Aug 19, 2014 | Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Nuclear Energy
By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues
Energy was high today at the Y Combinator Demo Day, as a sea of young entrepreneurs jostled for attention – and funding – from a vast throng of Silicon Valley investors. I chatted with NFL Hall of Famer, Joe Montana who’s ditched his 49ers helmet for an angel investor hat these days (see the halo?) He was busy with the much buzzed about Helion Energy team which is working on “the world’s first commercial nuclear fusion reactor.” They hope to prove commercial scale fusion within 3 years by building a 50 Megawatt reactor in Redmond Washington, providing carbon emission-free power for 40,000 homes.
I’m curious to find out if the nuclear fusion company Tri-Alpha Energy, backed by Mad Men’s Harry Hamlin will consider a joint venture, or perhaps just some knowledge fusion?
Montana said he committed to four other startups today, including Backpack, a company that connects travelers to shoppers, cutting price differentials for items like medicine and electronics around the world; and Unwind Me, an on-demand massage app. Sign me up for that demo!
Here are photos from today’s Y Combinator Demo Day, where 75 startup teams presented and deep-pocketed investors like Jillian Manus looked for the next WhatsApp.
Alexis Ohanian (of Reddit fame) & Irina Lukashuk call time at Y Combinator.
Image 1 of 8
Photo credit: Fresh Dialogues
And some more (green tinged) highlights:
1. Edyn is a smart irrigation system for home gardeners and small farmers. Given California’s massive drought challenges, this one caught my eye. A huge Kickstarter success with a cool design by Jambox designer, Yves Behar, it’s set to go into production with Flextronics. Selling for $160, it could be a popular holiday gift this winter.
2. UPower is building nuclear batteries. This smart team, all MIT grads, describe their product as “a plug-and-play nuclear thermal battery.” Their target market is off-grid locations such as remote islands. I spoke with cofounder Caroline Cochran who emphasized the carbon-free, emission-free nature of nuclear batteries and assured me that they were addressing safety concerns around radioactive waste. According to a report by Kyle Russell at Techcrunch, “the reactor, in addition to being fuel agnostic (it can use thorium, uranium, or recycled fuel) can actually reduce the half life of existing waste, and spent fuel from it can be reused in another reactor with some processing.”
3. Beep is an operating system to make your speakers smart. Think: the Internet of “Audio-Things.” The ex-Googlers confirm that Beep already works with Pandora and Spotify and say you’ll soon be able to control your favorite NEST thermostat using your voice. It sounds like Star Trek’s Enterprise is closer than you think…
4. Vatler offers a valet service for workers, special event attendees, etc. Think: Uber for parking. As the CEO said in his presentation, drive into any big city (say San Francisco?) and “parking’s a bitch.” His team’s solution: an app to help you find an instant valet, using a quick tap on your phone. Quicker than looking, cheaper than parking.
5. The Immunity Project is developing a free vaccine to end AIDS and HIV. Frankly, it made all the earlier presentations seem trivial solutions to “first world problems” (except perhaps UPower) and got the audience’s most enthusiastic response. Find out more about this ambitious project here.
And read more about the day from Colleen Taylor at Tech Crunch, Vauhini Vara at The New Yorker and Roberto Baldwin of Nextweb, who shares his top 10 picks.
Big thanks to Y Combinator partner, Kat Manalac for the invitation.
Joe Montana photo credit: Vicki Thompson of SV Business Journal.
The event was held at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View where there’s a remarkable collection of photos by Doug Menuez in the foyer, featuring Silicon Valley tech luminaries, including the inimitable Steve Jobs. Check it out next time!
Jul 31, 2014 | China - what we can learn, Electric Vehicles
By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues
I just finished a conference call with Elon Musk re Tesla Motors’ latest Q2 2014 financial results. Beyond the big headlines that Tesla is on track for over 35,000 deliveries in 2014 and expects to build more than 60,000 in 2015, here are highlights culled from @FreshDialogues Twitter feed and other attentive Tesla watchers, including @danahull & @katiefehren:
Alison van Diggelen @FreshDialogues
On the Tesla Gigafactory
Tesla
@GovSandoval: Elon Musk says the ball is in your court, writes @danahull
Battery Technology will be next generation soon at
The batteries that will come from Tesla’s gigafactory will have improvements in chemistry, higher energy density and optimized shape & size writes @katiefehren
On the Tesla Factory in Fremont
New Model S/Model X assembly line begins operation next week says
In 2015, production of 1000 units/week expected
TESLA
On Tesla Motors in China
Demand for Tesla Model S in
China’s policy re charging stations specs and EV incentives not a problem “We expect to fit within sales tax exemptions” says
On Tesla’s strict diet
Finally, Elon Musk admits #Tesla is on a diet: “losing 1/4lb here, 1/2 lb there” This weight loss impacts range #ModelS #EV
On Climate Change
Awesome that Elon Musk still willing to bring it all back to carbon emissions and climate change. Despite wealth creation, & cool factor writes @katiefehren
On Tesla vs Apple (the comparisons won’t go away!)
.@ElonMusk humblebrag on the success of stores: “Our sales per square foot are double that of Apple.”
More on Tesla from Dana Hull here
More on Tesla from Katie Fehrenbacher here
More on Tesla from Fresh Dialogues here
Jun 18, 2014 | Inspiring Women, Women in tech
By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues
Jackley took a few moments with me to share tips for aspiring entrepreneurs and some clues about her latest startup, launching this Fall.
She enthuses about Silicon Valley being “an incredibly special pocket of the world” where “people have a great capacity to imagine new futures.”
“So many people here have the resources and skills to make these new stories unfold, become real,” she adds.
Here are some highlights of our conversation.
Tips for aspiring entrepreneurs:
1. Be passionate
Do something you are passionate about and have a vision for.
2. Start small
Remember Kiva began with seven entrepreneurs and a little over $3000. It recently surpassed the $500,000,000 mark in microloans to entrepreneurs around the world, serving almost 2 million Kiva users in 76 countries. The average loan amount is $10.
3. Be excellent
Serve one person, or one community well and build from there. Be thoughtful, intentional and think about the details. Study and absorb what’s unfolding in front of you, and be present.
On her new startup
1. Focus
I’m excited to focus on serving working parents…I’m in the trenches right now and that’s the people I want to serve.
2. The Problem
I hope to consult with companies on their policies, culture that supports or doesn’t support working parents. There’s a lot of room for improvement in existing companies.
3. The Solution
My goal is to make it easier and provide options for working parents to prioritize and design their own work and lives around that. Parenting is one of the most entrepreneurial things that I’ll ever do. There’s so much that maps from my experience into motherhood that I want to share with other people. I want to work at the company level and with individuals to demand what they want.
4. The Context
In Europe, it’s top down, (working parents) are taken care of by institutions. I don’t want to wait for that (policy change) to happen here. It’s the better and faster way to go here, in this (US) culture.
Find out more about other SVForum visionary award winners and check back soon for interviews with Stanford’s Tina Seilig, VC Tim Draper and Jennifer Pahlka, founder of Code for America.
Come join the conversation on Facebook
This video is part of a special “Inspiring Women” series at Fresh Dialogues featuring Meryl Streep, Sheryl Sandberg, Jennifer Granholm, Maureen Dowd, and Belva Davis. Check out the YouTube video series here
Jun 9, 2014 | BBC World Service, Technology
By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues
London called again. This time for a BBC show called In the Balance. We discussed how to cope with “Infobesity,” the unhealthy excess of digital information.
Host, Manuela Saragosa moderated a lively conversation with Dave Coplin, Chief Envisioning Officer at Microsoft in London, and Julie Deane, the inspiring founder and CEO of Cambridge Satchels Co.
Saragosa: We’re joined by technology journalist, Alison van Diggelen…Alison, we could almost say you’re at the epicenter of the digital deluge there in Silicon Valley…Do you get nervous when you’re not online?
van Diggelen: Yes, I can… (some days) I’m constantly checking my iPhone, for emails, texts, twitter feed, Facebook…the whole thing. When I’ve just released a story (or interview) that I think is going to be reverberating around Silicon Valley and beyond, then I’m constantly checking: who’s reading it, who’s reacting to it…so yes, it can be like an addiction.
Here are some highlights that might help you deal with your digital overload.
1. Don’t multitask
Coplin: Multitasking is a computer-based concept, it’s not a human concept. We’re actually a third less efficient as human beings when we try to do more things at once. The mistake that most people make is that they drift into checking their email at their child’s swimming lesson…as soon as you do that, you’re choosing to disconnect from the experience you’re actually at. (Instead) make that a conscious choice about how you’re going to use the technology.
2. Be your own curator
van Diggelen: Silicon Valley is full of tech obsessed people, competitive Type A personalities, who want to change the world. Being connected and having a strong Internet presence is very important here. It is a case of being disciplined, we have to be our own curators. It is so easy to go down a rabbit hole of information, get distracted by some pop-up, some titillating story on the web. In Silicon Valley there are a lot of tools that people are using. Ironically, people are turning to digital tools to digitally detox.
Coplin: People complain about having too much information, but then say how valuable information is…the thing that can enable us to transform our businesses, to enrich our lives. The problem is we just lack the development of the tools to be able to… sort the useful from the useless.
3. Go inside yourself
van Diggelen: At Google there is a meditation guru, and his title is Chief Happiness Officer, he’s written a book called Search Inside Yourself, and he is leading a drive at Google and beyond…we need to take time to meditate… and get away from all the craziness that’s on the surface…It’s pretty hot and growing here. A lot of Silicon Valley CEO’s like (Salesforce’s) Marc Benioff and Ev Williams (one of the cofounders of Twitter), they’re coming out of the closet and saying: hey, we’ve been doing mindfulness for years and this is a great way to center ourselves, be more creative and be more productive.
Coplin: Mindfulness is big in the UK. But being British, we have a much more pragmatic approach to it…
Saragosa: Cynical, you could say…
Coplin: It’s about being in the moment. How many times do you sit in a meetings…allegedly taking notes but in reality, catching up on emails? Be in the meeting. How many times do you sit in a pub or cafe with your friends …checking your friends’ (Facebook) status. You’re there. Be in the moment. Things like Twitter and Facebook…it’s a fast flowing river, and from the moment you stand on the river bank you can enjoy watching the river go by…
See more BBC Conversations on the Dalai Lama, the Business case for Scottish independence and the greening of Silicon Valley.
Jun 5, 2014 | Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Inspiring Women, Social Entrepreneurs
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.
4. 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
Dana Hull @danahull
