On the first Fridays of the month, starting in February 2007, with the support of our sponsor Plug and Play Real Estate, FountainBlue has conducted monthly lunch events to support clean energy entrepreneurs as they launch and grow their businesses. We are pleased to provide notes from our previous discussions and hope that you will also find the information useful.
FountainBlue's May 8 Clean Energy Entrepreneurs' Forum, featured a Clean Energy Investors Panel on the topic of What's Hot, What's Not
Our esteemed panelists included:
Facilitator Mark Bauhaus, Bauhaus Consulting
Panelist Mike Dorsey, JP Morgan's Bay Area Equity Fund
Why Clean Energy Companies Are Hot and Here to Stay:
Large corporations are investing in the industry.
Experienced business professionals are moving into this area - not just technologists.
Helping the environment becomes a necessity with the challenges of global warming, CO2 emissions, and overpopulation issues etc.,
Helping the environment can also be an economic win, leading to sustainable revenues.In fact, it must be an economic win in order to attract investment dollars.
Although we have a long way to go, technologies are beginning to become sufficiently advanced to address these issues.
High-tech, networking and communication issues are sufficiently advanced to develop and deploy technologies to help people around the world.
It is patriotic - Thomas Friedman says that Green is the new Red, White and Blue.
The consumer/customer is willing to invest more if they feel it is helping the environment (example: paying more for an electric car - Tesla Motors). However, this may be a short term phenomenon.
Attractive Clean Energy Choices (see the PowerPoint for a chart on a range of clean energy choices):
Solar
Batteries/Fuel Cells/Energy Storage
Efficient Lighting
Water, Waste Management
Transportation
HVAC
Data Center, efficient use of (reduce need for cooling them)
Tips for Making Your Clean Energy Plan Fundable/Successful:
The technology should be proven/realistic.
Don't require huge capital outlays, particularly before a concept is proven.
The business model should be proven - with real customers.
You should understand the overall market, the market drivers/landscape, including what your competitors are doing.
Add some experienced players to your entrepreneurial team.
Creating Jobs is important to some investors, like JP Morgan's Bay Area Equity Fund.
Develop a realistic plan and realistic projections.
Disruptive technologies may not be well received in established industries, so there may be additional hurdles from large, established companies. (ex: Light Engineering's motor forces the redesign of washing machines)
Silicon Valley is not the center of the world. Going to other areas/regions may attract the right type of talent for your organization.
Be persistent - no matter how many doors are slammed in your face. However, also pay attention to the market/customer signals at the same time.
Be innovative - not just in technology, but also with sales, marketing, public policy, customer delight processes.
If your clean energy project is still in the concept, 'science experiment' phase, consider grant funding rather than angel/VC funding. (see resources below)
Create a realistic business plan complete with milestones.
What Not to Do:
As a rule of thumb, don't plan out Series B, Series C scenarios before you even get funded.
Don't hire expensive executives who try to fit their successes from corporations into customer solutions not willing to buy. (e.g. Enlist a management team who will respond to customer needs, not try to make the customer fit their model.)
Grant Funding Resources:
California Energy Commission, which facilitates access to Funding / Solicitations / Contract & Grant Opportunities http://www.energy.ca.gov/
California Clean Tech Open, Jeremy Walker, jeremy@cacleantech.com (see also upcoming event next week)
FountainBlue's April 2 Clean Energy Entrepreneurs' Forum was on the topic of International Partnerships in Clean Energy Companies.
Clean energy is hot and different countries are building expertise and experience in the many different industries in clean energy opportunities:
Renewable energy like solar, wind, bio-energy, and environmentally-friendly hydroelectric technologies
Energy efficiency and demand response—electricity end-use, buildings and grid applications
Environment-enhancing technologies—advanced flue gas clean-up, ultra-low emissions generation such as fuel cells, environmental remediation, and exceptionally efficient generation
Enabling technologies—power electronics, storage, low-loss cables and wires, sensors and instrumentation, control systems, materials and manufacturing technology, and integrated clean energy applications.
In this FountainBlue Clean Energy Entrepreneurs' Forum, we will hear success stories from three different regions and discuss the business opportunities for partnering with international associations and organizations for mutual economic benefit.
Facilitator Brad Rock, Partner, DLA Piper
Panelist Adam Browning, Executive Director of VoteSolar
Panelist Peter Winarsky, Innovation Center Denmark
Below is advice and information about working with international organizations in support of clean energy entrepreneurs locally:
International Energy Usage Needs and Patterns
Energy usage patterns are in reverse relationship with worldwide population levels
Liquid petroleum is prevalent in North America, with coal prevalent in Asia and Africa and hydroelectricity in South America.
Although solar technologies were first introduced by Bell Labs in the 1950s, Germany and Japan have strong solar energy markets, subsidized by the government.
Danish companies have successes in wind energy, biofuels for transportion, water purification, and building installations.
African countries with stable political infrastructure friendly to outside investments might provide an opportunity for clean energy entrepreneurs and investors alike. Example is Jathropa oil.
Info from http://www.jcmiras.net/jcm/item/85/ Jathropha (some news articles used to spell it as "jathropa" is a genus of approximately 175 succulents, shrubs and trees (some are deciduous, like Jatropha curcas L.), from the family Euphorbiaceae. One of the species of jatropha, the Jatropha curcas, also called physic nut, is used to produce the non-edible Jatropha oil, for making candles and soap, and as an ingredient in the production of biodiesel. The trees produce 1600 liters of oil per hectare (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jatropha).
Implications for Clean Energy Entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley
If the US can leverage the growing consumer attitudes in support of solar energy, and if it is successful in managing the state-by-state policy, regulatory and business barriers to having an efficient model for solar energy generation and distribution, solar energy solutions in the US will become more competitive.
The problems in solar energy in the US are more related to distribution than the technology development itself.
The power companies within the US are frequently siloed, state by state, and are not sufficiently incentivized to promote having entrepreneurs and their technologies widely available to consumers, who are increasingly interested in getting access to it.
For more information:
Find out more about VoteSolar and support them in creating a blueprint for putting together the processes and partnerships necessary to support solar energy adoption, state by state. http://www.votesolar.com
Contact Gunnar Larsen or Peter Winarsky from Innovation Center Denmark regarding their efforts to support entrepreneurship both in the US and in Denmark http://www.innovationcenterdenmark.com
Contact Almaz Negash directly about her work with Jathropa and bringing the economic opportunity to Ghana. almaz@entwineglobal.com
Our March 5 forum was on the topic of Government Policies and Investments in Clean Energy Companies
Since the dawn of the industrial revolution, governments have been keenly aware of the strategic importance of energy to national interests. But it took the oil embargo of the 70's to catalyze non-OPEC governments into action. Since the 1970's, more regulations, government agencies, oversight and direct intervention has taken place then ever before. This involvement encompasses the entire value chain in the sector from safety rules regarding extraction and production all the way to government labeling of products through programs such as "Energy Star".
In this FountainBlue Clean Energy Entrepreneurs' Forum, we had a conversation about the role of government policies including clean energy research, incentives to promote product adoption and distribution, and how best to navigate that process. The session helped clean energy entrepreneurs understand the objectives of local, state and national authorities and the related policy objectives as they build their clean energy efforts.
Our facilitator Brian Reidy, Partner of Growth Process Group framed our discussion by covering how governments have been working with clean energy companies through all of recorded history.
Panelist Steve Churchwell, Partner, DLA Piper provided his perspective on the types of clean energy companies out there and how each has different challenges.
Panelist Kelly Fergusson, Mayor, City of Menlo Park, brought her perspective from a civil engineering/community leader background, sharing her plans for making Menlo Park a hot-bed for clean energy companies.
Panelist Judith Ikle, Program/Branch Manager Procurement, Renewables & Climate Strategy Branch from California Public Utility Commission, brought her perspective both from the national and now the state regulatory angle.
Below are links to additional information about each of these organizations.
Our February 5 Clean Energy Entrepreneurs' Forum will be on Corporate Investments in Clean Energy.
Clean energy companies have two paths to market - through regulated companies like electric utilities or through private enterprises. The theme for our inaugural Clean Energy Entrepreneurs' Forum, focuses on Corporate (private) Investments in Clean Energy. Over the past 30 years private enterprises have deployed billions of dollars in technologies that we call clean energy today. As a result financially compelling clean energy products have the opportunity to find initial reference customers with real budgets in large global corporations. In addition, as we evolve from the hardware and software industries and expand into the life science industries and now clean energy, the corporate players will share their strategies on how they are expanding into the 'new-new' of clean energy investments, and how they are working with entrepreneurs to support their internal R&D efforts.
The objectives of this session were to help entrepreneurs understand how large corporations invest and deploy clean energy concepts and clean technologies as part of their standard business practices and to help entrepreneurs develop realistic strategies for corporate partnerships related to funding and reference customer relationships.