBlue members who served in the high-tech industry, wishing to transition into the clean energy industry. No Service Providers Please

For more information about this event or this series or to register, visit http://www.tech2green.biz.

FountainBlue's Clean Energy Entrepreneurs� Forum

Topic: Energy Storage and Management

Date & Time: Monday, September 13 from 5:30 until 7:30 p.m.

Location: SRI Building G on Laurel Avenue between Ravenswood and Burgess, in Menlo Park

Cost: $22 members, $32 partners, $42 general;

On-Site Cost: $42 members, $52 non-members, $124 Ongoing membership plus admission

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on September 10 using the PayPal link at http://www.svcleanenergy.com.

Sponsor Facilitator to be confirmed

Panelist Paul Davis, Partner, Goodwin Procter

Panelist Matthew Denesuk, Ph.D., STSM, Partner, IBM Venture Capital Group, Scientist, IBM Research

Panelist from eMeter, to be confirmed

Panelist from SRI, to be confirmed

Panelist VC to be confirmed

Presenting Entrepreneur Elizabeth Rubio, StorWatts

Presenting Entrepreneur Michael McDonald, CEO, CleanShare

Presenting Entrepreneur Edward West, CEO, Mission Motors, to be confirmed

For more information about this event or this series or to register, visit http://www.svcleanenergy.com

Audience: Clean Energy Entrepreneurs, Intrapreneurs & Investors, No Service Providers Please

FountainBlue's Virtual Worlds Annual Conference

Topic: Virtual Worlds: Where We Were, Where We're Going, What Does It Mean to YOU?

Date & time: Friday, September 24, 2010, from 8:30 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.

Location: tbd

Trends in the Virtual Worlds Industry: An Update on What�s New and What�s Coming

  Facilitator Jeff Pope, Founding Partner, Spark Sky Ventures, to be confirmed

  Henrik Bennetsen, Stanford University

  Tim Chang, Principal Norwest Ventures

  Eilif Trondsen, Research and Program Director of the Virtual Worlds @ Work Consortium at Strategic Business Insights

Corporate Panel: Serving Customers, Building Communities, Training Users

  Facilitator Dennis Shiao, INXPO

  Dannette Veale, Global Virtual Event Strategist, Cisco, Lead, Virtual Component, Cisco Live

  Other Corporate Panelists to be confirmed

Entrepreneur Panel: The Tools, The Goods, The Immersion Experience

  Facilitator Nina Gerwin, The NRG Group

  Jim Parker, Digitell: SaaS 3D immersive virtual conference / virtual training, built on ActiveWorld  

  Virtual Goods entrepreneur, to be confirmed

  Augmented reality entrepreneur, to be confirmed

  Virtual game or social net for tweeners, to be confirmed

  Electrotank: making it easy to build multiplayer cross platform browser based and mobile games with deep and engaging features

Cost: Register by September 23 at noon: $42 members, $52 partners, $62 general

Late and On-Site Registration: $62 for members, $82 for non-members

Registration Link: http://www.svvirtualworlds.com by 9/22 at noon

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

FountainBlue's Life Science Entrepreneurs' Forum

Topic: Medical Device Advances: From Implantables to Surgical Tools, From Diagnostics to Therapeutics

Date & Time:     Monday, September 27 from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Location: tbd

Pre-register:      $21 members, $32 partners, $42 general

Late and On-Site: $42 members, $52 non-members, $124 Ongoing membership and admission

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on 9/24 using the PayPal link at http://www.svlifescience.com.

Sponsor Facilitator to be confirmed

Panelist VC to be confirmed

Panelist from Intuitive Surgical to be confirmed

Panelist from Altera to be confirmed

Panelist from Stanford to be confirmed

Presenting Entrepreneurs to be confirmed

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

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

FountainBlue July Newsletter

The FountainBlue 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 to all FountainBlue members on BigTent, and the general network, and we welcome you to forward it on to interested others, with proper reference to FountainBlue, our community, and our speakers. To sign up for our monthly newsletter, join us on BigTent, LinkedIn or YahooGroups.

What's New with FountainBlue: Core Values

Following the When She Speaks event on branding, and after facilitating CEO forums and our funding road trip series focusing your company�s value proposition, I spent a lot of time reflecting on FountainBlue�s core values and came up with the following:

What We Do at FountainBlue:

Stimulate Collaborative, Entrepreneurial Innovation.

Empower through Community and Shared Learning.

How We Do It:

Integrity Above All Other Factors, In All That We Do.

Be Direct and Effective, While Building Positive Momentum.

Choose Excellence, and Keep Raising the Bar.

Why We Do It:

To Support Entrepreneurial Leaders as They Build New Vibrant Companies.

If more people and companies are more successful economically, we can work together to address the economic and social woes locally, nationally and globally.

Thank you for being part of the community, and let us know how you would like to get more involved.

Something From Nothing

Over the next several months, we will be showcasing chapters from our upcoming book, 101 Truths About Creating Something from Nothing. Chapter Two, and the titles of all the chapters are below.

Chapter One: The Entrepreneur Litmus Test
Chapter Two: A Hard Look at Yourself
Chapter Three: Show Me the Pain, and I'll Show You the Money
Chapter Four: The Whole Vision Thing
Chapter Five: The People On the Bus
Chapter Six: The First Shovelful of Dirt
Chapter Seven: Overcoming Adversity
Chapter Eight: The Chosen Path
Chapter Nine: Is It Them Or Is It ME?
Chapter Ten: The Pot of Gold
Bringing It All Together 

Chapter Two:

A Hard Look at Yourself

The Silicon Valley Spirit of innovation, entrepreneurship is envied and emulated across the world. We attract a melting pot of entrepreneurial, risk-embracing, experienced people, are fueled by a technology-driven economy evolving with the needs of the market, and offer a rich infrastructure of services, people, and organizations which are designed to help early stage entrepreneurs create something from nothing. But, as we read in the last chapter, entrepreneurism isn�t for everyone, and not everyone is designed to lead an entrepreneurial venture.

This chapter will help you think through whether the entrepreneurial path is right for you. Below is a list of contrasting adjectives which entrepreneurs we admire have balanced successfully:

1.     Original yet Practical

Successful entrepreneurs have original ideas about how something is done, how someone is served. Yet how the idea is implemented leverages existing infrastructure and ideas from networks to programs to processes. Starting something entirely from scratch may involve an educational and training component and result in teaching customers why they need a new solution instead of addressing an existing pain.

2.     Strategic yet Tactical

Everyone says that you have to have a great idea for a growing market, addressing a real pain. But being tactical and executing on a strategic vision is equally important. The successful entrepreneur balances the two, and has the experienced team with the visionary leaders and operational expertise to execute on a vision.

3.     Resilient yet Sensible

Entrepreneurs are thwarted right and left from many fronts - from financing to product to team to market. It takes a resilient entrepreneur to navigate each rejection, each hurdle, each roadblock, and a resourceful one to know how to do so! Entrepreneurs may undergo months and years of rejection, of financial, emotional and personal strain. They must also be able to visualize the walking point, a sensible point when the company or its products or services must be put on hold, a respect for the overwhelming rejections and feedback from partners, customers and markets.

Decide for yourself whether you are resilient and sensible enough, and one to embrace this challenge as an opportunity.

4.     Decisive yet Open-Minded

Entrepreneurs make decisions with many unknowns, and are resilient and resourceful enough to build momentum and make progress despite overwhelming odds. Yet they are also open-minded enough to change directions and decisions based on feedback and input from customers, investors, partners and markets. In fact, the best entrepreneurs forge ahead, while also validating and questioning the direction and actions taken.

5.     Opportunistic yet Lucky

Entrepreneurs select a decision, and work off a plan, yet they are very opportunistic even if things don�t go according to plan. Often you will hear stories about the brilliance of an entrepreneurial venture, and discover later that the success was accidental - the entrepreneur was aiming for another product/service/market, yet capitalized on an unforeseen opportunity. So in other words, work hard, be targeted, and position yourself to get lucky when opportunity knocks on your door!

6.     Eager to Help yet Willing to Be Helped

We�ve found that the most successful entrepreneurs are eager to help others and also willing to be helped by others. The trick is to decide who is best positioned to help you, and who you may be most helpful to. Regardless of what you�re looking for, be strategic about what you�re asking for from whom, and about who you can help and why.

7.     Confident yet Humble

We�ve found that the best entrepreneurs are confident enough to share how their failings have led to their successes. Their humility and giving nature attracts the right partners, supporters and community, and helps build a larger, more collaborative network benefiting all.

8.     Independent yet Collaborative

The best entrepreneurs are resourceful on their own, yet collaborative by nature, engaging with others when it is strategic, and when the timing is right. Being successful on your own first attracts larger, more strategic partners.

9.     Passionate yet Measured

An entrepreneur can�t succeed without passion that is both felt and expressed. Yet this passion must be balanced by a measured business acumen, which makes the entrepreneurial project all the more compelling.

10.  Connected, and strategic about it

Successful entrepreneurs are connected, no doubt. But as time and dollars are short, they are very strategic about how time is spent, which relationships are developed and why.

Which of the above describes you and your experienced?

Services and Recommendations by Members

Every month, we promote free and discounted services provided BY our entrepreneurial members, FOR our entrepreneurial members. If you would like to submit YOUR offer to our network, please send an e-mail with a 100-word description and a link to events@FountainBlue.biz by the 25th of the month and we will consider profiling your product/service to our newsletter. Below is this month�s offering.

Dropbox is unique software that allows you to sync your files online and across all your computers and mobile devices. Simply edit files on one computer, hit save, and all of the files are updated across all of your devices. This provides you the freedom to work on any device and have the most up to date files anywhere you are. Dropbox also lets you securely share folders with others. If you are looking for a secure way to share and have access to your files instantly from anywhere in the world, download Dropbox at http://www.dropbox.com.  

Work In Progress Coaching Discount for FountainBlue members: If you ready to take yourself and your leadership to the next level of effectiveness, gain insights on your motivations and preferences for getting work done, plus communication tips and traps, we invite you to complete the Performance Style & Ambitions� assessment offered by our partners at Work In Progress Coaching. Along with the 20-page easy-to-read report of your results, you�ll get a 45-minute coaching call with Camille Smith, leadership coach and founder of Work In Progress Coaching�. Camille is offering a discount for FountainBlue members, which reduces the price of the assessment and bonus coaching call from $425 to $275, a savings of $150.  Go to http://www.wipcoaching.com/assessments/ and enter the promo code: wssntr  for the discount. 

Notes Last Month�s FountainBlue Events

• Clean Energy Entrepreneurs' Forum: Renewable Energy Generation: Breakthroughs and Challenges
• Life Science Entrepreneurs' Forum: Technology Acceleration, Globalization Pressures and the Future of Pharma
• When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series: Standing on the Shoulders of Mentors 
  

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

FountainBlue Invitation-Only CEO forum for early stage life science entrepreneurs

Topic: Navigating the FDA Approval Process

Date and Time: Thursday, July 1, 8:00 a.m. until noon

Location: FountainBlue, 2500 El Camino Real, Suite 215, Palo Alto

Registration: invitation only

To inquire about participation in this and other invitation-only CEO forums, please request a Meeting During MTWF Office Hours: http://meetwith.me/lindaholroyd

FountainBlue Invitation-Only CEO forum for early stage high tech and clean energy entrepreneurs

Topic: Leveraging Social Media to Build Momentum for Your Early Stage Company

Date and Time: Tuesday, July 6, 8:00 a.m. until noon

Location: FountainBlue, 2500 El Camino Real, Suite 215, Palo Alto

Registration: invitation only

To inquire about participation in this and other invitation-only CEO forums, please request a Meeting During MTWF Office Hours: http://meetwith.me/lindaholroyd

FountainBlue: When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series

Topic: Women's Leadership Styles, What�s Right for YOU?

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

Location: Pillsbury, 2475 Hanover, Palo Alto

Pre-register:      $21 members, $32 partners, $42 general, $156 corporate passes for up to 10 people

Late and On-Site Cost: $42 members, $52 non-members, $124 Ongoing membership plus admission

Facilitator Kristi Royse, KLR Consulting

Panelist Shalini Govil-Pai, Group Manager, YouTube and TV, Google

Panelist Ruchi Goyal, Product Manager, NetApp

Panelist Robin Kwok, Technical Program Manager, Energy and Display Systems, Applied Materials Inc.

Panelist Allison Leopold Tilley, Partner, Co-Head Corporate Securities & Technology Section, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

Panelist Shobhana Viswanathan, Senior Marketing Manager, Global Alliances, VMware

Registration: Please pre-register by noon on 7/8 using the PayPal link at http://www.whenshespeaks.com.

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

FountainBlue Tech2Green Transition

Topic: Software Solutions for the Transportation Industry

Speaker: Jim DiSanto, President and General Manager, Earthrise Technologies, Inc.

Date & Time: Monday, July 12 from 8:30 - 10:30 a.m.

Location: FountainBlue, 2500 El Camino Real, Suite 215, Palo Alto, between Page Mill and California

Cost: $32 members only, $135 Ongoing Membership and Admission

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on 7/9 at http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=203063 or visit http://www.tech2green.biz for more information

Audience: Limited to 12 FountainBlue members who served in the high-tech industry, wishing to transition into the clean energy industry. No Service Providers Please

FountainBlue's Clean Energy Entrepreneurs Forum

Topic: Financing Clean Energy Solutions

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

Location: Bay Cafe, 1875 Embarcadero, Palo Alto

Cost: $22 members, $32 partners, $42 general;

On-Site Cost: $42 members, $52 non-members, $124 Ongoing membership plus admission

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on 7/2 using the PayPal link at http://www.svcleanenergy.com.

Facilitator Craig Lobdell, Director, CFO Advisory Services, KPMG

Panelist Michael Niver, Director of Project Finance, SolarCity

Panelist Brian Hubert, Applied Ventures

Presenting Entrepreneur Jim DiSanto, President and General Manager, Earthrise Technologies, Inc.

Presenting Entrepreneur Steven Malloy, Founder, yoUtilBill

Presenting Entrepreneur Fareed Sfard, PhD, CEO, Ahura Energy Inc.

Audience: Clean Energy Entrepreneurs, Intrapreneurs & Investors, No Service Providers Please

FountainBlue Clean Energy Entrepreneurs' Forum

Topic: Transportation Greening Advances

Date & Time:     Monday, August 2 from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Location: Silicon Valley Bank, 3005 Tasman, Santa Clara

Cost: $22 members, $32 partners, $42 general;

On-Site Cost: $42 members, $52 non-members, $124 Ongoing membership plus admission

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on July 30 using the PayPal link at http://www.svcleanenergy.com.

Sponsor Facilitator TBD

Panelist Ann Chan, Director, California Programs, Center for Clean Air Policy (CCAP)

Panelist Byron Shaw, Managing Director, General Motors

Panelist Trond Unneland, Vice President & Managing Executive, Chevron Technology Ventures

Sponsor Panelist to be confirmed

Sponsor Panelist to be confirmed

Presenting Entrepreneur Jim DiSanto, President, Earthrise Technologies, Inc.

Presenting Entrepreneur Paul McGrath, CEO, RideSpring

Presenting Entrepreneur Simon Saba, Saba Motors

Audience: Clean Energy Entrepreneurs, Intrapreneurs & Investors, No Service Providers Please

FountainBlue Invitation-Only CEO forum for early stage high tech and clean energy entrepreneurs

Topic: Innovative Business Models for Early Stage Companies

Date and Time: Tuesday, August 3, 8:00 a.m. until noon

Location: FountainBlue, 2500 El Camino Real, Suite 215, Palo Alto

Registration: invitation only

To inquire about participation in this and other invitation-only CEO forums, please request a Meeting During MTWF Office Hours: http://meetwith.me/lindaholroyd

FountainBlue Invitation-Only CEO forum for early stage life science entrepreneurs

Topic: The Pros and Cons of Outsourcing for Early Stage Life Science Entrepreneurs

Date and Time: Thursday, August 5, 8:00 a.m. until noon

Location: FountainBlue, 2500 El Camino Real, Suite 215, Palo Alto

Registration: invitation only

To inquire about participation in this and other invitation-only CEO forums, please request a Meeting During MTWF Office Hours: http://meetwith.me/lindaholroyd

FountainBlue's When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series

Topic: Politics in the Workplace: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Date & Time:     Friday, August 13 from 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m.

Location: Synopsys, 700 East Middlefield, Mountain View

Pre-register:      $21 members, $32 partners, $42 general, $156 corporate passes for up to 10 people

Late and On-Site Cost: $42 members, $52 non-members, $124 Ongoing membership plus admission

Facilitators Krista Henley and Rossella Derickson, Corporate Wisdom and SBODN

Panelist Kristine Gallegos-Haehl, Trade Professional Manager, PG&E

Panelist from Synopsys to be confirmed

Panelist from Adobe to be confirmed

Other Panelists to be confirmed

Registration: Please pre-register by noon on 8/12 using the PayPal link at http://www.whenshespeaks.com.

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

FountainBlue's Life Science Entrepreneurs' Forum

Topic: Navigating the FDA Approval Process

Date & Time:     Monday, August 16 from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Location: UCSC Extension, 2505 Augustine, Santa Clara

Pre-register:      $21 members, $32 partners, $42 general

Late and On-Site: $42 members, $52 non-members, $124 Ongoing membership and admission

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on 8/13 using the PayPal link at http://www.svlifescience.com.

Facilitator to be confirmed

Panelist FDA Reviewer to be confirmed

Panelist VC to be confirmed

Panelist Melanie Sit, Business Strategist, Optovue

Panelist CRO to be confirmed

Presenting Entrepreneurs to be confirmed

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

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

FountainBlue June Newsletter

The FountainBlue 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 to all FountainBlue members on BigTent, and the general network, and we welcome you to forward it on to interested others, with proper reference to FountainBlue, our community, and our speakers. To sign up for our monthly newsletter, register for one of our sub-groups and you will receive weekly event invitations as well as our monthly newsletter.

What's New with FountainBlue: Quality Programs Are Available, Thanks to YOUR Support

Whether it's covering opportunities in air, water and waste for our clean energy series, or tends in medical imaging for our life science series, or transitioning from the tech industry to smart grid careers, or the impact of millennials in the workplace for our when she speaks series, you are sure to meet an interesting set of panelists and attendees for each FountainBlue event.

This month, we are producing our first-ever trends in M&A event, based on your expressed interest on the topic. We hope that you will join us for this annual event, and also other events in our series.

Please join me in thanking the sponsors, speakers, volunteers and attendees for their support of past and upcoming events. We also welcome your involvement and participation.

• Attend an event or two of interest to you, and invite interested others to also participate. Members may invite others to attend at the partner rates.
• Volunteer to support a program or series of interest to you. Send an e-mail to volunteer@fountainblue.biz if you're interested.
• If you have an entrepreneurial idea, you'd like to vet, please suggest some good times to connect with Linda by visiting  http://meetwith.me/lindaholroyd.

Continuous Improvement: Tech to Green Transition
To further support entrepreneurship in the clean energy industry within Silicon Valley and beyond, FountainBlue will launch a members-only monthly breakfast meeting for technology professionals at various stages of exploring opportunities in clean energy industries where they can apply their skills, relationships and experience.

Administrative Support

Please accept our apologies for the hiccups in support you may have experience this month, due to administrative challenges. We appreciate your patience and your suggestions on how can more efficiently serve you. Specifically, if you know of someone interested in compiling our weekly set of event recommendations and updating our list of attendees for each of our events, along with other administrative and coordination tasks, please have him/her e-mail us at events@fountainblue.biz, and let us know how we can support you in return.

As always, we welcome your feedback on our programs, our communities, and other facets of our organization, and welcome your active participation as well. Send us an e-mail at info@fountainblue.biz with any suggestions for continuous improvement, and if we adopt your idea, we will issue a complementary pass to one of our upcoming events.

Something From Nothing

Over the next several months, we will be showcasing chapters from our upcoming book, 101 Truths About Creating Something from Nothing. The introduction and the first chapter on the entrepreneur litmus test are below.

Introduction

Any long time resident of the Silicon Valley inevitably wonders whether he or she has what it takes to be an entrepreneur. Maybe it's in the climate, in the water, in the infrastructure, in the air. Maybe you know somebody (who may know somebody who may know somebody) who got bitten by the entrepreneurial bug, and succeeded beyond his or her wildest dreams. Or, more likely, you have a friend or neighbor or acquaintance who got bitten by the bug and succeeded at much more modest levels, or just collected the experience for their efforts, with a mountain of debt for their troubles.
Whether you live in the Silicon Valley or beyond, the stories of entrepreneurial successes have captured the imaginations of entrepreneurs around the world. This book celebrates entrepreneurs and their innovations and provides practical tools and advice for launching your own entrepreneurial venture. Each chapter covers a different aspect of entrepreneurship, with ten kernels of wisdom each, and the final chapter bringing it all together:

Chapter One: The Entrepreneur Litmus Test
Chapter Two: A Hard Look at Yourself
Chapter Three: Where There's Pain, There's Money
Chapter Four: The Whole Vision Thing
Chapter Five: The People On the Bus
Chapter Six: The First Shovelful of Dirt
Chapter Seven: Overcoming Adversity
Chapter Eight: The Chosen Path
Chapter Nine: Is It Them Or Is It ME?
Chapter Ten: The Pot of Gold
Bringing It All Together 

The Entrepreneur Litmus Test

Whether you intentionally encountered these words, or whether it's by random circumstances, some part of you dreams of becoming a successful entrepreneur: someone who not only makes the world a better place for the products and services offered to customers, but also someone who profits financially, and supports the triple bottom line - profit, people and planet, of stakeholders from staff to family, from partners to customers, or investors to advisers.

But most entrepreneurs have measures of hope and doses of doubt about their own entrepreneurial talents and tendencies. This chapter asks you ten questions about yourself, so you can decide for yourself whether an entrepreneurial venture is for you. It is based on my experience as a serial entrepreneur, and a decade of experience interacting with and supporting fellow clean energy, high tech and life science entrepreneurs in the valley.

Test #1: Do you have enough background, skills or experience to understand what customers need, what will sell, how to sell it, and what is needed to make it happen?

If you do, document what your experience is and what you've learned from it and share it with at least one person who knows you, and one person who doesn't know you, and ask for their feedback.

If you don't, it might be better to collect the experience working for or with someone to gather the experience prior to starting your own venture. If you do it anyway, be willing to learn quickly from your mistakes.

Test #2: Have you failed at a professional objective, due to circumstances within or outside your control?

If you have, congratulations, and wear failure like a badge of honor. Make sure that you've benefited from the experience, so that you don't fail in exactly the same way.

If you haven't, are you trying hard enough? Are you too comfortable doing what you're doing now? Is it working for you? Would stretching yourself lead to a failure for you, and if so, what are the consequences and potential learnings?

Test #3: Do you struggle with the balance between your internal views and that others around you?

If you do, this means that you not only have your own viewpoints, but are open to what others say as well. Your challenge, and that of other entrepreneurs and leaders is to find the balance between being centered and aligned with both personal values and business objectives, and being other-centric enough to understand customer needs, lead and manage a team to perform, and keep raising the performance bar.

If you do not, do you lean more toward NOT hearing the viewpoints of others, or more toward hearing ONLY the voice of others? What are the implications of both or either?

Test #4: Are you decisive enough to choose a direction when much is unknown?

If so, congratulations, and you are not alone. Choosing the entrepreneurial path means that you will have to do this often. Whether you succeed or not as a result of each decision, may you gain the knowledge, experience and insight to better prepare you for the next fork in the road.

If not, watch others make these decisions, and learn from it.

Test #5: Are you resilient enough to withstand extreme physical, emotional and financial pressures?

If yes, reflect on the last time you did this, and whether you are in a position to do it again. Decide also on what's most important to you, and the walking point for your new venture if those things dearest to you are in jeopardy. Create a support network to share your journey.

If not, whatever your professional circumstances, there will be stress, and there's a time to hunker down and a time to really go for it. Under what circumstances, if any, would you be willing to withstand the pressure?

Test #6: Have you ever embraced challenges as opportunities?

If yes, good for you. It takes a resilient, positive person to take lemons and make lemonade. Is there an opportunity to do this now?

If not, have you admired someone who has done so and is there an opportunity to do this now?

Test #7: Have you ever thought, 'there's got to be a better way'?

If yes, you are not alone. In fact, many entrepreneurial ventures were launched because someone else thought the same thing. If you're thinking this now, drill down into it. What worked, what didn't work, and what's the opportunity for YOU?

If no, have you ever asked yourself that question?

Test #8: Do you have a trusted network of friends, supporters, advocates etc. who can support and advise you?

If yes, great, you're going to need them if you're going to start something from nothing?

If no, what relationships can you develop to get there?

Test #9: Do you have a mentor and business hero who can guide you along the way?

If yes, he or she is a goldmine. Treat them well.

If no, who would you like to engage, and what's in it for them?

Test #10: Have you shared your entrepreneurial thoughts with others and gotten feedback that changed your ideas?

If yes, you're well on your way. Read on.

If no, once you come up with an idea, if you go in that direction, make sure to do so.

Services and Recommendations by Members

Every month, we promote free and discounted services provided BY our entrepreneurial members, FOR our entrepreneurial members. If you would like to submit YOUR offer to our network, please send an e-mail with a 100-word description and a link to events@FountainBlue.biz by the 25th of the month and we will consider profiling your product/service to our newsletter. Below is this month�s offering.

Linqto is an easy to use and affordable platform for live online discussion using video, audio and text. Also available as a Facebook application, Linqto provides a quality experience for 3 or 500 participants with graphic and video display capabilities. Developed for Stanford, this platform is web based, requires no download and provides instant quality viewing.  Uses include: political town hall voter discussion, product focus groups and market research, online workshops, webinars, and learning forums, virtual conferencing and meetings, non for profit fund raising and global communication, social platforms for personal and business development, support group environments and event broadcasting. It is a one stop opportunity for all online and video community engagement. http://www.linqto.com

Notes Last Month�s FountainBlue Events

• Clean Energy Entrepreneurs' Forum: Renewable Energy Generation: Breakthroughs and Challenges
• Life Science Entrepreneurs' Forum: Technology Acceleration, Globalization Pressures and the Future of Pharma
• When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series: Standing on the Shoulders of Mentors 

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

FountainBlue First Tuesday, Invitation-Only CEO Forum

Date & Time: Tuesday, June 1 from 8:00 a.m. until noon

Location: FountainBlue Offices, 2500 El Camino Real, Suite 215, Palo Alto

Registration: This invitation-only forum and group is sold out

FountainBlue First Thursday, Invitation-Only CEO Forum

Date & Time: Thursday, Thursday, June 3 from 8:00 a.m. until noon

Location: FountainBlue Offices, 2500 El Camino Real, Suite 215, Palo Alto

Registration: This invitation-only forum and group is sold out

FountainBlue Clean Energy Entrepreneurs Forum

Topic: Clean Tech Opportunities and Challenges with Air, Water and Waste

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

Location: PARC, 3333 Coyote Hill Road, Palo Alto

Cost: $22 members, $32 partners, $42 general;

On-Site Cost: $42 members, $52 non-members, $124 Ongoing membership plus admission

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on 4/30 using the PayPal link at http://www.svcleanenergy.com 

Facilitator Kathy Fields, Partner, Goodwin Procter

Panelist Craig Lobdell, Audit Partner, KPMG

Panelist Cheryl McGovern, US EPA, Region 9

Panelist Nitin Parekh, Director of Business Development, PARC

Panelist G. G. Pique, President and CEO, Energy Recover Inc.

Panelist Peter Williams, Chief Technology Officer, Big Green Innovations, IBM

Presenting Entrepreneur Peter Frykman, Founder and CEO, DripTech

Presenting Entrepreneur Dr. Fatemeh Shirazi, Chief Executive Officer & President, Microvi Biotech Inc.

Presenting Entrepreneur Reza M Sheikhrezai, CEO, Windation

Audience: Clean Energy Entrepreneurs, Intrapreneurs & Investors, No Service Providers Please

FountainBlue�s Annual Trends in M&As Event

Date & time: Thursday, June 10, 2010, from 8:30 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.

Location: Symantec, 351 Ellis, Mountain View

Cost: Register by June 8 at noon: $42 members, $52 partners, $62 general

Late and On-Site Registration: $73 for members, $83 for non-members

Registration Link: http://www.sventrepreneurs.com

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

Speakers Include:

Steve Bengston, PWC

Steve Hoffman, Publisher & Cofounder of Founders Space and a Partner in LavaMind, web games and applications

Betty Kayton, CFO, AdMarvel (sold to Opera Software), mobile advertising

Todson Page, M&A Partner, PWC

Kelly Porter, Managing Director, Woodside Capital Partners

Roger Royse, Royse Law Firm PC

Lily Stoyanovski is currently the Managing Director at Marrod Group, formerly with Oracle, Gilead Science and Accenture

Speaker from Symantec M&A Leader to be confirmed

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

FountainBlue: When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series

Topic: Millennials In Our Midst!

Date & Time: Friday, June 11 from 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m.

Location: LifeScan, 1051 S Milpitas Blvd., Building 2, Cafeteria Annex Room, Milpitas

Pre-register: $21 members, $32 partners, $42 general, $156 corporate passes for up to 10 people

Late and On-Site Cost: $42 members, $52 non-members, $124 Ongoing membership plus admission

Registration: Please pre-register by noon on 6/10 using the PayPal link at http://www.whenshespeaks.com.

Facilitator Camille Smith, Work In Progress Coaching

Panelist Cyndi Stargiotti, Technical Training Programs Manager, Synaptics

Panelist Jenny Xu Woo, HR Manager, Talent and Executive Assessment, Cisco

Panelist Joan Watkins, IT Manager, LifeScan

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

FountainBlue Tech2Green Transition

Topic and Speaker: Transitioning to Smart Grid, with Christine Hertzog

Date & Time: Monday, June 14 from 8:30 - 10:00 a.m.

Location: FountainBlue, 2500 El Camino Real, Suite 215, Palo Alto, between Page Mill and California

Cost: $32 members only, $135 Ongoing Membership and Admission

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on 6/11 at http://www.tech2green.biz.

Audience: Limited to 12 FountainBlue members who served in the high-tech industry, wishing to transition into the clean energy industry. No Service Providers Please

For more information about this event or this series or to register, visit http://www.tech2green.biz

FountainBlue's Life Science Entrepreneurs' Forum

Topic: Trends and Opportunities Around Medical Imaging

Date & Time: Monday, June 14 from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Location: tbd

Pre-register: $21 members, $32 partners, $42 general

Late and On-Site: $42 members, $52 non-members, $124 Ongoing membership and admission

Registration: Please pre-register by noon on 6/11 using the PayPal link at http://www.svlifescience.com 

Sponsor Facilitator to be confirmed

Panelist Tobias Funk, PhD, Principal Physicist, Triple Ring Technologies

Panelist Dave Scott, Director, Imaging Systems, Intuitive Surgical

Presenting Entrepreneur Mark Foster, General Counsel, Volumetrics

Presenting Entrepreneur Kirk Knight, COO, SurgOptix

Presenting Entrepreneur James Peacock, Founder; CEO; Managing Member (Chairman), NociMed

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

FountainBlue�s Clean Energy Entrepreneurs Forum

Topic: Financing Clean Energy Solutions

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

Location: tbd

Cost: $22 members, $32 partners, $42 general;

On-Site Cost: $42 members, $52 non-members, $124 Ongoing membership plus admission

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on 7/2 using the PayPal link at http://www.svcleanenergy.com.

Sponsor Facilitator tbd

Panelist from City of San Jose, to be confirmed 

Panelist from Silicon Valley Bank, to be confirmed

Policy Panelist to be confirmed

Panelist Mike Niver, Director of Project Finance, SolarCity

Panelist Sponsor, to be confirmed

Presenting Entrepreneurs, to be confirmed

Audience: Clean Energy Entrepreneurs, Intrapreneurs & Investors, No Service Providers Please

FountainBlue: When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series

Topic: Women�s Leadership Styles, What�s Right for YOU?

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

Location: Google, Mountain View

Pre-register:      $21 members, $32 partners, $42 general, $156 corporate passes for up to 10 people

Late and On-Site Cost: $42 members, $52 non-members, $124 Ongoing membership plus admission

Facilitator Kristi Royse, KLR Consulting

Panelist Shalini Govil-Pai, Lead PM, Google

Other Corporate Panelists to be confirmed

Registration: Please pre-register by noon on 7/8 using the PayPal link at http://www.whenshespeaks.com.

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

FountainBlue Tech2Green Transition

Topic: Software Solutions for the Transportation Industry

Speaker: Jim DiSanto, President and General Manager, Earthrise Technologies, Inc.

Date & Time:     Monday, July 12 from 8:30 - 10:30 a.m.

Location: FountainBlue, 2500 El Camino Real, Suite 215, Palo Alto, between Page Mill and California

Cost: $32 members only, $135 Ongoing Membership and Admission

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on 7/9 at http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=203063 or visit http://www.tech2green.biz for more information

Audience: Limited to 12 FountainBlue members who served in the high-tech industry, wishing to transition into the clean energy industry. No Service Providers Please

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.

FountainBlue May Newsletter

The FountainBlue 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 to all FountainBlue members on BigTent, and the general network, and we welcome you to forward it on to interested others, with proper reference to FountainBlue, our community, and our speakers. To sign up for our monthly newsletter, register for one of our sub-groups and you will receive weekly event invitations as well as our monthly newsletter.

What's New with FountainBlue: Office Hours and Executive Forums

This month buzzed by and we're already looking at summer! I hope that you are seeing the rays of light on the horizon, and benefiting directly as the economy stabilizes.

Executive Forums are Growing

Congratulations and thanks to the CEO attendees for our first Tuesday CEO Forums which launched in April. We look forward to launching a second forum in May, to be held on the first Thursdays. Both forums are fully booked, but to be considered for a third forum, please become a member on BigTent and then schedule a time to meet me to discuss your early stage concept so we can brainstorm how to build momentum for you. My availability link is accessible at http://www.timebridge.com/mytime/lindaholroyd. Just click on it and suggest a good time to meet for an hour in person.

Annual M&A Trends Event - June 10
We are making plans for our annual M&A event, tentatively scheduled for June 10 from 8:00 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. We welcome your input and suggestions on who could speak on overall trends, who should participate in a corporate panel, and who should participate in the entrepreneur success panel. Please e-mail us at info@SVentrepreneurs.com if you would like to join the program team and submit your suggestions.

Continuous Improvement: Tech to Green Transition
To further support entrepreneurship in the clean energy industry within Silicon Valley and beyond, FountainBlue will launch a members-only monthly breakfast meeting for technology professionals at various stages of exploring opportunities in clean energy industries where they can apply their skills, relationships and experience.

Members on BigTent may register for this monthly event, held on the second Mondays of the month from 8:30 a.m. until 10 a.m. at our offices at 2500 El Camino Real, Suite 215 in Palo Alto, beginning May 10. Registration is $30 and is limited to the first 12 people. Future months will feature tech professionals who have successfully transitioned into a clean energy sub-industry and interested in sharing their advice and connections. To register for this month's event, visit http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=203059.

In addition, this month, we will be speaking on Clean Tech Opportunities and including a Mash Up as part of our presentation at Chasm's Connectivity Week. We hope that you will join us for that event.

As always, we welcome your feedback on our programs, our communities, and other facets of our organization, and welcome your active participation as well. Send us an e-mail at info@fountainblue.biz with any suggestions for continuous improvement, and if we adopt your idea, we will issue a complementary pass to one of our upcoming events.

Industry Update: Global MegaTrends and Their Impact on Companies and Individuals

Thank you to the dozens of people who completed our survey, shared their thoughts over e-mail and over the phone over the past couple of months regarding global megatrends and its impact on individuals and companies. Based on your feedback and input, we have reached the following ten conclusions: the first three on how the world is changing, the next two on how companies are responding to these changes, and the remaining five conclusions on what individual leaders at all levels can do to remain effective and marketable.

1. 1.     Technology development is accelerating, and companies and people need to be better informed, more focused, more innovative, and more strategic to remain competitive. 
2. 2.     Globalization factors provide additional pressure and incentive to do more with less at the corporate and at the individual levels.
3. 3.     Technology advancements, increased connectedness and communication, and globalization factors are facilitating a convergence in industries, and opportunities lie in the intersect of existing and new industries.
4. 4.     The need to compete means that companies have to do more with less and also be more fluid with both their short term and long term strategic objectives.
5. 5.     Bottom-line motivations are more often outweighing long-term relationships and commitments to staff and others as companies keep raising the bar for their shareholders and stakeholders.
6. 6.     Individual leaders need to be more networked within their roles, industries and organizations, but also beyond their roles, industries and organizations.
7. 7.     Individuals need to be more entrepreneurial and resourceful in generating results, whether they are in a start-up or in a Fortune 100 company.
8. 8.     Individual leaders need to be more agile about their career path - flexible about how they bring a value for which company or industry in what capacity.
9. 9.     Individual leaders need to build and enhance a brand focused on delivering results while being well networked, entrepreneurial and agile. 

10.  The systemic changes we are experiencing are for keeps - we will not revert to the old ways of doing business.

We welcome your thoughts on these findings, and the opportunity to speak on the topic. Please e-mail us at info@FountainBlue.biz. Our thanks once again to everyone who contributed stories, thoughts and ideas.

Services and Recommendations by Members

Every month, we promote free and discounted services provided BY our entrepreneurial members, FOR our entrepreneurial members. If you would like to submit YOUR offer to our network, please send an e-mail with a 100-word description and a link to info@FountainBlue.biz by the 25th of the month and we will consider profiling your product/service to our newsletter. Below is this month�s offering.

Enter the Clean Tech Open Business Competition http://cleantechopen.com/app.cgi/content/competition/business/how_to_enter

1.     Verify your eligibility.

2.     Create your team.

3.     Pay the entry fee. As soon as you pay the entry fee, we will match you with a mentor.

4.     Find another team member. Every team must have at least two members.

5.     Write your three-page executive summary following the provided template.  

6.     Submit your Executive Summary by May 22, 2010 at 11:59pm Pacific Time.

Current Competition Fees (per team):

Professional: $199
Student: $149
Until April 22, 2010

Professional: $249
Student: $199
Until May 22, 2010

Notes Last Month�s FountainBlue Events

• Clean Energy Entrepreneurs' Forum: Working with the Utilities
• High Tech Entrepreneurs Forum: March 9 Event: From Freemium to Premium
• Life Science Entrepreneurs' Forum: Physician�s Panel: Partnering with Entrepreneurs to Better Serve Patient Needs
• When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series: Building and Reinforcing Your Executive Brand

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

FountainBlue Clean Energy Entrepreneurs Forum

Topic: Renewable Energy Generation: Breakthroughs and Challenges

Date & Time:     Monday, May 3 from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Location: PARC, 3333 Coyote Hill Road, Palo Alto

Cost: $22 members, $32 partners, $42 general

On-Site Cost: $42 members, $52 non-members, $124 Ongoing membership plus admission

Facilitator Craig Lobdell, Director, CFO Advisory Services, KPMG

Panelist Paul Davis, Partner, Goodwin Procter LLP

Panelist Karl Littau, Synthetic Fuels Program Manager, PARC

Panelist Uday Mathur, Renewable Energies Group, PG&E

Presenting Entrepreneur Kevin Gao, Founder and Vice President, CASolar

Presenting Entrepreneur David Henkel-Wallace, Solar Storage Company

Presenting Entrepreneur Mark Mah, CEO, Nergyos

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on 4/30 using the PayPal link at http://www.svcleanenergy.com.

Audience: Clean Energy Entrepreneurs, Intrapreneurs & Investors, No Service Providers Please

FountainBlue First Tuesday, Invitation-Only CEO Forum

Date & Time: Tuesday, May 4 from 8:00 a.m. until noon

Location: TechMart in Santa Clara

Registration: This invitation-only forum and group is sold out

FountainBlue First Thursday, Invitation-Only CEO Forum

Date & Time: Thursday, May 6 from 8:00 a.m. until noon

Location: FountainBlue Offices, 2500 El Camino Real, Suite 215, Palo Alto

Registration: This invitation-only forum and group is sold out

FountainBlue�s Funding Road Trip: Your Meeting with Investors

Date and Time: Friday, May 7, 8:30 a.m. � 1:00 p.m.

Location: Cooley Godward Kronish, LLP, 3175 Hanover Street in Palo Alto

Audience: Early-Stage, Funding-Bound Clean Energy, High Tech and Life Science, No Service Providers, Please

Cost for 2 Entrepreneurs: $83 for FountainBlue members, $93 for Partners, $103 General

Late and On-Site Registration is $103 for members and $124 for non-members

Registration: Please pre-register by noon on 5/5 using the PayPal link at http://www.fountainblue.biz/fundingroadtrip.html.

FountainBlue: When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series

Topic: The Mentors in Our Lives

Date & Time: Friday, May 14 from 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m.

Location: Cisco in their New Frontier Conf Room, 225 East Tasman Dr, Bldg 3, 2nd floor, San Jose

Pre-register: $21 members, $32 partners, $42 general, $156 corporate passes for up to 10 people

Late and On-Site Cost: $42 members, $52 non-members, $124 Ongoing membership plus admission

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on 5/13 using the PayPal link at http://www.whenshespeaks.com.

Facilitator Kim Wise, Mentor Resources

Panelist Erna Arnesen, Vice President, Worldwide Services Partners and Alliances, Cisco Systems

Panelist Kristen Dearing, Strategic Sales, Global Communications & Media Practice, Oracle Panelist Claudia Galvan, Principal Lead Program Manager, Windows Live, Microsoft

Panelist Vidya Venkatesh, Senior Specialist, Global Product Support, Life Technologies

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

FountainBlue's Life Science Entrepreneurs' Forum

Topic: Technology Acceleration, Globalization Pressures and the Future of Pharma

Date & Time:     Monday, May 17 from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Location: Bowne, 2455 Faber Place, Palo Alto

Pre-register:      $21 members, $32 partners, $42 general

Late and On-Site: $42 members, $52 non-members, $124 Ongoing membership and admission

Facilitator Laurie Allen, Attorney and Director of Southern California Practice, Royse Law Group Inc.

Panelist Andrei Blasko, Director of Analytical Method Development, Pain Therapeutics

Panelist Bill Goure, President and CEO, Acumen Pharmaceuticals

Panelist David Lustig, VP of Business Development, Optivia Biotechnology Inc.

Panelist from KPMG to be confirmed

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on 5/14 using the PayPal link at http://www.svlifescience.com.

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

FountainBlue First Tuesday, Invitation-Only CEO Forum

Date & Time: Tuesday, June 1 from 8:00 a.m. until noon

Location: FountainBlue Offices, 2500 El Camino Real, Suite 215, Palo Alto

Registration: This invitation-only forum and group is sold out

FountainBlue First Thursday, Invitation-Only CEO Forum

Date & Time: Thursday, Thursday, June 3 from 8:00 a.m. until noon

Location: FountainBlue Offices, 2500 El Camino Real, Suite 215, Palo Alto

Registration: This invitation-only forum and group is sold out

FountainBlue Clean Energy Entrepreneurs Forum

Topic: Clean Tech Opportunities and Challenges with Air, Water and Waste

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

Location: PARC, 3333 Coyote Hill Road, Palo Alto

Cost: $22 members, $32 partners, $42 general;

On-Site Cost: $42 members, $52 non-members, $124 Ongoing membership plus admission

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on 4/30 using the PayPal link at http://www.svcleanenergy.com 

Facilitator from Goodwin Procter to be confirmed

Panelist from KPMG to be confirmed

Panelist from PARC to be confirmed

Panelist VC to be confirmed

Panelist Air Resource Board to be confirmed

Panelist Laura Shenkar, to be confirmed

Panelist Rachel Sheinbein, CMEA Ventures, to be confirmed

Presenting Entrepreneurs to be confirmed

Audience: Clean Energy Entrepreneurs, Intrapreneurs & Investors, No Service Providers Please

FountainBlue First Thursday, Invitation-Only CEO Forum

Date & Time: Thursday, Thursday, June 10 from 8:00 a.m. until noon

Location: FountainBlue Offices, 2500 El Camino Real, Suite 215, Palo Alto

Registration: We have a few remaining spots for promising early stage CEOs to join this community. To apply for consideration, meet with Linda one-on-one during office hours. Availability: http://meetwith.me/lindaholroyd

FountainBlue: When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series

Topic: Millennials In Our Midst!

Date & Time: Friday, June 11 from 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m.

Location: LifeScan, 1051 S Milpitas Blvd., Building 2, Cafeteria Annex Room, Milpitas

Pre-register: $21 members, $32 partners, $42 general, $156 corporate passes for up to 10 people

Late and On-Site Cost: $42 members, $52 non-members, $124 Ongoing membership plus admission

Registration: Please pre-register by noon on 6/10 using the PayPal link at http://www.whenshespeaks.com.

Facilitator Camille Smith, Work in Progress Coaching

Panelist Jenny Xu Woo, HR Manager, Talent and Executive Assessment, Cisco

Panelist from LifeScan to be confirmed

Other Panelists to be confirmed

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

FountainBlue's Life Science Entrepreneurs' Forum

Topic: Trends and Opportunities Around Medical Imaging

Date & Time: Monday, June 14 from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Location: Bowne, 2455 Faber Place, Palo Alto

Pre-register: $21 members, $32 partners, $42 general

Late and On-Site: $42 members, $52 non-members, $124 Ongoing membership and admission

Registration: Please pre-register by noon on 6/11 using the PayPal link at http://www.svlifescience.com 

Sponsor Facilitator to be confirmed

Panelist VC to be confirmed

Panelist from Triple Ring Technologies to be confirmed

Panelist Pre-funded Entrepreneur to be confirmed

Panelist Seed-funded Entrepreneur to be confirmed

Panelist Series A funded Entrepreneur to be confirmed

Panelist Series B/C-funded Entrepreneur to be confirmed

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

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

FountainBlue March/April Newsletter

The FountainBlue 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 to all FountainBlue members on BigTent, and the general network, and we welcome you to forward it on to interested others, with proper reference to FountainBlue, our community, and our speakers. To sign up for our monthly newsletter, register for one of our sub-groups and you will receive weekly event invitations as well as our monthly newsletter.

What's New with FountainBlue: Office Hours and Executive Forums

Things continue to be really busy, so we find ourselves again in the embarrassing situation of sending out a newsletter late, so late that we have combined two newsletters.

Thanks to all the early-stage entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs who have visited our new offices, to discuss building momentum for your start-ups. It has been stimulating to hear all about the change-the-world technologies and teams that are part of our network, and gratifying to help out with connections and ideas for generating revenues and partnerships.

Our office launch has been so successful that we are now booked for several weeks in advance. As such, to best ensure that I am most supportive of you and the whole community, we will be making three changes to our policies:

1. 1.     We will extend our office hours and will now be open on Mondays and Tuesdays from 8:30 a.m. until 1 p.m., and Wednesdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. until 2:30 p.m.
2. 2.     We will be provide meetings only for existing members on BigTent.
3. 3.     We will change the meeting duration from a half hour to an hour as an additional membership benefit, but future sessions will be billed at $100/half hour. E-mail follow-ups remain complementary for members.
4. 4.     Please make every effort to honor your scheduled appointment time. If you need to reschedule, please give at least 24 hours notice. Generally new appointments are not available for at least two weeks.

About ten entrepreneurs we've connected with during office hours will be participating in our first invitation-only Renaissance Executive Forum on Tuesday, April 6 and we look forward to continuing this monthly forum for these members. If there is a demand, starting a second Executive Forum on the first Thursdays of the month.

If you are a current FountainBlue member on BigTent, and would like to share your early stage idea and brainstorm ways to build momentum for your organization, please visit my availability link at http://www.timebridge.com/mytime/lindaholroyd and suggest a good time to meet for an hour in person. It has been gratifying and exciting to hear everyone's great ideas, and to see ideas grow into companies.

Continuous Improvement: Role in Transitions Series

At FountainBlue, we pride ourselves on listening to our constituents and making proactive incremental changes to better serve the needs of our customers.

Starting in March, we have changed our role in the Transitions series, and supporting Bobbie LaPorte and RAL & Associates as they continue to run and grow their series to ensure that we focus on the early stage companies we serve. We highly recommend senior executives in our network to continue to participate in and attend the series, and consider RAL & Associates for executive coaching needs, and would be happy to assist all executives participating in the series to transition into  leadership roles in early stage companies within our network.

As always, we welcome your feedback on our programs, our communities, and other facets of our organization, and welcome your active participation as well. Send us an e-mail at info@fountainblue.biz with any suggestions for continuous improvement, and if we adopt your idea, we will issue a complementary pass to one of our upcoming events.

Industry Update: Global MegaTrends and Their Impact on Companies and Individuals

In response to the input from our community members, we will be documenting and speaking on global megatrends and its impact on individuals and companies and invite your import and advice as we shape the content. We would like to know specifically which global megatrends have impacted you, and what your company and you have done in response. We invite your input and stories through our survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/B65DKFS.

Services and Recommendations by Members

Starting this month, we will provide free and discounted services provided BY our entrepreneurial members, FOR our entrepreneurial members. If you would like to submit YOUR offer to our network, please send an e-mail with a 100-word description and a link to info@FountainBlue.biz by the 25th of the month and we will consider profiling your product/service to our newsletter. Below are two offers from the entrepreneurs in our network.

Founder Space

Founders Space brings together founders, angels, VCs, attorneys, CFOs and other experts to answer the questions all founders have. If you're a startup, you've come to the right place. Just tap into our virtual

board of advisors and other resources. Every founder has a million questions they need answered, but most founders don't have the money to hire top consultants to answer each one. That's where we come

in. We help answer founders' questions through collaboration and resource pooling. Here's how it works: founders can post questions they have to Founders Space, and we will match the questions with industry professionals. Then the questions and answers, as well as input from other founders, will be shared with all the founders in our program. http://www.foundersspace.com

RumbaFish

Free word of mouth marketing: RumbaFish brings word of mouth marketing to the web - easily, efficiently and with powerful analytics.  Our patent-pending SaaS platform transforms the way online marketers interact with their customers and community.  By incenting word of mouth behavior on social networks and tracking the results, RumbaFish creates new, trusted marketing channels.  It also provides real-time analytics that measure speed, reach, impact and identifies influencers.  RumbaFish was named one of the top 10 most innovative applications companies in the world under $100mm by IDC. Our basic service is FREE!   http://www.rumbafish.com We're also running a contest.  Be entered to win an Apple iPad each time you promote our new service using RumbaFish.  Enter the contest from our home page or directly at http://www.rumbareef.com/landing.aspx?OfferId=155

Notes from Recent FountainBlue Events

• Clean Energy Entrepreneurs' Forum: Leveraging Software for Clean Green Solutions
• Clean Energy Entrepreneurs' Forum: The Opportunities in Managing and Monitoring Energy Usage
• High Tech Entrepreneurs Forum: March 9 Event: From Freemium to Premium
• Life Science Entrepreneurs' Forum: Show Me the Money: Resourceful Ways to Secure Funding for YOUR Life Science Company in THIS Economy
• Life Science Entrepreneurs' Forum: International Challenges for Life Science Companies
• When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series: Juggling Work Life Balance
• When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series: Agility: The Key to Career Success

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

FountainBlue�s Funding Road Trip: Perfecting Your Pitch to Investors

Date and Time: Friday, April 2, 8:30 a.m. � 1:30 p.m.

Location: Cooley Godward Kronish, LLP, 3175 Hanover Street in Palo Alto

Audience: Early-Stage, Funding-Bound Clean Energy, High Tech and Life Science, No Service Providers, Please

Cost for 2 Entrepreneurs: $83 for FountainBlue members, $93 for Partners, $103 General

Late and On-Site Registration is $103 for members and $124 for non-members

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on 3/31 using the PayPal link at http://www.fountainblue.biz/fundingroadtrip.html.

FountainBlue Clean Energy Entrepreneurs Forum

Topic: Getting Plugged In With the Utilities

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

Location: Bay Caf� Clubhouse, 1875 Embarcadero, Palo Alto

Cost: $22 members, $32 partners, $42 general

On-Site Cost: $42 members, $52 non-members, $124 Ongoing membership plus admission

Audience: Clean Energy Entrepreneurs, Intrapreneurs & Investors, No Service Providers Please

Facilitator Ryan Murr, Partner, Goodwin Procter LLC

Panelist Jonathan Livingston, President, Livingston Energy Innovations, LLC

Panelist Craig Lobdell, Director, CFO Advisory Services, KPMG

Panelist Shiva Swaminathan, Senior Resource Manager, City of Palo Alto Utilities

Panelist Robyn Zander, Southern California Edison Technology Resource Incubator Outreach Program

Presenting Entrepreneur Steven Malloy, yoUtilBill

Presenting Entrepreneur Michael McDonald, CEO, CleanShare

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on 4/2 using the PayPal link at http://www.svcleanenergy.com.

FountainBlue: When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series

Topic: Building and Reinforcing Your Executive Brand

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

Location: Applied Materials, 3050 Bowers, Santa Clara

Pre-register:      $21 members, $32 partners, $42 general, $156 corporate passes for up to 10 people

Late and On-Site Cost: $42 members, $52 non-members, $124 Ongoing membership plus admission

Facilitator Lisa Orrell, CPC, The Promote U Guru

Panelist Erna Arnesen, Vice President, Worldwide Services Partners and Alliances, Cisco Systems

Panelist Christine Crandell, Senior VP of Marketing, Accept Software

Panelist Whitney Tidmarsh, Chief Marketing Officer, Content Management and Archiving Division, EMC Corporation

Panelist Dana Tribula, VP of Marketing, Applied Materials

Panelist Luciana Vecchi, Globalization Business Manager, Core Services, Adobe Systems Incorporated

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on 4/8 using the PayPal link at http://www.whenshespeaks.com.

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

FountainBlue's Life Science Entrepreneurs' Forum

Topic:   Physician's Panel: Partnering with Entrepreneurs to Better Address Patient Needs

Date & Time:     Monday, April 19 from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Location: Intuitive Surgical 1266 Kifer Road, Building 101 in Sunnyvale

Pre-register:      $21 members, $32 partners, $42 general

Late and On-Site: $42 members, $52 non-members, $124 Ongoing membership and admission

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

Facilitator KPMG to be confirmed

Panelist D. Christopher Chung, M.D., Vice President, Medical Affairs, R&D, and Engineering, Natus Medical

Panelist Gary Heit, former Stanford Professor, Staff Neurosurgeon, Dept of Neurosurgery, Kaiser Permanente Hospital, Redwood City

Panelist Michael Leong M.D., Interim Executive Director, Pain Center Stanford

Panelist Brian Wilfley, Chief Scientist and co-Founder, Triple Ring Technologies

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on 4/16 using the PayPal link at http://www.svlifescience.com.

FountainBlue Clean Energy Entrepreneurs Forum

Topic: Getting Plugged In With the Utilities

Date & Time:     Monday, May 3 from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Location: PARC, 3333 Coyote Hill Road, Palo Alto

Cost: $22 members, $32 partners, $42 general

On-Site Cost: $42 members, $52 non-members, $124 Ongoing membership plus admission

Facilitator Sponsor to be confirmed

Panelist Sponsor to be confirmed

Panelist from PARC, to be confirmed

Corporate Panelist to be confirmed

VC to be confirmed

Solar Entrepreneur to be confirmed

Wind Entrepreneur to be confirmed

Biofuels Entrepreneur to be confirmed

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on 4/30 using the PayPal link at http://www.svcleanenergy.com.

Audience: Clean Energy Entrepreneurs, Intrapreneurs & Investors, No Service Providers Please

FountainBlue�s Funding Road Trip: Your Meeting with Investors

Date and Time: Friday, May 7, 8:30 a.m. � 1:00 p.m.

Location: Cooley Godward Kronish, LLP, 3175 Hanover Street in Palo Alto

Audience: Early-Stage, Funding-Bound Clean Energy, High Tech and Life Science, No Service Providers, Please

Cost for 2 Entrepreneurs: $83 for FountainBlue members, $93 for Partners, $103 General

Late and On-Site Registration is $103 for members and $124 for non-members

Registration: Please pre-register by noon on 5/5 using the PayPal link at http://www.fountainblue.biz/fundingroadtrip.html.

FountainBlue: When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series

Topic: Building and Reinforcing Your Executive Brand

Date & Time:     Friday, May 14 from 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m.

Location: Cisco in their New Frontier Conf Room, 225 East Tasman Dr, Bldg 3, 2nd floor, San Jose

Pre-register:      $21 members, $32 partners, $42 general, $156 corporate passes for up to 10 people

Late and On-Site Cost: $42 members, $52 non-members, $124 Ongoing membership plus admission

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on 5/13 using the PayPal link at http://www.whenshespeaks.com.

Facilitator Kim Wise, Mentor Resources

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

Panelist Vidya Venkatesh, Technical Training, Sr Specialist, Molecular Biology Systems, Global Technical Training, Life Technologies

Other Panelists to be confirmed

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

FountainBlue's Life Science Entrepreneurs' Forum

Topic: Technology Acceleration, Globalization Pressures and the Future of Pharma

Date & Time:     Monday, May 17 from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Location: Bay Caf� Clubhouse, 1875 Embarcadero, Palo Alto

Pre-register:      $21 members, $32 partners, $42 general

Late and On-Site: $42 members, $52 non-members, $124 Ongoing membership and admission

Facilitator from KPMG to be confirmed

Panelist from large pharma to be confirmed

Panelist from small pharma to be confirmed

Panelist VC to be confirmed

Panelist from Stanford to be confirmed

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on 5/14 using the PayPal link at http://www.svlifescience.com.

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

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

FountainBlue January Newsletter

The FountainBlue 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 to all FountainBlue members on BigTent, and the general network, and we welcome you to forward it on to interested others, with proper reference to FountainBlue, our community, and our speakers. To sign up for our monthly newsletter, register for one of our sub-groups and you will receive weekly event invitations as well as our monthly newsletter.

A Note of Thanks and Happy Holidays!

Thank you to one and all for all you have personally and collectively done this year to support FountainBlue and the overall community! With your feedback and support, we will continue to offer quality programs and support for our members.

We are sending the January newsletter out early, as we will be taking two weeks off, coming back in early January. We hope that you enjoy the holiday season with friends and loved ones and look forward to connecting with you in 2010.

As we enter into our fourth year in business, we want to again thank you for all your personal efforts. We wish you much continued happiness and success as we move into the new year.

Continuous Improvement: Membership Renewals and Benefits

If you are an ongoing member, thank you for your ongoing support of FountainBlue! Whether you joined as an ongoing member on BigTent in July 2008 or just this past month, whether you were with us from our launch in January 2006 or just found out about us, your ongoing support and commitment mean a lot to us!

If you have just renewed your membership, thank you! We hope that you continue to reap the benefits of membership and appreciate your support.

If you have not yet renewed your membership, we hope that you elect to do so, particularly by December 31 at midnight, as membership rates will increase by $10 at that point.

If you have never become a member of the community on BigTent, we invite you to join the community by visiting https://www.bigtent.com/groups/fountainblue and requesting to join. Membership benefits are highlighted at http://fountainblue.biz/aboutus/membership.html.

Regardless of your membership status, we hope that you will join us for an upcoming event soon, and welcome your feedback on how we can better support you through our community and our events!

Notes from Recent FountainBlue Events

Clean Energy Entrepreneurs Forum: December 7 Event: Leading Edge Clean Energy Solutions  

When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series: December 11 Event: Leading Through a Changing of the Guard

Wisdom from Industry Icons

On occasion, I will share some pearls of wisdom from industry icons - thoughts that are shaping my way of thinking around entrepreneurship and innovation. This month, I would like to share Thoughts on Entrepreneurship from Industry Icon Vinod Khosla, Khosla Ventures, which I heard at a SVOD event this month.

1. 1.    Focus on the technology innovation, and do not get distracted by business models and policy incentives. If the technology is there, the business will take care of itself.
2. 2.    Technology innovations may be more exciting in established, mundane areas, with solutions used for decades, than in new and cutting edge areas. For example, there may be more innovative and viable solutions in combustion engines than in hybrids.
3. 3.    Look for the black swan, the idea that would break your perception on how things are done. Seeing this new exception will open up whole new ideas for innovations in whole new markets.
4. 4.    As an investor, consider giving a small amount, like $100K, to fund a prototype and see how it goes. Then do not keep investing if it is not going anywhere, but DO be willing to invest a lot more if the technology shows promise.
5. 5.    Be willing to stand alone, even if everyone disagrees with the concept, and experts say that it can not be done. Some of the most successful companies have emerged despite these odds.
6. 6.    Drill deeply into at least one subject area, but then be willing to change into other areas or organizations. It is the synergies between areas which make fertile ground for innovation.

Ongoing Efforts to Support Our Green and Health Commitments, While Fostering Entrepreneurship and Innovation, One Choice at a Time

Going Evergreen works with communities across Silicon Valley and beyond to embrace change, value diversity, and create tomorrow by its actions today. Actions range from the adoption of renewable forms of energy, to enhancing energy efficiency and productivity, to adopting clean, reliable, affordable energy technologies, and to improving the reliability and efficiency of electricity generation and delivery. Find out how to get your community involved by visiting www.goingevergreen.org.

Mokugift trees are planted in the following 12 tropical countries: Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Burundi, Senegal, Zambia, India, Philippines, and Haiti. Mokugift is an official partner of the United Nations Environment Programme. Award-winning nonprofit organizations specializing in agroforestry projects which restore depleted lands and boost the agricultural productivity and incomes of indigenous peoples in some of the poorest parts of the world plant the actual trees gifted via Mokugift. Agroforestry programs create a lasting environmentally and economically sustainable positive impact. Receiving a To find out more, visit the Mokugift table at our September 8 event, see how many trees we have planted, with YOUR help http://www.mokugift.com/ecopage/fountainblue or gift some trees yourself: http://www.mokugift.com.

SVII continues to work with innovators -- ranging from leaders of major labs to entrepreneurs in garages --  to describe the gravest issues we face as entrepreneurs at this critical time in our innovation environment. We invite you to support our letters to Washington campaign, and invite policy staff in the Science and Technology offices in Washington to an Entrepreneurial Roundtable discussion here in Silicon Valley. For more information and to join us, contact us at friends@svii.org. To offer financial support, see http://www.svii.org.

ZoomPool is a rideshare matching service that addresses the three most important barriers to carpooling: concern for safety, unreliable financial transactions, and lack of spontaneity. By affiliating with local large companies, educational institutions and nationwide event planners, we aim to provide a rapid pool of rideshare options where you are sure to find the ideal match for every trip. FountainBlue will continue to support the ZoomPool easy-to-use tool to coordinate carpooling to our events. http://www.zoompool.com

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

FountainBlue: When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series

Topic:   Expanding Your Circle of Influence

Date & Time: Friday, January 15 from 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m.

Location: NetApp, 495 East Java Drive, Sunnyvale

Find a great carpool partner through ZoomPool:

Facilitator Jo Miller, CEO, Womens Leadership Coaching Inc.

Panelist Julie Cullivan, SVP of Sales Operations, McAfee

Panelist Gwen McDonald, SVP, Human Resources, NetApp

Panelist Titina Ott, Vice President, Organizational Effectiveness, Oracle

Another Panelist to be confirmed

Pre-Registration Cost: $21 members, $32 partners, $42 general, $155 for corporate pass for up to 10 people

Registration: Please pre-register by noon on 1/14 using the PayPal link at http://www.whenshespeaks.com.

Late and On-site Registration: $32 members, $42 non-members, $124 ongoing membership plus admission

Audience: Women and Men who work in community to advance more women into leadership positions.

For more information about the event and the series or to join the mailing list or register, visit http://www.whenshespeaks.com

FountainBlue Annual High Tech Angel Investor Panel: 2010 Technology Trends,

Conducted in partnership with Stanford BASES and HackerDojo

Date & Time:     Monday, January 18 from 5:30 until 8:00 p.m.

Location: HackerDojo, 140 South Whisman Road in Mountain View

Find a great carpool partner through ZoomPool

Registration Cost: $21 members, $32 partners, $42 general, by 1/15

Late and On-Site Cost: $42 members, $52 non-members, $123 Ongoing membership plus admission

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on 1/15 using the PayPal link at http://www.sventrepreneurs.com.

Audience: High Tech Entrepreneurs, Intrapreneurs & Investors, No Service Providers Please

Facilitator to be confirmed

Panelist Jim Connor, President, Sand Hill Angels

Panelist Edward Esber, Angels Forum and Halo Fund

Panelist Ann Miura-Ko, Partner, Maples Investments, Ph.D. candidate in the Management Science and Engineering Department at Stanford University

Panelist Ron Weissman, Band of Angels

This program will also feature facilitated small group discussions on specific high tech sub-industries including Enterprise Software Solutions, Digital Media Technology, including visualization, gaming, media analytics, Communications, including networking, mobile, wireless, and security and Hardware and Semiconductor, including electronic devices, chip design.

FountainBlue Transitions Event, Produced in Partnership with RAL & Associates and FWE&E

Topic: Identifying and Developing Your Executive Brand

Date & Time: Thursday, January 21, from 11:30 AM to 2:00 PM

Location: TEN, 2953 Bunker Hill Lane, Ste 400, Santa Clara

Find a great carpool partner through ZoomPool:

Speaker: Susan Schwartz, You Who Personal and Corporate Branding

Pre-Registration Cost: $32 members, $42 partners, $52 general

Registration: Please pre-register by noon on 1/20 using the PayPal link at http://www.svexecs.com.

Late and On-site Registration: $52 members, $62 non-members, $133 ongoing membership plus admission

Audience: Senior executives who have served at the director and C-levels, and generally transitioning into a similar position

For more information about the event and the series or to join the mailing list or register, visit http://www.svexecs.com

FountainBlue Life Science Entrepreneurs Forum

Topic:   Life Science Angel Investors Panel: Trends for 2010

Date & Time: Monday, January 25 from 5:30 until 7:30 p.m.

Location: KPMG, 500 E. Middlefield Road, Mountain View

Find a great carpool partner through ZoomPool http://search.zoompool.com/index.php?eventid=800.

Pre-register:      $21 members, $32 partners, $42 general, by 1/22

On-Site Cost: $42 members, $52 non-members, $124 Ongoing membership plus admission

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on 1/22 using the PayPal link at http://www.svlifescience.com.

Facilitator Conor Moore, Partner, KPMG

Panelist Anne DeGheest, Founder and Managing Director, MedStars, Strategic Advisor at PolyRemedy, Inc

Panelist Stuart Eckmann, Keiretsu Forum and Life Science Angels

Panelist Don Ross, Member, Life Science Angels and Sand Hill Angels

Panelist Michael Weickert, President and CEO, S.E.A. Medical Systems, Inc., Member, Life Science Angels, Venture Partner, Kranenburg Fund 

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

This event includes facilitated break out groups, based on life science sub-industry topics: Software solutions for the healthcare industry, medical devices, personalized medicine, medical imaging, and biopharma.

FountainBlue Clean Green Annual Conference: Past Successes, New Opportunities

Date & Time:     Friday, January 29 from 8:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.

Location: EMC Corporation, 2831 Mission College Blvd, San Francisco Conference Room, Santa Clara

Find a great carpool partner through ZoomPool http://search.zoompool.com/index.php?eventid=801.

Cost: $42 members, $52 partners, $62 general

On-site registration: $73 for members, $83 for non-members

Registration: http://www.fountainblue.biz/cleanenergy/annualevent.html by Wednesday, January 27 at noon.

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

Speakers will include:

Scott Bolick, VP, Portfolio Strategy, SAP, speaking on carbon & energy management and overall sustainability performance management

Eric Wesoff, Greentech Media, Publisher of the Venture Power newsletter

Peter Williams, IBM Distinguished Engineer, Chief Technology Officer, Big Green Innovations, IBM, speaking on water management and carbon reduction

Elise Zoli, Partner, Goodwin Procter

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

This program will include a facilitated Clean Green MashUp divided into six clean energy industries

1.         Air, Water and Waste: improving resource availability, conservation and pollution control

2.         Energy Efficiency: significantly reduce wasted energy

3.         Green Building: reducing the environmental impact of building construction or operation

4.         Renewable Energy: leveraging waste streams to directly produce energy

5.         Smart Power, Green Grid and Energy Storage: technologies to enable electricity delivery management to industrial, commercial and residential consumers

6.         Transportation: transportation and mobile technology applications for transportation systems or vehicles

For more information about the event and the series or to join the mailing list or register, visit http://www.fountainblue.biz/cleanenergy/annualevent.html

FountainBlue Clean Energy Entrepreneurs Forum

Topic: The Opportunities in Managing and Monitoring Energy Usage

Date & Time:     Friday, February 5 from 8:30 until 10:30 a.m.

Location: SAP, 3410 Hillview Ave in Palo Alto,

Find a great carpool partner through ZoomPool: http://search.zoompool.com/index.php?eventid=796

Cost: $22 members, $32 partners, $42 general

On-Site Cost: $42 members, $52 non-members, $124 Ongoing membership plus admission

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on 2/3 using the PayPal link at http://www.svcleanenergy.com.

Audience: Clean Energy Entrepreneurs, Intrapreneurs & Investors, No Service Providers Please

Sponsor Facilitator to be confirmed

Panelist Jeff Fara, SAP

Panelist Dana Tribula, Applied Materials

Panelist Elise Zoli, Chair, Clean Energy Practice, Goodwin Procter LLP

Panelist VC to be confirmed

Presenting Entrepreneur John Magnasco, Geneva

Presenting Entrepreneur John Steinberg, CEO - Co-Founder, EcoFactor

Another Presenting Entrepreneur to be confirmed

Audience: Clean Energy Entrepreneurs, Intrapreneurs & Investors, No Service Providers Please

For more information about the event and the series, or to join the mailing list or register, visit http://www.svcleanenergy.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

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 to all FountainBlue members on BigTent, and the general network, and we welcome you to forward it on to interested others, with proper reference to FountainBlue, our community, and our speakers. To sign up for our monthly newsletter, register for one of our sub-groups and you will receive weekly event invitations as well as our monthly newsletter.

Continuous Improvement: Membership Renewals and Benefits

Thank you to everyone for your participation in the FountainBlue community! Whether you are just receiving free weekly invitations, or whether you�ve been an active ongoing members for years, we appreciate all your efforts to support our programs and community. Special thanks to everyone who has renewed their membership on BigTent since our November newsletter. If you elected an ongoing membership, please attend a December or January event to collect your thank-you gift: a solar-powered pedometer or a 2010 Page-a-Day journal.

We apologize to those of you who are confused about whether you are a member. Official members pay for membership either through our BigTent web site http://www.bigtent.com/groups/FountainBlue or register for an upcoming event as an ongoing-membership-plus-admission option.

Membership rates are currently $43 annual (prorated) and $93 ongoing (at least through December 2012), and they will increase by $10 starting on January 1. We hope that you elect to renew your membership. We welcome your feedback and ongoing suggestions on how we can further improve our service to you, our customers, improve our communications to you, while building community and making a difference. 

All the best to you and yours this holiday season! We look forward to connecting with you in the near future.

Notes from FountainBlue�s November Events

�         Clean Energy Entrepreneurs' Forum: November 2 Event: Financing Clean Energy Solutions  

�         Life Science Entrepreneurs� Forum: November 16 Event: Personalized Medicine

�         Transitions: November 19 Event: Recruiter Panel: New Secrets for Securing Executive Positions

�         When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series: November 13 Event: Corporate Women on Non Profit Boards

Fundings, Landings and Accolades for FountainBlue Members:

�         Congratulations to the 23 clean energy, high tech and life science teams who have participated in the fall funding road trip. Special thanks to Bill Joos who once again delivered an exceptional program for all three workshops in the series, to Cooley Godward and TEN for their sponsorship of the series, to our investor judges who provided candid feedback on pitches, and to all our volunteer facilitators and timers who ensured that the event flowed smoothly! May each participating team gather momentum!

Ongoing Efforts to Support Our Green and Health Commitments, While Fostering Entrepreneurship and Innovation, One Choice at a Time

�         Going Evergreen works with communities across Silicon Valley and beyond to embrace change, value diversity, and create tomorrow by its actions today. Actions range from the adoption of renewable forms of energy, to enhancing energy efficiency and productivity, to adopting clean, reliable, affordable energy technologies, and to improving the reliability and efficiency of electricity generation and delivery. Find out how to get your community involved by visiting www.goingevergreen.org.

�         Mokugift trees are planted in the following 12 tropical countries: Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Burundi, Senegal, Zambia, India, Philippines, and Haiti. Mokugift is an official partner of the United Nations Environment Programme. Award-winning nonprofit organizations specializing in agroforestry projects which restore depleted lands and boost the agricultural productivity and incomes of indigenous peoples in some of the poorest parts of the world plant the actual trees gifted via Mokugift. Agroforestry programs create a lasting environmentally and economically sustainable positive impact.Receiving a Mokugift tree is similar to receiving an e-card, and you can display your trees online at Facebook, MySpace, MyYahoo, iGoogle and other popular Web sites.  To find out more, visit the Mokugift table at our September 8 event, see how many trees we have planted, with YOUR help http://www.mokugift.com/ecopage/fountainblue or gift some trees yourself: http://www.mokugift.com.

�         SVII continues to work with innovators -- ranging from leaders of major labs to entrepreneurs in garages --  to describe the gravest issues we face as entrepreneurs at this critical time in our innovation environment. We invite you to support our letters to Washington campaign, and invite policy staff in the Science and Technology offices in Washington to an Entrepreneurial Roundtable discussion here in Silicon Valley. For more information and to join us, contact us at friends@svii.org. To offer financial support, see http://www.svii.org.

�         ZoomPool is a rideshare matching service that addresses the three most important barriers to carpooling: concern for safety, unreliable financial transactions, and lack of spontaneity. By affiliating with local large companies, educational institutions and nationwide event planners, we aim to provide a rapid pool of rideshare options where you're sure to find the ideal match for every trip. FountainBlue will continue to support ZoomPool's easy-to-use tool to coordinate carpooling to our events. http://www.zoompool.com

We hope to see you at one of our December or January events!

FountainBlue�s Funding Road Trip: Your Meeting With Investors

Date and Time: Friday, December 4, 8:30 a.m. � 1:00 p.m.

Location:           TEN, 2953 Bunker Hill Lane, Ste 400, Santa Clara

Audience: Early-Stage, Funding-Bound Clean Energy, High Tech and Life Science Entrepreneurs and Intrapreneurs who have attended at least one of the two other workshops in the series

Cost for 2 Entrepreneurs: $80 for FountainBlue members, $90 for Partners, $100 General

Register at: http://fountainblue.biz/fundingroadtrip.html by Wednesday, December 2 at noon

On-Site registration for one or two member entrepreneurs is $100 for members, and $110 for non-members, which is the fee for one or two non-members

For more information about this event or the series, visit http://fountainblue.biz/fundingroadtrip.html

FountainBlue's Clean Energy Entrepreneurs' Forum

Topic:   Leading Edge Clean Energy Solutions

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

Location:           SRI International, Building G, on Laurel @ Ravenswood, Menlo Park

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 Michael D'Amour, CEO and President, LUMEnergi

Presenting Entrepreneur Bob Frostholm, QSolar

Presenting Entrepreneur Tony McGettigan, CEO, Luxim

Pre-Registration Cost: $21 members, $32 partners, $42 general

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on 12/4 using the PayPal link at http://www.svcleanenergy.com.

Late and On-site Registration: $32 members, $42 non-members, $123 ongoing membership plus admission

Audience:          Clean Energy Entrepreneurs, Intrapreneurs & Investors, No Service Providers Please

For more information about this event or this series, to sign up for the mailing list or to register, visit http://www.svcleanenergy.com.

FountainBlue's When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series

Topic:               Leading Through a Changing of the Guard

Date & Time:     Friday, December 11 from 11:30 a.m. � 1:30 p.m.

Location:           LifeScan, 1051 S Milpitas Blvd. Bldg 2, Milpitas

Facilitator Marcia Stein, Stein Consulting, Inc. and HR Women and Friends

Panelist Deborah Coburn, Manager, Sales & Operations Planning, Americas, LifeScan

Panelist Julie Criscenti Heck, Director, Global Partner Marketing, VMware - Virtualization Software Solutions

Panelist Laura Debacker, Sr. Director of Leadership Development and Employee Engagement, Sun Microsystems

Panelist Lori Smith, Director of HR, Cisco

Pre-Registration Cost: $21 members, $32 partners, $42 general

Registration: Please pre-register by noon on 12/10 using the PayPal link at http://www.whenshespeaks.com.

Late and On-site Registration: $32 members, $42 non-members, $123 ongoing membership plus admission

Audience: Women and Men who work in community to advance more women into leadership positions.

For more information about the event and the series or to join the mailing list or register, visit http://www.whenshespeaks.com

FountainBlue's When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series

Topic:   Expanding Your Circle of Influence

Date & Time: Friday, January 15 from 11:30 a.m. � 1:30 p.m.

Location: NetApp, 495 East Java Drive, Sunnyvale

Facilitator Jo Miller, CEO, Women's Leadership Coaching Inc.

Panelist Gwen McDonald, SVP, Human Resources, NetApp

Panelist Titina Ott, Vice President, Organizational Effectiveness, Oracle

Panelist from McAfee to be confirmed

Another Panelist to be confirmed

Pre-Registration Cost: $21 members, $32 partners, $42 general

Registration: Please pre-register by noon on 1/14 using the PayPal link at http://www.whenshespeaks.com.

Late and On-site Registration: $32 members, $42 non-members, $123 ongoing membership plus admission

Audience: Women and Men who work in community to advance more women into leadership positions.

For more information about the event and the series or to join the mailing list or register, visit http://www.whenshespeaks.com

FountainBlue's Annual High Tech Angel Investor Panel: What�s Hot in 2010, Conducted in Partnership with BASES

Date & Time: Monday, January 18 from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Location: Stanford University Campus

Hot Investment Topics:

�          consumer internet

�          mobile applications

�           Facilitator TBD

�           Panelist Ann Miura-Ko, Partner, Maples Investments, Ph.D. candidate in the Management Science and Engineering Department at Stanford University

�           Panelist Jim Connor, President, Sand Hill Angels

�           Panelist Edward Esber, Angels Forum and Halo Fund

�           Panelist Ron Weissman, Band of Angels

Pre-Registration Cost: $21 members, $32 partners, $42 general

Registration: Please pre-register by noon on 1/15 using the PayPal link at http://www.sventrepreneurs.com.

Late and On-site Registration: $32 members, $42 non-members, $123 ongoing membership plus admission

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

For more information about the event and the series or to join the mailing list or register, visit http://www.sventrepreneurs.com

FountainBlue's Transitions Event, Produced in Partnership with RAL & Associates and FWE&E

Topic: Identifying and Developing Your Executive Brand

Date & Time: Thursday, January 21, from 11:30 AM to 2:00 PM

Location: TEN, 2953 Bunker Hill Lane, Ste 400, Santa Clara

Speaker: Susan Schwartz, You Who Personal and Corporate Branding

Pre-Registration Cost: $32 members, $42 partners, $52 general

Registration: Please pre-register by noon on 1/20 using the PayPal link at http://www.svexecs.com.

Late and On-site Registration: $52 members, $62 non-members, $133 ongoing membership plus admission

Audience: Senior executives who have served at the director and C-levels, and generally transitioning into a similar position

For more information about the event and the series or to join the mailing list or register, visit http://www.svexecs.com

FountainBlue's Clean Energy Entrepreneurs' Forum

Topic:               State of the Clean Green Industry

Date & Time: Friday, January 29 from 8:30 � 2:00 p.m.

Location:           EMC Corporation, 2831 Mission College Blvd, San Francisco Conference Room, Santa Clara

Pre-Registration Cost: $52 members, $62 partners, $72 general

Registration: http://fountainblue.biz/cleanenergy/annualevent.html by Wednesday, January 27 at noon.

Late and On-Site Registration: $72 members, $83 non-members, $155 ongoing membership plus admission.

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

For more information about the event and the series or to join the mailing list or register, visit http://www.svcleanenergy.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

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 to all FountainBlue members on BigTent, and the general network, and we welcome you to forward it on to interested others, with proper reference to FountainBlue, our community, and our speakers.

Continuous Improvement: Upgraded E-Mail Communications, Ridesharing

We continue to focus on how to more efficiently and effectively deliver our services to you, while making a deeper impact as a community. This month, we have adopted Constant Contact to better manage for our e-mail communications needs, and make it easier for you both to read the invitations, but also to manage your subscription and forward invitations on to interested others.

In addition, we have adopted ZoomPool to proactively manage carpooling options, without asking about origination location as part of the registration process. Attendees who register at least one business day prior to an event will receive a custom link to the ZoomPool page to coordinate a ride to a FountainBlue event.

We welcome your ongoing suggestions on how we can further improve our communications and operations, while building community and making a difference.

Notes from FountainBlue�s October Events

• Clean Energy Entrepreneurs' Forum: October 5 Event: Sustainable Solutions for the Built Environment
• When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series: October 9 Event: Women Leading Innovation
• Life Science Entrepreneurs� Forum: October 19 Event: Software Meets Healthcare

Executive Hiring Trends, And What It Means for YOU

FountainBlue continues to partner with Bobbie LaPorte of RAL & Associates to document how the process for transitioning into executive positions has changed during this economic downturn and what you need to do differently to land that next great position. Thank you to those of you who have completed our eight-question online survey at http://tinyurl.com/pgu9cj, to those of you who volunteered for a quick telephone survey, and to those of you who participated in our October Transitions event. We invite executives in transition to attend our November 19 recruiter panel on the topic of NEW Secrets for Securing Executive Positions.

Fundings, Landings and Accolades for FountainBlue Members:

Congratulations to Mark Spilotro and iKnowWare for being selected #3 most promising company in the October 5 edition of Forbes magazine http://www.forbes.com/entrepreneurs/promising-companies/. iKnowWare�s web-based mobile application solves the need for real time information for visibility into small business operations/logistics. It connects people regardless of Smartphone, iPhone, PC/Netbook for Marketing/Demand Generation, Forecasting/Sales, Customer brand loyalty, Call Service Center, Inventory, Project/Task Management, Order Entry, Pricing, Date/SKU, Scheduling, Logistics, Messaging, Secure Documents/Presence/Knowledge Management. iKnowWare is easy-to-learn, quickly implemented, and provides a secure solution, empowering communication between people. Demo and Free Trial by mentioning FountainBlue at www.iKnowMobile.com

Giving Back

Every month, we will support a business or nonprofit doing well while doing good.  

• Emergency Shelter Program (ESP) is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping victims of domestic violence. ESP cares for the women and children in the community who have only our confidential site as a safe haven from poverty and/or family violence. With a declining economy, ESP very much needs your support as domestic violence reporting is on the rise. Please learn more about ESP, and make an online donation www.espca.org so that we can build on our 37 years of operation, supporting thousands of victims of domestic violence. 
• The Forum for Women Entrepreneurs & Executives (FWE&E) is the definitive community in the Bay Area for accomplished women thought-leaders, decision-makers, and influencers.  FWE&E connects over 450 exceptional women leaders with people and ideas that enhance their impact on the world. For women who have achieved professional success, FWE&E expands horizons and perspectives by facilitating collaboration and fostering deep connections among members. For more information or to join, visit www.fweande.org.
• The Professional Business Women of California (PBWC) is the largest and most established community of professional women establishing, growing and re-invigorating their careers at all levels of the organization and across all industries. PBWC offers inspiring learning events and empowering networking opportunities for individual contributors, team and mid-level leaders while promoting engagement with senior executive women with offerings tailored to the unique challenges of leading world-class organizations at the highest levels. PBWC offers scholarship and development to new leaders though its Young Women�s Program. Join Today for free webinars and event discounts including our 21st Annual Conference, May 11, 2010. http://www.pbwc.org/join-pbwc

Ongoing Efforts to Support Our Green and Health Commitments, While Fostering Entrepreneurship and Innovation, One Choice at a Time

• MokuGift http://www.mokugift.com/ecopage/fountainblue
• We will continue to plant a tree for every pre-registered attendee to our events!
• SVII�s Letters to Washington Campaign, http://www.svletterstowashington.org
• We will continue to support SVII�s support of entrepreneurship in America, through its �Letters to Washington� campaign
• ZoomPool: http://www.zoompool.com
• We will continue to support this easy-to-use tool to coordinate carpooling to FountainBlue events.

We hope to see you at one of this month�s events!

FountainBlue's Clean Energy Entrepreneurs' Forum

Topic:               Financing Clean Energy Solutions

Date & Time:     Monday, November 2 from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Location:           The Tech Museum of Innovation, 201 South Market Street, San Jose

�           Facilitator Ryan Murr, Partner, Goodwin Procter LLP

�           Panelist Jessie Denver, San Jose Solar Program Coordinator, Environmental Services Department, City of San Jose

�           Panelist Jeremy Panacheril, US Head Clean Tech and Renewable Energy, Strategic and Commercial Intelligence, KPMG

�           Panelist Paul Detering, CEO, Tioga Energy

�           Presenting Entrepreneur Lee Edward Colin, VP Business Development, Green Vehicles Inc.

�           Presenting Entrepreneur Sharon Olexy, VP Finance, SynCH Energy Corporation

�           Presenting Entrepreneur Taber Smith, CEO, Focal Point Energy

Cost:                 $20 members, $25 partners, $30 general, plus a $1 fee.

$100 plus $4 fee for FountainBlue Ongoing membership, admission, and free gift

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on 10/30 using the PayPal link at http://www.svcleanenergy.com.

Registrations received after that deadline will be applied to next month�s event, unless you�ve registered for the $100 ongoing or the $40 on-site payment.

Audience:          Clean Energy Entrepreneurs, Intrapreneurs & Investors, No Service Providers Please

Triple Ring Technologies� Med Tech Frontiers Topic: The Early History of MRI

Proudly Produced by FountainBlue!

Date:  Thursday November 5, 2009

Time:  6:00 � 9:00 pm

Location: Triple Ring Technologies, 39655 Eureka Drive, Newark

Speaker: Waldo Hinshaw, Principal Scientist, Triple Ring Technologies

Cost: The seminar is free of charge, but registration is required for planning purposes

Register Now: http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=177803 by Wednesday, November 4 at noon.

On-Site registration: A limited number of on-site registrations may be available

FountainBlue�s Funding Road Trip: Your Pitch to Investors

Date and Time: Friday, November 6, 8:30 a.m. � 1:00 p.m.

Location: Cooley Godward Kronish, LLP, 3175 Hanover Street in Palo Alto

Audience: Early-Stage, Funding-Bound Clean Energy, High Tech and Life Science Entrepreneurs and Intrapreneurs

Cost for 2 Entrepreneurs: $80 for FountainBlue members, $85 for Partners, $90 General, $100 On-Site

Register at: http://fountainblue.biz/fundingroadtrip.html by Wednesday, November 4 at noon

FountainBlue's When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series

Topic:               Corporate Women On Nonprofit Boards

Date & Time:     Friday, November 13 from 11:30 a.m. � 1:30 p.m.

Location:           Symantec, 350 Ellis, Mountain View

Cost:                 $20 members, $25 partners, $30 general

$100 for FountainBlue Ongoing membership, admission, and free gift

Corporate packages for up to 10 people are $100.

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on 9/10 using the PayPal link at http://www.whenshespeaks.com.

Registrations received after the deadline will be applied to next month�s event, unless you�ve registered for the $100 ongoing or the $40 on-site payment, plus fees, regardless of membership status.

�           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, Director, WW Diversity & Inclusion, Cisco

�           Panelist Keren Pavese, Program Manager, Western Division Office of Sustainability, Community Outreach & Diversity Councils, EMC Corporation

More information: http://www.whenshespeaks.com

FountainBlue's Life Science Entrepreneurs' Forum

Topic: Personalized Medicine, Biomarkers, Invitro Diagnostics: The Science Advances, The Business Opportunities, The Cultural Dilemmas

Date & Time: Monday, November 16 from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Location: UCSC Extension in Silicon Valley, 2505 Augustine Drive, Suite 100, Santa Clara

�           Facilitator Linda K. Molnar, LKM Strategic Consulting

�           Panelist Doug Dolginow, PhD, BOD, Advisor, Founder CSO/CMO, Veracyte, Inc, and CEO and BOD, NanoValent

�           Panelist Ted Driscoll, Venture Partner, Claremont Ventures, Member, Life Science Angels

�           Panelist from Applied Biosystems, a Life Technologies Company, to be confirmed

�           Presenting Entrepreneur Richard A. Goozh, Sr. VP, Strategy & Finance, Wave 80 Biosciences

�           Presenting Entrepreneur Dick Haiduck

�           Another Presenting Entrepreneur to be confirmed, your recommendations and nominations for early-stage, funding-bound entrepreneurs are welcome

Cost:                 $20 members, $30 partners, $40 general, plus a $1-2 fee.

$100 plus fee for FountainBlue Ongoing membership, admission, and free gift

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on 11/13 using the PayPal link at http://www.svlifescience.com. Registrations received after the deadline will be applied to next month�s event, unless you�ve registered for the $100 ongoing or the $40 on-site payment, plus fees, regardless of membership status.

Audience:          Entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs and investors, no service providers please

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

FountainBlue's Transitions Event, Produced in Partnership with RAL & Associates and FWE&E

Topic: Recruiter Panel: NEW Secrets for Securing Executive Positions

Date & Time: Thursday, November 19, from 11:30 AM to 2:00 PM

Location: TEN, 2953 Bunker Hill Lane, Ste 400, Santa Clara

�           Moderator Roberta LaPorte, RAL & Associates

�           John L. McDonald, Senior Partner, Executive Search Practice, DURAN HUMAN CAPITAL PARTNERS

�           Gretchen Sand, Principal, SKYLINE RECRUITING

�           Ann Zeichner, Managing Director, TAYLOR WINFIELD

Cost:                 $30 members, $40 partners, $50 general, plus a $1-2 fee.

$100 plus $4 fee for FountainBlue Ongoing membership, admission, and free gift

Registration:      Please pre-register by noon on 11/18 using the PayPal link at http://www.svexecs.com.

Registrations received after that deadline will be applied to next month�s event, unless you�ve registered for the $110 ongoing or the $60 on-site payment, plus fees.

Audience:          Senior executives who have served at the director and C-levels, and generally transitioning into a similar level position

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

FountainBlue�s monthly newsletter is designed to communicate regularly with our members, to help our members to plan activities with FountainBlue, to make special offerings to our members, and to share wisdom gained from our monthly events and our community. It is sent monthly to all FountainBlue members on BigTent, and the general network, and we welcome you to forward it on to interested others, with proper reference to FountainBlue, our community, and our speakers.

Continuous Improvement: Early Registration

We continue to focus on how to more efficiently and effectively deliver our services to you, while making a deeper impact as a community. This month, we focused on doing two things: Encouraging Early Registration While Planting Trees in Tropical Regions.

This month, we had a lot of last-minute registrations; in fact, for one series, 50% of the attendees registered the same week of the event! To would really appreciate your support in registering at least two weeks prior to the event date, so that we can better manage our logistical planning and better communicate to everyone.

We are partnering with Mokugift to plant a tree in your name for everyone who pre-registers at least two weeks prior to any FountainBlue event, and have created a FountainBlue corporate area so that you can see how many we are planting in all, and also easily plant additional trees for yourself, or as a gift to others. http://www.mokugift.com/ecopage/fountainblue See the �Giving Back� area for more information, or visit the Mokugift booth at our September 8 clean energy event!

We welcome your ongoing suggestions on how we can further improve our communications and operations, while building community and making a difference.

Notes from FountainBlue�s August Events

• Clean Energy Entrepreneurs' Forum: August 3 Event: Energy Generation: Breakthroughs and Challenges
• Life Science Entrepreneurs� Forum: August 20 Event: Accelerating BioPharma Development
• When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series: August 14 Event: Politics in the Workplace: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

Congratulations to FountainBlue Members:

• Congratulations to Barry Holroyd, CTO of Masher Media, and the whole Masher Media team for securing funding even during this economic tsunami. See their press announcements at: http://www.mashermedia.com and help them recruit a Senior Engineer: Online Games. Cheer them on as a presenting entrepreneur at our September 25 Virtual Worlds event: http://www.svvirtualworlds.com.
• Congratulations to Bill Gray and Velkess Inc., (a presenting entrepreneur for our September 8 clean energy event) for being one of the 375 (of 3500) companies invited by the US Department of Energy�s new ARPA-E program, to submit a full application for funding the development of their energy storage technology. The ARPA-E program was funded under the stimulus act, and was created specifically to foster research and development (R&D) of transformational energy-related technologies like Velkess's. Velkess also recently announced that it has secured a $1M commitment from Dehlsen Associates LLC, an industry leader with a long history of taking DoE grants like ARPA-E and developing technologies into >$1B industries! http://www.velkess.com
• Congratulations to members Rosemarie Carbone, Dwight Moore, and Diane Wotus who landed this month in executive positions at Silicon Valley organizations. Way to go! Let me know if you have recently landed or if you have an open executive level position you would like us to post to our network anonymously.
• FountainBlue is partnering with Bobbie LaPorte of RAL & Associates to document how the process for transitioning into executive positions has recently changed and what to do about it. We invite your responses to our online survey, and welcome you to participate in a short telephone conversation to discuss.

• To take this eight-question survey, please visit http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=aJZGAUyFyL9nnmp4OHLxvg_3d_3d
• If you would like to provide more details about how the transition process has changed and receive or provide ideas and support for how to navigate this change, please e-mail us at info@svexecs.com with your thoughts and a good time to connect with you for a half-hour conversation.
• Thank you for your support in this endeavor. It is our hope to document and share these community findings with all. We will also feature a panel of recently-landed executives for our October Transitions event, and they will share advice and recommendations on their search process.

Offers from the Community

• Jon Fisher presentation to the Commonwealth Club: Entrepreneurism Begins with the End In Mind: http://fora.tv/2009/08/05/Entrepreneurism_Begin_With_The_End_In_Mind_Jon_Fisher#Rebounding_Housing_Market_Signals_Peak_of_Unemployment
• We are pleased to release our first book, FountainBlue�s 2010 Page a Day Journal, and would like to acknowledge members Kathy Besser of Graystar Design for her exceptional graphic design, production and management services and Joan Escover of JP Graphics for doing a terrific job printing a high-quality publication.

Giving Back

Every month, we will support a business or nonprofit doing well while doing good. This month, we will feature Mokugift Trees, and will continue to support them on an ongoing basis, planting a tree for every pre-registered attendee.

• Mokugift trees are planted in the following 12 tropical countries: Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Burundi, Senegal, Zambia, India, Philippines, and Haiti. Mokugift is an official partner of the United Nations Environment Programme. Award-winning nonprofit organizations specializing in agroforestry projects�which restore depleted lands and boost the agricultural productivity and incomes of indigenous peoples in some of the poorest parts of the world�plant the actual trees gifted via Mokugift. Agroforestry programs create a lasting environmentally and economically sustainable positive impact. Receiving a Mokugift tree is similar to receiving an e-card, and you can display your trees online at Facebook, MySpace, MyYahoo, iGoogle and other popular Web sites.  To find out more, visit the Mokugift table at our September 8 event, see how many trees we have planted, with YOUR help http://www.mokugift.com/ecopage/fountainblue or gift some trees yourself: http://www.mokugift.com. This month�s selected region is Cameroon, Africa.

We hope to see you at one of this month�s events!

Triple Ring Technologies� Med Tech Frontiers Topic: Electronic Brachytherapy: Localized Radiation Therapy Using a Miniature X-ray Source

Proudly Produced by FountainBlue!

Date:  Thursday September 3, 2009

Time:  6:00 � 9:00 pm

Location: Triple Ring Technologies, 39655 Eureka Drive, Newark

Speaker: Tom Rusch, Co-founder and VP of Technical Outreach, Xoft, Inc.

Cost: The seminar is free of charge, but registration is required for planning purposes

Register Now: http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaID=177801 by Wednesday, September 2 at noon.

On-Site registration: A limited number of on-site registrations may be available

FountainBlue's Clean Energy Entrepreneurs' Forum

Topic:               Energy Storage and Management: Smart Grid & Energy Efficiency

Date & Time:     Tuesday, September 8 from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Location:           Symantec, 351 Ellis, Mountain View

Cost:                 $20 members, $25 partners, $30 general

$100 for FountainBlue Ongoing membership, admission, and free gift

Registration:      We will plant a tree for everyone who pre-registers by noon on 9/5 using the PayPal link at http://www.svcleanenergy.com. Late and on-site registration is $40 if e-mail is time stamped after that, regardless of membership status.

Audience:          Clean Energy Entrepreneurs, Intrapreneurs & Investors, No Service Providers Please

�           Facilitator Craig Lobdell, KPMG

�           Panelist Matthew Denesuk, IBM Ventures

�           Panelist Kirk Phelps, Associate, Foundation Capital

�           Panelist Dan Rastler, Technical Leader, Energy Storage and Distributed Generation Program, Electric Power Research Institute

�           Panelist Tom Thomassen, Senior Development Manager, Office of the CTO, Symantec 

�           Panelist Elise Zoli, Chair, Energy Practice, Goodwin Procter LLP

�           Presenting Entrepreneur: Ed Cazalet, CEO, MegaWatt Storage Farms Inc.

�           Presenting Entrepreneur: Charlie Duncheon, CEO, EIG America

�           Presenting Entrepreneur: Bill Gray, CEO, Velkess Inc.

For more information visit http://www.svcleanenergy.com

FountainBlue's When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series

Topic:               Successful Cross-Cultural Communications

Date & Time:     Friday, September 11 from 11:30 a.m. � 1:30 p.m.

Location:           LifeScan, 1051 S Milpitas Blvd. Bldg 2, Cafeteria Annex Room, Milpitas

Cost:                 $20 members, $25 partners, $30 general

$100 for FountainBlue Ongoing membership, admission, and free gift

Corporate packages for up to 10 people are $100.

Registration:      We will plant a tree for everyone who pre-registers by noon on 9/10 using the PayPal link at http://www.whenshespeaks.com. Late and on-site registration is $40 if e-mail is time stamped after that, regardless of membership status.

�           Facilitator Francine Gordon, FGordon Group and President SDForum Tech Women�s Group

�           Panelist Roya Afshar, Software Development Director, Oracle

�           Panelist Khrystyne Heard, Manager, Human Resources, LifeScan

�           Panelist Debi Hirshlag, VP, Worldwide Human Resources, Flextronics

�           Panelist Neerja Raman, Research Fellow, Stanford University, MediaX Distinguished Visiting Scholar