FountainBlue's
monthly newsletter is designed to help you plan your activities with
FountainBlue, and benefit from the wisdom gained from our monthly
events. It is
sent monthly to all FountainBlue members on Wild Apricot http://fountainblue.shuttlepod.org, as an additional
benefit
of membership, and we welcome you to forward it on to interested
others, with
proper reference to FountainBlue, our community, and our speakers. Below are past monthly newsletters for your reference.
To
sign up for the newsletter, complete the adjacent form, and specify whether you are interested in our clean energy, high tech, life science, virtual worlds, executives or women leader information or any combination thereof.
FountainBlue December Newsletter
FountainBlue's monthly newsletter
is designed to communicate regularly with our members, to announce FountainBlue
events for the month, to make special offerings to our members, and to share
wisdom gained from our community. It is sent monthly, and we welcome you to
forward it on to interested others, with proper reference to FountainBlue, our
community, and our speakers. This is our final newsletter sent to a combined
audience as next month, we will have individual newsletters sent to our clean
energy, life science, women leader, and executives and entrepreneur
communities.
Happy Holidays
Thank you for all you have
personally done on our behalf throughout the six years we’ve run our events and
built our community. We are especially touched by the responses and feedback from
last month’s newsletter regarding sunsetting our events – people who have not
participated in a long time, or people who have never attended, yet appreciated
our work.
Silicon Valley is special because
of people like you! We invite your inquiries, suggestions, feedback and
interest as we continue with our consulting, coaching and recruiting efforts
and wish you the very best for a successful new year! If you’re interested in catching up over the
phone or in person, please visit http://meetwith.me/lindaholroyd
and suggest a good time to connect.
What’s New with FountainBlue: Membership
Benefits
Thank you for your generous
support and understanding as we transition into recruiting, consulting and
coaching services. Below is an updated list of membership benefits. We hope
that you will renew your membership, if our services serve your needs and
support your objectives, and welcome your feedback and input.
Career Support Benefits:
Half hour phone call with job-seekers to strategize on search objectives
with follow-up e-mails to selected contacts, available once a year. Other
support is available at a members-only rate of $175/hour (or a non-member rate
of $200/hour).
Discounted rates for filling job reqs for members and their companies,
depending on the position, level, role, location, etc
Members will have access to full open job req information and are invited
to submit applications for open positions or forward the job req to interested
others in their network.
Event Admission Benefits:
Discounted admissions to any FountainBlue events. Although we sunsetted
all of our entrepreneur events effective January 1, 2012, we continue to offer
our monthly When She Speaks, women in leadership series events, and may also
run other events on occasion.
Discounted and free passes to partner events in Silicon Valley when
available.
Promotional Benefits:
Members may nominate a company for our monthly 'profiles in innovation'
article, part of our weekly newsletter.
Opportunity to promote events produced by other organizations within the
Silicon Valley, focusing on serving early stage clean energy, high tech or life
science entrepreneurs or women leaders. Regular recommendations are sent out
roughly weekly to FountainBlue members.
Members may introduce us to early stage entrepreneurs in their network
who may be in need of our coaching, consulting or advisory services.
Early Stage Company or
Intrapreneur Benefits:
Opportunity to meet one-on-one for one hour of complementary discussion
on early stage clean energy, high tech or life science entrepreneurial efforts.
Additional ongoing support is available on a consulting basis for $200 an hour,
and includes e-mail follow-ups and introductions, as well as optional
participation as an advisory board member.
Ongoing strategic introductions to potential strategic investors,
partners, founders and customers in support of your entrepreneurial cause.
Facilitating an introduction to US Trade and Export for consultation on
marketing products and services outside the US.
One facilitated strategic or executive session a year, at a discounted
rate of $100/hour.
E-mail feedback and input on business model or executive summary.
Other benefits, to be determined.
Notes From Last Month's FountainBlue
Events
It is our hope that
the notes we take during an event will stimulate thinking, continued
conversations and connections one conversation, one leader, one organization at
a time. We make our notes available free
to all attendees, and to the general community and are happy to share a synopsis
of these notes below.
FountainBlue’s Clean Energy
Entrepreneurs’ Forum was on the topic of Next Generation Solar Solutions http://fountainblue.wordpress.com/2011/11/08/next-generation-solar-solutions-2/.
Below are notes from the conversation.
We were fortunate to have a wide range of perspectives on the panel:
entrepreneurs from Asia, Europe and India, technology innovations in
microinverters, integrated power and lighting, customized and integrated solar
solutions with web-based user interface, and solar plant managers. Together,
they have spent decades in the clean energy space, watching the ups and downs
and have remarked on the following trends:
Partly due to the manufacturing and process innovations introduced by China,
(and neglecting the environmental impact of these changes) solar panels have
become largely a commodity, impacting the industry overall.
Led by Germany’s embracing of the solar market potential through subsidies,
many European countries followed and enjoyed leadership in adoption and market,
but financially-imposed policy changes in most European countries other than
Germany makes it now difficult for both innovators and customers in Europe.
Hence, people are looking more closely at markets in Asia and Latin America.
The US with its huge market, technology innovations, entrepreneurial culture
and great weather has the potential to be a leader in this space. However,
local, state and federal policy hurdles, infrastructure challenges, lack of
cooperation and coordination between major stakeholders, funding challenges,
local government bureaucrats and policies are making it difficult for
entrepreneurs to succeed.
FountainBlue’s November 14 Life
Science Entrepreneurs’ Forum http://fountainblue.wordpress.com/2011/11/15/personalized-medicine/
was on the topic of Personalized Medicine, Biomarkers, Invitro Diagnostics: The
Science Advances, The Business Opportunities, The Cultural Dilemmas. Below are
notes from the conversation.
We were fortunate to have a wide range of perspectives and experiences on our
panel, representing decades of expertise in personalized medicine, biopharma,
oncology, infectious diseases, internal medicine, proteomics, and optics. They
each spoke eloquently about the evolution of the personalized medicine industry
and the opportunities and challenges ahead.
Our panelists are quite bullish about the opportunities in personalized
medicine, remarking on the great progress made over the last decade or two,
leveraging revolutionary technologies, research and other innovations and
success stories from companies such as Cepheid, Genomic Health, Roche and Gilead.
As we move from the first generation of non-specific diagnosis focused on
treating symptoms (all typical of health care today), we gravitate toward
solutions which require information correlation, providing organized therapies
targeting those who would be most responsive to them, based on detailed
analysis and research prior to treatment, known as translational medicine.
Examples of such include digital imaging, genetic predisposition testing, and
clinical genomics. The longer-term objectives for personalized medicine might
include disease prevention and effective chronic disease management, and might
leverage molecular medicine, CA diagnostics, pre-symptomatic treatment and
lifetime treatment. (Source: Richard Bakalar, MD, IBM Healthcare and Life Sciences,
November 3, 2004.)
FountainBlue’s November 11 When She
Speaks, Women in Leadership Series was on the topic of Tips for Enlarging Your
Sandbox: Learn to play with people who don’t act right (like you). http://fountainblue.wordpress.com/2011/11/14/tips-for-enlarging-your-sandbox/
Below are notes from the conversation. We were fortunate to have a wide range of perspectives and experiences on our
panel, representing women from different educational and cultural backgrounds,
from different departments, with different experiences and skills. But they had
many things in common:
• They constantly strive to learn and improve and make things better for
themselves and for those around them.
• They keep raising the bar for themselves, electing to feel uncomfortable
rather than settling and being complacent.
• They are succeeding in ways big and small in their personal and professional
lives.
• They are constantly giving back, engaging others in their networks and
creating bigger, broader infrastructure, supporting the success of more women
and men.
• They do not shrink from daunting and intimidating tasks, but always rise up
and find a way to create a bigger plan, a collaborative success, and
particularly gravitating to challenging tasks and groups.
With the qualities above (note how they are all inter-related and feed upon
themselves), it is no wonder that our panelists are so successful, and poised
for further success. Our panelists started by commenting on why they thought
expanding their sandbox, being open to working with people who did not think
and act like you do, was beneficial to themselves personally and to their
organizations.
Starting in January and for six
months, we are pleased to partner with our sponsor and producer Monali Jain, to
conduct weekly radio interviews on KLOK 1170 AM, owned and operated by
Principle Broadcasting Network. This radio show will feature prominent India
intrapreneurs and entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, and interviews will reach an
audience of approximately 200,000 Indian women in the Bay Area. Below is a
tentative calendar for our upcoming radio shows over the next six months, to be
held on Thursdays at 10 a.m. Please e-mail us at info@whenshespeaks.com if you have
suggestions on topics and speakers for each of these interviews. We hope that
you will join us in this conversation.
January
Theme: Leveraging Technology To Add Value To Our Community
1/5: Technology To Foster Mentorship in
Education with Usha Sekar
1/12: Technology To Connect People and
Communities with Sudha Jamthe
1/19: Technology In MedTech
1/26: Technology To Automate Our Lives
February
Theme: Negotiation Secrets for Women
2/2: Negotiating Your Value at Work
2/9: Negotiating With Your Spouse
2/16: Negotiating with Friends
2/23: Find Your Walking Point
March
Theme: Expanding Your Network
3/1: The Value of Networking
3/8: Supporting Your Community
3/15: Mentors and Ambassadors
3/22: Strategic Networking
3/29: Leveraging Social Media to Expand
Your Network
April
Theme: Giving Back
4/5: How Giving Back Pays Off
4/12: Deciding Which Nonprofit to
Support
4/19: Profiling a Nonprofit: (one that
supports Indian women in technology)
4/26: Profiling a Nonprofit (one that
supports girls in technology)
May Theme:
The Mothers In Our Lives
5/3: My Mother and Me: Interview with
Indian professional woman (4 different interviews)
5/10:
5/17:
5/24:
5/31:
June
Theme: Work-Life Balance
6/7: The Juggling Act: Interview with
Indian professional woman (4 different interviews)
6/14:
6/21:
6/28:
Profiles in Innovation
Beginning with our next newsletters in January
2012, FountainBlue will be highlighting a clean energy, high tech and life
science entrepreneurs, with a different theme every month - see below for the
draft themes. If you are interested in nominating a company for an upcoming
newsletter, please visit www.svcleanenergy.com
for clean energy submissions, www.svlifescience.com
for life science submissions and www.sventrepreneurs.com for high tech submissions or e-mail your
profile to info@svcleanenergy.com, info@svlifescience.com or info@sventrepreneurs.com with the
following information:
Name and
Company:
100-word
description of why it is innovative:
Link for
more information
URL with
picture of innovation.
Clean Energy Monthly Themes
January Theme:
Software Innovations in Clean Tech
February Theme: Water
Purification and Distribution
March Theme: Clean
Tech Meets Biotech
April Theme:
Entrepreneurs Working with the Utilities
May Theme: Energy
Efficiency Solutions
June Theme: Sensors in
Green Tech
July Theme: Clean
Green Financing Options
August Theme:
Transportation Greening Advances
September Theme:
Energy Storage
October Theme:
Innovations for the Built Environment
November Theme: Next
Generation Solar Solutions
December Theme:
Materials Innovation in Clean Tech
High Tech Monthly Themes
January Theme: Hot
Tech Investment Areas for 2012
February Theme: Hot
iPhone Apps
March Theme: Social
Media Innovations
April Theme: Business
Analytics in Energy Management
May Theme: Cloud and
Storage Innovations
June Theme: Sensors
and Software for Consumers
July Theme: Hot iPad
Apps
August Theme: Business
Analytics in Healthcare
September Theme:
Virtual World Innovations
October Theme: Hot
SaaS Solutions
November Theme:
Business Analytics in Telecommunications
December Theme:
Freemium to Premium Success Stories
Life Science Monthly Themes
January Theme:
Investors Speaking on Life Science Investment Trends
February Theme:
Medical Devices: Medical Diagnostics
March Theme:
Maintaining Food Safety and Integrity
April Theme: Software
Automating the Patient Experience
May Theme: The Future
of Pharma
June Theme: Medical
Imaging
July Theme: Medical
Devices for Baby Boomer Market
August Theme: Software
Automating
September Theme:
Personalized Medicine
October Theme: Medical
Devices: Mobile Health
November Theme:
Medical Device: Drug Delivery Innovations
December Theme:
Robotics in Med Tech
Recommendations from the Community
Announcing: Resource to Stop Burn Out!
Removing barriers to
performance is essential and a responsibility shared by many — HR, T&D,
supervisors, managers and team leaders. To support that shared responsibility,
Camille LIVE, videos to work and live by, presents: The Bright Side of Burn
Out: How to recognize & fix it! Why?
Because you and your people have more important things to do than burn out!
This lively, 30-minute
video guides viewers through a 4-step process to reduce burnout and focus on
what matters. The single seat license ($29.99) includes an 8-page Learner's
Guide with easy-to-follow exercises and a complete transcript. Also available:
multi-viewer rates, DVD with unlimited seats, and Team Facilitation Guide. Go to http://www.wipcoaching.com/the-brightside-of-burnout
to hear what people are saying, then hit the “Sign Up Now” button. Got questions? Contact Camille@wipcoaching.com or call
831-685-1480.
This Month’s Leadership Quotes
Each month, we celebrate a different leadership
theme, with a different quote each day from a recognized, or not-so-well-known
leader. December Theme: Balance: Balance your successes with your lessons, your
work with your life, your community with yourself.
Balance your heart with your mind,
your mind with your hands. Linda Holroyd, FountainBlue
The invaluable mark of wisdom is to
see the miraculous with the common. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Harmony makes small things grow.
Lack of it makes great things decay. Sallust
There’s no secret to balance. You
just have to feel the waves. Frank Herbert
Happiness is not a matter of
intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony. Thomas Merton
Our greatest weapon against stress
is our ability to choose one thought over another. William James
The most important human endeavor is
the striving for morality in our actions. Our inner balance and even our very
existence depend on it. Albert Einstein
Next to excellence is the
appreciation of it. William Makepeace Thackeray
If you listen closely, your body
will tell you if you are out of balance, and your mind will tell you why you
are and how to fix it. Linda Holroyd, FountainBlue
10.
When people speak ill of thee, live
as if nobody may believe them. Plato
11.
It is not length of life, but depth
of life. Ralph Waldo Emerson
12.
Nothing gives one person so much
advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all
circumstances. Thomas Jefferson
13.
Now and then, it's good to pause in
our pursuit of happiness and just be happy. Guillame Apollinaire
14.
You perform better when your
thoughts, feelings, emotions, goals, and values are in balance. Brian Tracy
15.
Adopt the pace of nature. Her secret
is patience. Ralph Waldo Emerson
16.
A well-developed sense of humor is
the pole that adds balance to your steps as you walk the tightrope of life.
William Arthur Ward
17.
Most men pursue pleasure with such
breathless haste that they hurry past it. Soren Kierkegaard
18.
Life is like riding a bicycle. To
keep your balance you must keep moving. Albert Einstein
19.
Aim not for a complete balance every
day, but an overall balance over many days. Linda Holroyd, FountainBlue
20.
"Balance, peace, and joy are
the fruit of a successful life. Thomas Kinkade
21.
Very little is needed to make a
happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking. Marcus Aurelius
22.
"Live a balanced life - learn
some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work
every day some. Robert Fulghum
23.
Everyone should take time out once
in a while to recharge and revitalize their energy. The key is to have a
balanced life. Michael Lee
24.
The foundation stones for a balanced
success are honesty, character, integrity, faith, love and loyalty. Zig Ziglar
25.
The word happy would lose its
meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. It is far better to take things as
they come along with patience and equanimity. Carl Jung
26.
Look for loyalty, integrity, a high
energy drive, a balanced ego and the desire to get things done. Colin Powell
27.
Everything that rises sets, and
everything that grows, grows old. Sallust
28.
Happiness is the absence of striving
for happiness. Zhuangzi
29.
Have a vision you're passionate
about, the drive to make it happen, and the perspective to keep them balanced.
Linda Holroyd, FountainBlue
30.
Happiness is not a matter of intensity
but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony. Thomas Merton
31.
Whether what you do or what you have
is really good or really not, it is what it is. Acceptance is a first step to a
life of balance. Linda Holroyd, FountainBlue
Quotes from Women Leaders
FountainBlue is
honoring our fifth birthday by celebrating the wisdom gained and shared by our
speakers from our When She Speaks series, which was launched in May 2006. We
have encapsulated their remarks and contributions and compiled them into 101
truths, with overarching themes, and ten specific ideas and suggestions for
each one. Each month, we will cover an overarching theme and then describe
concepts or ideas around that theme, as well as quotes from our speakers as
they eloquently express the concept. Your comments are welcome. E-mail us at info@whenshespeaks.com.
This month’s theme is
on mentorship and how having the right mentors will help set you apart
It’s Not Personal,
It’s Just Business
51.
Emotions are a
double-edged sword – it could indicate passion, or it could color your
judgment.
Emotions have their place, under the guidance of the head,
fueling the passion for the cause.
For best results,
engage the left brain to think strategically and the right brain to act and
communicate passionately. Eileen Sullivan
52.
Learn to read people
quickly, and make corrections quickly if they aren’t who you thought they were.
When you’re a leader
working with a lot of people, it’s important to have filters and stereotypes in
place so that you can access the situation at the highest level. But it’s
equally important to delve into details in interacting with people to check
those filters, assumptions and stereotypes.
Give everyone the benefit of the
doubt, but not to the point of folly. Only open up to your trusted network. Darcy Kiefaber, Human Resources Manager,
LifeScan, Inc. – Diabetes Franchise with the J&J family of Companies
53.
If you choose to climb
the corporate ladder, you must be tough enough to navigate politics and people
issues and challenges, without taking things personally.
Many people decide that politics is not for them when they
start succeeding and become a victim of the game. But when you’re more
experienced and see that there is a game, and make a choice about whether to
play the game, you will be better positioned to succeed in the game.
Be the kind of
results-oriented, strategic people person who is courageous enough to
consciously and proactively play that game and band people together to create
order from chaos. Kristen Dearing, Strategic Sales, Global Communications &
Media Practice, Sun Microsystems
54.
Where there are
people, there will be politics. Be resilient and savvy enough to play politics,
and remember it’s not personal, it’s just business.
Don’t let the actions and intentions of small-minded people
push your buttons. Rise above the noise and stick to the higher cause.
Don’t let it get
personal. Focus on the facts, the actions and build upon what you can do
together, one conversation at a time. Ruth Gaube, Vice President and Deputy
General Counsel, Symantec Corporation
55.
Learn to navigate the
inevitable politics by planning strategically, communicating clearly, acting
decisively.
One way to rise above the emotions in politically charged
situations is to keep a tight rein on the emotional side of you, and having
impersonal, left-brained responses in the moment – not something easy to do!
Effectiveness is
rooted in thinking strategically, communicating passionately and
collaboratively driving bottom line results. Shari Atwood, Vice President,
Global Solutions and Programs, Symantec
56.
Have a trusted circle
of colleagues who will help you react and respond when emotions run high.
When you rein it in all day, make sure you have a support
group, a place to turn to release your frustrations and energies especially
when there’s a lot at stake.
Keep your cool in the
moment, but create a trusted sounding board you can turn to when emotions are
charged, when the situation is stressful. Vidya Venkatesh, Senior Specialist,
Global Product Support, Life Technologies
57.
Build trust-based
relationships and networks, but make business choices based on what’s right for
your project or the business, not based on relationships.
Who you know and associate with will impact how well you
get things done.
Build a broad and deep
strategic, trusted network committed to driving mutually beneficial results.
Pat Perry, VP-GM IT Sales and Marketing Solutions, Intel
58.
When under personal
attack, take the high road and think about why something is happening and what
you can do to fix it, rather than reacting strongly and emotionally to a
personal attack.
When you get feedback that you don’t like, yet part of you
think that you might have heard before – have the courage to admit that there’s
a kernel of truth there, the fortitude to explore what that truth is, and the
grace to be thankful to the person giving you feedback.
Be open enough to
invite input and feedback, particularly when it’s something you don’t want to
hear. It will help you grow in your thinking and your doing, and encourage
others to support your growth. Peggy Wolf, Manager, Services Global I&D,
Cisco
59.
Never stoop to the
level of those around you, but do challenge them to raise the bar.
Keep your chin up, your eyes forward when you feel someone
inviting you to stoop below yourself and play their game.
It’s hard not to take
things personally, but stepping into that higher space and understanding why
someone did what they did will help you clear the air between the two of you and
look for common ground. Yvonne Huygen, Worldwide PR Director, Synopsys
60.
It’s a balancing act
to keep matters about business when people are involved, but essential for
delivering quality results.
It’s a fluid balance between the facts and results and the people
who drive them.
For best results, be
centered in the facts and results and sensitive to what people do to detract
from the results and their motivations for doing so. Karen Catlin, Vice
President, Core Services, Adobe
We hope to see you at one of our
upcoming events!
Date & Time: Monday, December 5 from 5:30 until 7:30
p.m.
FountainBlue’s FINAL Clean Energy Entrepreneurs’ Forum
Title: Materials Innovations in Clean Tech
Location: PARC, 3333 Coyote Hill Road, Palo Alto
Pre-registration Cost, by Friday, December 2 at noon:
No-Cost for members, $32 partners, $42 general
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 November 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 Wild Apricot, 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
Wild Apricot, or any of our YahooGroups.
What's New with FountainBlue:
Consulting and Recruiting
Change is a given, one of the few
knowns in life, particularly with the global economy shifting as dramatically
and quickly as it has been recently. Through our activities and through our
conversations with our members, we have decided that we can better serve our
members by providing coaching, consulting and recruiting services, and
supporting partner organizations in producing events for early stage clean
energy, high tech and life science entrepreneurs.
As such, we will be sunsetting
all of our entrepreneur forums, effective January 1, 2012, but will continue to
produce our When She Speaks series on an ongoing basis. We hope that you will
join us for this month’s penultimate events, and our finale events scheduled
for December.
What does this mean for you in terms of event admissions?
If you are not a member, you can join as a member for about $20 and
attend the remaining November and December entrepreneur forums free. Or you can
continue to attend at the partner or general rate of $32-$42 each.
If you are an annual member and you joined this year, you will receive
all membership benefits around our events through this year.
If you are an ongoing member and you joined this year, we will send you
individual e-mails about your options to ensure that you get the
event-attendance value you expected when you joined.
If you are an ongoing member and you joined last year or before, please
send us an e-mail if you would like to have a conversation about how we can
ensure you receive the value you expected when you joined.
If you are confused about whether you’re a member or not, or just want to
have a conversation about our events, please reply to this e-mail with your
thoughts.
Which organizations will we be partnering with?
For our clean energy series, we will continue to work with Clean Tech
Open to support their alumni, and with MITNC and SVForum to support their
program and outreach efforts.
For our life science series, we will continue to work with Bio2Device
group members, with BayLink LLC and their portfolio of clients, and with
MITNC and SVForum to support their program and outreach efforts.
For our high tech efforts, we will continue to partner with AAMA and JHTC
to support their program and outreach efforts, and VLAB as an advisory board
member.
We are continuing to support other organizations in the region by
promoting events to the community. E-mail us at info@FountainBlue.biz if you would like
to have a conversation about working more closely together with your
organization.
What kinds of communications will you be receiving if you are on the
list?
Starting in January, instead of receiving weekly invitations to our clean
energy and life science events, you will receive a weekly newsletter with the
following elements:
What’s new from FountainBlue
Hot trends or recommendations from the community
E-mail us at info@svexecs.com if
you would like us to share a story or article which would be of interest to the
overall community
List of job openings (detailed job descriptions are only available for
members)
Call or e-mail us if you would like to have a conversation about your
hiring needs or if you are interested in specific posted positions
Leadership themes/quotes
Community event recommendations
Other – your suggestions for other topics of interest are welcome
What types of consulting and recruiting services will we provide?
We are offering and refining these services to clients now. Our December
newsletter will provide details on how we will be serving the start-ups and
corporations in our network. In the meantime, please feel free to share your
needs or send us your inquiries through e-mail, info@FountainBlue.biz.
Notes From Last Month's FountainBlue
Events
It is our hope that the
notes we take during an event will stimulate thinking, continued conversations
and connections one conversation, one leader, one organization at a time. We make our notes available free to all
attendees, and to the general community and are happy to share a synopsis of
these notes below.
Our panelists were
quite bullish about the opportunities around sustainable solutions for the
built environment, ranging from the materials innovations around building
materials to the hardware, software, mobile and sensor opportunities around
energy generation and management, to the design, operational and implementation
options available leveraging today’s technology innovations in networks,
software, mobile and other technologies. But each panelist describes the
hurdles interfering with rapid adoption, including:
A fragmented market with a range of stakeholders and
providers throughout the value chain, and the need to coordinate with each of
the established players in that market;
The dominant tendency to embrace complacency and the status
quo with existing building materials and functionality; there’s no strong
impetus to act for most people;
Current low-cost options for everything from windows to
lighting to building materials, making it difficult to select more sustainable,
much more expensive options;
The lack of policies and incentives to stimulate changing
existing functionality and options.
Yet, despite these
challenges, our panelists are able to secure funding, develop technologies,
invest in research and development, and otherwise drive forward alternative
solutions for the built environment which is building momentum and adding
value. They shared some advice for others innovating in this space:
Partner with entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, universities and
other innovators to solve a real problem with real paying customers.
Work with utilities and policy-makers to facilitate and
incentivize wider and faster adoption.
Identify and sell to areas of greatest need rather than
focusing on educating a market that doesn’t yet feel a need.
Collaborate and partner with all players in the value
chain.
Offer integrated solutions leveraging the latest technology
to manage and automate energy usage.
Use energy efficiency as an entry point, speaking to the
ROI, but also provide additional information which provides added value and
information beyond energy usage trends.
Leverage the passion of sustainability enthusiasts.
Facilitate the adoption of sustainability standards.
Generate measurable results and speak to each person in the
value chain based on what’s most important to them.
We were fortunate to
have a range of perspectives on the panel, with a mix of entrepreneurs,
researchers, providers, engineers and executives. Everyone’s diverse
perspectives, thoughts and experience led to a rich, thought-provoking
discussion around drug delivery innovations. The panel commented on some of the
hot areas of innovation in the drug delivery space:
Delivering drugs to difficulty-to-treat areas, including
the eye and the brain
Consider chronic disease treatments and other illnesses
which require frequently injection or medical procedure and the opportunity for
delivering regular low-dose medication as an alternate to this more invasive
approach.
Provide less-invasive drug delivery mechanisms for the
elderly which are more effectively and more convenient.
Make implants less invasive, more reversible, easier to use
and more effective. Same with inhalable and other methods.
Consider delivering proteins and peptides in novel ways to
address specific patient needs for many potential patients.
Research existing and expired patent on drugs and consider
the opportunities for delivering them in a novel way.
Delivering drugs to difficulty-to-treat areas, including
the eye and the brain
Consider chronic disease treatments and other illnesses
which require frequently injection or medical procedure and the opportunity for
delivering regular low-dose medication as an alternate to this more invasive
approach.
Provide less-invasive drug delivery mechanisms for the
elderly which are more effectively and more convenient.
Their advice to entrepreneurs is as follows:
Make implants less invasive, more reversible, easier to use
and more effective. Same with inhalable and other methods.
Consider delivering proteins and peptides in novel ways to
address specific patient needs for many potential patients.
Research existing and expired patent on drugs and consider
the opportunities for delivering them in a novel way.
They have a combination of wisdom and knowledge,
perseverance and strength, leadership and empowerment, and other qualities
which helped them drive results while learning and inspiring.
They are humble about their accomplishments yet generous
with their wisdom and time.
They focus on the problem at hand, and invite new ways of
solving problems which would facilitate innovative approaches and techniques
for themselves, their teams and their organizations.
They are constantly evolving and growing and pushing their
envelope for themselves and for those around them.
They balance their left-brained thinking and methodology
and learning with right-brain creativity and novelty.
Innovation is generally not about one right answer, but an
invitation to have many approaches and answers to a pressing problem.
Innovation is a team sport, better done in a group, rather
than inviting a single hero for every problem.
Innovation does not happen in a silo. People from different
areas, different backgrounds, different industries, etc. will help add the type
of diverse thinking to a team that can help solve problems through
out-of-the-box thinking.
Innovation is not a destination, it’s a journey. So don’t
get complacent with something you’ve innovate, but do continue to iterate and
also to innovate.
The quest for innovation is not seeking a panacea, it’s
about always understanding and serving the customer.
Innovation is not just about technology, it’s about people,
processes, business models.
Innovators persevere, overcoming naysayers and obstacles.
Innovators don’t take things personally, but do take
feedback to re-direct their efforts.
Innovators follow rapid-prototyping practices of failing
frequently and quickly and learn through the iterations.
Innovators push their own comfort zones and that of others,
for the good of all.
Innovators are customer-focused, delivering solutions for
customers, rather than creating a technology without a market.
Innovators have failed much more than they’ve succeeded,
and generally learn more from failures than successes.
High Tech Annual Event: Third Annual
State of the Virtual Worlds Industry Event
In the end, remember that Silicon
Valley is known the world over for its ability to pivot in the face of change,
in order to address the market changes and better address customer needs. As we
taper off our clean energy and life science forums, we will leverage the
networks connected, the communities developed, and the information shared as we
shift our focus to coaching and consulting to early stage start-ups and recruiting
and coaching for mid-size and larger corporations seeking more female and
diverse talent for their management team.
We invite your inquiries,
suggestions, feedback and interest as we continue with our consulting, coaching
and recruiting efforts! If you’re
interested in catching up over the phone or in person, please visit http://meetwith.me/lindaholroyd and
suggest a good time to connect.
We were fortunate to
have a range of experienced panelists actively engaging in the range of virtual
worlds activities. The discussion began with an overview of the industry trend,
moving from more entertainment purposes to more serious applications, from text
and 2 dimensional renderings to more 3D and web experiences. Drivers for richer
adoption of virtual worlds solutions include:
Technology advancements on the client side
for everything from PCs to browsers, to mobile, TV, and headsets which allows
users to experience immersive interactions with others dynamically, real-time;
Increased networking, connectivity and
performance, which allows users more options for dynamic, interactive, engaging
experiences with others; and
Diminishing development costs, which make
it easier for companies to provide solutions in this space.
Gen Y grew up surrounded by technology, and
will push the immersion solutions and technologies and create the kind of
demand that can help spark the industry. They are also fostering a social
transformation with the convergence of personal and business life, which will
impact the market need and technology direction.
Although there have
been many technology advancements, some of the cutting edge applications, the
‘cool’ things are solutions we can do pretty much today. But the seasoned
entrepreneur looks for the business model, the customer needs, the funding
opportunities for these solutions. And many of these solutions are centered
around immersive simulation, training, educating and connecting, especially as
it applies to real-life needs in the area of healthcare, military and defense
applications. In the corporate arena, virtual worlds are leveraged to filter
information, make it relevant and engaging, and make it available real-time,
with specific measurable results.
Each month, we celebrate a different leadership
theme, with a different quote each day from a recognized, or not-so-well-known
leader. November Theme: Humility: Humbly embrace and celebrate your successes,
but focus more on empowering others, and taking the next step forward. This
week’s quotes are listed, and we also welcome you to recommend YOUR favorite
quote on this month's theme.
Be humble about your gifts, your
talents, your circumstances. It could have easily gone the other way! Linda
Holroyd, FountainBlue
Do as much as possible and talk of
yourself as little as possible. Sallust
The humblest is the peer of the most
powerful. John Marshall Harlan
A fool thinks himself to be wise,
but a wise man knows himself to be a fool. William Shakespeare
A great man is always willing to be
little. Ralph Waldo Emerson
The knowledge of yourself will
preserve you from vanity. Miguel de Cervantes
No one is content with his fortune,
nor discontent with his intellect. Madame Antoinette Deshoulieres
The attentions I am receiving are
intended more for my country than for me personally. Ulysses S. Grant
True humility comes from a broader,
wiser perspective. It mirrors the compassion and experience of the leader.
Linda Holroyd, FountainBlue
A bore is a person who opens his
mouth and puts his feats in it. Henry Ford
To be humble to superiors is duty,
to equals courtesy, to inferiors nobleness. Benjamin Franklin
I claim to be a simple individual
liable to err like any other fellow mortal. I own, however, that I have
humility enough to confess my errors and to retrace my steps. Mahatma Gandhi
It is better to deserve honors and
not have them than to have them and not deserve them. Mark Twain
He who knows best knows how little
he knows. Thomas Jefferson
The graveyards are full of people
the world could not do without. Elbert Hubbard
Conceit spoils the finest genius.
Louisa May Alcott
I am only an average man, but I work
harder at it than the average man. Theodore Roosevelt
If I have seen further than others,
it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants. Isaac Newton
Pride and excess bring disaster for
man. Xun Zi
Humility is a key ingredient to both
peace of mind, and sense of purpose. Linda Holroyd, FountainBlue
When a man is wrapped up in himself,
he makes a pretty small package. John Ruskin
You probably wouldn't worry about
what people think of you if you knew how seldom they do. Olin Miller
The learning and knowledge that we
have is but little compared with that of which we are ignorant. Plato
The first test of a truly great man
is his humility. John Ruskin
Those who think they know it all are
very annoying to those of us who do. Robert Mueller
The great charm of all power is
modesty. Louisa May Alcott
Humility is the only true wisdom by
which we prepare our minds for all the possible changes of life. George Arliss
It was hard to make fun of him,
because he had so much fun making fun of himself. James Barron
True humility is intelligent self
respect which keeps us from thinking too highly or too meanly of ourselves.
Ralph W. Sockman
Even if you start the snowball
rolling down the hill, remember that you are also just another snowflake going
along for the ride. Linda Holroyd, FountainBlue
Quotes from Women Leaders
FountainBlue is
honoring our fifth birthday by celebrating the wisdom gained and shared by our
speakers from our When She Speaks series, which was launched in May 2006. We
have encapsulated their remarks and contributions and compiled them into 101
truths, with overarching themes, and ten specific ideas and suggestions for
each one. Each month, we will cover an overarching theme and then describe
concepts or ideas around that theme, as well as quotes from our speakers as
they eloquently express the concept. Your comments are welcome. E-mail us at info@whenshespeaks.com.
This month’s theme is
‘It’s Not Personal, It’s Just Business’
51.
Emotions are a
double-edged sword – it could indicate passion, or it could color your
judgment.
Emotions have their place, under the guidance of the head,
fueling the passion for the cause.
For best results,
engage the left brain to think strategically and the right brain to act and
communicate passionately. Eileen Sullivan
52.
Learn to read people
quickly, and make corrections quickly if they aren’t who you thought they were.
When you’re a leader
working with a lot of people, it’s important to have filters and stereotypes in
place so that you can access the situation at the highest level. But it’s
equally important to delve into details in interacting with people to check
those filters, assumptions and stereotypes.
Give everyone the benefit of the
doubt, but not to the point of folly. Only open up to your trusted network. Darcy Kiefaber, Human Resources Manager,
LifeScan, Inc. – Diabetes Franchise with the J&J family of Companies
53.
If you choose to climb
the corporate ladder, you must be tough enough to navigate politics and people
issues and challenges, without taking things personally.
Many people decide that politics is not for them when they
start succeeding and become a victim of the game. But when you’re more
experienced and see that there is a game, and make a choice about whether to
play the game, you will be better positioned to succeed in the game.
Be the kind of
results-oriented, strategic people person who is courageous enough to consciously
and proactively play that game and band people together to create order from
chaos. Kristen Dearing, Strategic Sales, Global Communications & Media
Practice, Sun Microsystems
54.
Where there are
people, there will be politics. Be resilient and savvy enough to play politics,
and remember it’s not personal, it’s just business.
Don’t let the actions and intentions of small-minded people
push your buttons. Rise above the noise and stick to the higher cause.
Don’t let it get
personal. Focus on the facts, the actions and build upon what you can do
together, one conversation at a time. Ruth Gaube, Vice President and Deputy
General Counsel, Symantec Corporation
55.
Learn to navigate the
inevitable politics by planning strategically, communicating clearly, acting
decisively.
One way to rise above the emotions in politically charged
situations is to keep a tight rein on the emotional side of you, and having
impersonal, left-brained responses in the moment – not something easy to do!
Effectiveness is
rooted in thinking strategically, communicating passionately and
collaboratively driving bottom line results. Shari Atwood, Vice President,
Global Solutions and Programs, Symantec
56.
Have a trusted circle
of colleagues who will help you react and respond when emotions run high.
When you rein it in all day, make sure you have a support
group, a place to turn to release your frustrations and energies especially
when there’s a lot at stake.
Keep your cool in the
moment, but create a trusted sounding board you can turn to when emotions are
charged, when the situation is stressful. Vidya Venkatesh, Senior Specialist,
Global Product Support, Life Technologies
57.
Build trust-based
relationships and networks, but make business choices based on what’s right for
your project or the business, not based on relationships.
Who you know and associate with will impact how well you
get things done.
Build a broad and deep
strategic, trusted network committed to driving mutually beneficial results.
Pat Perry, VP-GM IT Sales and Marketing Solutions, Intel
58.
When under personal
attack, take the high road and think about why something is happening and what
you can do to fix it, rather than reacting strongly and emotionally to a
personal attack.
When you get feedback that you don’t like, yet part of you
think that you might have heard before – have the courage to admit that there’s
a kernel of truth there, the fortitude to explore what that truth is, and the
grace to be thankful to the person giving you feedback.
Be open enough to
invite input and feedback, particularly when it’s something you don’t want to
hear. It will help you grow in your thinking and your doing, and encourage
others to support your growth. Peggy Wolf, Manager, Services Global I&D,
Cisco
59.
Never stoop to the
level of those around you, but do challenge them to raise the bar.
Keep your chin up, your eyes forward when you feel someone
inviting you to stoop below yourself and play their game.
It’s hard not to take
things personally, but stepping into that higher space and understanding why
someone did what they did will help you clear the air between the two of you
and look for common ground. Yvonne Huygen, Worldwide PR Director, Synopsys
60.
It’s a balancing act
to keep matters about business when people are involved, but essential for
delivering quality results.
It’s a fluid balance between the facts and results and the
people who drive them.
For best results, be centered in the facts and
results while being sensitive to how people are contributing to those results.
What challenges are they are facing? What support do they need to be
successful? Karen Catlin, Vice President, Core Services, Adobe
We hope to see you at one of our upcoming events!
Date & Time: Monday, November
7 from 5:30 until 7:30 p.m.
FountainBlue’s Clean Energy
Entrepreneurs’ Forum
Title: Next Generation Solar
Solutions
Location: PARC, 3333 Coyote Hill
Road, Palo Alto
Pre-registration Cost, by Friday,
November 4 at noon: No-Cost for members, $32 partners, $42 general
Date & Time: Monday, December 5 from 5:30 until 7:30
p.m.
FountainBlue’s FINAL Clean Energy Entrepreneurs’ Forum
Title: Materials Innovations in Clean Tech
Location: PARC, 3333 Coyote Hill Road, Palo Alto
Pre-registration Cost, by Friday, December 2 at noon:
No-Cost for members, $32 partners, $42 general
On-Site Cost: $42 members, $52 non-members
Members and Prospective Members can pre-register at:
http://fountainblue.shuttlepod.org/cleanenergy
Non-Members and Partners can register at:
http://www.svcleanenergy.com
To add questions, answers and resources on this and other
FountainBlue topics, visit our crowdsourcing resource at Quora
http://www.quora.com/Linda-Holroyd/questions
Audience: Entrepreneurs, Intrapreneurs and Investors only.
No service providers please.
Facilitator Jill Weir, Product Manager, TE Connectivity
Panelist Scott Elrod, Vice President, Director of Hardware
Systems Laboratory, PARC
Panelist Annie Hazlehurst, Associate, DFJ
Panelist Angel Orrantia, Direct Materials - New Business
Development, Applied Materials, to be confirmed
Panelist from Serious Materials to be confirmed
Presenting Entrepreneur Caleb Bell, Founder, Bell
Technologies
Presenting Entrepreneur Alok Gupta, Director of Technology
and Sustainability, pureSilicon
Presenting Entrepreneur Phillip Roberts, CEO and Founder,
Ionex Energy Storage Systems Inc.
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 October 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 Wild Apricot, 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
Wild Apricot, or any of our YahooGroups.
What's New with FountainBlue:
Membership Dues
Unbelievably, we are in the last
quarter of 2011! Many people report that there’s a new energy, a new optimism
out there in the business world, and things that have gotten shelved for a long
time are resurrecting for those resilient and persistent enough to stay the
course. May you be one of those benefiting from the shift!
As we begin gearing down for this
year, and ramping up for next, please note that we will be raising membership
dues to $100/year, and keeping our clean energy and life science events as
complementary events for our members. In addition, starting January 1,
admission for our When She Speaks series will increase to $25 for members, $30
for partners and $35 for non-members, but the corporate rate will remain $150.
As always, your thoughts on
upcoming topics and speakers are welcome. Please contact us over the phone or
over e-mail, or members may click on our availability link to suggest a good
time to meet in person or over the phone by visiting http://www.meetwith.me/lindaholroyd
and suggesting a good meeting time.
Fresh Dialogues http://www.freshdialogues.com/ is a
Silicon Valley interview series focused on green business issues. Check out lively interviews with tech
visionaries, business leaders, and cultural icons, like Tom Friedman, Vinod Khosla and Martin Sheen. Soak up the energy of
those who are finding sustainable solutions, and changing the way we impact our
planet. People like Bloom Energy’s
KR Sridhar and companies like Google.
Host, Alison van Diggelen http://www.freshdialogues.com/welcome/
asks Fresh Questions and gets Fresh Answers. Join the conversation on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fresh-Dialogues/88939185776
and watch Fresh Dialogues YouTube Channel. http://www.youtube.com/user/FreshDialogues
The proper structure and terms for Advisor Agreements is
one of the most popular discussion topics on TheFunded.com, and for good
reason. Over the years, I have gotten literally hundreds of advisor agreements
to review - and every one is different. Nobody knows what to do or what is
fair. It's surprising that it has taken this long for standards to be set, but
we are trying to change that with the release of a standard advisor legal
template. This is a work in progress and comments are welcome. http://www.founderinstitute.com/contents/fast
Notes From Last Month's FountainBlue
Events
It is our hope that
the notes we take during an event will stimulate thinking, continued
conversations and connections one conversation, one leader, one organization at
a time. We make our notes available free
to all attendees, and to the general community and are happy to share a
synopsis of these notes below.
Energy storage and
management is a critical piece of the energy equation as storing and managing
generated energy makes energy more predictably available, with less
variability. The challenge is to proactively generate large quantities of
energy and make it readily and dynamically available to a ever-growing and
demanding audience. The panelists concurred on the major challenges for
providing efficient storage and management systems:
• Storage and management solutions must be
scalable and cost-effective.
• They must work within the existing
infrastructure.
• Solutions must be easy-to-use in order for
customers to adopt it.
• To fit the above three criteria, solutions
must leverage proven, solid technologies in order to be cost-effective,
scalable, and readily trusted and adopted.
Our panelists
concurred that it’s an exciting time to innovate in the medical device space,
because of the advancements in technology, rising consumerization and expansion
into global markets, and the growing receptiveness of an industry which has
historically been slow-moving.
Technology Advancements Enabling Innovation
They remarked on some
trends in the medical device space and their implications for the industry. The
overarching themes is the advancement of technology and the transference of
technology solutions from traditionally other sectors and impacting the medical
device industry.
There was much discussion around the miniaturization trend,
where products which were the size refrigerators are reduced to the size of a
microwave, products the size of a microwave reduced to the size of a hand-held,
and products formerly the size of a hand-held are getting really small, even
nano size. The implication is that products will be manufactured, tested and
delivered more efficiently and more cost-effectively.
Sensor technologies are being applied to implantables,
therapeutic, diagnostic, and other devices.
Database solutions are enabling business analytics
solutions which address challenges ranging from IT in healthcare to patient
diagnostics to personalized medicine.
Cloud storage is an enabling technology for business analytics
and other database solutions, making it more cost-effective to manage huge
volumes of moving data, and empowering fact-based decision-making which impact
patients, providers, care-givers, insurers, etc.
Advancements in wireless and mobile devices and software
are enabling novel diagnostic, monitoring, enabling and other solutions for
patients and their caregivers.
Technology advancements in biochemical discovery and
genetic markers are enabling additional opportunities for medical devices
around diagnostics, monitoring, and other areas.
Consumerization and Expansion in Global Markets
Baby boomers in the US
will increasingly demand more consumer solutions to better monitor, enable, and
support their personal health and well-being, especially given the rising cost
of healthcare, the increased needs of an aging population, and the growing
range of options available. This techno-philic demographic group will also be
receptive to technology-enabled solutions which would deliver the information
they seek in a timely manner.
Emerging countries
such as Asia, India and Brazil will have an ever-growing, more financially
independent middle class with a similar desire to take more control and
responsibility for their own health.
Growing Receptiveness and Collaboration Based on Technology
Advancements and Market Trends
With technology
advancements and rising global demand, our panelists are hopeful that the
industry will see more collaboration and cross-pollination between pharma,
medical device and medical imaging companies, leveraging software and
technology plus more opportunities for getting solutions developed, tested and
into the hands of eager users.
We were fortunate to
have a great panel of wise, experienced and successful women who so candidly
shared their challenges, their advice, their tips about working with rules
within and outside a corporate setting, to benefit all. Despite the differences
in backgrounds and perspectives, one overarching theme of the conversation
centered around being genuine and authentic and self-aware enough to know what
you want, why you want it, and how to get it, working with current
circumstances, with current stakeholders, many of whom are resistant to
accepting the involvement and participation of a woman.!
Another theme centered
around perseverance and resiliency. These women knew exactly what they were
attempting to do, and especially that it will not be an easy task, yet they acted
despite the critics, despite the norms and rules, and achieved results which
helped redefine perceptions, expectations and ambitions for both men and women.
Our panelists agreed
that many rules are full of assumptions, that rules should be treated as guidelines,
that successful women know how to change and bend the rules to achieve
better-than-expected results, that bending the rules sometimes actually makes a
bigger, better reality. But there *are* some guidelines for deciding when and
whether to bend and break a rule and why. Read the full notes to find out more.
We were fortunate to
have a range of experienced panelists actively engaging in the range of virtual
worlds activities. The discussion began with an overview of the industry trend,
moving from more entertainment purposes to more serious applications, from text
and 2 dimensional renderings to more 3D and web experiences. Drivers for richer
adoption of virtual worlds solutions include:
• Technology advancements on the client side
for everything from PCs to browsers, to mobile, TV, and headsets which allows
users to experience immersive interactions with others dynamically, real-time;
• Increased networking, connectivity and
performance, which allows users more options for dynamic, interactive, engaging
experiences with others; and
• Diminishing development costs, which make
it easier for companies to provide solutions in this space.
• Gen Y grew up surrounded by technology, and
will push the immersion solutions and technologies and create the kind of
demand that can help spark the industry. They are also fostering a social
transformation with the convergence of personal and business life, which will
impact the market need and technology direction.
Although there have
been many technology advancements, some of the cutting edge applications, the
‘cool’ things are solutions we can do pretty much today. But the seasoned
entrepreneur looks for the business model, the customer needs, the funding
opportunities for these solutions. And many of these solutions are centered
around immersive simulation, training, educating and connecting, especially as
it applies to real-life needs in the area of healthcare, military and defense
applications. In the corporate arena, virtual worlds are leveraged to filter
information, make it relevant and engaging, and make it available real-time,
with specific measurable results.
Each month, we celebrate a different leadership
theme, with a different quote each day from a recognized, or not-so-well-known
leader. The October Theme: Serendipity: With vision, commitment, engagement and
perseverance, serendipitous opportunities will present themselves. This week’s
quotes are listed, and we also welcome you to recommend YOUR favorite quote on
this month's theme.
Don't plan on serendipitous
opportunities, but do be prepared for opportunities in disguise. Linda Holroyd,
FountainBlue
I never knew an early-rising,
hard-working, prudent man . . . who complained of bad luck. Henry Ward Beecher
A wise man turns chance into good
fortune. Thomas Fuller
I do not believe in fate that falls
on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless
they act. G K Chesterton
No great man ever complained of want
of opportunity. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Life is not a matter of holding good
cards, but sometimes playing a poor hand well. Jack London
Serendipity is looking in a haystack
for a needle and discovering a farmer’s daughter. Julius Comroe Jr.,
Those who have succeeded at anything
and don't mention luck are just kidding themselves. Larry King
When you're at a crossroads, take
the path less comfortable. Linda Holroyd, FountainBlue
10.
The follies which a man regrets most
in his life are those which he didn't commit when he had the opportunity. Helen
Rowland
11.
I will prepare, for someday my
chance may come. Abraham Lincoln
12.
There are no mistakes, no
coincidences. All events and blessings given to us are to learn from. Elisabeth
Kübler-Ross, M.D.
13.
Ability is nothing without
opportunity. Napoleon Bonaparte
14.
Look for something, find something
else, and realize that what you’ve found is more suited to your needs than what
you thought you were looking for. Lawrence Block
15.
You don't reach serendipity by
plotting a course for it. You have to set out in good faith for elsewhere and lose
your bearings . . . Serendipitously. John Barth
16.
Synergy and serendipity often play a
big part in medical and scientific advances. Julie Bishop
17.
In the field of observation, chance
favors only the prepared mind. Louis Pasteur
18.
Trouble is merely opportunity in
work clothes. Henry J. Kaiser
19.
Never begrudge the luck of others.
Go make your own luck. Linda Holroyd, FountainBlue
20.
Life is 10% what happens to us, and
90% how we respond to it. Charles Swindall
21.
I'm a great believer in luck, and I
find the harder I work, the more I have of it. Thomas Jefferson
22.
The people who get on in this world
are the people who get up and look for (or make) the circumstances they want.
George Bernard Shaw
23.
The most exciting phrase to hear in
science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka!’, but ‘That’s
funny …’ Isaac Asimov
24.
Serendipity is a powerful process
within social networking to help achieve your goals and objectives. Paul J.
Lange
25.
The circumstances of others seem
good to us, while ours seem good to others. Publilius Syrus
26.
In Chinese, the character for crisis
is composed of two characters, one represents danger, the other represents
opportunity. John F Kennedy
27.
Men are seldom blessed with good
fortune and good sense at the same time. Titus Livy
28.
The winds and waves are always on
the side of the ablest navigators. Edward Gibbon
29.
Position and prepare yourself for
the luckiest of circumstances. Linda Holroyd, FountainBlue
30.
Synergy and serendipity often play a
big part in medical and scientific advances. Julie Bishop
31.
In reality, serendipity accounts for
one percent of the blessings we receive in life, work and love. The other 99
percent is due to our efforts. Peter McWilliams
Quotes from Women Leaders
FountainBlue is
honoring our fifth birthday by celebrating the wisdom gained and shared by our
speakers from our When She Speaks series, which was launched in May 2006. We
have encapsulated their remarks and contributions and compiled them into 101
truths, with overarching themes, and ten specific ideas and suggestions for
each one. Each month, we will cover an overarching theme and then describe
concepts or ideas around that theme, as well as quotes from our speakers as
they eloquently express the concept. Your comments are welcome. E-mail us at info@whenshespeaks.com.
This month’s theme is
on mentorship and how having the right mentors will help set you apart
Failure Builds
Resilience
41. If you’re not failing, you’re not
trying hard enough.
Only in Silicon Valley do we wear failure like a badge of
success. Is it a coincidence that we are envied the world-over for our
inventiveness, our innovation, our ability to re-invent ourselves?
Be bold and daring and
persistently so, and you will soon see what you can accomplish before
breakfast! Kimberly Wiefling, Wiefling Consulting
42.
Overcome the stigma of
failing and more doors will open for you.
Life happens. And if you embrace life, living on the edge *more*
things will happen to you. So you can choose complacency and stability, or you
can embrace the possibilities, but if you do the latter, be prepare to fail
sometimes, then learn and grow from these failures and you will find more
opportunities ahead. The measure of a man, or a woman, is not about whether
he/she has failed, but whether she/he has tried at all, and whether he/she
learns from her/his efforts.
See failure as an
opportunity in disguise, a chance to learn more about yourself, your abilities
and your value. Then keep forging ahead, with a broader perspective for what is
possible. Shari Moore, Vice President, Human Resources – Global and
Americas Sales and Services, Hitachi
43.
Stand with your
brothers and sisters in their moment of need.
Stay beside those who have tried and failed and work with
him or who to learn and grow from that failure, to better ensure benefit and
success for all in the long term.
Life is a team sport –
stand with your sisters and brothers on your team and help them weather the
storm and come through stronger for it. Barbara Massa, Vice President, Global
Talent Acquisition, McAfee
44.
Understand why
something failed, what your role was during the failure, and what you could
have done to change the outcome.
Be emotionally resilient and intellectually curious about
the whys and hows of failures, so that you can benefit from these learnings.
Open up the left side
of the brain to analyze why something didn’t go as planned, and you might see
how a failure is a stepping stone to a bigger success – one bigger than
originally imagined. Diane Pennica, Senior Scientist in Molecular Oncology,
Genentech
45.
Understand the
challenges your personal heroes faced and how they overcame their challenges
and failures.
Every great leader draws from the strength and wisdom of those
who touched them in some way, and ensures that others who follow also benefit.
It’s my passion to
share the stories of everyday heroes amongst us, and open up the worlds of
possibilities for all. Deepika Bajaj, VP of Marketing, Fierce Wombat
46.
Adopt the strategies
of your mentors and heroes to convert failures to successes.
Have the confidence, resilience, fortitude and imagination
to transform failures into successes, drawing upon the wisdom, knowledge and
energy of those you’ve learned from and admired.
Everyone has a gift and wisdom to
share. Be open to receiving them and applying them to your personal life.
Claudia Galvan, Lead International Program Management Group, Microsoft
47.
Be persistent and
committed to overcoming obstacles.
Nothing hard-won will be easy, and those who are most
persistent and committed and resourceful will be those most likely to succeed.
Never quit mentally before you quit consciously - Only
those committed to a cause and achieving results despite the obstacles will
experience the view from the top. Sudha Jamthe, Social
Media Strategist, PayPal
48.
Surround yourself with
people who can help you ride the ups and downs.
Be selective about
your inner circle, those who have influence over your view of yourself
and your possibilities. They will help you keep grounded, help you weather the
storm, help you keep seeing the path of possibilities.
Relationships are
always peppered with ups and downs, so surround yourself with people who can
help you navigate the waves. Karen Burley, Director of Engineering, HP
49.
Work with a management
team and company with the perspective and culture to embrace failure.
Leadership comes from the top, so select a leadership team
who values innovation in words *and* deeds.
Have the courage to
analyze failure, the fortitude to learn from it, and the wisdom to select a
company which embraces it. Priya Devnath, Pricing Manager, NetApp
50.
Embrace failure as an
opportunity in disguise.
The best of the best do three things: commit to trying,
learn failures, and turn failures into opportunities.
Find the opportunities
in every failure and shape it into a success, working in collaboration with key
stakeholders. Shobhana Viswanathan, Sr. Marketing Manager – Strategic
Alliances, VMWare
We hope to see you at one of our upcoming events!
Date & Time: Monday, October 3 from 5:30 until 7:30
p.m.
FountainBlue’s Clean Energy Entrepreneurs’ Forum
Title: Sustainable Solutions for the Built Environment
Location: Applied Materials, Building 1, 3050 Bowers Ave,
Santa Clara
Pre-registration Cost, by Friday, September 30 at noon:
No-Cost for members, $32 partners, $42 general
On-Site Cost: $42 members, $52 non-members
Members and Prospective Members can pre-register at:
http://fountainblue.shuttlepod.org/cleanenergy
Non-Members and Partners can register at:
http://www.svcleanenergy.com
To add questions, answers and resources on this and other
FountainBlue topics, visit our crowdsourcing resource at Quora
http://www.quora.com/Linda-Holroyd/questions
Audience: Entrepreneurs, Intrapreneurs and Investors only.
No service providers please.
Facilitator Andrew Barnes, CEO, Asia Cleantech Partners
Panelist Joseph Gordon, Office of the CTO, Applied
Materials
Panelist Jeremy Stieglitz, VP of Building Solutions,
Redwood Systems
Presenting Entrepreneur Steve Peck, President, SunGlen
Inc.,
Presenting Entrepreneur Joshua Slobin, Director of
Marketing, Daintree Networks Inc.
For more information and to register, visit
http://www.svcleanenergy.com.
Date & Time:
Friday, October 14, 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m.
FountainBlue’s When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series
Topic: Women Leading Innovation
Location: EMC, 2831 Mission College Blvd., Santa Clara, in
their San Francisco Conference Room on the Third Floor
Pre-register by October 13 at noon: $22 members, $32 partners, $42 general, $156
corporate passes for up to 10 people
Late and On-Site Cost: $42 members, $52 non-members, $174
Ongoing membership plus admission
Members and Prospective Members can register at:
http://fountainblue.shuttlepod.org/whenshespeaks
Non-Members and Partners can register at:
http://www.whenshespeaks.com
To add questions, answers and resources on this and other
FountainBlue topics, visit our crowdsourcing resource at Quora
http://www.quora.com/Linda-Holroyd/questions
Audience: Women and men who support having women in senior
technology positions.
Facilitator Francine Gordon, FGordon Group
Panelist Raji Arasu, VP Product Development, eBay
Panelist Cornelia Davis, Senior Technologist, Office of the
CTO, EMC Corporation
Panelist Vijaya Kaza, Director of Engineering, Cisco
Panelist Praveena Varadarajan, VP of Product Management,
FICO
For more information and to register, visit
http://www.whenshespeaks.com.
Date & Time: Monday,
October 17 from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.
FountainBlue's Life Science Entrepreneurs' Forum
Topic: Drug Delivery Innovations
Location: Bay Cafe Clubhouse, 1875 Embarcadero Rd, Palo
Alto
Pre-register by October 14 at noon: No-Cost for Members,
$32 partners, $42 general
Late and On-Site: $42 members, $52 non-members
Members and Prospective Members can register at:
http://fountainblue.shuttlepod.org/lifescience
Non-Members and Partners can register using the PayPal link
at: http://www.svlifescience.com
To add questions, answers and resources on this and other
FountainBlue topics, visit our crowdsourcing resource at Quora http://www.quora.com/Linda-Holroyd/questions
Audience: Life Science entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs and
investors, no service providers please
Facilitator Robert Mackey, Biopharma Consultant
Panelist Matthew Hogan, CFO, Durect
Panelist Jeffrey Schuster, Triple Ring Technologies
Panelist Eric Sheu, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer for
Vanton Research Laboratory, LLC
Presenting Entrepreneur Adam Mendelsohn, CEO, Nanoprecision
Medical
Presenting Entrepreneur Harm Tenhoff, Bay Link LLC
For more information and to register, visit
http://www.svlifescience.com.
Date & Time: Monday, November 7 from 5:30 until 7:30
p.m.
FountainBlue’s Clean Energy Entrepreneurs’ Forum
Title: Next Generation Solar Solutions
Location: PARC, 3333 Coyote Hill Road, Palo Alto
Pre-registration Cost, by Friday, November 4 at noon:
No-Cost for members, $32 partners, $42 general
On-Site Cost: $42 members, $52 non-members
Members and Prospective Members can pre-register at:
http://fountainblue.shuttlepod.org/cleanenergy
Non-Members and Partners can register at:
http://www.svcleanenergy.com
To add questions, answers and resources on this and other
FountainBlue topics, visit our crowdsourcing resource at Quora
http://www.quora.com/Linda-Holroyd/questions
Audience: Entrepreneurs, Intrapreneurs and Investors only.
No service providers please.
Facilitator Shirin Cooper, Business Development, Sylvatex
Panelist Sean Garner, Manager, Energy Systems Group, PARC
Presenting Entrepreneur Jason Lu, Founder and CEO, EnFocus
Engineering
Presenting Entrepreneur from SunPlanter to be confirmed
For more information and to register, visit
http://www.svcleanenergy.com.
Date & Time:
Friday, November 11, 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m.
FountainBlue’s When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series
Topic: Tips for Enlarging Your Sandbox: Learn to play with
people who don't act right (like you)
Location: Synopsys, Building 2, 455 N. Mary Ave., Sunnyvale
Pre-register by November 10 at noon: $22 members, $32
partners, $42 general, $156 corporate passes for up to 10 people
Late and On-Site Registration: $42 for members, $52 for
non-members
Members and Prospective Members can register at:
http://fountainblue.shuttlepod.org/whenshespeaks
Non-Members and Partners can register at:
http://www.whenshespeaks.com
To add questions, answers and resources on this and other
FountainBlue topics, visit our crowdsourcing resource at Quora
http://www.quora.com/Linda-Holroyd/questions
Audience: Women and men who support having women in senior
technology positions.
Panelist Monali Jain, Head of Salesforce.com Engineering at
PayPal, eBay
Panelist Natascha Thomson, Director, Global Ecosystem and
Partner Marketing, SAP
Panelist from Synopsys to be confirmed
For more information and to register, visit
http://www.whenshespeaks.com.
Date & Time: Monday,
November 14 from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.
FountainBlue's Life Science Entrepreneurs' Forum
Topic: Personalized Medicine, Biomarkers, Invitro
Diagnostics: The Science Advances, The Business Opportunities, The Cultural
Dilemmas
Location: Bay Cafe Clubhouse, 1875 Embarcadero Rd, Palo
Alto
Pre-register by November 11 at noon: No-Cost for Members,
$32 partners, $42 general
Late and On-Site: $42 members, $52 non-members
Members and Prospective Members can register at:
http://fountainblue.shuttlepod.org/lifescience
Non-Members and Partners can register using the PayPal link
at: http://www.svlifescience.com
To add questions, answers and resources on this and other
FountainBlue topics, visit our crowdsourcing resource at Quora
http://www.quora.com/Linda-Holroyd/questions
Audience: Life Science entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs and
investors, no service providers please
Facilitator to be confirmed
Genomic Health to be confirmed
Genentech to be confirmed
Presenting Entrepreneur Alan Jacobs, CEO, PerceptiMed
Presenting Entrepreneur Larry Zulch, CEO, PLC Diagnostics
For more information and to register, visit http://www.svlifescience.com.
Date & Time:
Friday, December 9, 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m.
FountainBlue’s When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series
Topic: Leadership in a Time of Accelerated Change
Location: eBay Inc, Whitman Campus, Building 7, Voices
Conference Room, 2065 Hamilton Ave, San Jose
Pre-register by December 8 at noon: $22 members, $32
partners, $42 general, $156 corporate passes for up to 10 people
Late and On-Site Registration: $42 for members, $52 for
non-members
Members and Prospective Members can register at:
http://fountainblue.shuttlepod.org/whenshespeaks
Non-Members and Partners can register at:
http://www.whenshespeaks.com
To add questions, answers and resources on this and other
FountainBlue topics, visit our crowdsourcing resource at Quora
http://www.quora.com/Linda-Holroyd/questions
Audience: Women and men who support having women in senior
technology positions.
Facilitator Amy Gonzales, Director, Women Unlimited
Panelist Erna Arnesen, Head of Global Services Channels and
Alliances, Cisco
Panelist Deepika Bajaj, VP of Marketing, Fierce Wombat
Games, Inc., to be confirmed
Panelist Nancy Long, Senior Vice President, Global Human
Resources, Hitachi Data Systems
Panelist from eBay to be confirmed
For more information and to register, visit
http://www.whenshespeaks.com.
Date & Time: Monday,
December 12 from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.
FountainBlue's Life Science Entrepreneurs' Forum
Topic: Robotics in MedTech
Location: Bay Cafe Clubhouse, 1875 Embarcadero Rd, Palo
Alto
Pre-register by December 9 at noon: No-Cost for Members,
$32 partners, $42 general
Late and On-Site: $42 members, $52 non-members
Members and Prospective Members can register at:
http://fountainblue.shuttlepod.org/lifescience
Non-Members and Partners can register using the PayPal link
at: http://www.svlifescience.com
To add questions, answers and resources on this and other
FountainBlue topics, visit our crowdsourcing resource at Quora
http://www.quora.com/Linda-Holroyd/questions
Audience: Life Science entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs and
investors, no service providers please
Facilitator to be confirmed
Panelist from Life Technologies to be confirmed
Presenting Entrepreneur surgical device to be confirmed
Presenting Entrepreneur medical device to be confirmed
Presenting Entrepreneur Dr. R. C. Trivedi, President,
Calbiomed International, Inc.
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 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 Wild Apricot, 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
Wild Apricot, or any of our YahooGroups.
What's New with FountainBlue:
Reconnecting
In our quest to better and more
deeply serve our members beyond the networking and educational opportunities we
provide, FountainBlue is pleased to provide contract, contract-to-hire, and permanent
staffing services. Over the past five and a half years, FountainBlue has
partnered with hiring managers from start-ups to corporations, and sizes in
between, to strategize, identify, recruit and retain candidates. We have
additionally counseled and supported candidates in focusing on their niche
roles, industries and companies and making landings which better fit all
parties. Drawing upon our consultative expertise and our extensive community of
mid- and senior-level bio-tech, clean-tech and high-tech professionals,
FountainBlue's Contract-to-Perm Placement Services focuses on strategically
recruiting for pivotal senior management professionals in marketing, finance,
operations, and engineering/IT candidates, for short-term and long-term
contracts, or direct hires.
It is our hope that a
milestone-based, contract-to-perm placement services would assist both the
hiring manager and the candidate to quickly evaluate the fit in terms of
skills, culture and results, thereby minimizing the risks involved in the
recruiting process, and quickly focusing on targeted results.
For more information, please
contact us over the phone or over e-mail, or members may click on our
availability link to suggest a good time to meet in person or over the phone by
visiting http://www.meetwith.me/lindaholroyd
and suggesting a good meeting time.
Article
from Community: Cautious Optimism: Startups Will Come Out Ahead
Adeo Ressi -
Founder of the Founder Institute and TheFunded.com, and board member of the X
PRIZE Foundation.
Included with
permission from The Founder Institute
It's
hard to not get a sinking feeling in my stomach as I watch the stock market
drop, and as I hear smart people talk about a 25% correction. We are all too
familiar with the next few chapters of this story: First, angels see their net
worth shrink, so they start preserving capital and stop investing in risky
startups. Second, limited partners in venture funds stop investing as they
allocate assets to safer investment vehicles. Lastly, venture capitalists slow
down and back the strongest from the last standing.
However,
If you look closely, there is a new reality today. There are reasons to be
cautiously optimistic.
Let's
start by looking at the modern angel. The angels fueling today's technology
startups are no longer the rich doctor or lawyer looking to have fun with a
small piece of their retirement account. Rather, today's angel works in a
startup and has pulled money off the table through a sale, IPO or, more likely,
the secondary markets. They are skeptical of public markets after the debacle
of 2000 and 2008. Therefore, while a 16% decline in the public markets may drop
the aggregate amount of angel investment, the modern angel will continue to
invest in what they know: startups.
Second,
let's look at the Limited Partners. Long before this correction many of them
already fled the venture capital asset class, and they are not coming back. As
a result, hundreds of VC firms have already folded over the past few years, and
the ones left standing are not as dependent on LPs as they were before. Smarter
VCs have adjusted by tapping sovereign wealth funds and other alternative
capital sources - including the wealth of the partners themselves. In the end,
the tectonic changes in the limited partner landscape are so significant that
any market correction is irrelevant.
Third,
the VCs themselves have already been doing less and less deals since the end of
2008. Even as the markets recovered, venture investments into new seed and
Series A companies for the first half of 2011 is down at least 10% from the
same period in 2007 and 2008, according to the NVCA. Entrepreneurs have already
adjusted to a world where venture capital is a scarce source of capital
(AngelList, for example), so a change in deal volume should not significantly
change startup financing.
Finally,
the M&A market is better positioned than it has been in the past. Large
corporations are sitting on enormous cash reserves, and it is only a matter of
time before we see a greater number of acquisitions. The thousands of
angel-backed startups being launched each year represent attractive acquisition
targets. And, because they typically don't have unrealistic valuation
expectations forced by venture capitalists, a $10m - $50m acquisition can yield
great returns for all of the shareholders.
To
get to the point - even if the correction continues and startup financing
shrinks, we’re not facing a post-party "sober up" similar to 2000 and 2008. The
reality is that creating meaningful and enduring technology companies is not a
zero sum game. In a world of nearly seven billion people with 30% internet
penetration and nearly two thirds of the global population using cell phones,
there is room for thousands of new technology companies each year. And, if
everything does go to hell again, the true entrepreneurs make their own luck.
ANYONE'S
LOVE STORY Much like life, love is not a destination; by using poetry to depict
the stages of the relationship cycle, Bayer writes her way to the answers along
that journey.
(Daniela's)
book is separated into chapters that function as milestones in . . . the
journey (between love and loss and back to love). "Falling" begins a descent
into the chaotic levels of heartache unknown. "Searching" explores memories and
feelings, trying to make sense of what has happened. "Accepting" goes beyond
coming to terms with fate, delving into self-acceptance. "Knowing" is really
the first baby steps on the other slope of the relationship parabola. "Loving"
is fairly self-explanatory, but framed in elegant, fully realized words. "Having" and "Understanding" add the final pieces to the puzzle. All the while,
Bayer's well-written, matter of fact style of dealing out verses and overcoming
emotions pour onto the page. This helps to heal the wounded and bring solace to
the reader who is ready to find it.
A
valuable read for those who love poetry and self-help books—and those looking
for answers in a world darkened by the absence of love.
It is our hope that
the notes we take during an event will stimulate thinking, continued
conversations and connections one conversation, one leader, one organization at
a time. We make our notes available free
to all attendees, and to the general community and are happy to share a
synopsis of these notes below.
We may be crossing the
chasm in the green automotive world. Driving factors for this shift include 1)
the advancements in a range of technologies (from hardware to software to
biofuels to networks), 2) the slowly evolving infrastructure necessary to
support alternative transportation options, and 3) the increased global demand
for green transportation options ranging from materials innovations to
alternative fuels to novel manufacturing to software enablers in transportation
from telematics to vehicle controls to customer communications.
Based on their current
and past work in the clean transportation area, our panelists covered a wide
range of perspectives, from batteries to electrification of vehicles, from
telematics to auto manufacturing, from drive trains to cylinder optimization,
and including a wide range of software solutions for dealers, automakers and
drivers, as well as software which helps cars self-manage and optimize
settings!
They commented both on
the technology advancements creating new opportunities and the challenges and
barriers to innovation and adoption and spoke about the exciting possibilities
ahead. Below are some of their thoughts and advice.
Our panelists shared
many different ways of implementing software meets healthcare solutions: from
pharmacy prescription management to simulations and training, from development
tools to mobile monitors and sensors. Regardless of the application, the focus
is on serving the customer, by improving efficiency through software
automation, by training and learning new behaviors in a safe environment, by
reducing development time, by better monitoring behaviors and symptoms, or by
providing more accurate, personalized and timely products and services.
Software meets
healthcare offers huge opportunities, but there are also many barriers to
entry. Solutions must serve a market and customer need, and meet policy,
reimbursement and regulatory requirements which are ever-changing. Some of the
advances in the technology world, including business analytics, cloud computing
and mobile applications, are being leveraged in the software-meets-healthcare
space, in the areas of sensors and monitoring, personal genomics, electronic
medical records, and other areas. Indeed, we are moving to a world of
intelligent agents, which would assume a more active monitoring role than a
typical nurse or doctor, in a much more cost-effective, automated and efficient
way. This becomes so much more important as demand increases for a variety of
reasons, including the aging of the population in general, the increasing
health care costs, and the ever-increasing demand for real-time, inexpensive
solutions from patients, hospitals, care-givers, providers and insurers alike.
We were fortunate to
have a great panel of wise, experienced and successful women who were so open
to poignantly sharing their hard-earned wisdom with humor and candor. They make
a stand for women technology leaders, not just in appearing on panels like
this, but in their day-to-day work and interactions, with every relationship,
every conversation. They are self-aware, and ever in search of interactions,
experiences and responsibilities which would stretch them in new directions.
As a group, they see
politics as a necessary part of any organization, any group, just part of the
landscape -
inescapable and necessary. Ever practical, they see that politics is just about
how decisions get made in an organization: the underlying, ever-moving web of
relationships, accountability and influence. And each group, task, role would
have different group dynamics. In fact, they see politics not just as
necessary, but even as a positive tool, something which could be leveraged (in
a good way) to career advancement, to deeper self-knowledge, to greater and
wider recognition.
High Tech Event: Business
Analytics in Financial Services
We were fortunate to
have such experienced panelists who shared a wide range perspectives and
thoughts on business analytics trends. They commented on the volume of data,
the advances in both hardware and software technology, and most importantly,
the importance of building customer-centric, solutions which can help companies
make data-based decisions which would serve their customers real-time. Indeed,
business analytics is changing the way we do business, and the vendors on our
panel spoke about how analytics and data are helping their companies to better
understand and respond to the needs their customers and plan for updating and
upgrading their products and services based on their customers' needs. The
panelists commented that we are already serving the customers well, much at the
same level as a Marriott might treat us, remembering our stay frequency and
personal requests. But with additional data and analytics, we could learn to
treat our customers more like how a Ritz Carlton might treat us - remembering
and anticipating every request, for a stellar experience.
Whether they are
working with the ever-growing volume of data available, or serving a larger
volume of customers, or integrating with a larger myriad of devices designed
easily communicate real-time facts to enable effective, targeted
decision-making, it is clear that the most forward-thinking companies are 1)
leveraging technology to better serve their customers, 2) valuing the
high-impact customer, 3) raising the bar for how to better serve customers
real-time, 4) seeing the value business analytics solutions as a competitive
advantage, and 5) training and educator internal staff, partners and customers
to accept and adopt these solutions and integrate them into their day-to-day
work.
The bottom line is
that as amazing as current and projected results are, there will be an
ever-increasing demand for speed, scalability, and functionality, and companies
that can keep ahead of the curve are well positioned to better serve, impress,
recruit and retain customers.
Each month, we celebrate a different leadership
theme, with a different quote each day from a recognized, or not-so-well-known
leader. The September Theme: is Decisiveness: With vision, commitment and
engagement, a leader needs to make quick and measured decisions to continue
moving the needle. This week’s quotes are listed, and we also welcome you to
recommend YOUR favorite quote on this month's theme.
Err on the side of decisiveness, for
it keeps the momentum going. Linda Holroyd, FountainBlue
The person attempting to travel two
roads at once will get nowhere. Xun Zi
In a moment of decision, the best
thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing.
Theodore Roosevelt
There is danger in reckless change,
but greater danger in blind conservatism. Henry George
It does not matter how slowly you go
as long as you do not stop. Confucius
When you have to make a choice and
don't make it, that is in itself a choice. William James
The bitterest tears shed over graves
are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone. Harriet Beecher Stowe
Even if you're on the right track,
you'll get run over if you just sit there. Will Rogers
It is even better to act quickly and
err than to hesitate until the time of action has passed. Karl von Clausewitz
He who desires but acts not breeds
pestilence. William Blake
Good things come to those who wait,
but only the things that are left by those who hustle. Abraham Lincoln
A man who has to be convinced to act
before he acts is not a man of action. You must act as you breathe. Georges
Clemenceau
Action may not always bring happiness,
but there is no happiness without action. Benjamin Disraeli
One today is worth two tomorrows.
Benjamin Franklin
An executive is a person who always
decides, sometimes correctly, but he always decides. John Henry Patterson
When faced with a hangnail, you can
pull slowly, let it be so it may pull itself, or snip it off. Linda Holroyd,
FountainBlue
Decisiveness is a characteristic of
high-performing men and women. Almost any decision is better than no decision
at all. Brian Tracy
If I had to sum up in a word what
makes a good manager, I'd say decisiveness. Lee Iacocca
Decisiveness is a sharp knife that
cuts clean and straight; indecision is a dull one that hacks and tears. Gordon
Graham
When you say yes, say it quickly.
But always take a half hour to say no, so you can understand the other fellow's
side. Francis Cardinal Spellman
The decision is ours whether to wait
for circumstances to make up our mind, or whether to act. Omar Nelson Bradley
Boldness in business is the first,
second and third thing. Thomas Fuller
Deliberate with caution, but act
with decision; and yield with graciousness or oppose with firmness. Charles
Caleb Colton
Don't fall victim to what I call the
Ready- Aim-Aim-Aim Syndrome. You must be willing to fire. T. Boone Pickens
A superior man is modest in his
speech, but exceeds in his actions. Confucius
Better to decide and be possibly
wrong then to waver and waffle, and miss the opportunity altogether. Linda
Holroyd, FountainBlue
We will never have all the facts to
make a perfect judgment, but with the aid of basic experience we must leap
bravely into the future. Russell McIntyre
It's better to be boldly decisive
and risk being wrong than to agonize at length and be right too late. Marylin
Moats Kennedy
Be willing to make decisions. That's
the most important quality in a good leader.
George S Patton
Once you make a decision, the
universe conspires to make it happen. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Quotes from Women Leaders
FountainBlue is honoring
our fifth birthday by celebrating the wisdom gained and shared by our speakers
from our When She Speaks series, which was launched in May 2006. We have
encapsulated their remarks and contributions and compiled them into 101 truths,
with overarching themes, and ten specific ideas and suggestions for each one.
Each month, we will cover an overarching theme and then describe concepts or
ideas around that theme, as well as quotes from our speakers as they eloquently
express the concept. Your comments are welcome. E-mail us at info@whenshespeaks.com.
This month's theme is
on mentorship and how having the right mentors will help set you apart
31.
Mentors help you see
yourself the way other see you.
We are our own worst critic, and our view of reality is
often skewed and biased for many reasons. Most successful people are grounded
with a clear and true view of who he or she is, and what she or he has to
offer. Many times the clarity is thanks to a mentor.
A first step to
becoming bigger-than-you-are is to better emphasize all your strengths and put
less emphasis on areas of improvement, which are usually blown out of
proportion. Martha Galley, Senior Director, Windows Live Business Development,
Microsoft
32.
Mentors help open
doors.
Dare to achieve something bigger than you can imagine.
Invite someone to open doors that you didn’t know were there, giving you access
to a new, broader reality.
A key to empowerment
is to make introductions that will expand possibilities in thinking and doing.
Marilyn Nagel, CEO, Watermark
33.
Mentors help you think
strategically.
A mentor has broader experience and can help you think
through and refine your vision, while opening up new thoughts and ideas.
Think strategically
about how to add value to all your stakeholders is a key to success, and
working with others to do the same benefits all. Lori Fraleigh, Manager,
Developer Tools, Motorola
34.
Mentors help you build
confidence.
Not all mentors can help you do everything for everyone,
but every good mentor will help you be confident about who you are.
My mentor helped me
find my voice and build my brand, so it makes sense for me to help my mentees
do the same. Urvi Bhandari, Sales Manager, AT&T
35.
Mentors help you
include a larger and broader range of perspectives.
A successful leader will see an ever-larger world of
realities and possibilities, and be open to new ones he or she did not
heretofore think possible. A good mentor will help make this so.
A great way to stretch
yourself is to work with a mentor you admire to expand your thinking and your
network. Carin Taylor, Senior Manager of Global Diversity, Cisco
36.
Mentors provide you
with goals and accountability.
A mentor is not your friend. He or she will tell you the
way it is, and call you to task if you are making excuses or not stretching
yourself, or compromising your own values. It can be a tough lesson, and a
tough choice to stay with someone who would dare to say no to you, and to
stretch you in the right way. But in the end, you will be a better more
effective person, and you will be grateful for that mentor.
It’s so empowering to
work with people who dare to dream, who are open to feedback, who want to keep
raising the bar, who actually perform better through adversity! Afsaneh
Laidlaw, Senior Director of Engineering, Cisco
37.
Mentors connect you to
the resources and knowledge you need to succeed.
Successful mentors are valued for their deep experience and
extensive networks, and their willingness to strategically leverage same to
benefit their mentees.
Sharing your stories
about what’s worked and what hasn’t worked empowers and enriches us all. Alex
Woody, Senior Director Program Management & FPLC, Flextronics
38.
Mentors gain as much
from the experience as mentees.
I don't know a single good mentor who doesn't first exclaim
about how much they learn from their mentees and how enjoyable the relationship
is, and then proudly exude the virtues and accomplishments of that mentee.
I take every
opportunity to work with high-potentials in a mentoring relationship. It
stretches me as much as it does them! Mona Hudak, Senior Diversity and
Inclusion Program Manager, Cisco
39.
Phantom Mentors Raise
the Bar for All
Regardless of whether you're an official, informal or other
type of mentor, your every thought, action, task, message may impact those
around you, and also reflect on you and your brand, so act accordingly.
You never know who's
looking, so choose to be the person you want to be, especially when it’' tough
to do just that. Jennifer Bleakney, VP, Worldwide Distribution and Customer
Support, National Semiconductor
40.
Successful mentees
become mentors.
Continue the virtuous cycle. If you're a mentee, give back
and mentor others.
Our mentorship
programs provide extensive value in terms of business goals of performance and
retention and advancement, but also in the more intangible, more fulfilling
goals of perspective, enjoyment, and enrichment. Shelli Hendricks, Education
Consultant, EMC
We hope to see you at one of our
upcoming events!
Date & Time:
Friday, September 9, 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m.
FountainBlue's When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series
Topic: Women Making Their Own Rules
Location: Symantec, 401 Ellis, Building O, Las Vegas
Conference Room, Mountain View
Pre-register by September 8 at noon: $22 members, $32 partners, $42 general, $156
corporate passes for up to 10 people
Late and On-Site Cost: $42 members, $52 non-members, $174
Ongoing membership plus admission
Audience: Life Science entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs and
investors, no service providers please
Facilitator Geetha Rao, PhD, Springborne Life Sciences, CEO
and Founder, MyMedFax; Vice President of Strategy and Risk Management, Triple
Ring Technologies
Audience: Women and men who support having women in senior
technology positions.
Facilitator Francine Gordon, FGordon Group
Panelist Raji Arasu, VP Product Development, eBay
Panelist Annie Hazlehurst, Associate, DFJ
Panelist Preethy Padmanabhan, Manager, Business Development
for Cisco Smart + Connected Communities, TelePresence Services Team VP for iCON
Inclusion & Diversity Group
Panelist Praveena Varadarajan, VP of Product Management,
FICO
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 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 Wild Apricot, 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
Wild Apricot, or any of our YahooGroups.
What's New with FountainBlue: Reconnecting
This past month, we’ve
reconnected with a number of people who have been involved with FountainBlue over
the past 5.5 years and invite the opportunity to catch up with us over e-mail,
over the phone or in person and share:
Your current role and company, and the path to your current position;
Your new technology advancements, or funding successes, or your business
model innovation;
Your current challenges and opportunities; and
Your newest ideas and offerings.
We’ve interacted with literally
thousands of people in the past 5.5 years, and many have made lasting
impressions. We look forward to sharing knowledge, re-building and solidifying connections,
and better serving all.
Recommendations from the Community
Google embraces solar skylight from EnFocus, By Ucilia Wang
Jul. 29, 2011, GigaOm
In September, Google plans to act as a test site for
Hayward-based EnFocus Engineering’s high-tech skylight, which feature solar
cells and optics to manage the flow of light at one of its Silicon Valley
office buildings. Each 100-pound EnFocus solar panel measures 53 inches by 44
inches by 8 inches and can produce up to 288 watts of power. The panels are
encased in glass boxes to protect the components from environmental damage and
features a dual-axis tracker so that the optical modules will follow the sun’s
movement throughout the day. The lenses concentrate the light 400 times onto
cells made with gallium-arsenide and germanium, and that amount of
concentration requires the use of direct sunlight. For more information about http://gigaom.com/cleantech/google-embraces-solar-skylight-from-enfocus/
Notes From Last Month's FountainBlue
Events
It is our hope that
the notes we take during an event will stimulate thinking, continued
conversations and connections one conversation, one leader, one organization at
a time. We make our notes available free
to all attendees, and to the general community and are happy to share a
synopsis of these notes below.
Our panelists agreed
that the lack venture fundings have impacted the industry overall, making it
very difficult for all-but-the-best to secure funding. So those with the great
technology innovations who were able to bootstrap the technology development,
partner with corporates, academics and others, leverage government grants, and
otherwise show traction for the their clean energy innovation are those who
have gotten funding during the downturn, and are well positioned to receive
funding now that there is more money in investment funds.
The panelists
commented on venture funding opportunities and trends, predicting that there
will be a shake-out in the venture industry, and only those who have proven
investment track records will remain, a bifurcation between those who found
money for their funds before the monies dried up and those that didn’t. The
remaining investors will be chasing the entrepreneurs who have gone into hiding
during the downturn, working with corporations, consulting, or developing in
stealth mode. But the time will come soon when those investors and those
entrepreneurs will again meet, and we shall all benefit from the union.
With the aging of the
baby boomer generation, and the resultant huge volume of older, more affluent,
more empowered consumers, there have been increasing demands for delivering
life science solutions, from diagnostics to personalized medicines, from devices
to nutragenics. Our panelists agreed that the challenge and the opportunity is
to cost-effectively and efficiently create personalized, patient-specific data,
services and products which would serve the breadth and depth customers from
individual patients to physicians, hospitals and clinics, from payors to small
providers to insurers. Indeed, the key is to leverage technology in a way which
automates the production and distribution of information and services while
minimizing risk and maximizing impact and quality treatment for the patient,
benefiting everyone throughout the value chain.
Baby boomers have
created a population spike which, like a snake who has swallowed a mouse, has
impacted markets and industries throughout their life cycle, from infant to
toddler, from teenager to young adult to middle age. As boomers are
techno-philic, affluent, health-conscious and influential, their voices have
been heard and have impacted market development and direction. So as they age,
infirmities and elected treatments of an aging patient, from obesity to
diabetes to sleep apnea, from baldness to arthritis, from sports injury
treatment to knee replacement, will quickly rise in demand.
We were fortunate to
have a panel of experts this month who were as passionate about leadership and
empowerment of women as they were knowledgeable, experienced and successful
enough to make an impact in their circles small and large.
The panelists shared stories
about partnering with leaders at all levels from the bottom to the top, and
back from the top to the bottom, and working with them to see their own
behaviors, to be more flexible, more inclusive, more collaborative,
facilitating continuous conversations exchanging ideas and connecting with a
broader spectrum of ‘others’, while valuing and empowering all.
We were fortunate to
have such a wide range of panelists looking through from different slices of
the storage and security issues, and articulately sharing their direct
experiences and perspectives as well as their thoughts on trends and
directions. Some of the big-picture take-aways included:
The genie is out of the bottle. It's not a matter of whether you allow users within
or outside a company to gather huge volumes of data, host it on a cloud,
network devices and appliances, etc. It's a matter of accepting that this
is happening and will continue to happen at a more accelerated rate, and
encouraging everyone to best manage accordingly by putting together
processes and procedures, educating the users, and dealing with issues
immediately as they arise.
The cloud is here to stay, and will be more pervasive. Storage, hardware, software and other solutions will
be better managed and more secure on the cloud, and the cloud will be an
integral part of the evolution of technology. It is already a given, not a
debate. The question is where will it go from here?
Those who serve customers best and most efficiently
will win. There are many factors
leading to the proliferation of big data - from social media to the
millennial generation to the predictive analysis needs of advertisers, to
the number of devices per person etc. So those who don't fight the data
explosion reality, and work with it to better serve and protect users will
continue to grow.
It's all about the user. You could build these great technology solutions,
have the best plans, policies and mandates, have great laws with
consequences, etc., but the human factor, the choices each individual user
makes around storage and security will determine how secure and available
her/his data, and that of the network is.
Work with an IT team
(as customers, partners or staff), who accepts the realities about data
proliferation and the data-access and security needs of the user. Even
though the network borders are essentially gone, and control is an
illusion, the next generation IT directors will get a sense of their
assets from a service perspective and understand that the basic network
and application hygiene is even more important and foundational. They will
work with you to build resilience inside your environment and educate your
people.
It
will take a collaboration of government, corporations, users and
customers to develop storage and security management standards and
solutions which would address our customers' need for data real-time and
the security and privacy of these same customers.
Each month, we celebrate a different leadership
theme, with a different quote each day from a recognized, or not-so-well-known
leader. The August Theme is Innovation: Find the black swan, the technology or
idea that will change the way people think about how things are done. This
month’s quotes are listed, and we also welcome you to recommend YOUR favorite
quote on this month's theme.
Be innovative; don't just build a
'me too', but something that changes the way things work. Linda Holroyd,
FountainBlue
Discontent is the first necessity of
progress. Show me a thoroughly satisfied man and I will show you a failure.
Thomas Edison
Innovation distinguishes between a
leader and a follower. Steve Jobs
Build a better mousetrap and the
world will beat a path to your door. Ralph Waldo Emerson
The Wright brothers' design allowed
them to survive long enough to learn to fly. Michael Potts
The world is moving so fast these
days that the man who says that it can't be done is interrupted by someone
doing it. Elbert Hubbard
All good things that exist are the
fruits of originality. John Stuart Mill
The Wright brothers flew right
through the smoke screen of impossibility. Charles Kettering
A new and better way of doing
something that needs to be done raises the bar for all, and in a good way!
Linda Holroyd, FountainBlue
Ideas are the source of innovation,
and innovation the vital spark of all human change, improvement and progress.
Ted Levitt
The ability to convert ideas to
things is a stepping stone toward heaven. Henry Ward Beecher
Man needs for his happiness, not
only his enjoyment of this or that, but hope and enterprise and change.
Bertrand Russell
A good idea plus capable men cannot
fail; it is better than money in the bank. John Berry
Innovation is the specific
instrument of entrepreneurship. The act that endows resources with a new
capacity to create wealth. Peter F. Drucker
Discovery consists of seeing what
everyone else has seen, and thinking what nobody else has thought. Jonathan Swift
It is better to create than to
learn. Creating is the essence of life. Julius Caesar
Innovation is not the product of
logical thought, although the result is tied to logical structure. Albert
Einstein
That so few dare to be eccentric
marks the chief danger of the time. John Stuart Mill
There is always room for improvement
- how can that lead to innovation? Linda Holroyd, FountainBlue
Never before in history has
innovation offered promise of so much to so many in so short a time. Bill Gates
Innovation is the central issue in
economic prosperity. Michael Porter
When you innovate, you've got to be
prepared for everyone telling you you're nuts. Larry Ellison
It is better to fail in originality
than to succeed in imitation. Herman Melville
Creativity is thinking up new
things. Innovation is doing new things. Theodore Levitt
When man wanted to make a machine
that would walk, he created the wheel, which does not resemble a leg. Guillaume
Apollinaire
Wisely improve the present, it is
thine. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Do not follow where the path might
lead. Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail. Ralph Waldo
Emerson
The world leaders in innovation and
creativity will also be world leaders in everything else. Harold R. McAlindon
Innovation is contagious - fan its
flames. Linda Holroyd, FountainBlue
We must be willing to get rid of the
life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us. Joseph Campbell
Excellence is not a skill. It is an attitude. Ralph Marston
Quotes from Women Leaders
FountainBlue is
honoring our fifth birthday by celebrating the wisdom gained and shared by our
speakers from our When She Speaks series, which was launched in May 2006. We
have encapsulated their remarks and contributions and compiled them into 101 truths,
with overarching themes, and ten specific ideas and suggestions for each one.
Each month, we will cover an overarching theme and then describe concepts or
ideas around that theme, as well as quotes from our speakers as they eloquently
express the concept. Your comments are welcome. E-mail us at info@whenshespeaks.com.
Chapter Three:
Communication is Key
This month’s theme is
around communication, and how key it is to all leaders. Each month, our
panelists spoke about how communication is key to leadership, to making forward
progress on any venture, to nurturing healthy relationships at all levels.
1. Be strategic. No
matter how you’re communicating and who you are communicating with, be
strategic about what you are saying and how you are coming across, and have a
clear understanding about what you are communicating, why it is important to
communicate, and what impact you want to have with these communications.
Be clear on the
intentions of your group and your organization, clear on which people and
groups you should communicate to and how you should best communicate to them.
Eileen Fussner, Vice President of Channel Sales for the Content Management
& Archiving division, EMC Corporation
2. Be succinct. The most
powerful, clear communications are direct, clear and to-the-point.
Be clear on your
intentions and passionate, yet succinct in your delivery. Then focus on making
it so. Lisa Simpson, VP, Business Operations, Market Analysis and Messaging,
Alcatel-Lucent
3, Be direct. Don’t try
to get too fancy, be too subtle, assume that the other parties knows what you *really*
mean. Spell out what you’re saying and why you’re saying it.
Have the courage to
speak directly with grace and compassion, especially when much is at stake. Dr.
Bee Ng, Director Learning and Development, Intuit
4. Be transparent. Be
genuine and authentic in all communications. Not everyone has to like where
you’re coming from, but they would respect you if you are consistently transparent
about who you are, what you’re doing and why.
When people sign up
for our team, they know what to expect – the warts and the stars are all
exposed. Then we work as a team on the same page, with complete transparency
and a common goal. Mirjana Spasojevic, Research Leader, Nokia Research Center
5. Be passionate. Really
care about what you’re doing, and make that clear when you communicate about it
to others.
Working and
communicating with enthusiasm brings you 80% of the way there to engaging
others toward a common goal. Lori Smith, Director of HR, Cisco
6. Be persistent. If it
were easy, everyone would do it. But if it’s not, and it’s worth doing, and you
keep doing it, everyone may benefit from it.
Know where you’re
going, even if it’s to somewhere impossible. Communicate and motivate and work
hard to get there. It’s the only way to convince the critics and naysayers that
there *is* a bigger reality, a bigger opportunity. Hali White, Director
Process Excellence Office, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies
7. Be confident, yet
humble. Balance your openness to other perspectives and ideas, and your own
judgment, point of view and moral compass, considering, thinking and acting
with both humility and confidence.
Be open to every
person, to every experience, but be grounded in your hard-earned good judgment
and common sense and have that guide you in fostering conversations,
collaborations and shared progress. Catherine Moore, Director of Business HR,
Nokia
8. Be open in receiving
communications, particularly when they make you feel uncomfortable.
Help define the what,
and open-mindedly encourage others to figure out *how* to make it
happen. Be also open to shifting what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.
Erica Wright, Director of Human Resources, Life Sciences Solutions Unit, Life
Sciences and Chemical Analysis, Agilent
9. Be prepared, for
understanding the people, project, history, strategy, etc will help you succeed
in all communications.
When there’s a lot at stake and so many stakeholders, you need to
understand motivations, driver and inclinations of all parties involved and
proactively manage interactions, progress and communications and their
implications. Titina Ott, Vice President, Organizational Effectiveness
& Managing Director of Women's
Leadership, Oracle
10.
Be inclusive, and
encourage communication and collaboration between groups and people for
diversity of perspectives and open communications will benefit all.
Everybody has a piece of the puzzle, and empowering all parties to
participate and collaborate will benefit all parties.Keren Pavese, Program Manager, Western Division Office of Sustainability,
Community Outreach & Diversity Councils, EMC Corporation
We hope to see you at one of our
upcoming events!
Date & Time:
Monday, August 1 from 5:30 until 7:30 p.m.
FountainBlue’s Clean
Energy Entrepreneurs’ Forum
Title: Transportation
Greening Advances
Location: SRI Building
A, 333 Ravenswood, Menlo Park
Pre-registration Cost,
by Friday July 29 at noon: No-Cost for members, $32 partners, $42 general
Audience: Life Science
entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs and investors, no service providers please
Facilitator Geetha
Rao, PhD, Springborne Life Sciences, CEO and Founder, MyMedFax; Vice President
of Strategy and Risk Management, Triple Ring Technologies
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 Wild Apricot, 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
Wild Apricot, or any of our YahooGroups.
What's New with FountainBlue: Membership
Policy
By popular request from our
community members, effective July 1, all FountainBlue clean energy, high tech
and life science events will be no cost for members, and remain $30-$40+ for
partners and non-members. In addition, effective July 1, we will no longer
offer ongoing membership and annual membership fees will be raised from $60 to
$75. We hope to see you at a FountainBlue event soon.
What's New with FountainBlue: Policy
on Late and On-Site Registration
We are grateful to our corporate
partners who have been graciously hosting and sponsoring our various events. To
support their on-site security, there will be some events where we will not
allow late or on-site registration. We also ask that those in attendance stay
within the approved areas for the event and wear and return badges. These
measures will support their on-site security policies and staff, and we
appreciate your cooperation.
Recommendations from the Community
The 24-Hour Customer: New
Rules for Winning in a Time-Starved, Always-Connected Economy by Adrian Ott ,
CEO of Exponential Edge Inc. and NAWBO Silicon Valley's Enterprising Woman of
the Year 2011 http://www.24hourcustomer.com/
The 24-Hour Customer was
named a Best Business Book 2010 by Library Journal and Small Business Trends.
This best-seller provides a framework that helps businesses turn customer
time and attention scarcity into a competitive advantage. The book demonstrates
how to make your products and services more addictive through the use of key
buying triggers and techniques that redirect customer attention and traction in
your favor. We are fortunate to have author Adrian Ott make her #1
business best seller available for purchase at Friday's Business Analytics
event as well. To purchase your copy online, visit http://amzn.to/cJASOb .
TheFunded references a number of
articles and programs have come out proclaiming a peak age for entrepreneurship
and romanticizing young entrepreneurs: http://fndri.com/kRgxiL,
http://fndri.com/jFy8dJ, and http://fndri.com/kwBAhy, among others. In
order to identify the traits of successful entrepreneurs, the Founder Institute
has conducted a battery of proprietary personality and aptitude tests on over
3,000 applicants worldwide, and then carefully tracked the progress of our
nearly 1,000 enrolled founders and 350 graduates. Research scientists employed
by the Institute have examined the results of the successful founders and the less successful cases.
The research shows that an older
age is actually a better predictor of entrepreneurial success, and that three
other traits also correlate strongly to success: strong fluid intelligence,
high openness and moderate agreeableness. Anybody at any age can break any
molds put forward by "experts." We have romanticized the idea of a young
founder because, well, it's a great story, but these stories are not the norm.
In the end, classic biases of gender, race, and age need to be discarded for a
real science of success.
Entrepreneurs must partner with
corporates, customers, researchers, academics and policy-makers to adopt
policies which would support innovation and entrepreneurship. Below is a
recommendation for how we can all take action in that direction, as suggested
by one of our community members.
California representatives
partner with entrepreneurs, corporates, customers, researchers, and academics
to adopt policies which would support innovation and entrepreneurship, and
educate its constituents about how profitable oil companies receive permanent federal tax subsidies and
royalty forgiveness calculated to be at least $4B per year. http://dirtyenergymoney.org/index.php.
Please encourage your colleagues from other states to alert *their*
congressional representatives in support of the elimination of permanent tax
breaks, which contribute to our energy insecurity and starve funding for the
domestic, renewable energy sources like wind and solar that bring us energy
security.
FountainBlue-Recommended
Productivity Tools
The range and usefulness of free
and low-cost productivity tools available on the web constantly amaze me. This
month, as an ongoing gift to each of you, we have compiled a list of the tools
we use day-to-day, and recommend to each of you, as you grow and run your
business. We of course also welcome your recommendations on other tools we
could use, and recommend to our community. For a current list of recommended
tools, visit http://www.fountainblue.biz/resources/productivity.html.
This Month's Recommended Tool:
LinkedIn is a business-related social networking site professional
networking http://www.linkedin.com free
to $20-$75/month
FountainBlue leverages LinkedIn
to identify panelists, conduct market research, and connect and support
community members. With a total of more than 100 million registered users,
spanning more than 200 countries and territories worldwide, it is imperative
for business professionals to post an updated profile on LinkedIn and leverage
it to find other professionals for networking purposes.
LinkSV, for company and market research needs, Free to
$50/month, http://www.linksv.com
Ooma, for free U.S. calling with your Internet
connection and existing home phone. About $200 for the unit, and optional
$10/month for premium services. http://www.ooma.com
PDFescape for your PDF reader, editor, form
filler, & form designing needs. Free or $10 for lifetime http://www.pdfescape.com
Xobni, an Outlook add-in for finding e-mail,
conversations, contact information and attachments, free to download or $29.95
for additional features http://www.xobni.com
We welcome your suggestions on other productivity tools
which we could leverage to better serve our community. Please e-mail your
suggestions to info@svexecs.com.
Notes From Last Month's FountainBlue
Events
It is our hope that
the notes we take during an event will stimulate thinking, continued
conversations and connections one conversation, one leader, one organization at
a time. We make our notes available free
to all attendees, and to the general community and are happy to share a
synopsis of these notes below.
Our panelists had
extensive knowledge and experience in the renewable energy space over the past
two decades, and have witnessed in and participated in the emergence of a new
industry. They concur that as the industry is maturing, more experienced, knowledgeable
and connected people are in leadership positions which can help drive and grow
the industry overall.
This network of
experienced leaders understand the technology, infrastructure, utility, policy
and other challenges inherent in the industry, and are forging alliances and
partnerships with the many stakeholders involved in the industry. This is
driven in part by increasing oil prices, and the growing public demand for
renewable energy options. Below is a list of stakeholders and some of the
factors which are driving their behavior around the adoption and growth of
renewable energy.
Policymakers
are generally not business people or technologists, and the best ones seek
knowledge and education to best support this emerging industry.
Utilities
are invested in adopting renewable energy, to meet the policy standards,
however infrastructure challenges make it difficult to include renewable
energy options at rates similar to standard oil, coal and gas options and
policy mandates do not specify how the standards can be met, and other
policies actually make it *more* difficult to meet the mandate.
The
media has reported on our track record over the last decade or two
has been mixed at best, due to some overinvestment in technologies
providing incremental rather than disruptive, game-changing improvements,
and high-profile examples of large-investment companies who had executed
poorly and generated poor returns and sometimes failed companies. Thus,
public opinion around renewables has been much less enthusiastic.
Because
of the investment track record over the past two decades, investors
today are funding shorter term, less capital-intensive, more mature
companies rather than early-stage renewable companies.
Customers
are educated enough to want more sustainable energy choices, but not yet
passionate enough to select renewable energy options which are measurably
more expensive than standard energy options. So the technology and
business model challenge is to provide customers options which meet both
requirements.
Despite the challenges
facing stakeholders listed above, there are also huge opportunities ahead.
The panelists
emphasized throughout the discussion that successful pharma solutions will
increasingly rely on integrating software and developing personalized
solutions for patients cost-effectively. With the advancement of technology
and a better understanding of the human genome as well as the decades of data
collected from various sources on patient reaction to specific treatments, it
is becoming more realistic to integrate software solutions to better research
and understand disease progression, mechanisms of action for drugs, and even
how specific subsets of a patient population respond to treatments. Whereas
there is a long circuitous path in front of us before we can cost-effectively
develop customized treatments for specific ailments, the software integration
option will become increasingly superior to the more blanket treatment of
diseases and trial and error R&D practices which have created the
blockbuster drugs of the past, and we will be more computer-driven, than
bench-and-lab driven for future innovations in this space.
Another theme
emphasized is that generated data is important, but much more important are the
implications of the data for serving patient needs. Early genomics
projects failed because of the emphasis on understanding and mapping the human
genome, rather than focusing on how we can better treat people, how diseases
impact people, and how treatments help specific types of patients.
Our panelists had
extensive knowledge and experience in a range of companies, in a variety of
roles, and represent decades of experience working with men and with women in
the high tech workplace. They have seen changes inside and outside their
organizations and have each leveraged mentorship to best grow and learn, both
personally and professionally, while helping others within and outside the
organizations to do the same.
They define mentorship
as formal or informal opportunities to consciously or unconsciously support
each other in our career and personal goals. One of the ways to feel the
benefits of mentorship is to experience what it is like *without* a
mentor, or also to have multiple mentors, and understand how each of them help
you meet your personal and professional objectives. There may be many different
kinds of mentors - both internal to or external from your organization, and
each may serve multiple roles: from the sponsor mentor who can help you
navigate the politics and coach you on your career path, opening positions for you,
to the role mentor who can support you with you in navigating day-to-day
personal and professional challenges, to the integral, work-life mentor, who
will help you make a stand for *both* your personally and professional
goals, to the 'Eeyore' mentor, who serves as devil's advocate and helps you
think through options at all levels, particularly spelling out the risks.
Another way to look at
mentorship is to compare it to other similar roles.
Whereas both coaching and mentoring focus on leveraging
your own strengths to better produce results, you may more likely go to a coach
to focus on developing a weakness which is hampering your growth.
Sponsor-mentors were mentioned above, but not all sponsors
are mentors. There are sponsors within an organization who can advocate for
you, and position you for the next position within your organization, or even
create one on your behalf without being your mentor.
Your boss may mentor you sometimes on some things, but they
are not your mentor. They are also in a unique position to also be your boss
and are in charge of official evaluations and make decisions on salary
increases, bonuses, vacations, etc
Your mentor is not your friend. They are usually very busy
and accomplished people and you shouldn't go to them to chit chat, like you
might do with a good friend.
We were fortunate to
have such a wide range of panelists looking through from different slices of
the storage and security issues, and articulately sharing their direct
experiences and perspectives as well as their thoughts on trends and
directions. Some of the big-picture take-aways included:
The genie is out of the bottle. It's not a matter of whether you allow users within
or outside a company to gather huge volumes of data, host it on a cloud,
network devices and appliances, etc. It's a matter of accepting that this
is happening and will continue to happen at a more accelerated rate, and
encouraging everyone to best manage accordingly by putting together
processes and procedures, educating the users, and dealing with issues
immediately as they arise.
The cloud is here to stay, and will be more pervasive. Storage, hardware, software and other solutions will
be better managed and more secure on the cloud, and the cloud will be an
integral part of the evolution of technology. It is already a given, not a
debate. The question is where will it go from here?
Those who serve customers best and most efficiently
will win. There are many factors
leading to the proliferation of big data - from social media to the
millennial generation to the predictive analysis needs of advertisers, to
the number of devices per person etc. So those who don't fight the data
explosion reality, and work with it to better serve and protect users will
continue to grow.
It's all about the user. You could build these great technology solutions,
have the best plans, policies and mandates, have great laws with
consequences, etc., but the human factor, the choices each individual user
makes around storage and security will determine how secure and available
her/his data, and that of the network is.
Work with an IT team
(as customers, partners or staff), who accepts the realities about data
proliferation and the data-access and security needs of the user. Even
though the network borders are essentially gone, and control is an
illusion, the next generation IT directors will get a sense of their
assets from a service perspective and understand that the basic network
and application hygiene is even more important and foundational. They will
work with you to build resilience inside your environment and educate your
people.
It
will take a collaboration of government, corporations, users and
customers to develop storage and security management standards and
solutions which would address our customers' need for data real-time and
the security and privacy of these same customers.
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
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 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 Wild Apricot, 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 Wild Apricot, or any of our YahooGroups.
Congratulations To
Our Members
Change is the
third constant in life, behind death and taxes! I hope that you’re benefiting
directly from the uptick in the economy. Many in our community who were in the
market for awhile are now celebrating landings and getting contracts, and we
hope that you are one of them! Regardless of whether you are newly landed or
newly looking, just selling or just starting a business, we hope that you make
the time to stay involved and keep us posted on how we as a community can
support you. We appreciate all those who have send appreciative notes to us,
and your sincere offers to stay involved and give back. Here are some easy ways
to do so:
Refer people in your network to your community.
Share a testimonial about your experience.
Volunteer to recruit speakers from your new and
larger network for individual events.
Let us know what helped you and how we can better
serve you and others.
Something else you suggest.
What's New with
FountainBlue: Data Trends and Business Analytics
We are looking
forward to our second annual data and security trends event, this year
scheduled on Friday, May 27 from 8:30 – 11:30 a.m. at EMC. Thank you to our
volunteer program advisory board for helping us put together a stellar panel.
The week
following that, we are looking forward to launching our bi-monthly business
analytics series. Thank you to the speakers, sponsors and volunteers for all
their support in planning over the past few months following our annual business
analytics trends event held last November.
FountainBlue-Recommended
Productivity Tools
The range and
usefulness of free and low-cost productivity tools available on the web
constantly amaze me. This month, as an ongoing gift to each of you, we have
compiled a list of the tools we use day-to-day, and recommend to each of you,
as you grow and run your business. We of course also welcome your
recommendations on other tools we could use, and recommend to our community.
For a current list of recommended tools, visit http://www.fountainblue.biz/resources/productivity.html.
This Month’s
Recommended Tool:
Ooma, for free U.S.
calling with your Internet connection and existing home phone. About $200 for
the unit, and optional $10/month for premium services.
We at
FountainBlue leverage Ooma in our home office for all US-centered calls. Set-up
was reasonably easy and there has never been any technical issues unless we had
a general internet access issue.
Xobni, an
Outlook add-in for finding e-mail, conversations, contact information and
attachments, free to download or $29.95 for additional features http://www.xobni.com
We welcome your suggestions on other
productivity tools which we could leverage to better serve our community.
Please e-mail your suggestions to info@svexecs.com.
Notes From Last
Month's FountainBlue Events
It
is our hope that the notes we take during an event will stimulate thinking,
continued conversations and connections one conversation, one leader, one
organization at a time. We make our
notes available free to all attendees, and to the general community and are
happy to share a synopsis of these notes below.
The
panel remarked that utilities serve three masters: shareholders, customers,
commissioners, and this must be taken into consideration as entrepreneurs
consider how their solution works with utilities. Because of decoupling, our
local utility, PG&E, is motivated not to sell more energy, but to most
efficiently deliver energy to its customers, so they actively encourage entrepreneurs
and intrapreneurs to present energy efficient options for review and
incentivize customers to adopt these solutions.
One
of the themes that came through in the conversation is the need to work with
all stakeholders to encourage and support better storage and distribution
technologies and processes, which would create an infrastructure conducive to
getting energy cost-effectively into the hands of consumers, helping them
better understand and better manage how energy is used. The PUC now has a mandate
to put storage on the grid, so changes are imminent, and hopefully things will
improve as a result.
The
panelists concurred that there are many policy, funding, and operational issues
which make it difficult to pharma, biotech and device companies to succeed.
Even in the best of times, development, approval, reimbursement,
time-to-market, financing and other hurdles make it challenging for companies
serving patients, but times are even more difficult now. Traditional venture
investors are more interested in funding later stage companies with tested
technologies. Many early stage and even established companies are confused and
frozen by FDA statements that new policies and standards will be in place, but
without a timeframe or an idea of what changes are in store, people and
companies are electing to take products and services off-shore for easier, less
time-consuming, more straight-forward, less expensive approval processes. Thus,
US leadership first in medical devices and now in pharma are migrating offshore
to Europe, China and other markets which are easier to get funding, approvals
and customers. Although all is not lost, for there are opportunities still in
the US, there are many 'ifs' we need to overcome in order to make it so. Read
the full notes for details.
When She Speaks, Women in Leadership
Series: Creating and Reinforcing Your Executive Brand
Our
panel represents the breadth of experience from channel sales and marketing to
engineering to product management. They have successful built and enhanced
their brands within and across companies and have consciously developed and
revised their strategies and approaches to building a stellar brand. They are
known for the work they do, the results they deliver, and have graciously
shared their advice and perspectives on what has worked and hasn't worked for
them.
They
spoke about the how building their brand has helped them transition to new
roles with increasingly more responsibility within their organization, to new
companies with more and different opportunities, to new industries leveraging
existing skills and connections. They spoke about elements about a successful
brand, including a congruency within and outside yourself and organization, an
outwardly-facing outlook, a focus on continuous improvement, an affinity for
technology, and fearless authenticity. There was also an extensive conversation
about the merits of remaining unemotional, focusing on facts rather than
emotions and how valuable that is within a business setting.
The engagement of ex-entrepreneur, hands-on Super Angels,
the investment of micro-VCs managing small amounts of dollars, the emerging
trend of larger venture firms investing smaller amounts of dollars, the
technology advancements which make it easier to generate prototypes
cost-effectively, and the rising popularity of communities of entrepreneurs
congregating through incubators and looser social and professional associations
have led to a froth of activity around small investments ranging from 50-500K
in promising technology areas.
Our panelists spoke passionately about the current
funding market, ripe for start-ups with great ideas and viable business model,
as reflected by paying customers, working prototypes which are proven to be
scalable, and a team experienced from both the technology side and the business
side. Our panelists represent the investors who would not just fund, but also
engage and participate in their portfolio companies, to optimize for success.
This is a reversal of the trend from big dollar/large volume/hands-off
investments, and the small-funding, heavy-engagement approach will likely bring
more desirable results overall.
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
Audience:
Life Science entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs and investors, no service providers
please
Facilitator
William Wright, VP of Operations and Business Development – Bay Area,
California MedTech LLC
Panelist
Diane Oliver, Research Database Strategist at Kaiser Permanente Division of
Research
Presenting
Entrepreneur Robert Wotring, Co-founder at Innovative Clinical Financing (ICF)
and Program Director and Co-founder at Latin American Clinical Research Sites
Date
& Time: Monday, June 6 from 5:30 until 7:30 p.m.
FountainBlue’s
Clean Energy Entrepreneurs’ Forum
Title:
Software and Sensors in Green Tech: Managing Resources, Security and Operations
Location:
tbd
Cost:
$22 members, $32 partners, $42 general
On-Site
Cost: $42 members, $52 non-members
Members
and Prospective Members can pre-register at:
http://fountainblue.shuttlepod.org/cleanenergy
Non-Members
and Partners can register at: http://www.svcleanenergy.com
To
add questions, answers and resources on this and other FountainBlue topics,
visit our crowdsourcing resource at Quora
http://www.quora.com/Linda-Holroyd/questions
Registration:
http://www.svcleanenergy.com by Friday, June 3 at noon.
Facilitator
from KPMG to be confirmed
Corporate
Panelist to be confirmed
Panelist
from IBM to be confirmed
Panelist
from car company to be confirmed
Presenting
Entrepreneurs TBD
Presenting
Entrepreneur Mark Mah, President and CEO, NergyOS
Audience:
Entrepreneurs, Intrapreneurs and Investors only. No service providers please.
Date
& Time: Monday, June 13 from 8:30
- 10:30 a.m.
FountainBlue
Tech2Green Transition
Topic:
Leveraging Software for Home Energy Management
Speaker:
tbd
Location:
FountainBlue, 2500 El Camino Real, Suite 217, Palo Alto, between Page Mill and
California
Cost:
$32 members only, $175 Ongoing Membership and Admission
Members
can register at: http://fountainblue.shuttlepod.org/cleanenergy
To
Become a Member visit: http://fountainblue.shuttlepod.org/membershipapp
Pre-Registration
Deadline: Friday, May 6 at noon
To
add questions, answers and resources on this and other FountainBlue topics,
visit our crowdsourcing resource at Quora http://www.quora.com/Linda-Holroyd/questions
Audience:
Limited to 12 FountainBlue members who served in the high-tech industry,
wishing to transition into the clean energy industry. No Service Providers
Please
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 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 Wild Apricot, 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 Wild Apricot, or any of our YahooGroups.
What's New with
FountainBlue: Notes and Six Packs
Thank you for
your feedback on last month's policy regarding providing access to notes, and
for the proactive support and coaching from social media experts at all levels
regarding the value of content as indirect support for revenue-generating
ventures. Given the feedback we’ve received, you'd be happy to note that
FountainBlue's past notes will again now be freely accessible to our members,
attendees and the general community! It is our hope that our notes will spark
conversations and discussions that will stimulate thinking, facilitate
introductions, and get everyone working more closely together in growing an
entrepreneurial venture. We welcome your inquiries about our CEO coaching
offerings, our workshops and retreats, and our facilitation and writing
services.
Again, based on
customer feedback, we are making it easier than ever for our members to
purchase a six-pack of event admissions from our clean energy, life science or
When She Speaks series for the discounted price of $110. Visit http://fountainblue.shuttlepod.org
to sign up for these six-pack registrations starting with any of our April
events.
Your Opportunity to
Influence Policy
Attention Life
Science Entrepreneurs and those who care of our innovations in the life science
space: Our Congress is now debating whether to reauthorize SBIR-enabling
legislation and to increase SBIR and STTR allocations. Many of you have success
stories about SBIR and STTR and we would like to see this program continue. Please
add your two cents and influence this policy. Copy and paste the letter below
and send it to your legislator, or visit our partners at BayBio http://www.baybio.org/advocacy/advocacy-action-center/
and click on the 'write your legislators' link to easily cast your vote for
this important legislation.
SBIR/STTR
Reauthorization
We are scientists, investors, and
executives in small high-technology businesses that have experienced first-hand
the power of SBIR (Small Business Innovative Research) and STTR federal grants
in stimulating technology commercialization, innovation, and job creation. We
urge the reauthorization of the SBIR/STTR program by Congress at the earliest
opportunity this year.
The SBIR/STTR program has been
recognized repeatedly during its 25 year history as an outstanding engine for
new patents and products.
There are several compelling
reasons to reauthorize and to strengthen this program:
First, SBIR/STTR reauthorization
does not increase the Federal budget. Instead, it allocates a percentage of
Federal Research dollars at major federal agencies (including DoD, NIH, NASA,
DoE, and NSF) for innovative, competitively evaluated new product research
within small businesses.
Second, SBIR/STTR funding mobilizes
scientists and engineers in thousands of small businesses all over the U.S. to
tackle high risk projects in technology innovation. These projects consistently
stimulate productive investments by industry and the venture capital community.
Third, SBIR/STTR has a documented,
major impact on new company creation (20 percent of new high-technology
companies in a recent survey). The program is also decentralized, adaptive, and
funds programs outside of the mainstream.
Finally, SBIR/STTR strengthens the
mission of the nation’s research universities by amplifying the impact of their
fundamental findings.
We support the SBIR/STTR
Reauthorization Act of 2011 (S. 493) and advocate increasing the SBIR and STTR
allocations to 4.0% and 0.75% of the extramural budgets in all agencies,
starting in the next fiscal year. The increase is justified because of the
effectiveness of the program and because of the high level of competition for
SBIR/STTR grants today.
In summary, the SBIR/STTR program
increases American competitiveness and stimulates high-paying high-technology
jobs creation with no increase in overall federal spending. We urge your
support of legislation to reauthorize this successful program.
Funding Trends: THE
YEAR OF THE STARTUP DEFAULT, from The Funded,
by
Adeo Ressi, Founding Member of TheFunded.com and the Founder Institute
If 2010 was the Year
of the Angel, 2011 will be the Year of the Startup Default. There has been a
convergence of trends where massive amounts of angel debt has been accumulating
with no ability to pay it back and no conversion in sight. Let's look at what
is going on.
Angels have picked
up the funding pace after the venture market collapsed in 2009, and more angel
deals are being done as technology startups required less capital. Anecdotal
evidence suggests that angels are now investing as much as $50 billion per
year, nearly doubling from the pre-crash level of around $30 billion.
Both startups and
angels have recently favored convertible debt, particularly in the United
States. Startups like debt deals because they are quick and cheap to close by
avoiding price negotiations for equity. Angels like debt because it is the most
senior security in a company. Estimates are that there are now 10,000 angel
financings per year, and as much as 70% of these deals are now convertible
debt. The majority of convertible debt deals have no mechanism to convert to
equity without the occurrence of a Series A, and standard convertible
debt deals come due in 12 to 18 months.
Here is the problem.
The number of seed-stage Series A deals led by venture capitalists have fallen
from 400 in 2007 to 241 in 2010, and it's declining further. Series A deals for
any type of early-stage company declined from a total of 961 to 741 first-time
financings in the same time (NVCA). Billions of dollars of angel debt across
thousands of investments is coming due in 2011 and 2012 without any ability to
be repaid or any prospect of conversion. The numbers are hard to come by for
angel deals, so a lot of this is based on macro-trends and conversations with
attorneys and startups, but maybe 5% of convertible debt will experience a
proper conversion event.
This is a serious *potential* problem for startups. First, startups with large debts on their
balance sheet will have challenges securing loans, partnerships and vendor
credit, impeding their growth. Second, it will be nearly impossible for a
startup with outstanding senior debt to secure additional angel financing,
which is the most likely source of capital today due to the decline in venture.
Third, it only takes one or two jittery angels to call their note on maturity,
rather than re-negotiate, and bankrupt the startup, even if the startup is
doing fine. If one jittery angel pulls out of 10 deals at once, a chain
reaction is possible, and there are many more angels than ever before with
varying levels of sophistication.
The Year of the
Startup Default can be avoided with some actions today by, first, changing the
type of deals that are being done and by, second, negotiating the terms of
existing debt. New angel deals should either be (1) a "priced" angel
round for equity or, if you choose convertible debt, there needs to be (2) a
forced conversion event to equity if the Series A never happens. For anyone
that has existing convertible debt, read your documents and understand the
timeline. If there is no forced conversion event and if you don't have clear
prospects for a Series A, negotiations should start sooner rather than later
about converting the debt to equity upon maturity with your debt holders. Of
course, the best scenario is to pay back the debt, but that will not be an option for everyone.
For more information
about The Funded, an online community of over 14,500 CEOs, Founders and
entrepreneurs to discuss fundraising, rate and review investors, and discuss
strategies to grow a start-up business. visit http://www.thefunded.com.
FountainBlue-Recommended
Productivity Tools
The range and
usefulness of free and low-cost productivity tools available on the web
constantly amaze me. This month, as an ongoing gift to each of you, we have
compiled a list of the tools we use day-to-day, and recommend to each of you,
as you grow and run your business. We of course also welcome your
recommendations on other tools we could use, and recommend to our community.
For a current list of recommended tools, visit http://www.fountainblue.biz/resources/productivity.html.
This Month's
Recommended Tool:
LinkSV, for
company and market research needs, Free to $50/month, http://www.linksv.com
We at
FountainBlue conduct events for clean energy, high tech and life science
entrepreneurs and women leaders and leverage LinkSV with its database of over
10,000 companies from start-ups to M&As to IPOs, that are involved in
Biotechnology, Communications, Computers, Environmental, Internet, Medical,
Outsourcing, Peripherals, Semiconductors, Semiconductor Equipment, Software,
and Storage sectors. The search and filter functionality of LinkSV allows us to
quickly identify relevant trends and key companies and speakers for our
upcoming panels.
Xobni, an
Outlook add-in for finding e-mail, conversations, contact information and
attachments, free to download or $29.95 for additional features http://www.xobni.com
We welcome your suggestions on other
productivity tools which we could leverage to better serve our community.
Please e-mail your suggestions to info@svexecs.com.
Notes From Last
Month's FountainBlue Events
It
is our hope that the notes we take during an event will stimulate thinking, continued
conversations and connections one conversation, one leader, one organization at
a time. We make our notes available free
to all attendees, as part of the admission price. We do ask people who attend
our events not to forward the notes or the contact list to anyone else. We are
now making our notes available to members of our community and beyond for the
affordable rate of $1.50 each, $13.00 for a year-long subscription and $35 for
ongoing notes. For more information or to order notes, please visit http://www.fountainblue.biz.
Our
panel represented the wide range of clean tech solutions leveraging software:
from transportation to solar to buildings and energy efficiency and water and
energy management. Software is enabling the growth of each of these clean
energy sub-sectors, and opening up new opportunities and better serves the
energy, time and resource management needs of its end users. The software
solutions are becoming ever more complex, and the volumes of data generated is
overwhelming. The challenge is to capture the data through equipment and
devices and tools, convert this data into standardized formats which are easily
compiled and analyzed, and draw conclusions, create reports and otherwise make
the data into actionable information so that a user can make decisions, or so
that automated actions can take place. IBM would call this the 'instrumented'
(with appropriate devices and tools part of the system), 'integrated' (with
data massaged and coordinated and compiled to get the best picture of what's
happening, real time), and 'intelligent' (with compiled reports and
recommendations so that measured, data-enabled decisions can be made). The complete set of notes is freely
available at http://www.svcleanenergy.com.
There
are many pieces of the food value chain, and many way to slice it, from seed to
plate, from farm to fork. Our panelists talked not just about the process and
technology innovations throughout the value chain, and specifically in their
specialty area(s), but also about their personal passion for providing more
people freer access to safe, high-integrity food options to a hungry and
growing market. The panelists started by covering seed and feed innovations and
the opportunities and challenges around that. Whether the panelists were
talking about seed diversity, seed development, genetically engineered seeds,
or other topics, it was clear not just that we had a knowledgeable panel, but
also that seed innovations greatly impact the availability, range, safety and
integrity of the food we serve. What might not be clear in Silicon Valley is
that our local region has been known for decades for the development of quality
seeds which are shipped around the world. Each of our panelists mentioned the
importance of focusing on the needs of the customer, and providing information
and products and services which best serve their personalized needs. Sometimes
it means leveraging technology - not just the traditional software technology
which allows people to customize preferences and make informed their food
choices based on those preferences, but also the technology to genetically
engineer seeds to diversify a seed gene pool, or to bring manufacturing process
improvement practices, processes and principles into the food production and
packaging industry. We should also consider that it takes technological
advancements to innovate feed and process improvements to help ensure faster,
higher quality poultry and livestock overall. The complete set of notes is freely
available at http://fountainblue.biz/lifescience/lifesciencenotes.html.
When She Speaks, Women in Leadership
Series: Agility: The Key to a Successful Career
Our dynamic panel represented women who
went from one role to another, one company to another, one industry to another,
sometimes planned, sometimes not, always learning and benefiting from each
experience. Our panelists were very attuned with who they are, what they are
passionate about, what makes them motivated, and how they are contributing and
take care to nurture their brand and their communication to proactively project
an image they would be proud of, one they are consciously grooming as they
evolve their career. And they are humble, grounded and generous, and well
positioned for their next career opportunity, should it come their way. These are women who see opportunities in
every challenge, learnings in every task, and constantly push the edge on
what's done and how it's done, to better serve customers internally within a
company, and external customers they serve. They did not start off in the
middle or the top of the corporate ladder. They earned their stripes and built
their brand so that they could climb that ladder. Central to this position is
the alignment between what they do and who they are. The complete set of notes is freely
available at http://fountainblue.biz/whenshespeaks/whenshespeaksnotes.html.
There
is no question about the huge potential market in the business analytics space.
Our panelists likened it to the impact of the Industrial Revolution and the way
the goods are produced and delivered, the impact of the Model T and the way it
made transportation affordable and available, to Southwest Airlines and the way
it provided access to airplane flights to common users, or what Home Depot and
WalMart did for retail. It's not that business analytics is new and hot. It's
that it has been big and it's going to get much bigger! It's not that it's new
and sexy; it has been around for a while, but with the advancements in
hardware, software, networks, business models, and the range of opportunities
ahead serving users in niche markets, the possibilities are mind-boggling. The complete set of notes is available at http://fountainblue.biz/hightech/hightechnotes.html.
We hope to see you
at one of our upcoming events!
Date & Time: Monday, April 4 from 5:30
until 7:30 p.m.
FountainBlue's Clean Energy Entrepreneurs'
Forum
Title: Getting Plugged Into the Utilities
Location: SRI Building G on Laurel Avenue
between Ravenswood and Burgess, in Menlo Park
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
Audience: Life Science entrepreneurs,
intrapreneurs and investors, no service providers please
Facilitator Amish Parashar, Stanford
University Professor
Panelist Arthur Douville, Arthur W.
Douville, Jr., M.D., Chief Medical Officer, Good Samaritan Hospital
Panelist Guy Miller, M.D., Ph.D.,
co-founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Edison Pharmaceuticals
Panelist Peter G. Milner, MD, FACC,
Co-Founder and Executive VP Corporate Development Optivia Biotechnology and
Co-founder CV Therapeutics, ARYx Therapeutics
Presenting Entrepreneur Thomas Ruby, PhD,
Postdoc fellow, Microbiology and Immunology, Monack Lab
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
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
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 Wild Apricot, 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 Wild Apricot, or any of our YahooGroups.
What's New with
FountainBlue: Member Benefits
After much
thinking and planning and research, we are upgrading our member benefits below.
Please note that effective July 1, our annual membership fee will be increased
to $75 and our ongoing membership fee will be $200.
Event Admission Benefits:
Discounted admissions to any FountainBlue events,
generally a savings of $10-$20 for each event you attend.
Discounted and free passes to partner events in
Silicon Valley when available.
Invitations to members-only events, including our
Tech2Green series.
Complementary admissions to a Silicon Valley
event for non-local members traveling to Silicon Valley (up to two a
year, must provide at least 14 days notice, and assuming that there
are remaining seats).
Program
and Content Benefits:
Access to notes from past events for a fee of $1.50
each, or annual notes for $14.
Participate as a Program Adviser working with a team
to shape themes and recruit panelists.
Participate as a Program Adviser and suggest new ideas
and themes for any of our series.
Share resources and information which may be selected
for inclusion in follow-up notes for any of our sessions.
Community
Benefits:
Opportunities for entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs,
investors and corporate execs in the community to actively participate in
FountainBlue face-to-face programs or one-on-one introductions over
e-mail or in person.
Members may forward event invitations to their network
of interested contacts, offering partner rates. (Please honor our
no-service provider policy for our entrepreneur events.)
Promotional
Benefits:
Opportunity to promote events produced by other
organizations within the Silicon Valley, focusing on serving early stage
clean energy, high tech or life science entrepreneurs or women leaders.
Regular recommendations are sent out roughly weekly to FountainBlue
members.
Members offering products and services which may be of
interest to our community may submit a 100-word description of the
offering and the discount to the community, with a call to action. One
company will be approved for inclusion in our monthly newsletter.
Member companies offering products and services which
would help offload others on non-critical tasks at home and at work are
welcome to submit their offering to our BlueFountain database for
referrals to our network. http://www.bluefountain.biz
Early
Stage Company or Intrapreneur Benefits:
Opportunity to meet one-on-one for one hour of
complementary discussion on early stage clean energy, high tech or life
science entrepreneurial efforts. Additional ongoing support is available
on a consulting basis for $200 an hour, and includes e-mail follow-ups
and introductions, as well as optional participation as an advisory board
member.
Ongoing introductions to potential strategic
investors, partners, founders and customers in support of your
entrepreneurial cause.
Facilitating an introduction to US Trade and Export
for consultation on marketing products and services outside the US.
Access to conference room for a 2-4 hour meeting, with
or without our facilitation support.
One facilitated strategic or executive session a year,
at a discounted rate of $100/hour.
E-mail feedback and input on business model or
executive summary.
Other benefits, to be determined.
FountainBlue-Recommended
Productivity Tools
The range and
usefulness of free and low-cost productivity tools available on the web
constantly amaze me. This month, as an ongoing gift to each of you, we have
compiled a list of the tools we use day-to-day, and recommend to each of you,
as you grow and run your business. We of course also welcome your
recommendations on other tools we could use, and recommend to our community.
For a current list of recommended tools, visit http://www.fountainblue.biz/resources/productivity.html.
This Month's Recommended
Tool:
Xobni, an
Outlook add-in for finding e-mail, conversations, contact information and
attachments, free to download or $29.95 for additional features http://www.xobni.com
We at
FountainBlue use Outlook extensively, and find that Xobni helps you find and
track people, attachments and conversations and better and more quickly track
who is doing what in our large and growing community.
We welcome your suggestions on other
productivity tools which we could leverage to better serve our community.
Please e-mail your suggestions to info@svexecs.com.
Quotes and Articles
We are working on
Volume One of an Ask Linda series, featuring life-work challenged and
questions, where we give advice formed in top ten responses. The questions are
those raised by community members over the past five years, and the responses
were compiled and now shared with our community as many others have had similar
issues and concerns. Below is a draft outline for our Ask Linda eBook. Your
thoughts and suggestions on topics are most welcome.
Life-Work Balance
1.
Stress Management
2.
Roles and Responsibilities
3.
To Have Or Not To Have Children
4.
Fitting in Other Stuff
5.
What's Good Enough?
Politics and
Power
1.
Undermining Co-Workers
2.
Male-Dominated Meetings
3.
Male-Dominated Teams
4.
Speak to Be Heard
5.
Walking Points
Money Issues
1.
Women and Money
2.
Money and Relationships
3.
Stretch Money Goals
4.
Empowering Your Network
5.
Dreams to Reality
Family Dynamics
1.
Working Parents
2.
Values First
3.
Choose Quality Time
4.
Tough Choices
5.
Guidance-Independence Balance
Collaboration
1.
Working with Competitors
2.
Bridging Silos
3.
Aligning Goals
4.
Creative Win-Win Choices
5.
When NOT to Collaborate
Mending Fences
1.
Family Members
2.
Alliance Partners
3.
Technology Teams
4.
Disgruntled Employees
5.
When NOT to Mend
Clarity of
Purpose
1.
Next Career Direction
2.
Corporate Strategy
3.
Core Value
4.
Clear Results
5.
Clarity in Communicating Purpose
A Cow's Eye View
1.
Customers First
2.
Embracing Diversity
3.
Focus the WHY, Not the HOW
4.
Thinking Outside the Box
5.
Convergence of Opportunities
Re-Energizing YOU
1.
The YOU at Work
2.
The YOU in a Relationship
3.
Refreshing Your Voice
4.
Buffing Your Brand
5.
Choosing Your Passion
Spiritual and
Physical Fitness
1.
Fitting It In
2.
Sauce for the Goose
3.
Choosing Balance
4.
Education and Stimulation
5.
Staying In the Zone
The BEST YOU You
Can Be
The LARGEST
IMPACT You Can Have
For more
information, to read this week's article, or to order your e-book, visit http://www.bluefountain.biz.
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 One: The Entrepreneur Litmus Test
Chapter Two: A Hard Look at Yourself
Chapter Three: The Whole Vision Thing
Chapter Four: Show Me the Pain, and I'll
Show You the Money
Chapter Five: The People On the Bus
Chapter Six: The First Shovelful of Dirt
Chapter Seven: Overcoming Adversity
Chapter Eight: Fanning the Flames
Chapter Nine: Having What It Takes
Chapter Ten: The Pot of Gold
Bringing It All Together
Chapter
Ten: The Pot of Gold
Is
it worth the risks, the highs and lows, the endless amount of hard luck, the
stress, the responsibilities, the challenges? Here's why our entrepreneurs have
resoundingly said 'yes it is'.
1.
Make yourself responsible for your own future, rather than working someone
else's plan particularly if it's not one you can feel passionate about.
2.
Embrace the high-impact lessons of entrepreneurial leadership, and leverage the
up-sides of being small and nimble to rapidly make changes that would keep your
company competitive.
3.
Invite yourself to keep raising the bar for yourself personally and
professionally, on your own terms, under circumstances you define.
4.
Recruit and develop high performance teams with relationships and connections
that would transcend the current organization.
5.
Build a network of high-trust, high-value partnerships with win-win agendas
that would transcend any one specific project.
6.
Command the respect and trust of people you work with and admire.
7.
Generate extraordinary financial rewards, working on products and services you
believe in. It will not only support your team, customers, partners and other
stakeholders, but the whole innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem as well.
8.
Know and plan for a time if/when you need to leave the organization and do
something different for yourself, because it's best for your company AND best
for you.
9.
Raise the waters for all, so that more ships can sail - more entrepreneurial
companies, more non-profits, and more good people.
10. Make the
world a better place for those around you now, and those to come.
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.
Notes From Last
Month's FountainBlue Events
It
is our hope that the notes we take during an event will stimulate thinking,
continued conversations and connections one conversation, one leader, one
organization at a time. We make our
notes available free to all attendees, as part of the admission price. We do
ask people who attend our events not to forward the notes or the contact list
to anyone else. We are now making our notes available to members of our
community and beyond for the affordable rate of $1.50 each, $13.00 for a
year-long subscription and $35 for ongoing notes. For more information or to
order notes, please visit http://www.fountainblue.biz.
The
panelists agreed that technology advancements in networking and sensing,
computer hardware and storage/cloud computing as well as data management are
fueling new innovations in this space, but barriers to success include lack of
financing, policy challenges, customer apathy/complacency, low energy costs and
high development/research costs.
The
panelists commented on some huge opportunities ahead:
The volumes of smart grid
information need to be converted into actionable reports real-time in order to
benefit users.
There is a debate about data
ownership and data security, which is another opportunity AND a challenge.
There are tremendous opportunities
in smart grid. People like John Chambers are saying that it will be bigger than
the internet. Entrepreneurs innovating in this area are betting on this
inevitable and finding a way to piece things together until their company takes
off.
Mobile and social media apps
integrated with home and enterprise devices will be on the rise, so there will
be great opportunities here as well. Apps targeting and educating kids will
also likely be on the rise.
In
summary, entrepreneurs in this space must focus on creating production-ready
products and services with user-friendly, engaging software interfaces that
deliver clear, direct and actionable information, leveraging existing systems
and infrastructure, to a customer base that needs it and is willing to pay for it,
with enough margin for companies to grow an sustain the business.
The complete set of notes is available for
$1 or $32 for access to ongoing notes. Complete the form at http://www.svcleanenergy.com to order your
copy.
The
diagnostics market is incredibly varied and ranges from FDA approved IVD product
to consumer genetics offerings. Products range in complexity from a simple
pregnancy test that you pee on to the most sophisticated imaging platforms. The
products can be provided in packages or delivered by expert intermediaries as
services. The people who conduct the testing may only read at an 8th grade
level or have multiple advanced degrees. What we do know is that diagnostics
drive ~70% of the healthcare spend while only capturing a couple of percent in
revenues.
Our
panelists shared their thoughts about evidence development for key stakeholders
including regulators, clinicians and payers, and its role in driving adoption
and how successfully making the case for each of these stakeholders is
essentially for the success of any medical diagnostics company, whether you're
Series C funded or bootstrapping.
The complete set of notes is available for
$1 or $32 for access to ongoing notes. Complete the form at http://www.svlifescience.com to order
your copy.
Our wise and humorous panelists shared many
strategies and stories about how to maintain a life-work balance, confirming
throughout that there is no magic bullet, and we must be fluid about addressing
what's in front of us, and be realistic about what we can do when. Our
panelists shared their personal challenges, pointed out their own hot buttons,
showed their own vulnerabilities, to help us all better recognize and address
our own. They provided some specific advice on how to: Plan and Prioritize, Set
and Communicate Boundaries, Re-Set Expectations and Priorities, Build a Community
and Make the Time for Important People In Your Life.
The complete set of notes is available for
$1 or $32 for access to ongoing notes. Complete the form at http://www.whenshespeaks.com to order
your copy.
High Tech Annual Event: Annual Funding Trends: Super Angels and Incubators to
the Rescue There
is no question about the huge potential market in the business analytics space.
Our panelists likened it to the impact of the Industrial Revolution and the way
the goods are produced and delivered, the impact of the Model T and the way it
made transportation affordable and available, to Southwest Airlines and the way
it provided access to airplane flights to common users, or what Home Depot and
WalMart did for retail. It's not that business analytics is new and hot. It's
that it has been big and it's going to get much bigger! It's not that it's new
and sexy; it has been around for a while, but with the advancements in
hardware, software, networks, business models, and the range of opportunities
ahead serving users in niche markets, the possibilities are mind-boggling.
The complete set of notes is available for
$1 or $32 for access to ongoing notes. Complete the form at http://www.sventrepreneurs.com to
order your copy.
We hope to see you
at one of our upcoming events!
Date
& Time: Monday, March 7 from 5:30 until 7:30 p.m.
FountainBlue's
Clean Energy Entrepreneurs Forum
Title:
Leveraging Software for Clean Green Solutions
Location:
EMC, 2831 Mission College Boulevard, Santa Clara
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
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
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
February 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 Wild Apricot, 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 Wild Apricot, or any of our YahooGroups.
What's New with
FountainBlue: Introducing BlueFountain
Starting this
Thursday, FountainBlue will be introducing a sister organization, BlueFountain,
and sending out newsletter roughly weekly, which focus: 1) connecting busy
professionals with quality service-providers to off-load critical, non-core
tasks, 2) providing ongoing advice on personal and work-related issues through
our ask-Linda column, 3) profiling women in leadership through and 4) offering
products which enhance health, fitness, and quality of life. To sign up for our
monthly newsletter, e-mail us at info@bluefountain.biz.
If you are on the When She Speaks list, you will automatically receive the
first few newsletters. We welcome your comments and suggestions.
FountainBlue Note
Downloads
Effective
immediately, FountainBlue notes will only be sent to people who attend an
event. Past notes are available for $1, and ongoing notes for any of our series
is available for $32. Excerpts from our past notes may be integrated into
upcoming books on leadership and entrepreneurship or networking, or including
in our workshops and presentations. If you were a speaker or sponsor from a
past event, please e-mail us if you would like to have a copy of these notes in
PDF format. Whether you receive notes by attending an event or purchasing them
online following an event, please do not forward these notes on to others
without our expressed permission. Thank you for your support and cooperation.
FountainBlue-Recommended
Productivity Tools
The range and
usefulness of free and low-cost productivity tools available on the web
constantly amaze me. This month, as an ongoing gift to each of you, we have
compiled a list of the tools we use day-to-day, and recommend to each of you,
as you grow and run your business. We of course also welcome your
recommendations on other tools we could use, and recommend to our community.
For a current list of recommended tools, visit http://www.fountainblue.biz/resources/productivity.html.
Square-Up, for
Processing Credit Card Payments over your iPhone, free, just percentage of
charges
FountainBlue has
begun using Square-Up for all on-site event purchases. We have found the
solution very efficient and easy-to-use.
We welcome your suggestions on other
productivity tools which we could leverage to better serve our community.
Please e-mail your suggestions to info@svexecs.com.
Special Offer from
Our Community Members
Sandy McMahon of
Executive Forums in Silicon Valley is inviting early stage high tech, life
science and clean energy CEOs or top executives from the FountainBlue network
to be interviewed for an upcoming Ceo2Ceos article www.Ceo2Ceos.com. Sandy also invites you to peruse this new
Silicon Valley resource and see the practical advice on real-life questions and
topics raised by other local CEOs, with responses from other CEOs in the
network.
Quotes and Articles
Linda Holroyd's
Ten Thoughts on Collaboration, Why Do It, What's In It for ME?! submitted for
DovetailCollaboration, http://www.dovetailcollaboration.com:
1.
Successful collaborations rely on deep
relationships, trusted networks, and clear and transparent communication.
Reaching for these standards is key, regardless of whether your intention is to
collaborate.
2.
Technology enables collaboration, so only the
techno-philic can best leverage collaboration. Tracking technology tools and
how they enable up-and-coming businesses will empower your company, regardless
of whether you do it to collaborate.
3.
Selecting the best-of-the-best as collaborators will
amplify your growth.
4.
Collaboration is a matter of perspective, a state of
mind: you need to work with people who see the world as a world of bounty and
understand that the more you connect and work with people, the more there is
for all. Filtering for people with collaborative perspectives will enrich your
network.
5.
Collaboration fosters innovations found in
adjacencies between people, industries, roles, countries . . . everything. Keeping
an eye on these adjacencies will keep you ahead of the game in the business
world.
6.
Selecting potential competitors as collaborators
profiles your innovative thinking and stretches the opportunities for you both.
7.
Collaborating is never easy - unless someone thinks
and acts just like you, and then what's the point? Stretching beyond your
comfort zone may not feel good in the short term, but is SO good for you in the
long term.
8.
The collaborative leader is the leader of the future - those with a take-all-and-conquer attitude must take a back seat to her/him.
Which would you rather be?
9.
Collaboration is a full-contact sport, affecting all
you say, think and do. So choose it only with your eyes wide open.
10. The best collaborators empower others around them to also collaborate,
enlarging the ecosystem for all. Wouldn't you want to be among the best
collaborators? If so, you can't help but wind up being one yourself, and
reaping the rewards.
Over the next several months, we will be
showcasing chapters from our upcoming book, 101 Truths About Creating
Something from Nothing.
Chapter One: The Entrepreneur Litmus Test
Chapter Two: A Hard Look at Yourself
Chapter Three: The Whole Vision Thing
Chapter Four: Show Me the Pain, and I'll
Show You the Money
Chapter Five: The People On the Bus
Chapter Six: The First Shovelful of Dirt
Chapter Seven: Overcoming Adversity
Chapter Eight: Fanning the Flames
Chapter Nine: Having What It Takes
Chapter Ten: The Pot of Gold
Bringing It All Together
Chapter
Nine: Having What It Takes
Leadership comes from the top. What you say
and don't say and do as a leader will define how much momentum you will build,
and how far your company can go. This chapter elaborates on the qualities of an
entrepreneurial leader and how to build and maintain that inner light - the
drive and passion that will deliver success for the organization.
1.
It's
rare to find a visionary who can execute, but that's what needed to envision
the solution AND deliver it in a way that generates momentum for the
organization.
2.
Leaders
are born AND made. You have to have the integrity, ability and persistence to
succeed as a leader, but even if you have that, the passion and desire have to
come first.
3.
A
leader is defined by who follows him/her, and how many continue to follow
her/him, collaboratively achieving the intended results.
4.
A
leader has the support structure needed to stay grounded, stay current, and
stay connected.
5.
A
leader replenishes his/her passion and energy, to ensure that she/he is at the
top of the game, and hitting on all cylinders.
6.
The
leader's vision, his passion and desire, transcends the here and now, the
possibilities of today. The leader's inner light is bigger than him/herself and
the company created. It will speak to the needs of the customer, the market,
the time to come.
7. Entrepreneurial
leaders are measured risk-takers, taking a leap of faith on an opportunity to
come.
8. Entrepreneurial
leaders are resilient and tough - with an abundance of the phenomenal qualities
needed to launch a company: drive and energy, persistence, competence, luck and
much more.
9. Most successful
entrepreneurs are seeking continuous improvement for themselves personally as
well as for their teams and company. They keep innovating and taking measured
risks, even after the company takes off, despite the risk of failure.
10. Guard carefully the
leader's inner light for it must never be extinguished.
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.
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. We hope that our
compilation of notes from last month's events will stimulate continued
conversations and connections.
Below
are the top ten trends impacting the clean energy sub-industry, based on the
comments from our hosts of panelists:
1. Software
and IT solutions applied the clean energy sector will become an increasingly
dominant part of fundable clean energy offerings. Opportunities in IT range
from monitoring buildings to traffic controls to energy storage and monitoring
to vehicle controls in connected both EV and hybrid and petroleum-burning
vehicles.
2. The
convergence of people, thinking and industries is fundamental to industry
growth and opportunity. For example, proven technologies are being applied in
new ways which increase sustainability, and proven technology executives are
applying their skills, knowledge and networks to build momentum and results in
the sector.
3. There
will be a proliferation of clean energy solutions will begin encouraging
behavior changes that make a difference and apply social pressure and ROI data
to encourage and rewarded these behavioral changes.
4. Leading
companies will learn to successfully navigate the policy, politics and pricing
challenges inherent in the industry, and provide solutions which fit the
infrastructure, budget and ROI needs of its customers locally, nationally and
world-wide will remain dominant. The market and opportunity will be there for
those companies who can persevere despite the challenges.
5. Collaborations
between intrapreneurs, entrepreneurs, investors, and policy-makers will
increase the likelihood of success. This is always true, but more so in the
clean energy sector, which is often politically-charged.
6. The
block-and-tackle solutions of infrastructure upgrades, piping, data integration
and other offerings across the clean tech sector which optimize the generation,
measurement and channeling of the energy and water are often the 'lowest-hanging fruit'. Although addressing fundamental infrastructure
challenges, from building ducts to water and oil pipes these solutions may even
have existed at the time of the Flintstones, and although they may not be as
sexy as change-the-world technologies that take converts waste to energy, or
creates a new energy source from materials that are plentiful, they are often
less capital intensive, and much more likely to succeed and may even be a
necessary requirement for rapid mass adoption. Therefore, the opportunity is
ripe for entrepreneurial companies who can do this well.
7. There
will be a conflict between addressing customized, targeted, localized needs of
customers and scaling solutions so that they serve locally, and scale globally
yet cost-effectively, and winning companies, leveraging technology and data analytics,
and scalable business models will navigate this well.
8. The
rising middle class in countries such as India and China will dramatically
impact the demand for energy, just as natural resources become depleted and
demographic changes mean that fewer people will be in the workforce to deliver
the energy. Proactively plan for the uptick in energy usage, and create and
implement policies favoring the research and creation of green companies
forging collaborations between corporations, entrepreneurs, academics and
researchers, customers, policy-makers and others.
9. The
increased demand for energy will drive up energy costs, so we must both
minimize waste, optimize our processes and systems, and create and deliver
cost-effective energy to a broader range of consumers worldwide.
10. Clean
energy solutions will become an increasingly accepted business offerings that
are good for companies, people, and the earth.
The complete set of notes is available for
$1 or $32 for access to ongoing notes. Complete the form at http://www.svcleanenergy.com to order
your copy.
The
panel commented on the tremendous investment opportunities in the life science
sectors, at least for companies who can successfully navigate the increasingly
complex development and regulatory and reimbursement challenges inherent in the
business. Hot business opportunities are available in the medical device and
software-meets healthcare space, but there are also other opportunities,
including pharma ones, for companies who have the vision to address a real
market need, and the ability to execute and deliver quality products and
services to hungry users.
The complete set of notes is available for
$1 or $32 for access to ongoing notes. Complete the form at http://www.svlifescience.com to order
your copy.
Enlarging your circle of influence is about
getting people to work together, achieving results that would serve all.
Leaders who are effective at influencing are branded for the effectiveness,
their ability to get things done, engaging a large cohort of stakeholders, and
frequently thinking outside the box on HOW to build engagement from a wide
range of stakeholders. People you influence must have respect for you, your
past accomplishments, your reputation for getting things one. They must trust
that you have their best interest, and that of the team and company, in mind.
Therefore, influence takes time, and every accomplishment, every task, can lead
to building influence.
The complete set of notes is available for
$1 or $32 for access to ongoing notes. Complete the form at http://www.whenshespeaks.com to order
your copy.
High Tech Annual Event: Annual Funding Trends: Super Angels and Incubators to
the Rescue The
engagement of ex-entrepreneur, hands-on Super Angels, the investment of
micro-VCs managing small amounts of dollars, the emerging trend of larger
venture firms investing smaller amounts of dollars, the technology advancements
which make it easier to generate prototypes cost-effectively, and the rising
popularity of communities of entrepreneurs congregating through incubators and
looser social and professional associations have led to a froth of activity
around small investments ranging from 50-500K in promising technology areas.
The complete set of notes is available for
$1 or $32 for access to ongoing notes. Complete the form at http://www.sventrepreneurs.com to
order your copy.
We hope to see you
at one of our upcoming events!
FountainBlue's
Bi-Monthly Business Analytics Event: Invitation-Only Strategic Planning Session
Date
& time: Friday, February 4
from
8:30-9:30 a.m. for invitation-only Strategic Planning Session
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
Date
& Time: Friday, March 11, 2011,
11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m.
FountainBlue's
When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series
Topic:
Agility: The Key to Building a Successful Career
Location:
Life Technologies, 850 Lincoln Centre Drive, Foster City (to be confirmed)
Pre-register: $22 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
Members
and Prospective Members can register at: http://fountainblue.shuttlepod.org/whenshespeaks
Non-Members
and Partners can register at: http://www.whenshespeaks.com
Pre-registration
Deadline: February 10 at noon
To
add questions, answers and resources on this and other FountainBlue topics,
visit our crowdsourcing resource at Quora http://www.quora.com/Linda-Holroyd/questions
Audience:
Women and men who support having women in senior technology positions.
Facilitator
tbd
Panelist
Phyllis Stewart Pires. Director Community Experience and Learning and Talent
Management lead, SAP Labs North America
Panelist
from Life Technologies to be confirmed
For
more information and to register, visit http://www.whenshespeaks.com.
Date
& Time: Monday, March 14 from 8:30
- 10:30 a.m.
FountainBlue's
Tech2Green Transition
Topic:
From Semiconductors to Clean Energy Solutions
Speaker:
Vivek Agrawal, Business Development Manager, Energy and Environmental
Solutions, Office of the CTO, Applied Materials
Location:
FountainBlue, 2500 El Camino Real, Suite 217, Palo Alto, between Page Mill and
California
Cost:
$32 members only, $175 Ongoing Membership and Admission
Members
can register at: http://fountainblue.shuttlepod.org/cleanenergy
To
Become a Member visit: http://fountainblue.shuttlepod.org/membershipapp
Pre-Registration
Deadline: Friday, March 11 at noon
To
add questions, answers and resources on this and other FountainBlue topics,
visit our crowdsourcing resource at Quora
http://www.quora.com/Linda-Holroyd/questions
Audience:
Limited to 12 FountainBlue members who served in the high-tech industry,
wishing to transition into the clean energy industry. No Service Providers
Please
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 Wild Apricot, 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 Wild Apricot, or any of our YahooGroups.
What's
New with
FountainBlue: Happy Fifth Birthday
This month, we
look forward to celebrating our fifth birthday! We couldn't have done it
without you. So, following our tradition, we will offer our community
members a
gift to celebrate this momentous occasion. Collect points as designated
below,
and cash in on these points by e-mailing us with your tally of points
sometime
this month.
Collect one point
if you knew Linda Holroyd
before FountainBlue was founded.
Collect one point
if you attended one of our
first events in January 2006: Transitions or Connections.
Collect one point
if you were a speaker for
any of our events over the past five years.
Collect one point
if you told at least ten people
about FountainBlue and our ongoing activities.
Collect one point
if you joined FountainBlue in July
2008 as a founding community member.
Collect one point
if you became an ongoing member.
Collect one point
if you have hosted a
FountainBlue event in the past.
Collect one point
if you became a sponsor.
Collect one point
if you became a program adviser.
Collect one point
if you took the time to meet
with Linda one-on-one already.
If you've
accumulated 1-5 points, e-mail us and we will plant a tree on
your
behalf through MokuGift.
If you've
accumulated
6-8 points, get on Linda's calendar http://meetwith.me/lindaholroyd
and
tell her what you're up to and brainstorm how we can help you.
If you've
accumulated 9-10 points, e-mail us and tell us how we can support
you in
return.
FountainBlue-Recommended
Productivity
Tools
The range and
usefulness of free and low-cost productivity tools available on the web
constantly amaze me. This month, as an ongoing gift to each of you, we
have
compiled a list of the tools we use day-to-day, and recommend to each of
you,
as you grow and run your business. We of course also welcome your
recommendations on other tools we could use, and recommend to our
community.
For a current list of recommended tools, visit http://www.fountainblue.biz/resources/productivity.html.
PDFescape for
your PDF
reader, editor, form filler, & form designing needs. Free or $10 for
lifetime http://www.pdfescape.com
PDFescape offers a
free PDF reader, editor,
form filler, form designer, and webmaster tools with no downloads and no
watermarks. FountainBlue leverages this tool for easy PDF document
updating and
management.
We welcome your
suggestions on other
productivity tools which we could leverage to better serve our
community.
Please e-mail your suggestions to info@svexecs.com.
FountainBlue-Recommended
Sustainability
Tools
Every thought,
every action has an impact on how we interact with the earth and the
people
around us. There are a range of tools and options which will help people
adopt
sustainability options painlessly, and this month, we will start
profiling
tools and resources in our monthly newsletter. A compilation of all
sustainability resources will also be posted at http://www.fountainblue.biz/resources/sustainability.html.
A
Cubic Mile of Oil: The energy supply debate has focused on the
tension
between the moral imperative of protecting the environment and that of
preserving the economic interests of the energy industry. But we are
missing
the larger challenge: improving the lives of people around the earth by
meeting
their growing energy requirements. The current global consumption of oil
amounts to 1 cubic mile over one year, and if we include the consumption
of
coal, natural gas, hydro, nuclear and wood, it would amount to a grand
total of
3 CMO. And the projected global demand will double or triple by the
middle of
this century! Written by SRI scientists Hewitt Crane, Edwin Kinderman
and
Ripudaman Malhotra, A
Cubic Mile of Oil: Realities and Options for Averting the Looming
Global
Energy Crisis is a practical, thought-provoking book which details
alternative
energy sources, their potential, and the requirements for developing any
of
them to a level that would address our energy needs - about 1 CMO/year
each.
For more information or to purchase your copy, visit http://www.amazon.com/Cubic-Mile-Oil-Realities-Averting/dp/0195325540/ref=cm_aya_orig_subj.
See also the description on
wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubic_mile_of_oil.
Special
Offer from
Our Community Members
Dennis Shiao's
Generate Sales Leads with Virtual Events
Virtual events
can be a dream for marketers. They can generate leads cost effectively
and they
facilitate real-time interactions with sales prospects that can lead to
quicker
and more efficient marketing qualification.
That's the
premise behind FountainBlue program adviser Dennis Shiao's first book
"Generate Sales Leads With Virtual Events". Dennis is a virtual
events expert who has advised FountainBlue on its virtual worlds series
since
its inception in September 2009. Dennis provides insights that marketers
can
use to fuel their sales pipeline via virtual events. Order an
electronic or hard copy of Dennis's
book by visiting http://allvirtual.wordpress.com/2010/12/01/new-book-generate-sales-leads-with-virtual-events/.
Christine
Hertzog's Smart Grid Dictionary, 2nd Edition, is the most
convenient
and concise collection of over 1200 Smart Grid definitions for industry
veterans, new hires, and everyone who wants to learn more about the
future of
electricity and our electrical grids. There are over 400 new terms
ranging from
energy storage, home and building energy management, electric vehicles,
telecommunications, sensors, energy efficiency, and cybersecurity as
well as an
expanded list of standards that apply to Smart Grid technologies, more
international coverage of regulatory agencies, industry associations,
and
standards organizations and has included extensive Advisory Board review
to
ensure breadth, depth, and accuracy of definitions. Copies are available
at http://www.smartgridlibrary.com/smart-grid-dictionary/.
Quotes
and Articles
Pink and Grow
Rich: 11 Unreasonable Rules for Success, is an inspiring e-book by
ActiveGarage
co-founder Deepika Bajaj. It is an eBook that will unleash your
leadership
potential to live your dream life. http://www.activegarage.com/resources/pink-and-grow-rich.
Linda Holroyd is quoted in the book, in response to the question: What
do you
think would help women who wish to break cultural stereotypes at home
and
workplace?
We need heroes to
keep breaking the ground for the
rest of us.
We need to all be on
the same side - taking a
collaborative rather than a competitive view of fellow women
professionals.
We need to keep
inquiring about a typical woman's
leadership style, and how that's complementary to a typical man's
leadership
style.
We need to focus on
empowering others to succeed.
We need to celebrate
our successes.
The sky's the limit
ladies! Together, we are
stronger.
Over the next
several months, we will be
showcasing chapters from our upcoming book, 101 Truths About Creating
Something from Nothing.
Chapter One: The
Entrepreneur Litmus Test
Chapter Two: A Hard Look at Yourself
Chapter Three: The Whole Vision Thing
Chapter Four: Show
Me the Pain, and I'll
Show You the Money
Chapter Five: The People On the Bus
Chapter Six: The First Shovelful of Dirt
Chapter Seven:
Overcoming Adversity
Chapter Eight: Fanning the Flames
Chapter Nine: Having
What It Takes
Chapter Ten: The Pot
of Gold
Bringing It All Together
Chapter
Eight: Fanning the Flames
People
keep thinking that it's technology innovation that defines a company's
success
and potential. It's really more about whether a company can build
momentum,
continuing to sign on more customers, more staff, more recognition and
press,
etc., regardless of what the technology innovation is.
Yes,
it's about the momentum, not about the technology (which determines
whether
someone will buy), the team (which keeps driving the momentum), the
market
(which determines whether there's a path in the first place), etc. So
manage
your company based on the momentum you command: in sales volume, in
partnerships, brand, etc.
What separates a
successful company from an
also-run is always about forward momentum. It's difficult to generate
positive
momentum, even in the best of circumstances. You have to do juggling
some heavy
and awkward balls in the air while walking through a field of landmines.
The 'balls' might include market, customers, product, partners, etc., and
the 'landmines' might include IP, founder syndrome, funding and development
hurdles. Below are some strategies to consider for fanning the flames,
keeping
the balls in the air, despite the landmines.
1. Know the
strategic
direction of the company, and keep revising it to ensure that the
company is
going in an intended direction for the right reasons. If this is not the
case,
adjust accordingly, or change your strategic direction based on market
feedback.
Many times, start-up
founders think that
customers are seeking a specific feature, and find that customers are
buying
their solutions in an entirely different way. Sometimes what separates
the
successful entrepreneur from his/her competitor is the ability to
understand
the needs of the customer, the feedback of the market, and strategically
changing objectives rather than hanging on to the initial vision, which
may not
be as appealing to the current customer set.
2. Evaluate
everything
based on measurable results and manage towards those results.
Know the trajectory
of your growth, what is
causing the ups and downs for your businesses, how that maps with
expected
growth patterns, etc. and communicate it with the key stakeholders so
that they
can proactive manage it and make adjustments as necessary. There are
many
moving parts that impact the adoption and momentum curve for early stage
technology solutions, and creating analytics around these key factors
will help
you proactively manage your people and your business. Factor in changes
in
market conditions and customer requirements as you evaluate the
strategic
direction and growth potential and numbers. What worked yesterday may
not work
today, or it may continue to work today, without much potential for
growth in
the future. Business is moving at the speed of light. The successful
entrepreneur tracks and proactively responds to and even anticipates
these
changes.
3. Success is
defined
more by relationships than by the great idea. One way to track and
manage the
key relationships and stakeholders is to measure the impact of key
individuals,
groups and partners on your growth trajectory and help you focus more on
the
facts around the business momentum, rather than the drama and politics
which
can be distracting from the common goal of forward momentum. Experiment
with
making changes with your key stakeholders, and their roles in
facilitating
growth and how they are inter-dependent with each other.
The day-to-day
reports of the momentum
curve will give insights on the overall trends for the organization.
Occasionally evaluate the role of multiple stakeholders in achieving
forward
momentum for the company. A group of stakeholders who are initial
customers may
better serve your company as a partner or channel as you grow, for
example, and
a brick-and-mortar distributor may be the best partner initially to get
the
product to the market and the brand launched, but not the best partner
as you
grow your client base.
4.
How you
work with customers will define how far you go as a company.
It
comes from the top: if a leader is engineering-based, the company focus
will be
on the cool making and updating the cool tool and finding and serving
the
customer base. And during every crossroads, the leadership team that
selects
for what-the-customers-want rather than putting themselves, their teams,
their
company, their nation, or anything else in front of that customer will
win.
5.
Anticipate
roadblocks to your momentum and find alternative paths, or ways to
surmount
them. Inaction and inactivity drain momentum quickly.
Find
that balance between doing the homework to make sure that you’re doing
the
right thing and taking action and choosing a path. But if it's a flip of
a
coin, err toward action, and course-correct quickly.
6.
Roadblocks
around IP are particularly thorny.
So thorny that if
your IP claim is not solid enough,
it's not worth the effort. Even if you build a lot of momentum, it can
all
dissipate over really hairy issues like IP and whether the founders can
continue to collaborate and co-lead or re-assign roles.
7.
Divisiveness
in the leadership team drain momentum, no matter how well everything
else is
going.
This
is the other thorny issue that can kill a company, not matter how much
momentum
has been generated. So select your co-founders carefully and take quick,
measured, division action to ensure leadership alignment.
8.
Proactively
manage communications about who you are and what you do, to ensure
neutral or
positive momentum.
Your proactive
strategic marketing and
community and customer engagement efforts will help you engage customers
and
the community, and enlist their support in introducing your organization
and
its service and brand to a progressively larger, and more strategic
network.
Ensuring positive communications and responding rapidly to potential
negative
communications will help drive momentum for your organization.
9. Sometimes
all
efforts to fan the flames leave you at the status quo.
Never get too
comfortable with the status
quo. Sometimes you're pushing so hard that you need to take your foot
off the
accelerator for a while. That happens. Sometimes the economy is so
dismal that
nobody in your space is doing well. That happens too. But make sure that
when
these things happen, it's a short-term detour, not the long-term plan.
And have
a plan to take off and continue accelerating growth following the
detour. So if
possible, keep building positive momentum, and elect to even take risks
for a
change of continuing and amplifying momentum rather than selecting the
status
quo.
10. Sometimes all
efforts to fan the flames are
ineffective. If that's the case, take a close look at your overall
strategy and
goal and how it should be changed based on new market dynamics. Evaluate
also
which stakeholders are doing what to fan the flames and why it may not
be
working.
This may be a 'win'
in a tough economy, but
staying at the same level in the long term is just not sustainable. If
you
accept the status quo for too long, you will lose your edge and
momentum, and
it would be much more difficult to regain momentum if that happens.
If you've exhausted
all options for fanning
the flames, take a close look at what you're doing and who is part of
the team
and what needs to change to get the company back on track. Act
decisively and
swiftly. Elect for radical change in technology, stakeholders, team,
strategy,
rather than electing to be part of the 'walking dead', where it's just a
matter
of time that all the energy and momentum is zapped from the system.
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.
eBook
on Leading
from Within, Based on Our Wisdom from Our When She Speaks Panelists
When
we complete our monthly Something from Nothing Series in a couple of
months, we
will compile the wisdom of our past When She Speaks panelists and write
an
e-book on Leading from Within. We welcome your suggestions and
recommendations
for favorite quotes following our outline below.
A
Tribute to Our Speakers: Ten Qualities of All Our Speakers
1. Wisdom
gained from experience
2. Grounded
resiliency and perspective
3.
Continuous search for self-improvement
4. Skills
and thinking across industries,
roles and companies
5. Open,
clear and succinct communications
done with candor
6. Out of
the box strategic thinking
7.
Supportive family, team and network
8. Choose
Integrity
9.
Other-centered
10.
Generosity of spirit and willingness to
share
Know
Thyself, and Make Choices That Will Help You Shape Yourself
11. To get
un-stuck, get to know yourself -
who you are, what you offer, what you're passionate about.
12. A big
part of getting to know yourself
is to understand what important others in your life wanted you to be and
do and
the impact of their preferences on the choices you're making today.
13. Think
strategically about who you are
and where you fit in the business world, in terms of role, team,
company,
industry.
14. Where
have you been your best, and how
can you replicate that experience?
15.
Conversely, where have you been at your
worst, and why did the circumstances not bring out the best in you?
16. What
choices have you made to get
yourself into the current position?
17. Why are
you doing what you're doing and
whether it makes sense to keep doing what you're doing?
18.
Regardless of what you're doing now,
create a path to where you want to go.
19. Make
every choice you make a proactive
choice in the direction of the path you've selected.
20. Revisit
regularly whether the chosen
path resonates for you, and adjust as often as necessary.
Communication
is Key
21. Be
strategic.
22. Be
succinct.
23. Be
direct.
24. Be
transparent.
25. Be
passionate.
26. Be
persistent.
27. Be
confident, yet humble.
28. Be open.
29. Be
prepared.
30. Be
inclusive.
Mentorship
Will Set You Apart
31. Mentors
help you see yourself the way
other see you.
32. Mentors
help open doors.
33. Mentors
help you think strategically.
34. Mentors
help you build confidence.
35. Mentors
help you include a larger and
broader range of perspectives.
36. Mentors
provide you with goals and
accountability.
37. Mentors
connect you to the resources and
knowledge you need to succeed.
38. Mentors
supplement education by giving
you real-world advice based on experience.
39. Mentors
gain as much from the experience
as mentees.
40.
Successful mentees become mentors.
Failure
Builds Resilience
41. If you're
not failing, you're not trying
hard enough.
42. Overcome
the stigma of failing and more
doors will open for you.
43.
Understand and learn from your failings.
44.
Understand why something failed, what
your role was during the failure, and what you could have done to change
the
outcome.
45.
Understand the challenges your personal
heroes faced and how they overcame their challenges and failures.
46. Adopt the
strategies of your mentors and
heroes to convert failures to successes.
47. Be
persistent and committed to
overcoming obstacles.
48. Surround
yourself with people who can
help you ride the ups and downs.
49. Work with
a management team and company
with the perspective and culture to embrace failure.
50. Embrace
failure as an opportunity in
disguise.
It's
Not Personal, It's Just Business
51. Emotions
are a double-edged sword - it
could indicate passion, or it could color your judgment.
52. Learn to
read people quickly, and make
corrections quickly if they aren't who you thought they were.
53. If you
choose to climb the corporate
ladder, you must be tough enough to navigate politics and people issues
and
challenges, without taking things personally.
54. Where
there are people, there will be
politics. Be resilient and savvy enough to play politics, and remember
it's not
personal, it's just business.
55. Learn to
navigate the inevitable
politics by planning strategically, communicating clearly, acting
decisively.
56. Have a
trusted circle of colleagues who
will help you react and respond when emotions run high.
57. Build
trust-based relationships and
networks, but make business choices based on what's right for your
project or
the business, not based on relationships.
58. When
under personal attack, take the
high road and think about why something is happening and what you can do
to fix
it, rather than reacting strongly and emotionally to a personal attack.
59. Never
stoop to the level of those around
you, but do challenge them to raise the bar.
60. It's a
balancing act to keep matters
about business when people are involved, but essential for delivering
quality
results.
Choose
Excellence: There's No Substitute for It
61.
Excellence is a choice, and how you do
one thing is how you do everything.
62. Have
in-depth knowledge and expertise in
at least one area, and a working knowledge of many other areas.
63. Go the
extra mile, take that extra step,
and insist on a standard of quality associated with your personal brand.
64.
Consistently choosing excellence will
raise both the opportunities and the visibility.
65. Sometimes
choosing excellence means
making a stand.
66. Keep
raising the bar - because you CAN!
67. There is
no excellence in complacency.
68. Invest in
the experiences and education
to help you keep expanding your definition of excellence.
69. Search
adjacencies for other
opportunities to be excellent.
70. Choose a
team and company who also embraces
excellence.
Work
Your Network, Now and Always
71. It's
always about people. Build trusted
relationships that are mutually rewarding.
72. Ongoing
networking is much more
productive than on-the-spot networking, when you HAVE to network to get a
job,
to get something done.
73.
Networking should happen all the time,
as part of what you do.
74. Choose
breadth AND depth in your
networking.
75. Be
strategic AND opportunistic about
your networking.
76. Leverage
online tools to network, but
there's no substitute for face-to-face.
77.
Understand the benefits for both parties
before arranging for meetings.
78. Leverage
social networking tools and
speaking opportunities to brand your expertise in networking circles so
that
the right people come to you as well.
79.
Proactively and strategically
communicate to your network.
80. Work your
network on behalf of others.
Walk
the Life-Work Balance with Grace
81.
Understand yourself and what's important
to you and make choices based on what's important to you.
82. Create a
network of people and resources
you can rely on to take care of non-essential tasks that don't require
your
personal attention, or that you don't want to do personally.
83. Nobody
has it easy! There are so many
demands to do more things for more people with less money, but life-work
balance CAN be done.
84. Set a
reasonable expectation for
yourself and put yourself higher up on the pecking order.
85. In
searching for work-life balance, you
may find that there are people or activities that are constantly
interfering
with your life-work balance choices, so make adjustments accordingly, so
that
the two can be in alignment.
86. Leverage
technology to help you meet
your life-work balance goals.
87. Invest in
your spiritual growth.
88. Be
graceful under pressure, and make
choices which would minimize the pressure.
89. Choose a
company and a culture with the
flexibility and understanding to support work-life choices you make.
90. You can
have a life-work balance, but
not all the time, so reset your expectations.
Give
Back
91.
Leadership is a journey, not a
destination. Sharing your journey with others makes it a richer
experience for
all.
92. Be a
mentor. Be a mentee.
93. Share
your stories, and inspire others
to share theirs.
94. Empower
others because you can, not
because it will help you in the end, although it likely may!
95. Support a
community cause you feel
passionate about.
96. Build an
expanding network of quality
people committed to communicating openly and supporting each other.
97. Leverage
your strengths when you choose
to give back.
98. Leverage
social media tools in giving
back.
99. As a
woman and as a role model, the
choices you personally make will impact the people and communities
around you.
Know why you make the choices you make, and help them make the right
choices
too.
100. See the
world as a world of bounty - the
more you give of yourself, the more of you there will be for all.
101. Final
Remarks About Leading from Within
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. We hope that
our
compilation of notes from last month's events will stimulate continued
conversations and connections.
Whether
it's HP talking about their Smart Home solutions to proactive energy
management
to GE's perspective on smart appliances or People's Power's perspective
on
holistic energy efficiency monitoring and control solutions or
Powerzoa's
perspective on measuring one appliance at a time through a plug and play
device, each panelist talked both about the importance of focusing on
making
solutions painless and easy for both home and corporate customers
facilitating
a rapid adoption curve, making products and services readily and
inexpensively
available for the users and otherwise facilitating changes in practices
and
behaviors of users for the long term.
The
panel commented on the tremendous opportunities in better understanding
diseases and the genetic and environmental causes of the diseases as
well as
the symptoms expressed, in better understanding how individuals and
groups of
individuals respond to specific treatment regimens running the gamut
from
wait-and-see to invasive surgeries and radioactive therapies, and in
more
effectively providing comprehensive data to patients, regulatory bodies,
providers and clinicians alike.
Because
we now have the technical capacity and scientific knowledge to
understand the
genome as well as diseases and how they impact different populations as
well as
the data to measure and interpret trends and tendencies for specific
patient
populations, personalized diagnosis and prognosis is within reach for
some
people, under specific circumstances. But expanding these offerings to
an
increasingly large audience cost effectively for patients, providers,
insurers,
corporations, and others is no easy task.
Each
of our panelists represented big companies heavily impacted by changes
in the economy,
changes in the needs and requirements of their customer base, and
changes in
what's expected of them and their teams: generally doing more with less
for
longer! But each found a way to be successful despite the relentless
pace of
change and escalating requirements for themselves and their teams. They
are all
fairly tech-savvy, most of whom have risen from former engineering
positions,
but that's not the magic bullet. It was more key that they are all
experienced
in a variety of roles and industries, drawing with them more experience,
knowledge and relationships with every role, and that they have a
grounded
perspective, and the resiliency, support and resources to persevere and
perform. Central to this strength is the ability to build a network, to
speak
with influence on behalf of themselves and their teams, and to
continually
balance the requirements of multiple stakeholders - both at home and at
work,
to ensure alignment and progress toward pre-agreed goals and objectives
for all
parties.
There is no question
about the huge
potential market in the business analytics space. Our panelists likened
it to
the impact of the Industrial Revolution and the way the goods are
produced and
delivered, the impact of the Model T and the way it made transportation
affordable and available, to Southwest Airlines and the way it provided
access
to airplane flights to common users, or what Home Depot and WalMart did
for
retail. It's not that business analytics is new and hot. It's that it
has been
big and it's going to get much bigger! It's not that it's new and sexy;
it has
been around for a while, but with the advancements in hardware,
software,
networks, business models, and the range of opportunities ahead serving
users
in niche markets, the possibilities are mind-boggling.
All
the Best to You
and Yours in 2011!
May the seeds
you've planted in the past bear fruit for you - let us know how we can
help you
make it so.
May you deepen
and broaden your relationships this year.
May past
relationships resurface bringing a new dimension to your business and
new
relationships open up your perspectives and opportunities.
May you honor
your resolution this year to get and stay connected despite your
personal and
professional obligations.
Connect with us
on an upcoming event or one-on-one meeting soon.
We
hope to see you
at one of our upcoming events!
Date
& Time: Monday, January 17 from
8:30 - 10:30 a.m.
FountainBlue's
Tech2Green Transition
Topic:
Semiconductor and Software Solutions for Energy Management
Speaker:
Thomas Dinkel, President and CEO, Sun Reports
Location:
FountainBlue, 2500 El Camino Real, Suite 217, Palo Alto, between Page
Mill and
California
Cost:
$32 members only, $135 Ongoing Membership and Admission
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
Robert Horstmeyer,
Managing Director, GrowthPoint
Technology Partners
Altaterra
Research, to be confirmed
Eric Wesoff,
Greentech Media, Publisher of
the Venture Power newsletter
Panelist VC to be
confirmed
Corporate
and Entrepreneurial Innovations
1. Air,
Water and Waste: improving resource availability, conservation and
pollution
control
Fatemeh
Shirazi, Ph.D, Chief Executive
Officer, Microvi Biotech Inc.
Corporate
Speaker to be confirmed
2.
Energy Efficiency: significantly reduce wasted energy
Richard Hart,
Marketing Manager, Energy
Efficiency and Carbon Solutions, EnerNOC, Inc.
Corporate
Speaker to be confirmed
3.
Green Building: reducing the environmental impact of building
construction or operation
IBM, to be
confirmed
Chuck
Berghoff, President and CEO,
OptoElectronix
4.
Renewable Energy: leveraging waste streams to directly produce energy
Speakers to be
confirmed
5.
Smart Power, Green Grid and Energy Storage: technologies to enable
electricity delivery management to industrial, commercial and
residential
consumers
Craig Horne,
President and CEO,
Enervault, to be confirmed
EMC or VMWare
to be confirmed
6.
Transportation: transportation and mobile technology applications for
transportation
systems or vehicles
Jim DiSanto,
President and General
Manager, Earthrise Technologies Inc.
Matt Lecar,
Principal, Smart Grid Center
of Excellence, Energy Consulting, General Electric
Byron
Shaw, Managing Director, GM
Advanced Technology Group in Silicon Valley
Audience:
Entrepreneurs, Intrapreneurs and Investors only. No service providers
please.
Facilitator
Meredith L. Warshaw, PhD, CSO, Molecular Image, Chairperson Life
Sciences, VC
Taskforce, Adviser, SPARK Program at Stanford University Medical Center
Panelist
Ted Driscoll, Venture Partner, Claremont Creek Ventures and Life Science
Angels
Panelist
Don Ross, Managing Director/Founder, HealthTech Capital; Board Director
and
Co-Chair of Didactic Committee, Sand Hill Angels; Member, Life Science
Angels
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
December
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 Wild Apricot, 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 Wild Apricot, or any of our YahooGroups.
What's
New with
FountainBlue
Following
the successful launched of our annual business intelligence trends event
in
November, and based on the feedback and requests from our community,
FountainBlue will run bi-monthly, first-Friday, morning Business
Analytics
events with two parts: an invitation-only breakfast roundtable for
corporate
execs focused on a technology innovation topic, and a larger community
event
featuring a panel of entrepreneurs and users leveraging business
analytics in
specific niche areas. It is our intent that our bi-monthly series will
facilitate ongoing conversations which would lead to the types of
collaborations, standards, infrastructure development and sharing
necessary to
advance the industry overall. We hope to see you at our launch event on
February 4.
A
Note of Thanks
from FountainBlue
May
Your Month Be
Restful and Full of Good Cheer!
May you be
wrapping up this year in a much better economic and spiritual position
than you
were in when you started it.
May you have
exceeded both your personal and professional expectations for the year.
May you have the
luxuries of time and money and health to enjoy and appreciate your
friends and
family as you reflect on your accomplishments this year, strategize on
what's
to come for 2011, and celebrate successes.
May you forge
ahead in your designated track, and may your community support you in
doing so.
We hope that
FountainBlue can support you in achieving your personal and professional
goals
for 2011. If you join/upgrade to become an ongoing member, or are one
already,
we would like to offer some tokens of our appreciation:
Please be our guest
for one of our upcoming December
or January events - see the list at the bottom of the newsletter and
e-mail us
which event you'd like to attend as our guest at least two weeks prior
to the
event.
Join our program
team for our clean energy, high
tech or life science track, and help us build the quality programs and
audience
which would benefit the community overall.
Early stage
entrepreneurs or corporate intrapreneurs
are welcome to schedule a 45-minute one-on-one with Linda Holroyd to
strategize
on your business, and build the partnerships and customers that would
build
traction for your company. To schedule a meeting, visit http://www.meetwith.me/lindaholroyd.
Executives in
transition are welcome to brainstorm
on their job search, particularly if they are interested in
transitioning into
the high tech, clean energy or life science sectors.
Something else you
recommend.
FountainBlue
Recommended
Tools
The range and
usefulness of free and low-cost productivity tools available on the web
constantly amaze me. This month, as an ongoing gift to each of you, we
have
compiled a list of the tools we use day-to-day, and recommend to each of
you,
as you grow and run your business. We of course also welcome your
recommendations on other tools we could use, and recommend to our
community.
For a current list of recommended tools, visit http://www.fountainblue.biz/resources/productivity.html.
FountainBlue
leverages Constant Contact for its ongoing e-mail marketing needs,
sending out
event invitations, newsletters, and other communications regularly.
FountainBlue
leverages Google Voice to flow telephone communications more clearly and
directly to us. Our Google Voice number, 650-395-8177 will call our work
and
mobile phones and send an e-mail voice-to-text translated message to us,
thereby increasing the likelihood of a quick response to your telephone
call
and inquiries.
FountainBlue
leverages Quora as a crowd-sourcing tool that would gather information
and
input from the larger community on topics raised by FountainBlue events.
We
will create a link to Quora questions as part of our web site and
invitations,
and create a link to a compilation of answers following an event.
FountainBlue
leverages TimeBridge to coordinate meeting times with single individuals
or
whole groups of people, for example, in coordinating panelist prep calls
for
our various events. This free tool allows the user to suggest up to five
meeting times and designates a call-in number and code for each of the
callers.
It also sends a confirmation e-mail, reports about the call, and a daily
brief
of appointments.
FountainBlue
leverages Wild Apricot as a member management tool which ensures that
only
members receive membership benefits and manages many different levels of
membership and different benefits associated with each membership level.
Special
Offer from
Our Community Members
PanTerra Networks
http://www.panterranetworks.com
makes Small to Medium Enterprises more competitive and responsive via
its
advanced Cloud-based Unified Communications solution. Our WorldSmart
service
includes all the communications a business needs including business
voice,
digital fax, multimedia conferencing, instant messaging, presence,
email/calendar/ contacts and web collaboration - all unified into a
single
service. WorldSmart's cloud-based delivery eliminates onsite hardware
and
software lowering Total Cost of Ownership, while providing powerful
communication tools that drive user responsiveness, accessibility and
efficiency. The net result is increased sales and lowered operating
costs. See
why Inc. Magazine, Gartner, and Red Herring rave about PanTerra!
FountainBlue
members who sign up before 1/31 will have installation fees waived.
(877)673-5777. http://www.panterranetworks.com/landing_pages/fountainblue.shtm
Zapitalism http://www.zapitalism.com combines
beautifully rendered graphic images with multiplayer functionality in a
game of
business strategy. You will be able to make deals with the eccentric
inhabitants of Zapinalia, invest in stocks & bonds, corner the
market and
construct megastores and even explore the Archipelago of Mermadan in
search of
treasure and mysterious relics - all designed to teach and reward
business
strategy through an online game. Sign up for your free lessons today at http://go.madmimi.com/forward/2252557216?amx=496421955
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 One: The
Entrepreneur Litmus Test
Chapter Two: A Hard Look at Yourself
Chapter Three: The Whole Vision Thing
Chapter Four: Show
Me the Pain, and I'll
Show You the Money
Chapter Five: The People On the Bus
Chapter Six: The First Shovelful of Dirt
Chapter Seven:
Overcoming Adversity
Chapter Eight: Fanning the Flames
Chapter Nine:
Milestones, Guideposts and
the Inner Light
Chapter Ten: The Pot
of Gold
Bringing It All Together
Chapter
Seven:
Overcoming Adversity
If
you've followed steps one through six, you have already overcome quite a
bit of
adversity - ensuring that you have the skills and mindset to succeed as
an
entrepreneur, having and carrying out a vision that will address a real
need,
engaging the right people to stand with you, and together build
something from
nothing, brick by brick.
So
overcoming adversity is something you've already performed in
extraordinary
measures. This chapter will provide tangible, proven advice to address
known
issues faced by entrepreneurs in our network.
1.
When looking at adversity, first consider whether it's something
internal to
you, specific to your team, specific to your company or country, or
strategic
to your industry. Until you better understand what the adversity is and
why it
is occurring, it's difficult to understand how and even whether to
address the
issue.
2.
If the issue is something internal to you, then try to better understand
it and
address the conflict, while making plans in the best interest of the
company.
An internal conflict might be related to a founder's passion (or lack
of) or
skills, or his/her personal and financial situation, or her/his comfort
level
with the company's direction and objectives. Only deep reflection and
the
consultation of a trusted personal board of directors can address
adversity
which is internal to a founder. But once a problem has been identified,
the
founder needs to step up and address the issue head-on, or risk
endangering the
forward momentum of the company and the team.
3.
If the issue is a team issue, identify the issue and all the players
involved
in adversity around the issue. Without making it personal and about
people and
feelings, engage with all the stakeholders to talk through the business
issues
around the adversity, and the options for addressing an issue, or the
options
for moving ahead. By keeping the focus on the business issues, by
insisting on
respect for all and keeping relationships intact, you can navigate rifts
and
adversity within a team.
4.
When the team issue is related to factions lobbying for two different
strategic
directions, face the issues head-on, engaging the participation of all
stakeholders. Whether the solution is prioritizing objectives, merging
efforts,
or dividing into two separate efforts, it's important to address this
and other
hairy issues head-on rather than ignoring it or putting band-aids on it.
5.
Unfortunately, there are times when everyone's best efforts cannot
smooth the
waves of adversity within a team. At that point, identify the key
players and
strategize next steps with the best interest of the company in mind and
take
proactive, decisive action, especially if it may be divisive.
6.
Also unfortunately, there are times when partners outside your team are
causing
adversity for your team and company. Whether it's a miscommunication of
intentions, a misalignment of objectives, a mis-execution on an
agreement or
other factors, again, address this type of adversity head-on, involving
all key
stakeholders, and communicating next steps and directions to all.
7.
There are times when adversity is inherent in the company itself, that
there is
conflict because of your company's, brand, reputation, community, or
strategic
direction, for example. It's important to identify this issue quickly,
and to
strategize about whether and how you can or want to change the company
to best
address the adversity ahead.
8.
There are times when adversity happens because of your local, regional
or
national government. If this is the case for you, as policies and
regulations
take time to change, and as the start-up life cycle is magnified in
general, it
is best to change your physical location and identify a geography better
suited
to your business interests and objectives, or otherwise revise your
strategy so
that you aren't handicapped by your physical location.
9.
If your whole industry is going through a challenging time, then it
makes sense
for your early-stage start-up to also experience such challenges.
However, it's
more impactful for early stage companies who must sink or swim in a much
accelerated timeframe. To best navigate industry-wide adversity, start
by
selecting a promising industry with customers who feel enough pain to
invest in
a solution you can provide, and track the trends of the industry so that
you
can proactive revise your strategies and expectations.
10. If you've
selected a promising industry which is not realizing its initial
promise, and
if you think that it's a short-term trend, consider developing a
short-term
strategy for generating revenues in tangential ways, while remaining in
the
industry, or another industry related to the target one. This way be the
long-term solution in the end, or just a work-around until the market
corrects
itself.
In
summary, whenever you are facing adversity, be strategic and understand
the
situation, be direct with the issues and people involved, and
proactively and
decisively work together to resolve the issues in the best interest of
the
company.
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.
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.
Whether
it is from the perspective as a clean energy investor or a serial
entrepreneur,
our experienced panelists offered a view into a promising industry,
poised for
growth based on the advances in the technology including the convergence
of
research and science in multiple areas, the ever-increasing hunger for
power,
the integration of business processes and systems to better, more
cost-effectively deliver services, and the commitment of countries and
companies to capitalize on the market opportunities around the delivery
of
solar solutions.
The
panel commented on the tremendous opportunities in better understanding
diseases and the genetic and environmental causes of the diseases as
well as
the symptoms expressed, in better understanding how individuals and
groups of
individuals respond to specific treatment regimens running the gamut
from
wait-and-see to invasive surgeries and radioactive therapies, and in
more
effectively providing comprehensive data to patients, regulatory bodies,
providers and clinicians alike.
Because
we now have the technical capacity and scientific knowledge to
understand the
genome as well as diseases and how they impact different populations as
well as
the data to measure and interpret trends and tendencies for specific
patient
populations, personalized diagnosis and prognosis is within reach for
some
people, under specific circumstances. But expanding these offerings to
an
increasingly large audience cost effectively for patients, providers,
insurers,
corporations, and others is no easy task.
Our
panelists, and others experienced at enlarging their sandboxes, are
experts at
including diverse points of views in high-impact, high intensity
business
settings. They come from a variety of companies, upbringings and
outlooks and
perspectives. But they have many things in common:
They have reflected
on and grown
from past experience with working with people who don't share their
points of
view;
They have had
support from family,
friends, peers and mentors to help them enlarge their sandbox;
They keep aiming
for stars, and are
never complacent with the status quo;
They keep building
their communities
and networks who support each other in goals of inclusivity and
collaboration;
They focus on
people and their
motivations and objectives rather than being me-centric, driving their
own
agenda and solutions to others, particularly when they are new to a
group or
team or organization;
They work
successfully with people
who don't think like them, but don't succeed in every interaction, but
DO learn
and grow from their mistakes; and
They are
philosophical and wise
about the need to work with people who are not like you, and recognize
the
importance of both diversity and deadlines.
There is no question
about the huge
potential market in the business analytics space. Our panelists likened
it to
the impact of the Industrial Revolution and the way the goods are
produced and
delivered, the impact of the Model T and the way it made transportation
affordable and available, to Southwest Airlines and the way it provided
access
to airplane flights to common users, or what Home Depot and WalMart did
for
retail. It's not that business analytics is new and hot. It's that it
has been
big and it's going to get much bigger! It's not that it's new and sexy;
it has
been around for a while, but with the advancements in hardware,
software,
networks, business models, and the range of opportunities ahead serving
users
in niche markets, the possibilities are mind-boggling.
We
hope to see you
at one of our upcoming events!
Date & Time:
Monday, December 6 from
5:30 until 7:30 p.m.
FountainBlue's Clean
Energy Entrepreneurs'
Forum
Topic: Monitoring
Energy Usage in the Home
and at Work
Location: SRI
Building G on Laurel Avenue
between Ravenswood and Burgess, in Menlo Park
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
Panelist
Ted Driscoll, Venture Partner, Claremont Creek Ventures and Life Science
Angels
Panelist
Ted McCluskey, Sand Hill Angels Board member, to be confirmed
Panelist
Don Ross, Managing Director/Founder, HealthTech Capital; Board Director
and
Co-Chair of Didactic Committee, Sand Hill Angels; Member, Life Science
Angels
Panelist
Kevin Wasserstein, Versant Ventures, to be confirmed
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
November
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 Wild Apricot, 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
Wild Apricot, or any of our YahooGroups.
What's
New with
FountainBlue:
Thank
You To One and
All and Membership Dues
It's already
November, and every November,
especially as I get older, I think three things: how did this year go so
fast,
I so appreciate all the people who have touched my life this year, and
let's
make plans for next year. I won't wax poetic about how the years roll
faster,
especially as you watch your child grow, but I WILL say that I'm so
happy to be
touched by so many of you this year. Whether you were a sponsor of our
ongoing
events; a frequent or one-time attendee; a volunteer, speaker, program
adviser
or partner; an early-stage CEO, executive or professional in transition,
your
personal efforts have made THE difference in the quality of the program
and
audience, and the overall richness offered by participation in
FountainBlue
events and communities.
Special thanks to
everyone in the community
who has made recommendations on the best tools and services to leverage
to best
communicate with and connect to all, and to everyone who has helped to
raise
the bar of excellence. Partly due to the feedback and suggestions of our
members, we are changing our membership pricing to $60/year for annual
membership,
effective November 8 at noon, and to $150 plus a $4 fee for ongoing
membership
(no renewal necessary until at least December 2013), effective January
1, 2011
at noon. Through the end of the year, current members may upgrade to
ongoing
membership for the current fee of $100, and new members may sign up for
ongoing
membership plus admission for $100 plus the event attendance fee of
$20-$40
plus a $4 fee. Starting in January, ongoing membership dues will be $150
plus a
$4 fee. Our refund policy for memberships remains the same:
If you are unhappy
with your membership, we
would be happy to either help correct the situation, or offer you a
refund
under the following conditions:
a prorated refund
for annual members, if requested within six months of
membership, the equivalent of $30-$50, minus a $2 fee;
a prorated refund
for ongoing members, if requested within one year of
membership, the equivalent of $75-$120, minus a $5 fee.
We apologize that we
don't offer cash
refunds for annual members who request it after the first six months of
membership or for ongoing members who request it after the first year of
membership. However, if you wish to archive your membership to make room
for
others (for example, if you're leaving the area or if our events and
communities are no longer relevant for your work, if you are or have
become a
service provider and don't wish to become a sponsor and can't attend our
entrepreneur events as a service provider), we appreciate your letting
us know.
We would be happy to:
Transfer your
remaining membership to someone in your community who could
better leverage our community.
Offer your
remaining membership as a scholarship to a student or a professional
in transition.
Meet with you
one-on-one to discuss what's next for you and how you can support
you in your new quest.
Something else you
recommend.
Crowd-Sourcing
Tool
I personally value
the opportunity to bring
talented, connected, successful people together to share wisdom,
knowledge and
experience which would benefit others, and take pride in gathering,
communicating and archiving these learnings in our follow-up notes for
each
FountainBlue event. To strengthen the value and better leverage the
collective
wisdom of those participating in FountainBlue events and the larger
community
overall, we will be leveraging Quora, a crowd-sourcing tool It is our
hope that
members of Quora will share their thoughts, ideas and resources to the
FountainBlue community and beyond. We will anonymously document
suggestions,
links and ideas, along with the input and learnings from the events we
run.
Each of our upcoming events will now include a link to Quora, so that
whether
you are available to attend an event or not, we can leverage your
thoughts as
well. http://www.quora.com/Linda-Holroyd/questions
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: The Whole Vision Thing
Chapter Four: Show
Me the Pain, and I'll
Show You the Money
Chapter Five: The People On the Bus
Chapter Six: The First Shovelful of Dirt
Chapter Seven: Overcoming Adversity
Chapter Eight: Fanning the Flames
Chapter Nine: Milestones, Guideposts and the Inner Light
Chapter Ten: The Pot of Gold
Bringing It All Together
Chapter
6: The First Shovelful of Dirt
If you've read this
far, you've already
thought carefully about your interest in becoming an entrepreneur. You
or
someone you are working with have a vision that would resonate with a
customer
willing to pay for a service. You've started thinking about co-founders
and the
right team chemistry to build momentum for your company. With these
pieces
together, you've taken action toward building a sustainable business.
The trick
is to continue to build momentum for an evolving vision, with an
evolving theme.
Below are ten kernels of wisdom about building traction for a moving
target: an
early stage start-up.
1.
Always consider your own entrepreneurial skills and passions and
abilities and
desires as your company evolves. It is bound to change, and your fit may
need
to evolve, or you may no longer find a fit at all. Find that balance
between
being persistent and committed, yet honoring your core passions and
desires and
strengths.
In
working with founders, the three saddest things I see are 1) an
entrepreneur
who doesn't know when or how to change and 2) an entrepreneur who
doesn't WANT
to change, despite the need which is apparent to him; and 3) an
entrepreneur
who puts himself in a role which does not suit his passions or abilities
and
refuses to change with the company's needs, effectively putting his own
ego or
ideas above the needs of his company and all its stakeholders.
2. The
vision may at one time be just right for the current market, with the
dynamic,
passionate, proven leadership to grow a company. But any business person
will
tell you that companies and markets evolve, and it happens much more
quickly
for early stage companies. So continually evaluate whether your
company's
vision and leader(s), including yourself, are making the right choices
for
growing a company in an auspicious direction.
The
vision starts from the heart, and progresses because of the will of the
founders, and the needs of the market. The people leading the vision
need to
have that finger on the pulse of customers and look beyond current goals
and
vision to maximize the opportunity for the business.
3.
Everyone knows that the customer is king, and most also know that the
customer
can also be fickle, especially if they are selecting products and
services from
a start-up. Keep apprised of customer needs and engage them at many
levels,
from product and feature definition to referrals and testimonials and
case
studies to even advisory board membership and even investment and
strategic
partnership. There
are three types of customers that cause problems for early stage
entrepreneurs:
The customer who
wants to make you a consultant, creating a customized solution
best suited for their own personal needs. The up-side for this is
short-term
consulting dollars during a critical point in a company's evolution. The
down-side is that it distracts everyone from your team from focusing on
the
company's strategy and business model.
The customer who
has ulterior motives for using your services, whether it's to
pull you off the market altogether, or to capture your IP or team
members.
The customer who
does not have realistic expectations of what you can do, or a
realistic understanding of what you do at all. You don't have the
bandwidth to
please everyone, particularly if you're running a start-up.
4. Not
all entrepreneurs are meant to lead start-ups. You need an entrepreneur
who is
good with people who can inspire the right people to get on and stay on
the bus
- whether it's as a staff member, board member, customer, investor,
partner,
etc. Although all the previous points from this paragraph evolve and are
challenging and important, the remaining points will focus on getting
this
point.
Just
as you regularly evaluate your own personal fit with the overall company
objectives, do so for each of your team members. Be especially careful
when
relationships are the main reason you brought someone onto the team in
the
first place. Try to put track record above personal relationship when
making a
founder or hiring choice and be decisive and direct if you see that
something
is not working out, particularly if you have a deeply-rooted
relationship with
someone.
5. The
leadership team is in the end responsible for getting the right people
engaged
in your company in a way which is mutually beneficial.
Make
the right choices, and take action quickly if the team choice you made
is not
going in the direction most beneficial for the company. Take every
measure to
retain the relationship even if your paths shall diverge.
6. The
right leadership team is not necessarily perfect, but does have a focus
in
mind, which evolves with good reason, and builds momentum toward that
purpose.
It
always come down to who is driving the bus - it has to be someone with
the
vision, skills, experience, knowledge and track record to set the
company on
course, and course-correct on the fly, generally without a parachute!
7. The
right leadership team knows where there are holes and needs and has the
persistence, ability and luck to make it happen. And knows when it ISN'T
going
to happen and will take measures to make changes, even if it involves
stepping
away from a leadership role.
In
building momentum for a company, effective leaders know the limiting
factor for
growth and expansion and strategically address that hole, even as it
changes
from one challenge to another.
8. The
right team balances a go-for-it-attitude with measured and considered
business
rationale to do everything to build innovative solutions to signing on
the
right customers, partners and investors.
The
first must-have is passion - in all people involved in the start-up. The
second
most important quality is a standard of excellence for executing on all
fronts.
9. The
right team knows how and when to self-correct if the team isn't working,
and
the company dynamics are anything other than positive and supportive.
It's
never easy to lead a start-up. Entrepreneurs generally chose the hard
way to
get things done, but the effective ones find a way to make it work,
taking
every failure as a learning and an opportunity.
10. The right team
knows how
and when to grow and attracts the right people to join the team.
The
team dynamics change with every milestone, with every challenge, with
every
change! Combine your ability to proactively lead and grow the team with
an
ability to react to the rapid changes in team dynamics.
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.
Special
Offer from
Our Community Members
Intellectual
property is a highly complex field that reaches across many different
disciplines. To most effectively create,
protect, and monetize your IP, you need to have an effective IP strategy
and we
recommend our sponsors at Soody Tronson Law Group. STLG works with you
to assess your IP needs
and advises you on how to effectively and efficiently protect and
monetize your
IP assets. This month, STLG is offering the FountainBlue members the
following
special packages:
Two hour
consultation: $500 (regularly an $800 fee).
Trademark filing:
$500.00 (exclusive of USPTO fees)
Half day in-house
training and consultation: $1200
For more
information, please e-mail details about your IP management needs to
Soody
Tronson at info@stronson.com.
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.
Pre-Registration
Deadline : Friday, November 5 at noon
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
When She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series
Topic:
Tips for Enlarging Your Sandbox: Learn to play with people who do not
act right
(like you)
Date
& Time: Friday, November 12 from
11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m.
Location:
eBay, Whitman Campus, 2065 Hamilton, 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
Panelist
Karen Bartleson, Sr. Director, Interoperability and University Programs,
Synopsys
Panelist
Adriane McFetridge, Director, eBay
Panelist
Preethy Padmanabhan Manager, Business Development in Cisco's Smart +
Connected
Communities team and Advisory board member - iCON Inclusion &
Diversity
Group
Panelist
Luciana Vecchi, Globalization Business Manager, Adobe Systems, Inc.
Audience:
Women and men who support having women in senior technology positions.
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
October
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 Wild Apricot, 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 Wild
Apricot, or any of our YahooGroups.
What's
New with
FountainBlue:
Consulting
Services:
CEO Coaching, Corporate Training, and Board-Prep Workshops
In our quest for
fostering entrepreneurship
and innovation in the high tech, life science and clean energy space, we
provide one-on-one coaching services to support early stage CEOs in
these
areas, work within corporations to support intrapreneurship and
leadership from
within, and prepare high-integrity, competent executives to assume board
positions in prominent organizations.
FountainBlue
entrepreneurial members are Wild Apricot who are working in an
early stage
start-up are welcome to connect with us for a complimentary
45-minute
discussion about build traction for their start-up. Visit http://fountainblue.biz/ceocoaching.html
to complete the form or visit http://meetwith.me/lindaholroyd
to request an appointment.
FountainBlue
corporate partners interested in workshops on leadership,
entrepreneurship
and innovation may visit http://fountainblue.biz/whenshespeaks/workshops.html
for more information about two-hour workshop held on Thursdays or
Fridays
over lunch (from 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m.) or over hors'dourves
on
Tuesdays or Wednesdays (from 5:30 until 7:30 p.m.), or inquire
about our
weekend retreats http://fountainblue.biz/whenshespeaks/retreats.html.
FountainBlue
will be launching a quarterly workshop series for executives and
entrepreneurs interested in preparing for board positions through
quarterly, half-day workshops, targeting for launch in January
2011. If
you are an executive interested in attending this workshop series,
please
contact us at info@svexecs.com.
FountainBlue's
Policy
for All Communications Between Members
We all benefit from
having high quality,
well-intentioned, other-centric, ready-to-help people in our network.
And many
of our members have commented on how friendly and helpful fellow
attendees are,
even if they have never met before. FountainBlue takes pride in building
a
community of business professionals - entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs,
investors
and others in the high tech, clean energy and life science space - who
are
committed to supporting other leaders succeed with their entrepreneurial
and
intrapreneurial ventures.
With that said, a
minority representation
of our membership is pushing others beyond their comfort zone, while
also not
achieving the results they're targeting. So, to best serve the quality
people
who have chosen to be part of the community, we have developed, and will
proactively enforce communication and networking policies below, to help
ensure
that the community continues to grow, and continues to have a high
standard of
conduct for its members so that all may benefit. There are three main
elements
of our communications policies, and corollaries for each element.
Treat Others with
Respect, and Insist on Being Treated with Respect -We've created
a community of diverse, competent people of integrity,
and insist that we collaborate, be
respectful and work together. There is no room for people who don't feel
similarly.
Treat
others with respect and be open to their perspectives and advice and
opinions,
while respectfully engaging in conversation.
Practice the
Tell-Don't Sell Policy - Although we've designed our
events and communities to facilitate quality connections, we recognize
that
those who sell aggressively do not contribute to the overall community
and will
take measures to ensure they respectfully tell about their services when
there's
an inquiry, and don't sell aggressively particularly to those who are
not
interested.
Feel
free to respond to inquiries in person or over our forums about who
you
are and what you do, but don't tell someone what you do or sell
your
services unless it is in an appropriate context.
Please help us
maintain
active monitoring of this policy and report others who push your
personal
comfort zone and lean toward the sell-rather-than-tell mentality,
and we
will anonymously connect with them.
Please feel free to
update
your personal pages on Wild Apricot to better describe your
services in
case anyone is interested.
Please feel free to
facilitate conversations in the subgroups around topics of interest
to
your organization or your business, and without heavily pushing
your
services.
If someone
expresses no
interest, respect their wishes, please do not push him/her to
re-consider.
If someone reports that you have pushed them past their comfort
zone, we
will let you know, and repeated infractions may jeopardize your
membership.
Seek the Win-Win
Conversations - We've created a community of quality people
interested in helping each other succeed personally and professionally
and need
everyone in the community to think first about the needs and
perspectives of
others and then think about the relevancy to yourself and others in your
network.
Be other-centric -
more interested
in what THEY are doing and how you can be helpful to them, than
leading
with what's-in-it-for-you.
Never
ask for a meeting or take someone's time unless you know what's in
it for
them.
Think
strategically about your business and who can help you with your
business,
but when connecting with others, research their background and
listen to
their needs first, rather than leading with what YOUR needs are.
Be
always open to 'paying it forward' and commit to building the
relationship
and helping others first, even if it doesn't necessarily help you
in the
short term. It's good for you and for the overall community, even
if you
never see direct or immediate returns.
By communicating these standards of conduct, we hope to continue growing
a
quality trust-based community that will benefit everyone. We request
that our members proactively report any violations of the above policies
so
that we can take quick and decisive action without mentioning your name.
Please
note that we take these policies seriously, and do not welcome members
or
guests who repeatedly violate them.
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: The Whole Vision Thing
Chapter Four: Show Me the Pain, and I'll
Show You the Money
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
5:
The People On The Bus
One of the most
lasting
impressions I had from reading Jim Collins' Good to Great is the picture
of the
right people on the bus. Even if you have a great vision of a product or
service that would serve a customer base with enough pain to take
action, you
need to have the right team, the right people on the bus in order to
work
together collaboratively, building momentum for a common cause.
1. Align your team
on core values and select new members
based on their fit with values.
It
is more important to agree on core values, than it is to find who will
fit the
right role, work for the right amount of time and money, share your
passion for
a technology, etc. If you start a company, there will be many hurdles
ahead,
and if the founders are committed to each other and their cause AND
share
common values, you are most likely to whether the many hiccups ahead.
You
and your co-founder will define not just what you do but also what
you're about,
which runs deeper and truer than the 'what you do' question. Whenever I
see
co-founders out of alignment on values, I know that it can't work in the
long-term AND that their relationship may not survive the start-up.
2. Carefully
consider the founding team and your fit
within the founding team, and how each will work with each other.
Having
a leader and knowing how people will work together collaboratively will
greatly
increase your chances for success. Making these decisions based on the
filter
of 'what's best for the company' rather than 'what's best for any
individual
person within the company' is another trait of a successful company.
Conflict
and confusion on who has what title and role in start-ups has broken up
many
companies and relationships. Knowing this up-front will increase your
odds for
success.
3. Select only those
with the experience and proven skill
set move the team forward.
This
is true in most cases, particularly when talent is cheap now, and having
people
who have proven they can execute under similar circumstances will not
only
better ensure success, but also provide better credibility for the
company as a
whole. This is especially true when you start a company, and a friend
who may
not be the best person or the job pressures you to give him that job,
when it
may not be the right thing the company.
However,
this may not hold true when you have someone skilled at one thing, and
has
proven successful in many other areas as well. These people are
exceptional,
and would likely contribute to YOUR start-up, even if he/she doesn't
have the
specific background to succeed off the bat.
And
if you're creating a start-up with new technologies or new business
models,
there may not be any experts in this area, so think carefully about who
might
best help you build traction for the company.
4. With that said,
remember that it's more about the
attitude and the results than the education and experience.
Even
if someone comes to you with the highest credentials, even if they show
sparks of
genius and strength, if the overall results are coming, or if the
negative
energy is present despite the results, this person may not be the right
one for
you.
In
every case I've seen where a CEO has taken action on this nagging doubt
about
someone's fit within a company, he or she has said, 'I should have done
this
LONG ago!'
5. Work your network
and communicate your value and offerings
to that network.
Knowing
your core values and your intentions is not enough. Communicating it
eloquently
to others who can support you in growing your company's technology,
market
share and culture is critical.
Success
breeds more success - so communicate your successes to others, and get
the
right people on board to further build the company.
6. As your company
evolves, continue to evaluate your
company's people and teams and overall culture. Make corrections and
changes to
fit the core values of the founders and the strategic objectives for the
organization.
The
successful entrepreneur balances flexibility and openness in regards to
technology,
products, business models, and also its people. It's critical to be open
to
changes in the staff, team and culture as a company grows, but also
critical to
ensure ongoing alignment of the company's progress with both the values
you
hold for the company, and also the value you want to provide for your
company.
Mis-alignment
of company direction and its core values and strategic intentions have
led to
many a failed start-up.
7. Strategize on who
would be the best partners in
spreading the message about your company, and getting the right people
engaged
in the right way to build your company.
The 'people on the bus' aren't just the staff, it's also the partners,
customers,
investors, and other stakeholders who are all critical in building
momentum for
your business. Have a plan on how to get more of the right people on the
bus,
and keep driving the bus forward so that others want to get on too!
8. Whether your
company is just starting, or REALLY doing
that hockey-stick climb, take action quickly to resolve conflicts within
and
between people and teams.
Internal
conflict has ruined companies large and small. And many times there are
thorny
issues about company direction, as well as politicking and maneuvering
which
complicates issues and makes things personal. So it's critical for
leaders to
address conflicts head-on, and even anticipate them, and quickly resolve
each
one as it arises.
I've
known many a CEO whose downfall was NOT being decisive during a
conflict, or
being decisive and making the wrong call, for reasons not apparent to
others.
So BE decisive and be clear about why you're doing what you're doing,
and what
your intentions are for the company.
9. As the company
evolves, you may see that YOU are not
the right person on the bus. Act accordingly.
Make
the right decision to the company overall if that is the case. Come up
with the
transition plan to get the right person on the bus.
This
may seem obvious, but rare is the leader who not only gets it, but is
willing
to act on it.
10. Only the right
people on the bus can build momentum
for a company, so everything rides on you doing just that.
Technologies
are just the tool. Customers just say that your offering matters. But
the
people on the bus can grow the technologies and markets to ensure that
the
company is on the right road, in the right direction.
So,
the most effective leaders are people-people, who get the role of
technology and
strategy in building a company.
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.
Advisory
Board Participation
Starting this
month, we will highlight a member company where we serve as advisory board
members. Please e-mail us at info@sventrepreneurs.com
to find out more about the companies where we serve as advisory board members,
or if you are interested in having us support YOUR early stage company's board.
Brown &
Associates specializes in building creative and comprehensive marketing and
communications programs for marketing/sales effectiveness through digital and print
collateral, email, web content, video, social media strategy and execution
including building customer/patient and partner communities with detailed back
end measurement - for lead generation, branding, retention, engagement,
positioning and sales conversion.
We also specialize
in helping companies achieve effective innovation including business process
and organization alignment/behavior change strategy and social media
objectives/execution/content/ROI guidelines. We are constantly changing what we
do according to the needs of our clients and new methods and tools. Our domain
expertise includes healthcare, IT, life sciences, B2B and B2C for firms from
Fortune 500 to startups including Cisco Systems, Kaiser Permanente, Intel,
Apple, Safeway, MicroFocus, KDH Systems, and we are a proud partner in Real
Women on Health and the Women's Health Conversation Network.
Linda Holroyd is
pleased to serve as an adviser to Brown & Associates and provides feedback
and guidance on the strategy and outreach for the organization, and including key
introductions to key customers with big plans for integrating social media into
their overall business processes and brand.
We invite you to attend a webinar on
"Social Media ROI--What Works and What to Measure," October 14, noon
PST. Register at http://www.people-onthego.com . For a
copy of the "Social Media ROI RoadMap" or to inquire about a free
consultation please email susan.brown@brownassociatesmktg.comwww.brownassociatesmktg.com.
or call Susan Brown at 650-218-0906. For more information please visit
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.
Pre-Registration
Deadline : Friday, November 5 at noon
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:
Tips for Enlarging Your Sandbox: Learn to play with people who do not act right
(like you)
Date
& Time: Friday, November 12 from
11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m.
Location:
eBay, address 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
Panelist
Preethy Padmanabhan, Team Lead in Cisco’s voice solution engineering team,
Director of Professional Development in iCON Inclusion & Diversity Group
Panelist
from eBay to be Confirmed
Audience:
Women and men who support having women in senior technology positions.
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
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:
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.
Do Your
Homework: Do the research to ensure that networking efforts will benefit all.
Associate
with Positive People You Can Trust: Who you connect with speaks to who you are.
Build
Breadth of Relationships: With the convergence of roles, technologies, and
companies, breadth of connections will be as valuable or more so than depth.
Build
Deep Relationships: Get to know yourself, and the people in your tightest
circles well.
Practice
Reciprocity: Ask for help when you need it, help others regardless of whether
they ask.
Leverage
Your Influence: As you build your network, don’t be afraid to leverage it for
the common good.
Take the
Initiative and Assume Trust: What goes around comes around, and benefiting
others benefits all.
Strive
for the Win-Win: Plan your communications strategy to ensure that all benefit
from the time invested.
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.
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
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.
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.
1. Pain Is a Stimulus
for Action
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.
2. Research How the
Pain Is Experienced, Who Is Impacted and Who Can Take Action
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?
3. Strategize on Who
You Can Work With and How Your Solution Can Address the Pain
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'.
4. Ambassadors,
Advocates and Sponsors
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.
5. Ambassadors Bring
You Into the Company
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.
6. Advocates Are Your
Internal Champions
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.
7. Sponsors Make
Purchasing Decisions
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.
8. Get Feedback From
Your Ambassadors, Advocates and Sponsors
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.
9. Customers As
Partners
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.
10.
Growing
Your Customer Base
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.
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
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
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.
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
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:
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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
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.
Technology
development is accelerating, and companies and people need to be better
informed, more focused, more innovative, and more strategic to remain
competitive.
2.
Globalization
factors provide additional pressure and incentive to do more with less at the
corporate and at the individual levels.
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.
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.
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.
Individual leaders
need to be more networked within their roles, industries and organizations, but
also beyond their roles, industries and organizations.
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.
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.
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.
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 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
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.
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.
We will be provide meetings only for existing
members on BigTent.
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.
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
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 Café 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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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
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
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 December Newsletter
FountainBlue’s
monthly newsletter is designed to communicate regularly with our members, to
announce FountainBlue events for the month, to make special offerings to our
members, and to share wisdom gained from our community. It is sent monthly 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.
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
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 November Newsletter
FountainBlue’s
monthly newsletter is designed to communicate regularly with our members, to
announce FountainBlue events for the month, to make special offerings to our
members, and to share wisdom gained from our community. It is sent monthly 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.
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.
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
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
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 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 October Newsletter
FountainBlue’s
monthly newsletter is designed to communicate regularly with our members, to
announce FountainBlue events for the month, to make special offerings to our
members, and to share wisdom gained from our community. It is sent monthly 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: A
Two-Sided Coin
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, my greatest learning is that service is a
two-way street. My focus had previously been what can I do better to improve
the experience for all, and my learning is that I need to raise the bar for all
our members and guests so that EVERYONE partners to make process and program
improvements benefiting all.
Still focusing in the area of
efficient registration, starting in October, and going forward, we ask that
everyone respects and supports registration deadlines for all our events. We
understand that sometimes there network and software problems and sometimes
life just interferes with our best laid plans. But we ask that you plan your
registrations 3-5 days BEFORE a deadline, to mitigate any unplanned problems.
Starting for all
October events, if you do register past the deadline, your registration will be applied
to next month’s event, unless you’ve registered for the ongoing membership plus
registration rate or the on-site payment rate. If we have time, we will e-mail
you a reminder of this policy when we receive your registration, but please
assume that you will receive no notification that your payment will be applied
to next month’s event and plan accordingly.
For our part, there are so many moving pieces and
variables that we at times have misinformation or incorrect links in our
e-mails, on our web site, on our registration pages. As we hate making the same
mistake twice, we have become increasingly more creative in the types of mistakes
we make! J We realize that this causes
confusion and apologize for our fallible ways. We would also like to reward the
first two people who inform us of an error in our communication, (particularly
if it makes it more difficult for others to register for events) and would
offer guest passes to an event of choice, as a token of our appreciation for
your help.
We welcome your ongoing suggestions
on how we can further improve our communications and operations, while building
community and making a difference.
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.
Please weigh in on YOUR thoughts about how the game has changed for YOU
as an executive in transition today and in the past.
Attend our October 15 Transitions
panel, to hear and respond to the perspectives of recently-landed execs.
Volunteer to take a ten minute
telephone survey to provide more details about your executive job search
experience.
Forward the request for survey to
interested others in your network.
Recommend an association, recruiter or
others who might be interested in participating in a telephone interview, or
forwarding our survey to interested executives in their networks.
Congratulations to Alison van Diggelen, host
of Fresh Dialogues, whose show was recently selected one of the Top 100
Podcasts by The Daily Reviewer. It was chosen based on excellence, authority in
its green niche, and readership. It shares this honor with NPR news, NY Times,
BBC radio, CBS News, Slate Magazine et al. http://thedailyreviewer.com/blog/8868
FountainBlue,
In the News
We have been recently featured in several
publications and shows, and welcome other speaking, writing and interview
opportunities as well. Excerpts, quotes and links are provided below.
Planting Your Future in Clean/Green Technology By Marji
McClure, as part of the ExecuNet August 31 newsletter,
http://www.execunet.com
Positioning Yourself for Success, Now and Later,
Linda Holroyd “The benefits for executives moving into clean energy are that
it’s an opportunity to leverage relationships and expertise into a new area,
providing leadership and direction to individual organizations and a new industry
that would benefit real people locally, nationally and globally.”
“It is important to be nimble of mind, passionate of
heart, and constant of purpose to a vision which others cannot see. Before you
start, ensure you have a vision that will serve the audience you select, the
ability to execute and deliver results, and focus on continually improving what
you do and how you do it.”
“Use your heart to figure out how to
compartmentalize your time and energy. Use your head to plan how to
divide your time and energy. And your body, hands and feet to execute on
your commitment, without questioning yourself at every step.”
On investing in Green Energy:There are a lot of people with a lot of money and
they don’t know what to invest in. I think clean green is a good option.
…Previous investments were kind of ’frilly’ …but the learnings from the
last decade of investments will serve us well.
The Stimulus Package – why
should the Federal Government be involved in green energy? We need to invest in our infrastructure… clean green
investments will create jobs. It’s more about R&D than kickbacks for
individuals or organizations…you want to incentivize the R&D so that more
companies can sell and make larger margins.
With the convergence of powerful forces such as massive
population growth, rapid climate change, and an aging infrastructure unable to
support ongoing needs, there are tremendous opportunities and challenges for
forward-thinking entrepreneurs and corporations to realize technological advances
and reap financial rewards. In fact, municipal (99B), industrial (134B),
commercial (62B), and residential (85B) water solutions each have the market
potential in the tens of billions of dollars. While the panel agreed that there
are tremendous opportunities and also no lack of innovation and
entrepreneurship in this sector, they also agreed that there are huge barriers
to success.
Immediate opportunities for innovation include:
Infrastructure
upgrades for the ancient piping system, which is currently leaking as much as
20-25% of the treated potable water.
Technological
advancements for water treatment, storage, monitoring and distribution offer
huge opportunities for nimble organizations who can work with the existing
infrastructure.
Modularized
technological solutions for the measurement, treatment, monitoring,
conservation and distribution of water, particularly when the solutions work
with the existing infrastructure.
Localized
gray water treatment processes which would repurpose sewage for non-potable
purposes.
Ideas
for agriculture to increase yields per acre while conserving water and energy
usage.
The bottom line is that entrepreneurs investigating
opportunities during the water crisis must follow the same business practices
that would help them succeed in other sectors – great technologies and teams,
great market and execution, etc. However, an added challenge is that the
industry to politically charged, and it would take stakeholders working
together to ensure opportunities for all.
Giving
Back
Every
month, we will support a business or nonprofit doing well while doing good.
This month, we will feature SVII and their Silicon Valley Letters to Washington
Campaign as well as Imagine H20’s business plan competition and Alliance for
Climate Protection’s Request for Webinar Speakers.
Join us for a Silicon Valley Letters to Washington
Campaign. SVII (www.svii.org) is hosting a group of innovators -- ranging from
leaders of major labs to entrepreneurs in garages --in writing a letter that describes the
gravest issues we face as entrepreneurs at this critical time in our innovation
environment.We will send this letter to
policy staff in the Science and Technology offices in Washington, and invite
them to an Entrepreneurial Roundtable discussion here in Silicon Valley. To
participate in our final working session on the evening of October 6th, or to
ensure your opportunity to sign and circulate this letter, contact us at
friends@svii.org. To offer financial support, see http://sviisustaininginnovation.eventbrite.com.
Imagine
H2O is a non-profit organization that aims to support and
advance water technologies. Its inaugural business plan competition is
open for submissions and offers prizes of $70,000 in cash and in-kind
services. The Imagine H2O Prize is designed to
encourage the competitive and ambitious spirits of entrepreneurs, investors,
experts, inventors and academics around the world to focus on water
issues. This inaugural business plan challenge focuses on solutions to
improve water efficiency in agriculture,
commercial, industrial or residential applications, such as water demand
reduction, improved water use, water recycling and/or reuse. Entries will be
accepted from around the world through November 16, 2009. For more details
and to participate, go to: www.imagineh2o.org.
The Alliance for Climate Protection (the group that Al
Gore started in 2006) is partnering with the Conrad Foundation to host a high
school student competition. See 2008 renewable energy competition success story
at http://archive08.conradawards.org/harwell_asturias_labs.
Interested FountainBlue community members are invited to lead a 30-minute
online talk with PowerPoint, addressing specific clean energy technologies,
including biomass, wind, solar, CCS, grid, etc as well as hurdles for
commercialization. If you are interested in helping out, please e-mail a
paragraph to info@svcleanenergy.com
and include your background and your thoughts on a topic by October 20 at noon.
Ongoing
Efforts to Support Our Green and Health Commitments, While Fostering
Entrepreneurship and Innovation
We will continue our support of
MokuGift, an award-winning
nonprofit organizations specializing in agroforestry projects, as it helps the
local community economically, builds awareness for a worthy environmental
cause, and encourages the cause adoption of others in simple ways. Every month,
at the end of the month, we will plant a tree on behalf of event attendees,
welcoming them to designate and area for planting. Since the program’s
inception in September 2009, we have planted 200 trees. For more information,
visit http://www.mokugift.com/ecopage/fountainblue
or gift some trees yourself: http://www.mokugift.com.
We
hope to see you at one of this month’s events!
Triple
Ring Technologies’ Med Tech Frontiers Topic: The Bright Future of Nuclear
Medicine: PET and SPECT Imaging
Proudly
Produced by FountainBlue!
Date:Thursday October 1, 2009
Time:6:00 – 9:00 pm
Location:
Triple Ring Technologies, 39655 Eureka Drive, Newark
Speaker:
Dr. Tobias Funk, Staff Physicist, Triple Ring Technologies
Cost: The
seminar is free of charge, but registration is required for planning purposes
On-Site
registration: A limited number of on-site registrations may be available
FountainBlue’s
Funding Road Trip: Your Value Proposition
Date and
Time: Friday, October 2, 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: We will plant a tree for everyone who pre-registers by noon on 9/30 using
the PayPal link at http://fountainblue.biz/fundingroadtrip.html.
Late and on-site registration is $40 if e-mail is time stamped after that,
regardless of membership status.
FountainBlue's
Clean Energy Entrepreneurs' Forum
Topic: Sustainable Solutions for the
Built Environment
Date &
Time: Monday, October 5 from 5:30 -
7:30 p.m.
Location: NetApp HQ, Building 3, 495 E Java Dr, Sunnyvale
Cost: $20 members, $25 partners, $30
general
$100 for
FountainBlue Ongoing membership, admission, and free gift
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: Clean Energy Entrepreneurs,
Intrapreneurs & Investors, No Service Providers Please
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.
•Facilitators Krista Henley and
Rossella Derickson, Corporate Wisdom and SBODN
•Panelist Nina Bhatti, Principal
Scientist, HP Labs
•Panelist Daniela Busse, Director of
User Experience, SAP Labs LLC
•Panelist Claudia Galvan, Lead,
International Program Management Group, Microsoft
•Panelist Jessica Roland, Manager,
International Product Operations, EMC
More
information: http://www.whenshespeaks.com
FountainBlue's
Transitions Event, Produced in Partnership with RAL & Associates and
FWE&E
Topic: How the Search for Executive Positions Has Changed and What That Means
for YOU
Date
& Time: Thursday, October 15, from
11:30 AM to 2:00 PM
Location:
Bowne, 2455 Faber Place, Palo
Alto
•Moderator Roberta LaPorte, RAL &
Associates
•Rosemarie Carbone, Director of HR,
Torani (R Torre & Company)
•Barry Holroyd, CTO, Masher Media
•Phil Metz, Director of Business
Development, SolFocus Inc.
Cost: $30 members, $35 partners, $40
general, plus a $1-2 fee.
$100 plus $5 fee for FountainBlue
Ongoing membership, admission, and free gift
Registration:
Please pre-register by noon on 10/14
using the PayPal link at http://www.svexecs.com.
Registrations
received after the deadline will be applied to next month’s event, unless
you’ve registered for the $110 ongoing or the $50 on-site payment, plus fees,
regardless of membership status.
Audience:Senior
executives who have served at the director and C-levels, and generally
transitioning into a similar level position
FountainBlue's
Life Science Entrepreneurs' Forum
Topic:
Software Meets Healthcare Services: Health IT Platforms, Pharmaceutical
Tracking, Remote Monitoring and Beyond
Date &
Time: Monday, October 19 from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.
Location:
Intuitive Surgical, 1266 Kifer Road, Building 101, Sunnyvale
Cost: $20
members, $25 partners, $30 general
$100 for
FountainBlue Ongoing membership, admission, and free gift
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
•Facilitator Russell Singleton,
President and CEO, Molecular Image
•Panelist Shannon Kelley, Director of
Marketing, Intuitive Surgical
•Panelist John Steuart, Claremont
Ventures
•Panelist Evgeny Zaytsev, Helix
Ventures
•Panelist Steve Douglas, CEO, Data
Physics Research
•Presenting Entrepreneur Arthur W.
Douville, MD, CEO, Clinsensus
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 September Newsletter
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
$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, StanfordUniversity, MediaX
Distinguished Visiting Scholar
•Panelist
Peggy Wolf, Manager, Cisco Services Global I&D
More information: http://www.whenshespeaks.com
FountainBlue's Transitions Event, Produced in Partnership
with RAL & Associates and FWE&E
Topic: Leveraging LinkedIn and LinkSV Find Hidden
Executive Opportunities
Date & Time: Thursday, September 17, from 11:30 AM to
2:00 PM
Location: Bowne, 2455
Faber Place, Palo Alto
Cost: $30 members, $35 partners, $40 general, $50 for
annual membership and admission or $100 ongoing membership plus admission
Registration: Pre-register by noon on 9/16 by using the
PayPal link at http://www.svexecs.com
Late and on-site registration is $50 if e-mail time stamp
not received by noon one business day before the event.
Audience:Senior executives who have served at the
director and C-levels, and generally transitioning into a similar level
position
$100 for FountainBlue Ongoing membership, admission, and
free gift
Registration: We will plant a tree for everyone who
pre-registers by noon on 9/18 using the PayPal link at http://www.svlifescience.com. Late and
on-site registration is $40 if e-mail is time stamped after that, regardless of
membership status.
Audience: Entrepreneurs,
intrapreneurs and investors, no service providers please
•Facilitator
Geetha Rao, Springborne Life Sciences
•Panelist
Joseph Heanue PhD, President, Triple Ring Technologies
•Panelist
Frank Ingle, Senior Research Fellow, Electrophysiology Division, Boston Scientific
•Panelist
Julian Nikolchev, co-founder and CEO of Pivot Medical, Venture Partner, Frazier
Healthcare Ventures
•Panelist
Sharbel Noujaim, VP of Product Engineering, LifeScan
•Presenting
Evelyn Hu, Chief Marketing Officer and Director of Product Development, iShoe
•Presenting
Tom Moore, President and CEO, Silicon Valley
Medical Instruments
•Presenting
Michael Weickert, President and CEO at SEA Medical Systems, Inc
10:30Second Panel
Discussion: Virtual World Case Studies
•Moderator
Jeffrey Pope, Founder of Virtual Worlds Roadmap Group, Former Virtual Worlds VC
and Virtual Worlds Entrepreneur
•Panelist
Jack Buser, Director of Sony Playstation Home
•Panelist
David Helgason, CEO, Unity
•Panelist
Greg Nuyens, CEO, Qwaq
•Panelist
Reuben Steiger, Chairman of the Board, Virtual Greats
11:30Lunch Break,
with Corporate Presentations
•Chris
Platz, Creative Director, Sirikata, Stanford Humanities Lab and Computer
Science, projects: Virtual Museum and Virtual Live Music Performance
•Nicole
Yankelovich, Principal Investigator, Collaborative Environments program
including Wonderland v0.5, Sun Labs will demo the new features / functionality
and capability of our re-architected platform.
12:30Entrepreneur
Presentations in Six Categories:
Consumer: Six to Twelve, Teenagers and Young Adults,
Adults and Seniors
Enterprise: Virtual Events and Tradeshows, Virtual
Meetings, Communities and Cross-Over Solutions including Virtual Identity
across platforms and On-line/Real World Convergence
On-Site registration: A limited number of on-site
registrations may be available
FountainBlue’s Funding Road Trip: Your Value Proposition
Date and Time: Friday, October 2, 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: We will plant a tree for everyone who
pre-registers by noon on 9/30 using the PayPal link at http://fountainblue.biz/fundingroadtrip.html.
Late and on-site registration is $40 if e-mail is time stamped after that,
regardless of membership status.
FountainBlue’s Offerings:
FountainBlue’s intention
is to foster innovation ‘one conversation, one leader, one organization at a
time’, through our community, our events, our consulting services. Our full
line of products supports our intentions, as well as our clean commitment and
our health commitment. http://fountainblue.biz/products.html
·FountainBlue Water Bottle – Available for $10/each
·FountainBlue Solar-Powered Pedometer – Available
for $10/each
·FountainBlue 2010 Page-a-Day journal – Available
for $25/each
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 2009 Newsletter
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, as an additional benefit of membership, and we
welcome you to forward it on to interested others, with proper reference to
FountainBlue, our community, and our speakers.
Continuous Improvement: New Registration
Options
As you know, we are continually focused on how to more
efficiently and effectively deliver our service to you. This month, we focused
on doing two things: Maximize Registration Convenience and Organizing Our
Communities on LinkedIn and BigTent.
To maximize registration convenience and minimize
registration fees, we have started offering event registrations through PayPal
directly from our web site, starting with our August events. FountainBlue will
continue to accept on-site cash, check or charge for event and product
payments, and will now charge $1-2 for all processing fees for most events. We
hope that this new registration procedure makes it easier for you to manage
your payments while minimizing processing fees for all.
If you are a FountainBlue member on BigTent or LinkedIn,
please sign on to the sub-group of interest to you: clean energy, life science,
high tech, women leaders, and also international groups. We have added a new
group for virtual worlds as well, and welcome you to join. This month, we have
divided our FountainBlue group on LinkedIn into different topical sub-groups.
We will send our weekly list of featured and partner events to our LinkedIn
group.
We welcome your ongoing suggestions on how we can further
improve our communications and operations.
Call for Virtual
World Executive Summaries
The FountainBlue's Virtual World
Program is currently requesting funding-bound virtual world start-ups to submit
an executive summary in consideration for presentation at this annual Virtual
Worlds Conference. Virtual world categories may include for consumer solutions
(ages 6-12, teenage to young adults, adults and seniors), enterprise solutions
(virtual events and tradeshows, virtual meetings) and communities and
cross-over solutions, or other categories not mentioned.
Submitting Your Plan for Free, please spread the word!
To submit your plan, download a
Word document from http://www.svvirtualworlds.com or at
http://fountainblue.biz/images/Executive_Summary_Submission_Form.doc, complete
it as directed, and e-mail it to info@svvirtualworlds.com by noon on 8/15. Your
completed and approved submission will include one complementary pass to the 9/25
Virtual Worlds event, whether or not you are chosen to present.
FountainBlue’s Health Commitment:
FountainBlue’s health commitment emphasizes an
awareness of the small decisions we make every day which impact our overall
health and that of those we care for. To support our health commitment, we will
1) offer food selections which minimize saturated fat, salt, and sugar, offer
sauces on the side and are filler- and preservative-conscious where possible,
2) offer filtered tap water rather than bottled water or sodas at our events,
3) advocate for patient rights and work with policymakers to inform patients of
their rights, 4) offer products and solutions which support personal
resiliency, stress management and regular exercise, and 5) welcome your
comments on what else we can do to support your personal health commitment.
FountainBlue Products
FountainBlue offers a line of products to support its
clean commitment, its health commitment, and its motto of ‘one conversation,
one leader, one organization at a time’. Order them online at
http://fountainblue.biz/products.html or register for this or any upcoming
event, and pick them up at the event.
Green Commitment Products:
FountainBlue Water Bottle –
Available for $12.50/each or 2 for $20
Health Commitment Products:
FountainBlue Solar-Powered
Pedometer – Available for $10/each
One Conversation, One Leader, One
Organization at a Time Products:
FountainBlue 2010 Page-a-Day
journal – Available for $30/each or 2 for $50
Leila Bulling Towne
from Bulling Towne and Associates, and a presenting of the mini-topic on
behavioral interviewing, is offering a 20% discount on her executive coaching,
webinar participation, and course development and facilitation services. Please
contact her at coach@thebullingtownegroup.com for more information.
Kimberly Wiefling of
Wiefling Consulting, and facilitator for our Transitions event on the topic of
Diversity and Innovation as a Competitive Advantage talk would like to offer a
50% discount on 1:1 coaching, available at http://wiefling.com/shopping.html.
Bobbie
LaPorte of RAL & Associates, our partner for the “Transitions” series, is
working on a book entitled “Women at the Top of Their Game”. She is currently
conducting brief (20-30 minute) interviews with professional women who are
active in competitive or endurance sports and who understand the connection
between fitness and career success. If you are interested in participating
please contact her at: blaporte@sbcglobal.net.
XeeSM http://www.xeesm.com aggregates all my social
media sites and tools, from FaceBook to LinkedIn, Twitter to blogs, all in one
place. I now add it as part of my signature, rather than sharing separate URLs
for all our communities, and I have that page up on my browser, as a launch pad
for connecting with each of our sites. See my profile at http://www.xeesm.com/LindaHolroyd.
An enterprise version is also coming soon.
Upcoming Speaking Engagements
I will host a morning an early afternoon FountainBlue Clean Tech MashUp Session, as part of the Green
Software Unconference to be held on August 19 at the ComputerHistoryMuseum. Attendees for
Linda’s session will self-divide into one of six clean energy topics:
Air,
Water and Waste: improving resource availability, conservation and
pollution control
Energy
Efficiency: significantly reduce wasted energy
GreenBuilding: reducing
the environmental impact of building construction or operation
Renewable
Energy: leveraging waste streams to directly produce energy
Smart
Power, Green Grid and Energy Storage: technologies to enable electricity
delivery management to industrial, commercial and residential consumers
Transportation:
transportation and mobile technology applications for transportation
systems or vehicles
Each team will have twenty minutes to produce a value
proposition for an original clean energy company, and each workshop participant
will have one vote on which value proposition is most promising. The Winning
Team for the morning and afternoon sessions will receive 2 FountainBlue 2010
Page-a-Day Journals, and will be recognized during the Green Software
Unconference. Registration details are below. We look forward to seeing you
there.
Conference Topic: Green Software
Unconference
Event Topic: FountainBlue Clean
Tech MashUp
Speaker(s): Linda Holroyd, CEO,
FountainBlue
Date and time: Wednesday, August
19, 2009 8:30am-5:00pm PT
Location: ComputerHistoryMuseum 1401 N Shoreline BlvdMountain
View, CA94043
Cost: $100-$150 - 15% Discount for
FountainBlue Members
Registration:
http://greensoftwareunconference.eventbrite.com/. Register soon, for the $100
rate
FountainBlue Discount Code:
FountainBlue_03
Upcoming Partner Event
FountainBlue is partnering with
over a dozen Silicon Valley based associations, led by Sara Rauchwerger from
CCICE and David Witkowski of Silicon Valley Wireless Communications Alliance,
to produce the first annual Silicon Valley Economic Development Summit to take
place on August 20 and August 21. Thank you to the FountainBlue volunteers who
helped put together a stellar program packed full of heavy-hitting panelists
and great topics http://www.ccice.org/EconomicDevelopmentAgenda.html.
We are working hard on the sponsorship and outreach efforts, and would
appreciate your support and attendance.
Silicon
Valley Wireless Economic Development Summit
Sponsoring
Organization: CCICE, WCA and a dozen other organizations, including
FountainBlue
August
20 (Evening VIP Reception) and August 21(full day conference)
Microsoft
Conference Center in Mountain View,
Registration
and Information: http://www.ccice.org/EconomicDevelopment.html
Every month, we will support a business or nonprofit doing
well while doing good. This month, we will feature Clean Tech Open, and hope
that you can find out more from their booth at our August 3 clean energy event.
·The Clean Tech Open mission is to
serve as an innovation catalyst, providing the infrastructure and processes to
develop and motivate entrepreneurs and early-stage companies creating clean,
environmentally sustainable technologies. There will be a flurry of activity as
semi-finalists and finalists will be selected and prepped for the November 17
Awards Gala. Get involved as a mentor, sponsor, partner or supporter, and watch
clean green innovation happen right in our own backyards! http://www.cleantechopen.com/app.cgi/events/index
We hope to see you at one of this month’s
events!
FountainBlue's Clean Energy Entrepreneurs' Forum
Topic: Energy
Generation: Breakthroughs and Challenges
Date & Time: Monday,
August 3 from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.
Location: Bowne
of Palo Alto, 2455 Faber Place, Palo
Alto, CA
•Facilitator
Awais Khan, Director, Venture Capital Practice, KPMG
•Panelist
Jonathan Forrester, Principal, Structured Transactions, PG&E
•Panelist
Ripudaman Malhotra, Senior Scientist, SRI International
•Panelist
Ryan Murr, Attorney, Goodwin Procter LLP
•Panelist
Abe Yokell, Principal, Rockport Capital
•Presenting
Entrepreneur: Fareed Sfard, CEO, Ahura Energy Inc.
•Presenting
Entrepreneur: Jim DiSanto, CEO, BBE Energy
•Presenting
Entrepreneur: Andres Wydler, CEO, Real Green Power
Cost: $20
members, $25 partners, $30 general
$40 for membership and event admission
Audience: Clean
Energy Entrepreneurs, Intrapreneurs & Investors,
·Panelist Mercedes De Luca, Global
Customer Experience and Chief Information Officer at myShape.com, previously VP
of Global IT at Yahoo!
·Panelist Lise E Edwards, Oracle
Women's Leadership (OWL), Program Manager, Oracle Human Resources
·Panelist Susan Lai, Senior
Director, Finance, Symantec Corporation
·Panelists Eileen Sullivan, Group
Director, Cadence
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: http://www.whenshespeaks.com
by 8/13 at noon, no exceptions please.
Late and on-site registration is $40 – does not include
membership.
Call for Virtual World Executive Summaries
Submit Your Plan:http://www.svvirtualworlds.com
by noon on 8/15
Registration Cost:Free
for FountainBlue members, $15 for general, $30 for membership and to submit
plan
Submission will include one complementary pass to the 9/25
Virtual Worlds event whether or not you are chosen to present.
Exec Sum Format:http://fountainblue.biz/images/Executive_Summary_Submission_Form.pdf
What You Get:
Submitting entrepreneurs with approved plans will receive
1 pass to the 9/25 event, as well as informal feedback from FountainBlue
Virtual Worlds Committee members.
The selected six presenting entrepreneurs will receive two
additional passes to the 9/25 event and have the option of meeting informally
with members of FountainBlue’s volunteer Virtual World committee members,
between September 15 and September 22 at noon to prepare for the presentation.
·Presenting Entrepreneur: David
Zarling, CEO, Colby Pharmaceuticals
Cost: $20
members, $25 partners, $30 general
$100 for FountainBlue Ongoing membership, admission, and
free gift
Registration: http://www.svlifescience.com
by August 14 at noon, no exceptions please.
Late and on-site registration is $40 – does not include
membership.
Audience: Entrepreneurs,
intrapreneurs and investors, no service providers please
FountainBlue's Transitions Event, Produced in Partnership
with RAL & Associates and FWE&E
Topic: Get
Back in the Game!
Date & Time: Thursday,
August 20, from 11:30 AM to 2:00 PM
Location: DLA
Piper, 555 Mission Street, Suite
2400, San Francisco
Facilitator: Roberta LaPorte, RAL Associates
Cost: $30
members, $35 partners, $40 general, $50 for annual membership and admission or
$100 ongoing membership plus admission
Register at: http://www.svexecs.com
by 8/19 at noon, no exceptions please.
Late and on-site registration for members and non-members
is $50 and does not include membership for non-members.
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 July 2009 Newsletter
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, as an additional benefit of membership, and
we welcome you to forward it on to interested others, with proper reference to
FountainBlue, our community, and our speakers.
FountainBlue
Products
Starting this month, FountainBlue
will be selling water bottles and books. The water bottles support our green
commitment, and the books support our work in fostering change one conversation,
one leader, one organization at a time. Our first book is a 2010 page-a-day
journal, available for $30 each or $50 for two. Water bottles are available for
$12.50 each or $20 for two. Current and new FountainBlue forever members will
receive either a journal or a water bottle as a gift. All FountainBlue products
may be purchased online or at a FountainBlue event.
Monthly
Entrepreneur Pitches
Thank you for your support of our
fast pitches for our entrepreneur events. Special thanks to all the presenting
entrepreneurs who were brave enough to make the pitches and everyone in the
audience who provided feedback and asked questions. We also appreciate the
assistance of volunteers to helped to recruit, prepare and run these pitches.
Please e-mail us if you would like to make a pitch, or support us as we run the
monthly fast pitches. E-mail us at info@svcleanenergy.com for clean energy
pitches and volunteer efforts; and info@svlifescience.com for life science
pitches.
The FountainBlue's Virtual World
Program is currently requesting funding-bound virtual world start-ups to submit
an executive summary in consideration for presentation at this annual Virtual
Worlds Conference. Virtual world categories may include for consumer solutions
(ages 6-12, teenage to young adults, adults and seniors), enterprise solutions
(virtual events and tradeshows, virtual meetings) and communities and cross-over
solutions, or other categories not mentioned. Please help us to spread the word.
To submit your plan, download a Word document from
http://www.svvirtualworlds.com or at
http://fountainblue.biz/images/Executive_Summary_Submission_Form.doc, complete
it as directed, and e-mail it to info@svvirtualworlds.com by noon on 8/14.
Submitting your plan is free for FountainBlue members, $15 for general
submission, $30 for submission plus membership. We will connect with you on
payment if you owe a fee. Submission will include one complementary pass to the
9/25 Virtual Worlds event whether or not you are chosen to present. For more
information, visit http://www.svvirtualworlds.com.
Offers from the
Community
FountainBlue
is pleased to be a Network Partner for Microsoft’s® BizSpark™ program, which
provides no-cost Microsoft software and services to software companies that are
less than 3 yrs old, are privately held, and have under a million dollars in
revenue. If you are a member that fits the criteria, please reply to this e-mail
to take advantage of this generous offer from Microsoft. For more information,
visit http://fountainblue.biz/hightech/bizspark.html.
As a
follow-up to our May Transitions session on Positioning Yourself for Success:
The First 90 Days, our presenter, Linda Popky, is offering her new workbook on
Marketing Your Career a companion to the popular handbook of the same name. The
books are designed to help professionals more effectively market and position
themselves for success in the marketplace and Linda is offering a special
discount to our group through the end of July on either the book/printed
workbook or book/ebook workbook combination. For more information, please go to
this URL: http://www.woodsidebusinesspress.com/MYCworkbookoffer.html
For people
new to the job search process or people who could benefit from a fresh
perspective, RAL & Associates, one of our partners in the “Transitions”
series, is currently offering a comprehensive job search “audit” that
includes:
detailed
review of work history and job search process structure
validating/revising
positioning and job search targets
revising
resumes and other job search documents
developing
and documenting network development
plan
If you would
like to learn more please contact Bobbie LaPorte at
blaporte@sbcglobal.net
Upcoming
Speaking Engagements
Conference Topic: Green Software
Unconference
Speech Topic: 101 Truths About the
Clean Green Revolution
Speaker: Linda Holroyd, Amongst
Many Other Speakers
Sponsoring Group: Green Software
Unconference
Date and time: Wednesday, August
19, 2009 8:30am-5:00pm PT
Location: ComputerHistoryMuseum 1401 N Shoreline BlvdMountain View
They will plant a tree for each
Early Bird Registrant via Mokugift a United Nations Environmental Programme
Partner for everyone who registers by 6/30.
Giving
Back
Every month, we will support a
business or nonprofit doing well while doing good. This month, we will feature
Green21, and hope that you can find out more from their booth at our July 6
clean energy event.
·Green21 presents solution-based
storytelling regarding the greatest challenges of the 21st Century
––
sustainability, climate change and conservation. National broadcast distribution
has been secured on PBS, and Ralph Cavanagh of the Natural Resource Defense
Council (NRDC) and Richard Moss World Wildlife Fund (WWF) are among the experts
on the Board of Advisors. Every season, each half-hour episode highlights an
area of sustainability, such as energy, food, water, transportation and smart
building. Beyond the broadcast, Green21 will seed the conversation online by
connecting people's lifestyles to larger issues and transforming viewers into
participants. Mobile applications will build engagement and create
immediacy. Storytelling is part of the solution - donate now to help inform,
engage and empower. Join FountainBlue and donate now to this good cause www.green21.org.
We hope to see
you at one of this month’s events!
FountainBlue's Clean Energy
Entrepreneurs' Forum
Topic: Clean Green
Transportation Machines
Date & Time: Monday, July 6
from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.
Location: Silicon Valley
Bank’s Kellogg Auditorium, 3005 Tasman, Santa Clara
Our panelists
are:
• Facilitator
Lafe Vittitoe, Relationship Manager,
Silicon Valley Bank
• Panelist Ann Chan,
Director, California Programs, Center for Clean Air
Policy (CCAP)
• Panelist Brad Mattson,
Partner, Vantage Point Venture Partners
• Panelist Neil Maguire,
VP of Business Development, Imara
• Panelist from
ElectraDrive to be confirmed
• Panelist John Zajac,
CEO, Zajac Motors
Cost: $20 members,
$25 partners, $30 general
$40 for membership and event
admission
Audience: Clean Energy
Entrepreneurs, Intrapreneurs & Investors,
No Service Providers
Please
Registration:
http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=162512 by Friday, July 3 at noon, no
exceptions please. Late and on-site registration for members and non-members is
$40 and does not include membership for
non-members.
Triple Ring’s Med Tech Frontiers
Program: Too Much Dose? A Look at X-Ray Imaging
Systems
Date: Thursday July 9,
2009
Time: 6:00 – 9:00
pm
Location: Triple Ring Technologies,
39655 Eureka Drive,
Newark
Speaker: Brian Wilfley, Ph.D.,
Chief Scientist, Triple Ring Technologies
Cost: The seminar is free of
charge, but RSVPs are required to help plan for
food.
On-Site Registration: A limited
number of on-site registrations may be available.
Register Now:
http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=177799 by Wednesday, July 8 at
noon.
This program is proudly produced by
FountainBlue.
FountainBlue's When She Speaks,
Women in Leadership Series
Topic: Women's
Leadership Styles: What's Right for You?
Date & Time: Friday, July
10 from 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Location: EMC
Corporation, 2831 Mission College
Boulevard in Santa Clara
• Panelist Nancy Long,
Senior Vice President, Global Human Resources, Hitachi Data
Systems
• Panelist Marleen
McDaniel, Serial Entrepreneur and Business Adviser
Cost: $20 members,
$25 partners, $30 general
$40 for membership and
admission
Corporate packages for up to 10
people are $100.
Registration:
http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=162318 by 7/9 at noon, no exceptions
please. Late and on-site registration for members and non-members is $40 and
does not include membership for non-members.
FountainBlue's Transitions Event,
Produced in Partnership with RAL & Associates and FWE&E
Topic: Diversity and
Innovation as a Competitive Advantage
Date & Time: Thursday, July
16, from 11:30 AM to 2:00 PM
Register at:
http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=162484 by 7/15 at noon, no exceptions
please. Late and on-site registration for members and non-members is $50 and
does not include membership for non-members.
Audience: Senior
executives who have served at the director and C-levels, and generally
transitioning into a similar level position
Get
Involved!
Your feedback, insights and input
are always welcome. With the support of our volunteers, we have groups on
LinkedIn and FaceBook, as well as Twitter and WordPress. Send an e-mail to volunteer@FountainBlue.biz and tell
us about your background and interests and we’ll get you connected.
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 others ways.
Until we next
connect,
Linda
FountainBlue’s First Newsletter, June 2009
FountainBlue’s
monthly newsletter is designed to help you plan your activities with
FountainBlue, and benefit from the wisdom gained from our monthly events. It is
sent monthly to all FountainBlue members on BigTent, as an additional benefit
of membership, and we welcome you to forward it on to interested others, with
proper reference to FountainBlue, our community, and our speakers.
FountainBlue’s Green Commitment
FountainBlue’s
green commitment emphasizes an awareness
of the impact we have on our environment, a vow to do our personal part in support of our environment, and a commitment to communicate our efforts
and make it easier for others in the community to also participate. As such, we
do not print out the bios or attendee lists for you, but have attached them to
this e-mail, and urge you to consider the environment before printing them
yourself. In addition, 1) we encourage car-pooling and have listed origination
cities for attendees who are interested in car-pooling, 2) we will use plastic
nametags, and will recycle them for future events, 3) we will collect
testimonials and suggestions in writing as a group rather than through
individual feedback forms, and encourage more detailed feedback through e-mail,
4) we will serve pitchers of water, so please feel free to bring a water bottle
and 5) we welcome your comments on what else we could do together in support of
the environment.
Monthly Entrepreneur Pitches
Thanks to your
feedback, and the efforts of the great entrepreneurs in our community, and a
host of dedicated volunteers, we will now be featuring two minute pitches with
two minutes of feedback for each of our entrepreneur events. If you would like
to get involved, we welcome your help in recruiting entrepreneurs to pitch, and
in running the on-site pitches. We also welcome entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs
and investors to attend and actively participate.
Good-bye to High
Tech Series, Hello New Partnerships
To better serve our community and better partner
with our affiliates, FountainBlue has made a strategic decision to sunset our
high tech series, which was launched in March 2006. We will, however, continue
to run an annual angel panel in January, and hope that you will join us for our
final high tech entrepreneurs’ forum scheduled for June 8, from 5:30 – 7:30
p.m. at TEN. We also look forward to partnering with AAMA, CCICE, SDForum and
WCA in support of their events.
Virtual Worlds
Annual Event
FountainBlue is
producing a September 25 annual event on virtual worlds! This annual conference
will update us on Virtual Worlds trends and feature case studies, while also profiling
corporate virtual world solutions and entrepreneurial pitches from the winners
of this business plan competition in six categories.
Consumer
Six to Twelve
Teenagers and Young Adults
Adults and Seniors
Enterprise
Virtual Events and Tradeshows
Virtual Meetings
Communities and
Cross-Over Solutions, including Virtual Identity and On-line/In-Person
For more
information and to get involved, send an e-mail to info@svvirtualworlds.com
or visit us at http://www.svvirtualworlds.com.
Offers from the
Community
FountainBlue is pleased to be a Network Partner for
Microsoft’s® BizSpark™ program, which provides no-cost Microsoft software and
services to software companies that are less than 3 yrs old, are privately
held, and have under a million dollars in revenue. If you are a member that
fits the criteria, please reply to this e-mail to take advantage of this
generous offer from Microsoft. For more information, visit http://fountainblue.biz/hightech/bizspark.html.
Kristi Royse of KLR
Consulting facilitated our April Transitions event on the topic of Leading in a
Multi-Generational Workforce. She is pleased to share he article on Making the Most of Your Timehttp://www.klrconsulting.com/articles/time_management.htm.
Speakers and facilitators from June’s events may be providing additional
resources next month.
Offered
by Dawn DeBruyn, CEO, WeMeUs
WeMeUs CEO, Dawn DeBruyn, has a special offer for FountainBlue
readers:Join by June 5 with the special
FountainBlue code and receive 30 days of WeMeUs premium services at no
charge.Join here:
http://bit.ly/oBYzuMore on WeMeUs: It
is the web-based solution where users can bring together, tag and organize
information about their contacts from all of their email, business and social
network address books.With WeMeUs
premium services, users can easily do network outreach and generate more
business using precision targeted, personalized emails and an integrated lead
tracking system. Get more information by visiting www.wemeus.com and get
started by entering the FountainBlue code: FB2009 when you join.
We hope to see you at one of this month’s
events!
FountainBlue's Clean
Energy Entrepreneurs' Forum
Topic: Next Generation Solar Solutions
Date & Time: Monday, June 1 from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.
Location: SRI, 333 Ravenswood Ave, Menlo Park
•Facilitator Craig Lobdell, Partner, KPMG
•Panelist Matthew Garratt, Senior
Associate, Battery Ventures
•Panelist Bob MacDonald, CEO, Skyline
Solar
•Panelist Lorenza Moro, Senior
Researcher, Materials Science Laboratory, SRI International
•Panelist Ryan Murr, Partner, Business
Law Department, Goodwin Procter LLC
•Panelist PR Yu, CEO, Optony
Cost: $20 members, $25 partners, $30
general
$40 for annual
membership and event admission
On-site registration
is $40.
Audience: Clean Energy Entrepreneurs, Intrapreneurs
& Investors,
No Service Providers
Please
Registration:http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=162511
by Friday, May 29 at noon, no exceptions please. Late and on-site registration
is $40 and does not include membership.
FountainBlue, TEN
and CCICE Series and Topic: High Tech Entrepreneurs' Forum
Topic: Entrepreneur
Success Stories
Date and time:
Monday, June 8 from 5:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Location: TEN, 2953 Bunker Hill Lane, Ste 400,
Santa Clara
Speakers:
•Facilitator Sara Rauchwerger, CCICE and
BG Strategy
•Panelist Matthew Denesuk, Partner, IBM
Venture Capital Group
•Panelist Victoria Livschitz, CEO, Grid
Dynamics Consulting Services
•Panelist Mythili Sankaran, CEO,
Koollage
•Panelist Lynda Ting, Director, Emerging
Business Team, Microsoft
Cost: $20 Members,
$25 Partners, $30 General, $40 membership plus admission, $40 on-site.
Audience: Entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs and investors,
no service providers please
FountainBlue's When
She Speaks, Women in Leadership Series
Topic: Working with Millennials
Date & Time: Friday, June 12 from 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Location: CiscoBuilding 3, 2nd floor,
New Frontier Conference room.
225 East Tasman Drive, San Jose
•Facilitator Lisa Orrell, The Generation
Relations Expert, The Orrell Group, author of Millennials Incorporated
•Panelist Urvi Bhandari, AT&T
•Panelist Megan Campi, Customer Service
Relationship Manager, Cisco
•Panelist Kristen Dearing, Sun
Microsystems
•Panelist Claudia Galvan, Lead,
International Program Management Group, Microsoft
•Panelist Shalini Govil-Pai, Lead PM,
Google
Cost: $20 members, $25 partners, $30
general
$40 for membership
and admission
Corporate packages
for up to 10 people are $100.
On-site registration
is $40.
Registration: http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=162317
by 6/11 at noon, no exceptions please. Late and on-site registration is $40 and
does not include membership.
FountainBlue's Life
Science Entrepreneurs' Forum
Topic: Life Science Leadership: From Strategy
to Execution
Date & Time: Monday, June 15 from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.
Registration: http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=162526
by June 12 at noon, no exceptions please. Late and on-site registration is $40
– does not include membership.
Audience: Entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs and investors,
no service providers please
FountainBlue's
Transitions Event Produced in Partnership with RAL & Associates and
FWE&E
Topic: Developing a
Leadership Pipeline
Date and Time:
Thursday, June 18, 11:30 AM to 2:00 PM
Location: Bay Café
Clubhouse, 1875 Embarcadero Rd,
Palo Alto
Facilitator Kathy
Ullrich, Ullrich & Associates
Cost: $30 Members,
$35 Partners, $40 General, $50 membership plus admission, $50 on-site.
Register at: http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=162483
by 6/17 at noon, no exceptions please. Late and on-site registration is $50 –
does not include membership.
"When She
Speaks” – Women in Leadership Series, produced by RAL & Associates in
partnership with FountainBlue
From Baby Boomers to
Millennials: The Role of Diversity in Employee Engagement
Date and Time:
Thursday, June 18th, from 5:00 – 7:00 PM
Location: Charles
Schwab, 215 Fremont Street,
San Francisco
Moderator Kristi
Royse, Principal, KLR Consulting
Panelist Joyce
Ibardolassa, Director of Diversity and Inclusion, PG&E
Panelist Robin
Tucker, Global Lead Management Consulting
Our networking
philosophy emphasizes making strategic introductions face-to-face, so we have
created a series of events targeting early stage entrepreneurs, women leaders
and senior executives. We also encourage cross-over attendance for these
events, to support our community, which is really growing, thanks to your
personal efforts!
We welcome you
to continue inviting entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs and investors to the
entrepreneurial series, and women and men leaders to our When She Speaks series
and senior director and C-Level executives to our Transitions series. With that
said, please do not recommend that your colleagues call or e-mail me personally
asking for an appointment, or looking to chat over the phone. In addition, we
are happy to connect members to each other via e-mail, but in order to do so,
please provide background information about yourself, who you would like to
connect with, and why you would like to connect so that we can forward your
request on, through blind-copy. If you receive one of these messages, thank you
for responding to the inquiry, or e-mail me privately if you would rather not
do so. Many thanks for your assistance and support everyone!
We welcome your input, feedback and suggestions. We also welcome you to sign up for our monthly newsletters and our weekly e-mail announcements. Just complete the adjacent form specifying which topic is of interest to you (clean energy, high tech, life science, virtual worlds, women leaders or executives), and we will add you to the list.
