FountainBlue

• Attend one of our events and/or join the community. You will meet people who may be able to help you, and may have experienced exactly the kinds of challenges you're undergoing. Plus you'll have opportunities to assist other quality people in the network. Visit our community section for more information.

Become part of the program:

• If you are an investor or an successful serial entrepreneur or intrapreneur, participate on one of our upcoming entrepreneurs' forums as a speaker. Share your wisdom. Build your network. Send us an e-mail volunteering to participate in one of our upcoming events.

Get Support:

• If you are undergoing challenging business obstacles, bring your challenges to an upcoming event and connect with people who are going through similar challenges, and others who can advise you on how to overcome the obstacles, or connect you with those who can help you. It's likely that someone would be willing to lend an ear, lend a hand, or share some advice.

Spread the Word:

• If you have attended an event and felt your time was well spent, spread the word to quality people in your network and be an ambassador. Together we are stronger.
• If you found value in the content from our previous programs, forward the notes to others in your network who would also benefit from the information, with proper acknowledgment to FountainBlue and the respective speakers. Knowledge is power! 

Partner with Us:

• If you are involved with another organization in the valley serving entrepreneurs and executives, we welcome you to become a cross-marketing partner. See below for a current list of partners and directions on how to become a cross-marketing partner. 
• After you have been a cross-marketing partner, let us know if you would like to partner more closely with us to jointly produce events, or to have us participate in an advisory board, steering committee or SIG. See below for a list of organizations with whom we closely partner.

Sponsor Our Activities:

• Find out more about sponsorship opportunities by e-mailing us.

Report on Trends:

• If you are interested in reporting on trends, you are welcome to request a press pass to one of our upcoming events.

We welcome other ideas for partnerships.

At FountainBlue, we believe that reciprocal promotion between quality partners serving a common audience will benefit everyone. We therefore are happy to promote events from our cross marketing partners listed below, and also invite their members to pay discounted partner rates to attend our own events:

• ASTIA
• Bay Area Startup Network
• BGStrategy
• Berkeley Chinese Alumni Association
• CCIE
• HYSTA
• Innovation Center Denmark
• Financing Partners
• KASE
• KITECH
• MITNC
• NACSA
• NUSEA
• San Jose State University
• Santa Clara University
• SDForum
• SIM
• Stanford
• SVCEF
• SVC Wireless
• SVPMA
• TEN
• UCSC Extension
• VLAB
• WCA

We welcome you to e-mail us at info@FountainBlue.biz if your organization is running a Silicon Valley event of interest to clean energy entrepreneurs. We will e-mail you about whether we will include you event in our weekly event recommendation newsletter, and request that you forward an invitation to our next clean energy event to your network, offering the partner rate.

On January 27th, SDForum's third annual PWC Quarterly Venture Breakfast Series was sponsored and moderated by Pillsbury Winthrop LLP, and focused on the "2008 Scorecard ." The PWC MoneyTree Report, Q3 2008 report was presented by Steve Bengston and is available at https://www.pwcmoneytree.com/MTPublic/ns/moneytree/filesource/exhibits/Q3%202008%20MoneyTree%20Report_final.pdf. Our panel included:

•          Steve Bengston, PricewaterhouseCoopers
•          Asheem Chandna, Greylock Partners
•          Peter Sonsini, NEA
•          Sharon Wienbar, Scale Venture Partners
•          Moderator: Allison Leopold Tilley, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

The economy is on top of everyone's mind in Silicon Valley, and no wonder with the slew of bad news pounding us every day:

•          There were 6 IPOs in 2008, the lowest in 30 years
•          Fundraising in Q4 is lower and this is a predictor of investment dollars.
•          VCs have stopped funding some portfolio companies.
•          There are more layoffs/cost cutting/unemployment in corporations across the valley.

It does seem like conditions have changed in the valley, and it's a lot harder to build another Google.

•          The time to IPO is longer.
•          New deals must now be more perfect than before.
•          There are lots of down-rounds.
•          There are fewer deals per fund, and higher reserves for each deal.
•          Of the total 2700 venture firms, only about 600 or so actively invested in new companies.
•          Some VCs are carrying the load of bad portfolio investments and also have the problems of their syndicate partners running out of funds.

However, the valley remains a hot investment area, despite the weak economy. For example, over the past 30 years, Silicon Valley has been a leader in venture investment dollars, and the trend continues. In addition, portfolio companies today are much better off than portfolio companies of 2001, where many of them lost 90% of their value. Today, even if valuations are down, many portfolio companies are doing well. And with the growth of Southern California investments, the overall California investments now total around 50% of all investments nationwide.

In addition, despite the message of doom and gloom, there is clear evidence that the venture model still works! On average, over the past 30 years, the venture has done well in comparison to S&P and NASDAQ for example, with the companies in the top quartile earning the bulk of the returns. In addition, there continues to be a strong demand for innovation, and this is less likely to occur in corporations as they are cutting back on R&D, relying more on partnerships with start-ups to remain innovative.

Over the past decade or so, there was a massive oversupply of crummy VCs who were funding crummy companies. This downturn helps to weed them out. Last year, valuations were extraordinarily high, and many seasoned VCs were waiting for more realistic valuations before investing. These investors know that investing in successful early stage companies will lead to the highest pay-offs, and are actively seeking investment opportunities now that valuations are more realistic.

When our panel was asked the question 'Who is the next Google', there were many questions in response:

•          Which companies and industries were in the top quartile over the past few years, and what new opportunity may arise?
•          What opportunities can arise from the disruption in the cloud computing and virtualization space?
•          How can crowd-sourcing solutions bring together customers and providers and what business models will work in that space?
•          How is the nascent clean tech area with its huge, global market going to evolve and how do you bring it to market?

But for early stage companies, the business fundamentals still apply, and are even more crucial!

•          It's all about the people!
•         Build relationships of trust with your investors, staff, partners, and other key stakeholders.
•         Be transparent in your communication to all, especially if there's something negative to communicate.
•          Only the dedicated and hard-working can succeed.
•         Have the passion and the persistence and guts to start a company, even in a tough market. Investors can respect that!
•         Show that you're willing to work hard, and are coachable/easy to work with.
•         Put in your own sweat equity.
•         Investors fund people with a good idea that they're passionate about and knowledgeable about.
•         If you're doing an execution play, you better prove that you can execute!
•          Be Strategic About What You Want to Do
•         Focus on a plan that is capital efficient, an ROI that makes sense.
•         Know your market and have a 'privileged insight into an emerging trend'.
•         First to market goes a long way. Build traction and show the 'angle of the scent'.
•          Make Sure That You Execute on Commitments
•         Conserve cash and be operationally efficient/have a low ongoing burn rate.
•         Use metrics and timelines to report on your progress.
•         If you've already received funding, ensure that you're one of the top 5-10 performing portfolio companies.

But in the end, despite economic challenges, it is a good time for passionate, dedicated entrepreneurs with game-changing ideas to start a new company. Indeed, investors in the top quartile will definitely pay attention to entrepreneurs who have the persistence and courage to start a company, especially during a downturn. Google was a product of the last downturn – so maybe YOUR start-up could become the next Google!

•  An E-mail to be sent out promoting the event jointly with FountainBlue while wo do the same
• On-site support at the event, to help with registration
• Joint welcome of the audience
• Either separate registration for the event or having FountainBlue manage the registration with event earnings going directly to partner organization
• Support in program development, as needed
• And other tasks, as agreed

In turn, FountainBlue would:

• Work with partner to develop the program
• Compile all registrations and send out registration confirmations and follow-up notes
• Coordinate panelist communications and provide thank you gifts to panelists
• And other tasks, as agreed