By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues
Download or listen to this lively Fresh Dialogues interview
We welcome feedback at FreshDialogues.com, click on the Contact Tab | Open Player in New Window
New on Fresh Dialogues: Fresh Green Minute– one minute bytes of green inspiration
First up: Legendary business leader of General Electric, Jack Welch
By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues
Silicon Valley’s SDForum presents: Tech Titans of Tomorrow – Teens Plugged In
(more…)
By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues
Download or listen to this lively Fresh Dialogues interview
We welcome feedback at FreshDialogues.com, click on the Contact Tab | Open Player in New Window
I met with Guy Kawasaki at his Garage Technology Partners office in Palo Alto earlier this month to explore his role as a Macintosh evangelist and how he’s since become a successful entrepreneur and marketing guru. What a fun personality: Guy laughs easily and rarely stops smiling!
Guy gives some insights into what has made the iPhone so successful. ( Apple just announced second quarter revenues are up 9% thanks to strong sales of iPhones and iPods) We also discuss the green revolution, religion, death magnets and:
Why he disputes that he’s a legend…yet
Why being a legend should NOT be your goal in life
His advice to young entrepreneurs and what he learned from Virgin founder Richard Branson
An invaluable life lesson his father taught him
What turning 50 meant to Guy
His online presence – Twitter and Tweetgate controversy
The difference between an evangelist and a sales/marketing exec
Working with Steve Jobs and what he learned from him
Why Guy thinks Steve Wozniak is a legend and why he recommends the book, IWoz
Advice for Green Revolutionaries from his book, Rules for Revolutionaries
Listen to Fresh Dialogues with Guy Kawasaki
The interview was recorded at Garage Technology Partners in Palo Alto on April 8th, 2009
Guy’s green tip: he recently installed low-flow shower heads in his home and bought the Samsung front loading clothes washer (Model WM2487HWM).
Result: he’s halved his monthly water usage. Impressive stuff.
In part two of our interview (coming soon), Guy gives his take on the Amazon Kindle, the future of venture capitalism and explains why he can never drive a Prius. Hint: it’s something to do with their…um… aesthetics. He revealed his strong views before he knew I was a Prius driver and proud of it…makes for some interesting listening!
Click here for the green interview transcript.
Click here for Guy Kawasaki on Green Publishing and Kindle
Click here for Guy Kawasaki on Why Prius are Ugly
By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues
Listen to Cool Earth Solar’s Rob Lamkin on Fresh Dialogues
Download or listen to this lively Fresh Dialogues interview
We welcome feedback at FreshDialogues.com, click on the Contact Tab | Open Player in New Window
Rob Lamkin is CEO of Cool Earth Solar, a solar energy company -with a difference. The Cool Earth team (which includes several rocket scientists) has developed low-cost balloon shaped concentrators that capture up to 400 times magnified solar energy. Check out their power station simulation. It looks like a party!
Rob Lamkin discusses
His passion for solar energy and why windmills are beautiful
Why solar energy jumps out as being the solution to our energy crisis:
“Solar energy is the only thing we have in near enough abundance to solve the energy problems that we have.”
“The promise of solar has not come true and one of the main reasons is cost and availability.”
“I went from being a solar technology agnostic to ALL IN. I think Cool Earth has a huge advantage.”
“Where the magic comes in is: we use 1/400th the amount of solar cell material in order to produce the same electricity as conventional photovoltaic panel technology.”
How a passion for clean energy is a prerequisite for hiring at Cool Earth Solar
By Alison R.G. van Diggelen, host of FreshDialogues
Just back from a whistle-stop trip to Scotland where I was invited by Michael Clouser, at the University of Edinburgh, to give a series of seminars to students and entrepreneurs. These included:
The state of Clean and Green Tech in Silicon Valley – why green tech is still hot, VC opportunities, greening your business, vampire energy, and best green business practices
Drinking the Kool Aid in Silicon Valley– highlights from ten years of interviews, including midas touch Frank Addante; a brief history of Silicon Valley and its ecosystem; its spectacular successes (Google) and failures ( Webvan); what are the lessons for entrepreneurs? Got some cool feedback on this one and delighted to see the turnout exceeded expectations by 3 or 4 times.
Excellent to get a tour of the new Informatics Forum Building which houses 500 researchers in artificial intelligence, computer science etc. with Dr. Steve Ewing. Amid the gloom in the British economy which has been hit hard by the distastrous performance of the Royal Bank of Scotland (largest corporate loss in UK history last year) and others in the financial sector, there were glimmers of hope among the students and entrepreneurs I met.
One earnest young student, by the name of Ali Eslami approached me after a seminar and explained his hot new idea. Aware that he and all his friends are wasting precious time on Facebook etc. when they should be studying, he’s come up with a cool application: keepmeout. Register those sites you’re addicted to, and it will ping you if you go there too often. Sounds like it might be a useful tool for many of us type A’s here in Silicon Valley.
Another hopeful sign came at my Green Tech masterclass which assembled a group of Scotland-based 
eco-entrepreneurs, along with two editors from entrepedia , the university’s wiki for entrepreneurs. We had Patrick Hickey from nipht.com an eco-lighting and biolumanescent mushroom (!) developer; Christine Gupta of GuptaPartnership who’s making a name for herself with her blog, MyGreenWheels; David Lawson of EcoMove, Martin Jones of Tantallon Systems, and Alan Blunt, a startup consultant.
After some grumbling about Scottish Enterprise, there was general agreement that the organization is now getting its ducks in a row and is ready to support and nurture early stage startups to full commercialization.
One such startup is led by David Tonery, of Oxy-Gen Combustion, developing a low emission engine he claims offers over 20% increased energy efficiency. He’s received $180K+ in funding from Scottish Enterprise and later this year, is headed to Silicon Valley to do the VC circuit. Smart young guy, from a family of entrepreneurs, and with enthusiastic support from former Scottish Enterprise veteran, John Finlay, I am optimistic he’ll succeed.
One recurring question I faced during Q&A was the issue of “someone stealing my idea.” Despite reassurances from me and others in the room, I fear this cultural gap and reluctance to “go for it” may mean some bright ideas hatched in Scotland don’t see the light of day.
After two days in sunny Edinburgh, I took the train to Glasgow to visit with Paul O’brien of Scottish Development International, a guru of the clean energy sector, who regaled me with all the impressive achievements Scotland has been making in wind, wave and tidal power. He’s bullish that Scotland will be producing 50% of its energy through sustainable means by 2020. More on this in next week’s blog.
I also heard a whisper that Mayor Gavin Newsom is paying the savvy Scots a visit this week to explore opportunities for capturing some of that strong tidal action under Golden Gate Bridge. Wish I could have stayed a few more days to show him round my fair city. Ah…another time Gavin.
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
