By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues

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Listen to Fresh Dialogues with Anna Jaeger, TechSoup

I caught up with Anna Jaeger, Director of the GreenTech Program at TechSoup Global, during  The Green Enterprise UnConference at The Computer History Museum in Mountain View, December 3, 2008. San Francisco-based TechSoup partners with many leading tech companies like Microsoft, Adobe and Cisco to put technology in the hands of nonprofits; and Anna is spearheading its efforts to educate organizations to reduce their environmental impact through effective use of technology.  Our discussion includes:

Best “green” office practices

Software as a service (SoaS): e.g Google Apps -  Docs, Video, Gmail

Virtualization

Thin clients/ dumb terminals

Second Life online collaborations

Cisco’s WebEx

Forum One’s UNconference concept

Note: Another excellent source of best green business practices, just launched this month, is at the Environmental Defense Fund’s new online resource, The Innovation Exchange where you can find information about running a carbon neutral office.

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues

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Listen to Fresh Dialogues with Heidi Roizen, part two

In this second part of Heidi Roizen’s interview, she talks about her Silicon Valley career and her new venture; she has some good advice for entrepreneurs.

Working at Apple in the 90’s, the work/family balance

How she became a venture capitalist

The challenges of working from home

Pursuing your passion as a business

Dealing with doors slamming in your face

Keeping the ball moving forward

Why the Roizen family is going green

To listen to Heidi’s interview about Skinny Songs and her new book click here

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues

Download or listen to this lively Fresh Dialogues interview

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(12 minutes)

Download Fresh Dialogues with Ann Winblad

I talked to celebrated tech leader and VC  Ann Winblad at Hummer Winblad on December 5th. New jobless figures had just been released, and were reminiscent of the mid 1970’s. Yet, despite that gloom, the views over the Embarcadero to San Francisco Bay Bridge were breathtaking, and Ann, in true venture capitalist style, was refreshingly upbeat.

She talked about her early days:

Working in the strawberry fields of Minnesota at age 7… “I learned that patience and focus is a very good balance with overall efficiency; and that’s served me well as an entrepreneur.”

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Download Fresh Dialogues with Ann Winblad – strawberry fields

Drinking the Kool-Aid. To be a successful VC, “we have to look at the glass as half full….we have to slurp up that Kool-Aid for an instant, but we can’t get addicted.” 

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Download Fresh Dialogues with Ann Winblad – Kool Aid

 “SDForum is an open door to entrepreneurs and innovators…we’ve funded several companies from walk-in meetings…Susan Lucas (Conwell) is our CEO and a remarkable director.”

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Download Fresh Dialogues with Ann Winblad – SDForum

Is Green Tech going to save Silicon Valley?  ”The press likes to focus on Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer; they forget about Prancer and Dancer and Donner and Blitzen. They want one cartoon character of salvation.”

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Download Fresh Dialogues with Ann Winblad – green tech and Rudolph

Ann has been friends with Bill Gates for over 20 years. What was the atmosphere like among software experts in the mid 80’s?  “Everybody was working so hard…we’d get together for dinners and we all had a lot of fun. People would share their stories…their dreams. That’s how we got to know that some people had bigger dreams than others.” 

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Download Fresh Dialogues with Ann Winblad – friendship with Bill Gates 

In part two of Fresh Dialogues with Ann Winblad, we explore top market trends, cloud computing, virtualization and the attributes of successful VCs. Check back soon.

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues

Former Sun Microsytems Executive, Mary Vincent chaired a panel of green venture capital and entrepreneur experts at the 2008 Women in Technology International (WITI) Conference in Silicon Valley. She talked to me afterwards about the key moment that inspired her to give up her corporate job as a Java expert and become a green entrepreneur. She cites the UN Climate Change Report 2006, and says “animal agriculture produces more greenhouse gases than transportation…it shocked me.” Seeing a way to leverage her skills to work on climate change, she recently founded Green Star Solution and Gratitude Gourmet; and is using many web 2.0 tools to build her business:

Facebook homepage feeds

Twitter

Blogs

Google Calendar

Clean tech group on Facebook

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 Download Fresh Dialogues with Mary Vincent

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues

Last Wednesday, SDForum, the energetic and prolific nonprofit for techies, hosted an excellent program for those considering a move to the Green and Clean business world.

Jennifer McFarlane of Clean Source Power (a solar energy company) did an excellent job as moderator to the panel of clean tech experts, including the indomitable Kevin Surace of Serious Materials, Steve Reale of Levensohn Venture Partners, Prakash Ramachandran, of Nordic Windpower Ltd., and Kevin Barry of Schweichler Price & Partners, an executive search consultant with expertise in the cleantech sector.

Despite the economic gloom, Jennifer McFarlane challenged the panel to “tell us something cheerful.” And they produced. Kevin Surace was most vocal and bullish, anticipating his company will double in manpower and revenues in 2009. So if you’re inclined to join the eco building world of Serious Materials, get your resume in ASAP. Prakash called for “bright stars ahead,” thanks to the incoming Obama administration and said, “the floodgates are going to open in the 3rd Quarter of 2009.” He outdid Kevin, by predicting a tripling of Nordic Power’s manpower and business by year end 2009.

There was general consensus that the TARP may not have helped the financial market to date, but it’s been a solid shot in the arm for the solar industry: extending the federal tax credit for another 8 years. Jennifer beamed broadly at that discussion, but Kevin pointed out that green products/ energy must be priced right/ cost the same as the competition or be a “solution sell” and put dollars in consumers pockets over their lifetime.

On the gloomier side, Kevin Barry said, “It’s still the Wild West from a hiring perspective…there’s been lazy hiring and there may be a bubble.” Steve Reale also used the word “correction” for the green business world and said the promise of a $100’s of billion market has lured many (possibly too many) VCs. Ominous stuff.

Advice for those thinking of a new green tech career:

do your homework/ take courses

get solar on your house

find out how it works

know the lingo

show your passion

be tenacious

Many thanks to SDForum CEO Susan Lucas Conwell for the invitation and to photographer extraordinaire DJ Cline for the use of his photos. Check out his website for more photos of this event.

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues

Firoozeh Dumas, bestselling author of “Funny in Farsi” is not only hilarious on the page, she’s a hoot in person.  Yet she wants to do more than tickle our funny bones; this Thurber Prize for American Humor nominee wants to focus on the commonalities that unite us, no matter where we’re from. You could say she’s a world peace maker that uses humor as conduit. Our conversation explored:

American optimism

Shared humanity

Post 9/11 generation

Iranian stereotypes

Tolerance

Iran’s censorship bureau

Being a “sexual” Muslim

Listen to Fresh Dialogues with Firoozeh Dumas

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Download Fresh Dialogues with Firoozeh Dumas

Check back soon for Part Two of this Fresh Dialogues when Firoozeh talks about how Silicon Valley inspired her, outsmarting the bad boys at school and why noses are big in Iran.

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues

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I had the pleasure of interviewing Martin Sheen who was visiting Silicon Valley as a guest of Dick Henning’s Foothill College Celebrity Forum Series.  In this first part of our Fresh Dialogues interview, Martin talks about the roots of his social activism, his faith, his marriage and his movies. We also explore:

Money and happiness

Silicon Valley millionaires

Social conscience

What is God?

His college fantasy

His heart attack during the filming of Apocalypse Now   

To read selected quotes from the interview click here

Click here for Part Two of Fresh Dialogues with Martin Sheen when we explore his environmental activism, his “West Wing” perspective on President Barack Obama and what two exciting movie projects Martin will be working on through 2009.

Note: Martin donated all proceeds from his Celebrity Forum appearance to the Berkeley based nonprofit, The San Carlos Foundation What a guy!

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues

On happiness and money

“I disagree with the philosophy that you can’t buy happiness. I know a lot of wealthy people who are happy as Larry…what you can’t buy is joy. Joy is very very costly.”

 On what brings him joy

“The realization of my flawed humanity…that the great mystery of the universe includes me personally… I feel to the core of my being that I am loved, and if I can be loved anyone on earth is capable of feeling they can be loved.”

 On what God is

“I don’t know what God is, but I have a profound, fundamental belief that God is in fact love. That there is a reality there and I am personally loved. I know it’s true for everyone if it’s true for me, but I can’t explain it and I can’t make anyone aware of it.”

 On how he developed his social activist ideals as a golf caddie

“Around the age of 14, I became aware of the injustices associated with the work. We were non-entities to them…and they often used obscene language in front of us….we were little boys and they were abusive… anti-Semitic … racist. And they, for the most part, were upstanding members of the community, businessmen, lawyers, doctors. As the result of being a servant at so young an age, I learned how NOT to treat servants whether they’re waiters of bus-boys or cabdrivers. …and I organized a strike.”

On his green motivations and action

“There’s a Hebrew adage that says, ‘he who hath offspring giveth hostages to the future.‘Well I’ve given children and grandchildren, so they own that future. We have to be aware of our responsibility to future generations.”

 On his heart attack while filming Apocalypse Now

“I got ill in the Philippines and I damn near died. They got me to a hospital and it was like in the movies. I was on a gurney being rolled through the corridors, lights were flashing and faces were coming and going, and this little face came alongside of me and I realized it was my wife Janet. She leaned down and whispered in my ear, ‘It’s only a movie babe.’ And I started to get well at that moment.”

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues 

On using music as a motivator

 ”Music is a powerful motivator..if it weren’t it wouldn’t be used on sports, in religion and frankly, in marketing, to sell you things.”

 On getting professional input from George Daly (CEO of About Records)

 ”Ultimately the music wasn’t going to be motivating if it was a pain to listen to. It needed to sound just as good as…Pink or Rascal Flatts or Kerry Underwood.”

 On writing lyrics

“George said to me one day, ‘you write poetry, but we need lyrics.’ He’d call me and say, you have five minutes to fix that..and I’d have to think about what’s a different way to say that… that would fit better in the cadence of the music.”

 Inspiration for “You da boss”

 ”I want a fun upbeat song to listen to when I’m tempted to reach for that cookie…Instead of making this sad preachy music about ‘don’t touch that’, let’s make it fun hip hop like MC Hammer and have some fun with the spirit and the spunk of this idea.”

 On her theme song, Skinny Jeans

 ”It’s a woman’s affair with a pair of pants…every woman can relate to that piece of clothing you used to love to wear…your aspirational clothing…and now there’s a little too much of you to fit into it and you’d like to go and regain that love again.”

On her Silicon Valley Career

“It’s a portfolio career: a nice balance between the creative fun endeavor and the traditional; the roots of where I came from and where I want to still continue to work.”

 On marketing a product

“You get up every day and say: what am I going to do today to move the ball forward?”

 On her legendary tenacity

“I believe in tenacity, but I also believe in learning and if you’ve approached twenty companies and you get the same feedback, then it’s not worth approaching company no. 21.”

 On being an entrepreneur

“I am an optimist by nature and that serves me well. For any entrepreneur, you’ve got to have that sense of optimism because if you didn’t, you wouldn’t get up in the morning and do it.”

To listen to Heidi’s interview on entrepreneurs click here

To listen to Heidi’s interview on Skinny Songs click here