How to be a Tech Visionary? 5 Lessons from Oscars of Silicon Valley

How to be a Tech Visionary? 5 Lessons from Oscars of Silicon Valley

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues

The dynamic new CEO of SVForum, Adiba Barney rolled out the red carpet this week for the 17th Visionary Awards. But despite all the glitz and glamor, there was a strong message: use tech to make the world better. Of course, each recipient has an impressive resume:  Jessica Jackley, cofounder of Kiva; Tim O’Reilly, open source advocate and media producer; Tina Seelig, director of Stanford Tech Ventures Program; and Tim Draper, founder of Draper University and partner at DFJ Ventures.  But how did each get where they are today and what can you learn from their journey?

Here are some of the lessons the visionaries shared at Tuesday’s event:

1. Ask: what if?

Jackley witnessed a new level of poverty while working in Africa and when she returned to Silicon Valley, she wanted to help change some lives, especially those with an entrepreneurial drive. She said, “People in Silicon Valley are always talking about the future…so ask: what if?”

Her inspiration? She was killing time at Stanford University one evening, and just happened to attend a talk by Muhammad Yunis, the Nobel Prize winning founder of “banker to the poor” Grameen Bank. His success helped launch the microlending phenomenon and inspired Kiva, a nonprofit microlender that’s now shared over half a billion dollars in startup funds with entrepreneurs around the world.

2. Have some accidents

Tim Draper confessed that he often discovered and backed companies like Skype by complete accident. Often he was actually looking for, or working on something else. His message: “If you want to be a visionary, go out and have some accidents!” And he proceeded to fling his glass of water into the crowd. Fortunately there were no injuries, though fellow journalist, Tom Foremski got the brunt of the baptism.

3. Go for love not money

Tim O’Reilly said “I urge you all:  do things for love, with no expectation of return…celebrate the success of people who make a difference.” He described Silicon Valley as a place “for people who dream, who care…about stuff other than making an exit.”

Although he’s a big believer in the power of the markets, he underlined the obligation to “give back” and in his great literary style, he even quoted a passage from Victor Hugo’s “Les Miserables” to underline his point that an entrepreneur should think “much of others, and little of him (or her) self.” He’s recently embraced the vision of Jennifer Pahlka’s Code for America. It helps bring more top tech talent into government (e.g. the tech team that went to D.C. to help rescue HealthCare.Gov’s disastrous rollout).

“We need to fix government, not abandon it!” said O’Reilly.

Steven Levy interviewed by Alison van Diggelen, SVForum Visionaries 2014, photo credit: Tom Foremski4. Never miss an opportunity to be fabulous

Tina Seelig is the epitome of Silicon Valley passion for entrepreneurship and technology; and urges us all to ask big questions. Her mantra is “never miss an opportunity to be fabulous” and although she didn’t say it, her energetic body language seemed to be chanelling Adele’s line from Rolling in the Deep: “Throw your soul through every open door!

5. Have a passion for “Yes”

Steven Levy, a senior writer at Wired Magazine, and former honoree himself, introduced Tim O’Reilly and reminded everyone that behind every “no” is a “yes.”

“At the core of Silicon Valley is a passion for yes,” he said. “This is the place where people don’t look for reasons to say no…(instead) someone comes up with a crazy idea and they have permission to do it.”

Presumably he means, if you want to be a real tech visionary, there’s no place like Silicon Valley.

Check back soon for Fresh Dialogues interviews with Jessica Jackley, Tina Seelig, Jennifer Pahlka and Tim Draper.

This SVForum event took place at the home of Kelly Porter in Los Altos Hills on Tuesday June 3rd, 2014.

Photo credit: Tom Foremski

Energy high at SV Clean Energy Conference

Energy high at SV Clean Energy Conference

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues

A capacity crowd packed Sun Microsystem’s historic Santa Clara campus auditorium last Friday.

 After introductions by hosts Susan Lucas Conwell of SDForum and Linda Holroyd of FountainBlue, a rousing challenge to the green tech crowd came from Mayor Chuck Reed : “We want YOU to make us energy independent and pull us out of this recession!” Tall order, no pressure guys.

The Green Mayor emphasized the trillion dollar opportunity in the energy market and anticipates clean tech will receive between $40-$60 billion from President Obama’s stimulus package, most of which will benefit Silicon Valley. He underlined Silicon Valley’s reputation as the best place in the world to start and grow a business; and urged entrepreneurs to call him if they need land or buildings. The guy is serious and announced his number several times: (408) 535-4800.

The first panel “Where’s the Green in Clean?”assembled a group of top VCs: Laurie Yoler of Growth Point Technologies, Nancy Pfund – DBL Investors, Kjerstin Barley – GE Capital, and Stephen Eichenlaub -Intel Capital. Nancy Pfund addressed the issue of the price premium for clean tech products. She says some consumers are willing to pay a premium for efficiency improvements, but for a global thriving business, we need to get to parity with existing energy sources. Looking at the total cost of ownership (TCO) is key. ie a Tesla Roadster may cost a fortune to buy, but a “fill up” only costs $4.

Consumer sentiment is strongly in support of clean tech, says Laurie Yoler and cited Palo Alto where consumers were offered “green” electricity for a 15% premium. So far, the sign up rate is 60%. Of course, Palo Alto is hardly representative of the rest of the world, but what starts in Silicon Valley seldom stays in Silicon Valley.

The credit crunch is impacting investment activity especially for capital intensive solar comanies. Startups with smaller capital demands will do better, says Yoler and points out there’s a vibrant market for companies focused on energy efficiency: especially virtualization software and clean tech construction companies looking for $10 million/ round.

Someone had the audacity to ask what we can learn from the Europeans who invested heavily in clean tech, especially solar, over a decade ago. I look forward to discussing this issue further with Nancy Pfund at a later date.

Steve Eichenlaub emphasized the importance of keeping the green buzz going and credits the Obama administration for talking about the environment, global warming, energy independence and green tech almost every day since he took office. What a difference a Bush-less fortnight makes!

Check back soon for more on the conference from the Green Czars from Sun, HP, SAP, Intel and IBM

Ann Winblad talks Kool-Aid, green tech and Bill Gates

Ann Winblad talks Kool-Aid, green tech and Bill Gates

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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 “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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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.

Green Tech Careers Evening – SDForum

Green Tech Careers Evening – SDForum

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.

Silicon Valley’s Visionaries – Oscar party for techies

Silicon Valley’s Visionaries – Oscar party for techies

Glamor at the Visionary Awards aka The Tech Oscars
The only things missing were the red carpet and the paparazzi at last Wednesday’s SDForum’s Visionary Awards ceremony. It had all the trappings of the Oscars: glitz and glamor, champagne and cocktail dresses. OK, there were more business suits than bustierres, I admit. But I think the brain power at this Silicon Valley event was probably ten to the Nth power of its LA counterpart. I kept expecting an announcer to say: “Reed Hastings is appearing with fabulous thoughts today, combining high IQ with the always elegant ideas for movie delivery.”

Held at the private home of Heidi Roizen and David Mohler in Atherton, the party kicked off with a VIP only event inside the Italian villa. Backed by a suit of armor, and looked upon by a giant Bison head and stag’s head, SDForum’s CEO Susan Lucas-Conwell (sporting one of her signature French silk scarves)  made the introductions, as everyone crowded into the wood beamed hall. Susan teased the crowd about revealing how the five visionaries are actually chosen, but the selection process remains a well guarded secret. Ann Winblad is giving nothing away.

Susan Lucas-Conwell

I chatted to Cromwell Schubarth, editor of the Silicon Valley Business Journal who reports that contrary to the fate of many newspapers, like the Merc, his paper is thriving. Exploiting a niche and doing it well is key, he tells me. Next up: The Green Mayor: Chuck Reed, who was unususally enthusiastic. “The best days are ahead of us!” he exclaimed. Perhaps the optimism of all those successful techies and entrepreneurs rubbed off on him. Or maybe it was his delight in driving his wonderful Prius to the event. He told me he gets a cool green 44 MPG. That would make anyone a wee bit jovial, the way gas prices are surging!

Talking joviality, the exuberant Heidi Roizen gave me some of the skinny on her startup: SkinnySongs (an interview for Women’s Radio seems inevitable). She was determined to get the visionaries to sign her “virtual” bookshelves, a masterful tromp l’oie in her living room, already adorned with Sergey Brin, author of “Googled” among other big techy names. A smart move by Heidi: no doubt adding many $’s to the value of her home, even in this down market.the next best seller

I was cheered to hear a visionary like Forest Baskett (former CTO of Silicon Graphics and Partner at VPs NEA) pushing the case for wind power and electric cas. Moving from 20c a mile (gas) to 2c a mile (electric) sounds pretty compelling to me.

Diane Greene, pioneer of mainstream virtualization and CEO & co-founder of VMWare was the most modest of the bunch. She simply credits her ‘visionary powers’ to being an optimist. According to her intro, she established a company culture that is employee-focused and about being “nice people”.  Mendel Rosenblum summed it up by saying “she showed you can build a multi-billion dollar software company and not be a jerk.” Amen to that.

I look forward to exploring both her company culture and her great passion for sailing (she tells me she sails a trimoran) when I interview her for Women’s Radio later this summer.

Founder of Netflix, Reed Hastings had some interesting wisdom to share about growing a startup: success is all about e

Good friends Forest Baskett & Diane Greene

mployee freedom he says: encourage creativity, take risk, do things different…

And finally: Steven Levy, senior writer for Wired Magazine and author of “Hackers” was entertaining: he described all the poses Bill Gates goes through in the space of a two hour interview – from rocking madly, almost horizontal, to fetal position. Steven is proud of the fact he antagonized the richest man in the world so much that he threw a pencil at him! Only a geek would boast that claim to fame.

Heidi warned me the party goes on till the wee hours…sadly I couldn’t stay around to see if techies really can party like the Oscar party crowd. But with Heidi at the helm, I don’t doubt they’d give it a good try.