July Hiatus: Andy Swan's "Make Some Noise"

While I'm on my July blogging hiatus, I'd thought I'd share with you a few posts from friends whose thought leadership I admire. Here's Andy Swan on "Make Some Noise":

Make some noise

When the facts are on your side, pound the facts. When the facts are against you, pound the table.

Some ideas don’t work.  The market isn’t ready for them or doesn’t want them.  You can tell when every “sale" is a grind.  The plow is just too heavy.

Admit it:  You’re already dead.

That’s when you get a little crazy.

1. Radical shift.  Not to the product (if you think it’s good)…but to the process.  Break the rules. Complete change of target, price or distribution system.
   
2. Make some noise.  Get loud.  Every piece of momentum gets a touchdown dance.  See who dances with you.
   
3. Lever up.  Put everything into the one thing that works.  Everything. 

There is no excuse for a startup dying quietly.  

That’s pride.  Newsflash— she isn’t gonna dance with the guy slinking off in the corner.

Put it all out there.

Die loudly.

Win.

Is It Time for Clean Energy Investing to Go Online?

Longtime readers of The Green Skeptic will recall that back in 2008, I was working on a start-up venture that became the unfortunate victim of the market collapse coupled with, as Andy Swan kept reminding me every time it dipped, the plummeting price of oil after an all-time high of $147 per barrel in the summer of '08.

The idea, which was called "Seat 28B" for a time and VerdeInvesting towards the end, was to build a web marketplace to reduce the barriers to entry for retail investors wanting to help fund green energy projects and companies.

It was an idea that in the fall of 2008 was "too soon to start."

Luckily, we were also too small to fail, to use StockTwits co-founder Howard Lindzon's phrase, and I finally laid the idea to rest about a year after we started.

From its ashes, however, emerged VerdeStrategy, a consulting and advisory firm that has helped dozens of companies articulate their value proposition, prepare for investor pitches and capital raises, and better market their products and services.

But in the back of my mind, I kept thinking my original idea was still valid; it's just that the timing sucked.

So when Spring Ventures's Nick Allen, speaking at SXSW ECO, mentioned Solar Mosaic, I was delighted to see someone implementing one component of what we were thinking -- community-based solar projects with financing provided, in part, by peers and neighbors.

Solar Mosaic is creating what they call "a revolutionary new way for communities to come together and create solar projects on the roofs of local community centers, schools and places of worship."

They hope to "democratize" solar energy development and reduce projects costs through their online peer-to-peer lending system that allows individuals to invest in solar projects in their communities at as little as $100.

I think of them as a Kiva for solar projects.

This week, Solar Mosaic held a groundbreaking ceremony for its first big project: the Asian Resource Center (ARC), in the heart of Oakland's Chinatown, is the first site in Oakland to go solar by raising money on the Solar Mosaic platform. ARC, a non-profit business center, is building a 28.8 kW solar installation that will save the building an estimated $112,684 over the lifetime of the lease.

If Solar Mosaic is the Kiva for community solar projects, OnGreen, is the KickStarter or AngelList for a wider variety of cleantech deals.  OnGreen lists deals of varying sizes and persuasions in its Marketplace section and hopes to become "the world's largest clean-tech social marketplace - brokering deals all across the globe."

Other online marketplaces for social, green, and sustainable goods and services have been popping up as well, including Mission Markets, Microplace, as well as personal peer-to-peer lending sites like Prosper.com.

It remains to be seen whether clean energy investors will flock to crowdfunding opportunities or whether the projects and capital needs can actually be met through such vehicles, but I'm delighted to watch and see whether my "too soon to start" idea for a cleantech focused web marketplace finally has some legs.

Then again, perhaps it's time to dust off the old VerdeInvesting business plan and get back in the game.

Andy Swan's Finding Your Niche

My pal Andy Swan is brilliant when it comes to making things simple.

Just look at his bio on AndySwan.com:  "I've started and sold two companies. I have investments in some others. I love helping passionate people create wealth."

You'll recall Andy was the mastermind behind the Six Slide Challenge to entrepreneurs last summer. And the Elite Eight for Entrepreneurship.

His latest, posted yesterday, is a Venn diagram for Finding Your Niche.  Love it.

The Six Slide Challenge

I have an outline for a pitch deck that I recommend to clients of VerdeStrategy. It calls for 11 slides (10 if they can, but no more than 11) and goes more or less like this:

1. Company name/logo/tag, full contact info
2. What Do You Do? Core Value Proposition
3. Team (Management/Advisory)
4. What Pain are you Solving?
5. How? What's Your Solution/Benefits
6. Secret Sauce/IP/Differentiation
7. Go-to-Market Strategy
8. Competition/True Size of Market/Opportunity
9. Business Model/Stage
10. Plausible Financials (Projections for 3-5 years)
11. The Ask/Milestones/Summary

There's some variation therein, obviously, depending upon the business model or the intended audience. I've gleaned a lot from experts ranging from Garr Reynolds, Guy Kawasaki, and Bill Reichert, among others. As a template, it works pretty well.

A couple of weeks ago, Fred Wilson published a post on investor pitches in which he recommended only six slides. "You can explain your business in mind numbing detail or you can inspire an investor and let them imagine," Fred suggested. "Guess what works better?"

But it was my pal Andy Swan's comments on Fred's post that really got me thinking. He outlined the following six slides:

1. Imagine a world where....
2. Here's how we get there...
3. Known obstacles to overcome
4. The pot of gold
5. Why our team is awesome
6. Routing number for investment

I decided to play around with it on Friday afternoon and try to describe VerdeStrategy, my consulting and advisory firm focused on the cleantech, energy, and environment sectors.

Could I describe VerdeStrategy in six slides using the "Swanified" outline? Could I further get across the essential value proposition we offer in, as Fred stipulated, "six slides that will inspire and leave something for the imagination"? It was a challenge I couldn't resist.

Here is my first take. Let me know what you think:

Related articles by Zemanta

• Can you pitch in 6 slides? (startupnorth.ca)
• Keep Your Pitch Deck To Six Killer Slides (businessinsider.com)
• Six Slides (avc.com)
• Friday Green Skeptic Linkfest (thegreenskeptic.com)

Friday Green Skeptic Linkfest

I'm going to try something new here on the green skeptic.  Each Friday, I'll post links to a group of articles and posts of interest over the past week or so. Let me know if you find this useful and I'll make it a regular feature.

First up, Heidi Moore on Tesla's IPO: False promises for clean tech: http://bit.ly/dxIWTN

Joise Garthwaite writes about Who to Know and Where to Start with Greentech in China on Earth2Tech: http://bit.ly/cE3BQL

and TechCrunch reports on the Cleantech Group's initial Q2 numbers: CleanTech Venture Investments Total $2 Billion In Q2, Exits Reach More Than $8 Billion.

Two companies I've advised, BlackGold Biofuels and Southern Bancorp, finished 3rd and 4th, respectively, in Business Week's America's Most Promising Social Entrepreneurs: http://bit.ly/docH6R

Three great posts for entrepreneurs from Fred Wilson, Andy Swan, and Hugh MacLeod:

First, Fred's "Six Slides" post: http://bit.ly/aJIQSj

and Andy's advice: Work backwards, from the customer to the company: http://bit.ly/cr04a2

And Hugh's newsletter featured one of his great cartoons on entreprenuership today: gapingvoid

Finally, W.S. Merwin, a champion of the natural world and its enduring bounty, will be named the 17th U.S. Poet Laureate: http://nyti.ms/cCKvPO

Have a great holiday weekend everyone (in the US, anyway) and enjoy it safely.

Andy Swan's "Elite Eight for Entrepreneurship"

As I head out on vacation, I leave you with Andy Swan's

"Elite Eight for Entrepreneurship"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do you have what it takes to make the Final Four?  To win it all?