What's Going On: My Remarks from Cleantech Open Northeast

Investor panel at Cleantech Open NE Kick Off in Philly. 

Cleantech startups, like any new venture, need a leg up. That's where accelerators like Cleantech Open come in.

If you don’t know Cleantech Open, it’s an accelerator that has been helping cleantech startups and entrepreneurs launch, improve, and fund their businesses since 2006.

Last night, I delivered the keynote to kick off Cleantech Open NE in Philadelphia.  My remarks centered around three areas: ten trends and drivers, four reminders, and five things I’d like to see in the cleantech sector or hopeful signs.

First, the 10 trends and drivers:

1. The VCs have left the building. Well, some of them. There’s been a capital “Shakedown Street” as VCs/LPs are backing out of cleantech. (Tucker Twitmyer offered the statistic that there were 184 investors in the cleantech space a few years ago; now there are a dozen.) And even CALpers is complaining publicly about getting burned in cleantech at the 2013 ECO:nomics conference. 
2. Reduced government subsidies, at least in Europe and US, if not China. 
3. Yet, natural resources, the environment, and food are among the top business risks called out in the WEF 2013 Global Risk report.
4. And the food-water-energy nexus is one of top mega trends identified in the US National Intelligence Council report Global Trends 2030. 
5. While Renewable Energy is becoming more cost competitive with "traditional” energy sources, and costs are coming down, particularly for solar, we may yet see a temporary increase in solar prices as the industry rationalizes. But the overall trend is down. Good for you and me; may not be so good for companies. 
6. According to a recent EY survey, the resource use and the “energy mix” are becoming “C-suite” issues, but few companies have long-term strategies to deal with resource scarcity. 
7. China, China, China: Both their own development & investment outside of China (in US companies; elsewhere) is something to behold…but, guess what, it’s largely fueled by coal and oil. Sure they are making huge advances in RE technology adoption, yet it's Old King Coal is driving their merry old economic growth. 
8. Corporations increasingly see cleantech as an innovation pipeline, not just for strategic investments and M&A. 
9. Consolidation happens: M&As, flame-outs, and bankruptcies, but wait…we’ve even had a couple of IPOS! 
10. Natural gas is displacing coal slowly for generation, chiefly for new cogen development, which may provide an opportunity to accelerate the most promising, available renewable energy technologies. On the other hand, some argue it is largely damaging RE prospects. 

Next, 4 things we need to remember:

1. As I wrote on The Green Skeptic back in August: we need to remember Gartner’s Hype Cycle for Technology. We’re currently sitting in the trough of disillusionment, somewhere between the peak of inflated expectations and the slope of enlightenment. (Hopefully, it’s not a slippery slope.) 
2. We need to remember that energy transition is dynamic and full of risk. There will be flame-outs and successes. 
3. We need to stop bickering about Tar Sands and Natural Gas – these are part of the transition away from a fossil fuel based society, In some ways, they may buy us time to get the best technologies to maturity. 
4. We need to focus on adaptation, with a capital A. The die is cast, and smart government leaders like Christie, Bloomberg, and Nutter are working on adaptation as much or more than avoidance. It IS too late to turn back now and there is no global will to stop the carbon train. So, if it ain’t gonna stop, let’s figure out what we can do to adapt and deal. 

And finally, 5 things the sector needs now or hopeful signs:

1. Cleanweb – or as I see it, get the best minds of the younger generation to apply the same creativity and excitement to energy and resource efficiency that they do to gaming and social web distractions. We need more business model innovation rather than technical innovation. 
2. Level the playing field. Subsidy free, for all! Rather than subsidy free-for-all! If it’s a free market, let it be free. And let the winners win and the losers lose. 
3. Get government out of the business of picking winners and focused on R&D. Solyndras will happen, but it shouldn't be on the public dime. 
4. Get the partisans out of the picture. Cleantech, the environment, and energy are neither Republican nor Democrat issues. We can’t let this partisan divide tear this sector apart. 
5. Now, more than ever, we should focus on the killer app or business model innovation of today not the platform “game-changer” of tomorrow. As my pal Tucker says, this is a game of incremental progress punctuated by breakthroughs that will take 50 years to commercialize. The good news is, the increments are meaningful.

Those were my thoughts shared with the audience last night in Philadelphia. Let me know what you think.

Philadelphia Ranks 5th in Brookings' Clean Economy Tally

A report released yesterday, “Sizing the Clean Economy,” which is based on the Brookings-Battelle Clean Economy Database, ranks the Philadelphia metro area 5th among the 100 largest metro areas for overall size of its share of the clean economy in the US.

The database from which these data are derived is a collaborative effort of Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program and the Battelle Technology Partnership Program. 

The report ranks the size, growth, and geography of the “clean” economy in the US, which it defines as "economic activity—measured in terms of establishments and the jobs associated with them—that produces goods and services with an environmental benefi t or adds value to such products using skills or technologies that are uniquely applied to those products."

Philadelphia has, according to the study,  54,325 "clean" jobs.

Other points of interest to the region:

• Philadelphia's 54,325 clean economy jobs make up 2.0 percent of all jobs in the region.
• Between 2003 and 2010 Philadelphia added 6,573 clean jobs.
• On average each clean economy job in Philadelphia produces $15,693 in exports.
• Estimated median wage in Philadelphia's clean economy is $43,913; compared to $42,722 for all jobs in Philadelphia.

New York had the most clean jobs at 152,034, followed by Los Angeles (89,592); Chicago (79,388); and the DC metro area (70,828).  The Greater Boston area topped in at 41,825 jobs, landing the 8th spot.

According to the study, "the clean economy grew more slowly in aggregate than the national economy between 2003 and 2010, but newer 'cleantech' segments produced explosive job gains and the clean economy outperformed the nation during the recession."

The report points to the recently established energy innovation hubs, such as the Greater Philadelphia Innovation Cluster for Energy Efficient Buildings (GPIC), as an important factor in continued growth for the sector. 

Among the other recommendations for scaling up the clean econmy, the report's authors suggest, "Ensure adequate finance by moving to address the serious shortage of affordable, risk-tolerant, and larger-scale capital that now impedes the scale-up of numerous clean economy industry segments."

They also recommend the creation of a water sciences innovation center and the establishment of a regional clean economy consortia.

"Metropolitan areas, large and small, are now and will increasingly be the nation’s critical centers of clean
economy talent, innovation, and finance and so its top hubs of commercialization, deployment, and trade," the report concludes. "Regions and metropolitan areas, in short, are not a part of the national clean economy; they are that economy."
 
You can find interactive maps here to dig deeper into the findings.

Insights into the Philly Cleantech Market, Investing, and Best Industry Blogs

Chris Williams and The Green Skeptic

Chris Williams of The Green Light Distrikt interviewed me last week about Philadelphia Cleantech scene, water, cleantech investing, and my favorite industry blogs.

He's posted the results in byte-sized morsels of audio:

Insights into the Philly Cleantech Market, Investing, and Best Industry Blogs from @Greenskeptic

Cleantech is Alive & Well in Philly

Photo by Ed Yakovich

If last week's events are any indication, cleantech is alive and well and living in Philadelphia.

The 2nd annual US-Israel Cleantech Conference, hosted by the America-Israel Chamber of Commerce, last Tuesday featured 11 companies from Israel, along with panels representing local companies and venture capital, and provided robust international dialog, as well as a showcase for innovation.

IMPACT 2010, formerly the MAC Alliance Conference, hosted its second cleantech track (full disclosure: I was part of the selection committee) during which 15 companies pitched their wares.  The quality of the presentations was indicative of the maturing of the sector in the region, as was the variety of presenting companies.

Everything from organic fertilizer to wireless electric vehicle charging, and from wastewater geothermal heat and cooling to a large scale water filtration system was represented, all from the Mid-Atlantic region.

I'll be posting more about the two conferences this week, as some of the panels and speakers were particularly informative.

Green Skeptic Friday LinkFest - 10/22/10

Sign of Good Things to Come in Philly

My apologies for neglecting the LinkFest last week.  Will try to make up for it here.

First up, Jeff St. John of GigaOm with a story on GridPoint, "the smart grid company with a lot of funding, and a lot to prove," replacing its CEO: GridPoint.

Andrew Winston in Harvard Business Review wrote about Google Doing What the Government Can't: Google Cleantech.

And more on Google's shift from trying to find cleantech breakthroughs to financing mega projects.

In Philly, Viridity Energy got some props in the Inquirer for its efforts to reshape how firms buy and use electricity.

I was at the Cleantech Group's Cleantech Forum New York, where it announced the 2010 Global Cleantech 100.

Tom Friedman of The New York Times wrote about the case for energy technology investment,while Teryn Norris asked "Can Conservatives Support Clean Energy Innovation Policy?" in The Energy Collective.

CleanTechies blog featured an interview with Jigar Shah, CEO of the Carbon War Room on Why Entrepreneurs Are Flocking to Energy.

On the Sustainability front, Tilde Herrera in GreenBiz.com listed 10 Things to Know About Engaging Suppliers for Green Programs.

And finally, one of the things that's been keeping me busy this week, is the US launch of one my clients here in Philadelphia: Mark Group home-energy firm to locate in Philadelphia Navy Yard.

Philadelphia Innovation Cluster Seen as "Key to Future"

Rendering of Greater Philadelphia Innovation Cluster at Navy Yard

"I'm a bit like Ryan Howard," Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter told the crowd at the Navy Yard. "I get to bat clean-up and take us on to the championship."

The Mayor's reference to the city's major league baseball team seemed a good analogy for a championship he has long wanted, the title of "Greenest City in America."

The sentiments weren't lost on the other dignitaries, academics, industry leaders, and cleantechies gathered in a tented area on the pier of the Navy Yard's Cruise Ship Terminal to celebrate the launch of the Greater Philadelphia Innovation Cluster for Energy Efficient Buildings (GPIC).

The Mayor opened and closed the ceremonies, which also featured speeches by Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, US Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, Assistant Secretary of Commerce John Fernandez, and Vice President Henry Foley of Penn State.

Penn State led the application for the energy efficiency hub, marshaling a consortium that featured other universities, major corporations such as United Technologies and Turner Construction, as well as a panoply of associations and other businesses.

The result was a successful bid for the nation's only energy efficiency cluster, and $129 million in funding from the Department of Energy (DOE) and other agencies.

The Navy Yard has plenty of old buildings on its 1200 acres and its own micro electricity grid to test new technologies. And the list of players and supporters of the proposal were just too hard to ignore, remarked Secretary Chu, who said that it was "a dream in my eye long before I was at DOE for such a center."

The Secretary confessed that he would have liked the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory win the bid, where he worked prior to becoming the 12th US Secretary of Energy. "But the fact that two of my former grad students are at Penn State makes up for the fact that they didn't get it," Chu quipped.

The GPIC is expected to develop and test new technologies for energy efficiency in buildings, first by renovating an existing structure on the campus.

Poor cooling and ventilation in the facility where the announcement was held provided a good example of the issues that will be addressed by technologies developed at the new innovation cluster.

The GPIC will be led by Penn State in partnership with the City of Philadelphia through its Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation, along with Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania, the Delaware Valley Industrial Resource Center, the Wharton Small Business Development Center, and numerous other public, private, and academic partners.

"This is the type of research and technologies that will propel the US going forward," Secretary Chu said. "And this type of broad cooperation exemplified here in Philadelphia will make it work."



(Disclosure: The author is co-founder of the Cleantech Alliance Mid-Atlantic, which provided a letter of support for the Energy Innovation Hub application and is an industry association partner in that effort.)

Related articles by Zemanta

• DVIRC and NJMEP Awarded $1.5 Million Grant to Develop Energy Efficient Building Products for the Greater Philadelphia Innovation Cluster (eon.businesswire.com)
• Mayor Nutter Welcomes $129 Million Federal Grant (gloucestercitynews.net)
• Penn State to lead 'energy innovation hub' at Navy Yard (philly.com)
• Philadelphia To Be Green Buildings Lab (matternetwork.com)
• Philadelphia: Birthplace of Energy Independence? (thegreenskeptic.com)
• Phila Navy Yard wins Penn State “energy innovation hub” (philly.com)
• DOE's Next Energy Innovation Hub: Energy-Efficient Buildings at Penn State (fastcompany.com)

Green Skeptic Friday LinkFest - 09/03/10

September. Summer coming to a close, kids going back to school. Soon the leaves will be turning. But before we go there, let's take a look at some of the stories that grabbed our attention this week:

Bill Gates' interview in Technology Review sparked some lively conversation over at Andy Revkin's New York Times Dot Earth blog, including this rebuttal from Richard Rosen of Boston's Tellus Institute: A Challenge to Mr. Gates

Which prompted this email response from Mr. Gates himself: The Back Gates

The Times also had a special report on energy efficiency "Doing More While Using Less Energy"
 
Hell froze over as renowned environmental skeptic Bjorn Lomborg called for $100bn a year to fight global warming: Bjorn Dilemma

Rob Day of Black Coral Capital provided some fine analysis of The Call for R&D
 
Philadelphia was in the news again with this piece on efforts to make Philadelphia's Navy Yard a mini-city of energy innovation: Grid Wit?
 
The Brookings Institution also weighed in with "Energy (and Economic) Transformation Come to the Philadelphia Navy Yard"
 
And Lux Research assesses the likely winners and losers in the next round of solar meltdowns: Who Will Thrive, Survive, or Dive?
 
Have a great holiday weekend!

Philadelphia Subways to Brake for Energy Generation

Image by kitch via Flickr
What do you get when you pair the latest 21st century energy technologies with with one of the country’s oldest transportation systems?

Viridity Energy, a Philadelphia-area smart grid company, and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), which has its origins in the early 1900s, when electrified trolleys were the transportation du jour, have teamed up to find out.

Their pilot project will use Viridity Energy's software optimization system to help SEPTA capture and recycle energy generated by trains, trolleys and even electrified buses using the existing regenerative braking capabilities of those transportation systems.

Regenerative braking isn't new. The energy generated by SEPTA's trains is currently captured and fed to the system's third-rail to power other trains.

The innovation here is to store and use the energy through a one megawatt battery array, which should reduce electrical power purchases by 10-20 percent at each location where the batteries are deployed, according to Viridity Energy.

Viridity estimates that one battery will generate $500,000 per year in value. SEPTA hopes to install the technology at all of its electric substations serving trolleys and trains. It may also allow SEPTA to purchase power at night, when rates are low, and potentially provide power to the grid to stabilize regional demand during peak usage events.

The partnership with SEPTA is "a perfect example of how smart grid innovations and advances in technology can effectively be paired with revenue opportunities from competitive energy markets to yield substantial economic, operational and environmental benefits," said Audrey Zibelman, President and CEO of Conshohocken-based Viridity Energy.

For SEPTA, the project is "a foundation for measurable gains in both energy efficiency and voltage stability" in what is one of its busiest corridors, and "a replicable and scalable model for broader system-wide implementation," according to a spokesman.

The partnership received $900,000 in funding from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania through its 2010 Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority (PEDA) grant program.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Viridity Energy and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) Awarded $900,000 from the State of Pennsylvania for Innovative Project to Recycle Energy Produced by Electric Public Transit (eon.businesswire.com)
• Philly subway to capture energy from braking trains (news.cnet.com)
• Viridity Energy and Drexel University to Highlight Smart Grid Partnership at Philadelphia Event (eon.businesswire.com)
• Mondre Energy, Inc. Helps SEPTA to Save Millions of Dollars on Electricity Procurement (eon.businesswire.com)

Green Skeptic Friday Linkfest - 08/27/10

First, some good news from our oceans for a change:

Oceanospirillales are into dining on oil, according to researchers in a new article in Science

Up to 40 New Plant and Animal Species Discovered in Indonesian Waters: Indonesian Bounty
 
and MIT researchers have developed a swimming, oil skimming robot that may be deployed in the Gulf: Seaswarm

But forests are still be hammered by our disposable culture:

China's 45 billion disposable chopsticks require 100 acres of forest every 24 hours (100 acres every day -- that's insane!): Chop Fooey
 
Back on this side of the globe, Philadelphia won the bid for an Energy Innovation Hub at the Philly Navy Yard, which will be led by Penn State: Energy Hub (My Cleantech Alliance Mid-Atlantic was a supporting partner.)

And speaking of Philly, we're looking for a few good cleantech companies to present at IMPACT 2010 in Philly (in early November): Cleantech Applications
 
In what may prove to tarnish another US city's rep as a green leader, Boulder prepares to wash its hands of SmartGridCity, from Greentech Media: Not Such a SmartCity After All?

Meanwhile, Harvard B-School professor Rebecca Henderson has some advice on How to Speed Up Energy Innovation: Henderson on Innovation

And finally, StockTwits made Time's list of 50 Best Websites for 2010: Some Kind of Awesome.

Have a great weekend!

Coverage for Mid-Atlantic Cleantech Investment Forum

Our 2nd Annual Mid-Atlantic Cleantech Investment Forum got some coverage in the Philadelphia Business Journal.

Here's an excerpt:

Synergy and critical mass propel local clean tech sector
Philadelphia Business Journal - by Peter Key Staff Writer

Efforts to make the area a clean-technology hub are gaining momentum.  Entrepreneurial interest was in evidence last month at Blank Rome’s 2nd Annual Mid-Atlantic Cleantech Investment Forum at the Academy of Natural Sciences.

Between 350 and 400 people attended, up from 150 to 175 last year. Six companies presented and six exhibited, double the number of the previous year, and organizers said 25 applied to present or exhibit, despite no great effort to solicit participants.

"With more awareness and people getting together to bolster it, I think it can certainly continue to take hold," said organizer Thomas Dwyer, who founded a clean-tech practice at Blank Rome with another partner in the Center City law firm, Louis Rappaport.

Another indication of interest is that the clean-tech sector already has a group devoted to it. Cleantech Alliance Mid-Atlantic held six events last year which drew, on average, 200 people.

The alliance was started by Kevin Brown, a senior partner at the Valley Forge office of Hobbs & Towne Inc., an executive search firm specializing in the clean-tech industry, along with Scott Edward Anderson, the founder and principal of VerdeStrategy, which works with clean-tech companies.

"There were a lot of people and companies involved in this space throughout the region, but they didn't know each other," Anderson said.

The region has an impressive and growing set of natural and economic assets to offer clean-tech companies.

The full article (requires subscription) can be found at: Philadelphia Business Journal.

Related articles by Zemanta

• $113 Million Pours in for Cleantech Startups in First Week of 2010 (treehugger.com)
• Clean Technology's Unstoppable Energy (futurelab.net)
• Cleantech Group Releases Report on Energy Efficiency in Commercial Buildings (prweb.com)

"Cleantech Companies to Watch" in Philadelphia

One has an odorous solution to a growing risk...

One takes brown grease and turns it into gold (well, diesel fuel)...

One takes the wait out of recharging Electric Vehicles with the ease we've come to expect with EZPass at toll booths on the turnpike...

These were three of the promising start-ups from the mid-Atlantic region that presented  last night at the Entrepreneurs Forum of Greater Philadelphia's "Cleantech Companies to Watch" program.

Held at the Haub School of Business at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, the event was part of an ongoing series of entrepreneur-focused programming offered by the organization for its members.

Enersol, which we've been familiar with since last year, has developed a technology to odorize hydrogen gas. Why? Because, as Founder and CEO Patrick Flynn says, "with the growing demand for hydrogen in industrial and commercial applications there is an increased risk of accidental escape and combustion of this highly flammable, odorless gas."

That smell you smell with natural gas that tells you when you have a leak? It's added for the same reason. Without it, sensors would have to detect any leak and, while they are generally reliable, the risk of accidents increases as use of the gas becomes more ubiquitous.

Recently named one of Always On GoingGreen East's Top 50 companies, BlackGold Biofuels is no stranger to readers of this blog. (CEO Emily Landsburg was a part of the first cohort of GoodCompany Ventures last summer and we've continued to work together.)  But what was really impressive is she made this presentation -- and didn't skip a beat -- just six days after giving birth to her first child, Max, who was in the audience.

BlackGold has a patent-pending technology to convert sewer grease -- a multimillion dollar municipal pain in the, well, sewer -- into biodiesel.  Literally turning a liability into an asset. They are installing their first full-scale plant in the city of San Francisco, having beat out two west coast competitors.

Very intriguing was the final presenter, Momentum Dynamics, which is developing a game-changing proprietary technology that solves one of the biggest issues facing the electric vehicle market: it's wired. Not only that, but as inventor and CEO Andrew Daga said, full-cycle charging reduces battery life and takes a minimum of 30 minutes to charge.

So, where once the car provided freedom, electric vehicles as currently being developed require you to plug in, which means you need to be able to do so at home, office, wherever and whenever. But you can't and won't; we all forget to charge our phones, don't we?

Momentum's solution charges automatically, whether parked overnight or for just a few minutes or even while traveling at normal speeds. Think the EZPass lane compared to cash-only toll lanes.  This breakthrough gives EV drivers, as Momentum's tag line says, "Freedom to move."

"The Entrepreneurs Forum hasn't had an opportunity to focus on cleantech in the past," said Dan Ross, the EF's executive director. "But we felt it is an emerging growth area in the region."

The Forum intends to look for other ways to spotlight cleantech entrepreneurs in the Greater Philadelphia area.

VerdeStrategy: Announcing My New Venture

Over the past year and a half since leaving Ashoka,  I've learned a lot about what entrepreneurs need to succeed.

I've also learned a lot about the needs of companies struggling with how to be green and sustainable in a time of increased scrutiny and transparency.

Somewhere at the intersection of these two learnings is where my new venture, VerdeStrategy, took root.

And I'm pleased to announce its launch today.

VerdeStrategy is a consulting and advisory firm focused on the cleantech, energy, and environment sectors. Working with start-ups, corporations and social enterprises, we will help create robust, sustainable businesses that attract investment, improve profitability, and extend market share.

If you're a start-up needing to raise capital to build your prototype, but not sure where to turn or struggling to explain your concept in a simple, compelling way, we can help with that.

If you're a company wrestling with what sustainability means to your company or trying to take the next step in a sustainability journey already begun, we can help with that.

If you're a CEO who needs coaching, a sounding board for management issues, or to polish your presentation skills, we can help with that.

If you're the leader of sustainability or green efforts at your company and need help navigating the confusing sustainable path, we can help with that.

I'm very excited about this new venture and about starting it in Philadelphia, where my involvement with GoodCompany Ventures, Philly Startup Leaders, and the launch of the Cleantech Alliance Mid-Atlantic (formerly REBN, Mid-Atlantic) conspired to inspire this new venture.

Here's a link to our web site: VerdeStrategy.  Let me know how we can help.

Busy Weeks: Good for Business, Bad for Blogging

This is just to say that this has been a busy couple of weeks.

We launched the Cleantech Alliance Mid-Atlantic website last week, we've been planning our 2nd Annual Mid-Atlantic Cleantech Forum, which will be held at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia on March 25th.

And I attended CleanLinks New York, our sister organization in the City and its environs, hosted by SJF Ventures, where one of the companies I've been working with, BlackGold Biofuels had a presence. (BGB's CEO Emily Landsburg is part of the first cohort of SJF Cleantech Mentorship Fellows.)

Next up: I'm leading a panel for GoodCompany Ventures on "Entrepreneruship and Social Change" this coming Thursday at GreenSpaces NY (see my previous post or Fred Wilson's here) and then heading to Boston for the MIT Energy Conference on Friday and Saturday.

Meanwhile, my new consulting and advisory venture, VerdeStrategy, is kicking into gear. I'm lining up some very interesting clients. You can read more about what we're offering at VerdeStrategy.com

A busy couple of weeks, leaving precious little time for blogging. But I'll have so much more to blog about after this week is over.

e3bank Reorganizes; Plans New Equity Offering in 2010

Last week, e3bank's Chairman Sandy Wiggins and President/CEO Frank Baldassarre announced tactical changes to their business plan in order to comply with the changing regulatory environment, which will have a direct effect on the bank’s current equity investment offering.

In accordance with the bank's guiding principle of Transparency, e3bank will be closing the current escrow account and will be refunding the full amount of investors' subscriptions with interest before reorganizing and commencing a new amended offering.

"We have decided to withdraw our current capital campaign due to modifications that we are making to our business plan," said Baldassarre. "These modifications reflect extensive discussions with the regulatory agencies and our advisors regarding the new de novo bank process. e3bank is not changing our mission, products or our delivery system."

e3bank currently anticipates starting a new equity offering in the New Year once amending the Offering Circular to reflect changes in the application, and are targeting being able to commence operations by the end of the second quarter of 2010.

I had a chance to catch up with Frank Baldassarre about the changes affecting the bank and the financial markets:

GS: Tell me about the changes in e3bank's structure?
e3: We decided to scale back from having a national scope to focusing on the Metro-Philadelphia area. And the time-frame for regulatory scrutiny has changed from 3 years to 7 years for what's considered a de novo bank, so those changes allowed us to reorganize.

GS: You had an ambitious offering in a tough environment this past year, what will happen with those investments?
e3: We're returning 100 percent of the investments to the investors, plus some interest that was earned.

GS: And what was the reaction from investors?
e3: They were disappointed, as we were, but they also appreciated the transparency. We were living up to that core value. There's been a very favorable response to the way we've handled this change.

GS: What's your outlook for 2010?
e3: We're looking to get regulatory approval as soon as possible and expect to open in the second quarter of 2010. This is the right time for our business model, and our mission will remain identical.

GS: What milestones are you hoping to reach by this time next year?
e3: We hope to be a huge success in the Philadelphia region. Our market research shows that e3bank has strong potential in this market. And we'll have well-managed deposit and loan growth. There's a lot of unmet demand for banks, especially those with a more responsible focus.

GS: Are you seeing the triple-bottom-line (TBL) market expanding or contracting at this time?
e3: We see it continuing to expand, and interest in what we're trying to do has been great. I continue to get asked to speak at conferences, most recently to a group called the Environmental Bankers Association. Overall, I feel strongly about the reception we've received from investors around the world.

GS: Do you think they are responding to the message?
e3: The message of TBL in the financial services sector is resonating; people want to do the right thing and the TBL approach is the right thing. We even had an encouraging note from a banker who was watching our model closely and hoping to adopt some of the principals to his own bank.

GS: I know you can't tell me what bank he was from, but what did he say?
e3: He said, "Keep up the good work!"

And from what we've seen of e3bank thus far, that's just what they will do.

For more details on e3bank, check out: www.e3bank.com.

Philly's Startup Phinest Rock at Founder Factory

WXPN's World Cafe Live regularly features rock bands, but on one day in November, Philly Startup Leaders' Founder Factory gives entrepreneurs, from earnest beginners to successful experts, the chance to be the rock stars.

The small stage and close proximity of the audience makes for an intimate setting, differentiating it from the large, cold and poorly lit venues that usually host company showcases.

For the experts who have made it -- as entrepreneurs, investors or both -- Founder Factory provides a chance to regenerate the entrepreneurial ecosystem. The experts share stories, impart wisdom, and lend an objective ear in "Fishbowl" problem-solving sessions with young startups.

For the startups, it's a chance to meet other like-minded entrepreneurs, receive advice that would cost thousands if they had to pay for it, and maybe even find an investor or adviser.

And for the audience, many of whom are entrepreneurs working on their own ideas, they benefit from hearing the types of questions facing young companies and those asked by investors and others who may be in a position to lend a hand to them some day.

This year's speakers included Doug Alexander of Internet Capital Group. Doug has seen it all over almost 30 years as an investor and entrepreneur. He offered an investor's perspective on what it takes to build a successful company.

Success may be determined by how a startup answers a few essential questions, Alexander noted: 1.) Are you solving a problem that is keeping someone up at night? 2.) How are you going to make money? and 3.) What is your go-to-market strategy?

Dr. Jeremy Siegel, the Russell E. Palmer Professor of Finance at the Wharton School, arrived with some good news on the economic front. He analyzed everything from the relative value of the dollar to what level of inflation our economy can handle (3-4 percent, in his view), and even criticized former Fed Chairman Alan Greenpsan for not foreseeing the collapse of the credit markets due to highly leveraged credit default swaps.

"Greenspan saw the balance sheets," Professor Siegel said. "He could have told us to watch out." Siegel's bullish optimism on the resilience of our economy was well received.

The sold-out crowd of 200-250 people also heard from Alan Kraus of Ben Franklin Technology Partners Geoff Cook of myyearbook.com and David Brussin of Monetate.

The Fishbowl companies this year were Revzilla, an ecommerce site for motorsports enthusiasts, mobile language learning system PlaySay, and Kidzillions, an allowance and chore rewards platform that lets kids spend and save their money online.

Kendra Gaeta, founder and CEO of Kidzillions stole the show when she demonstrated the art of winging it during her presentation. Her team did not make it due to car trouble on the Turnpike and then her PowerPoint couldn't load. With a sigh of resolve, Gaeta plowed ahead, impressing both the Fishbowl panel and the audience.

The sophomore outing of Founder Factory was not without kinks: some of the presenters need to sharpen their presentation skills and focus on the story rather than every technical issue they wrestled with in establishing their business.

I'd also like to see some cleantech representation in the program next year, either as presenters or Fishbowl companies. There were several interesting cleantech companies in the audience this year, so perhaps one will hit the PSL radar.

And the program would benefit from having a "where are they now?" session recapping what happened with last year's Fishbowl companies and what they learned after Founder Factory.

In the end, Founder Factory is a good reminder that celebrating the entrepreneur can lead to inspiration and value creation. More than one entrepreneur in the audience with whom I spoke shared that Founder Factory helped them renew the spark that got them excited about starting a business in the first place.

And perhaps one of those startups will one day be invited back as an expert imparting his or her wisdom to the next generation of entrepreneurs.

Global Entrepreneurship Week: "Unleash Your Ideas"

The 2nd annual Global Entrepreneurship Week was launched yesterday:

"From November 16-22, Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) will connect young people everywhere through local, national, and global activities designed to help them explore their potential as self-starters and innovators. Students, educators, entrepreneurs, business leaders, employees, non-profit leaders, government officials and many others will participate in a range of activities, from online to face-to-face, and from large-scale competitions and events to intimate networking gatherings."

GEW has four goals (from their web site):

* Inspire. We introduce entrepreneurship to young people under the age of thirty who otherwise might not have considered it as a career path.
* Connect. We network young people and organisations across national boundaries to discover new ideas at the intersection of cultures and disciplines.
* Mentor. We enlist active and inspiring entrepreneurs around the world to coach and mentor the next generation of enterprise talent as they pursue their dreams.
* Engage. We demonstrate to opinion leaders and policymakers how entrepreneurship is central to a nation's economic health and culture, and give them the opportunity to learn about each other's entrepreneurial policies and practices.

Pretty cool goals, if you ask me.

Here's a 5-minute video about Global Entrepreneurship Week:



Of particular interest to readers of the green skeptic is the Global Cleantech Open competition, which solicited ideas from around the world, "anything from revolutionary ways to generate clean energy, to better ways to filter water, to ideas about how governmental policies around climate change can foster new businesses."

Winners will be announced tonight at a gala reception in San Francisco: Gala

There are many events around the world marking Global Entrepreneurship Week, and other events that are happening coincidentally, such a Philly Startup Leaders' 2nd annual Founder Factory, which takes place on Thursday, November 19th at World Cafe Live.

The Founder Factory was created by Philly Startup Leaders to help foster growth of an ecosystem of entrepreneurs, mentors, angels, VCs, students, schools, and government groups in the Philadelphia area.

This week it's all about unleashing ideas.

Related articles by Zemanta

• TODAY / SF/ Gil Friend - keynotes the CleanTech Open Awards Gala! (nextnow.net)
• Increasing Numbers of Student Entrepreneurs (abcnews.go.com)
• The web allows entrepreneurs to thrive in a recession (telegraph.co.uk)
• The Next Greeneration of Entrepreneurs and Change Agents (myventurepad.com)
• Global Entrepreneurship Week: Small businesses SMEs economic recovery plan (telegraph.co.uk)
• Snoop Dogg, Entrepreneurship and Rajasthan (techcrunch.com)

"What Keeps You Up at Night?"

Lou Rappaport of Blank Rome asked me a disturbing question the other day at the MAC Alliance Conference in Philadelphia.

On the face of it, Lou's question was a simple one:

"What keeps you up at night?"

We were interrupted before I could answer, but Lou's question lingered with me.

In fact, it kept me up the past couple of nights.

By way of an answer now, here are seven things that keep me up at night:

1.) We will fail to embrace change and tackle the new green economy.

2.) We are so deeply entrenched in partisan politics that we will blow this opportunity to lead in a sector (alternative energy) that we invented.

3.) The Dems have made climate and energy a "left" issue and the right has ceded it to them. Where is the GOP leadership stepping up to fill the McCain void on these issues?*

4.) Enviros and NIMBYs will kill the energy economy transformation by blocking efforts on clean coal, nuclear, natural gas exploration, and the new electric grid just as they did with wind farms and offshore drilling.

5.) We don't have time to dither, yet we are a nation of inveterate ditherers.

6.) While we dither and dawdle, China is ready to seize the day.

7.) I don't know Mandarin.

____________________________________________
*(Note: This is deeply disappointing for the party of Teddy Roosevelt and Richard Nixon, which once led on issues now considered clean and green – and that now seems blind to this incredible opportunity for wealth generation.)

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]">

Mark Zandi to MAC Conference: "The Great Recession is Over"

Image by New America Foundation via Flickr

"The Great Recession is over," Mark Zandi, founder and chief economist of Moody's Economy.com, told a crowd of investors, entrepreneurs, and others gathered at the 2009 Mid-Atlantic Capital Alliance Conference in its opening keynote Tuesday.

"In fact, it ended on August 23rd," Zandi quipped. "If you want to know the precise time, you have to buy my book."

Zandi was referring to Financial Shock, his new book about the subprime crisis.

"It was no accident that the recession ended just as the stimulus kicked in," Zandi related. "The maximum impact was felt just when the maximum contribution was made: 3Q of this year."

And that's not a bad thing, Zandi said. In fact, this former economic advisor to GOP presidential candidate John McCain said he hopes that policymakers will be more aggressive in trying to rise the tide.

"The policy response was aggressive, but it needed to be," said Zandi. "Now they need to do more."

He cautioned that "recovery will be a bit of a slaw." (I first thought he said "slog," but then he repeated "slaw," by which I think he meant a salad of mixed bag.)

The foreclosure crisis will continue and we'll start to see it hit the commercial real estate market soon, according to Zandi, perhaps by the second quarter of next year.

Zandi wasn't all doom-and-gloom and tried to reassure the crowd gathered in the grand ballroom at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia.

This year's conference location was significant, in Zandi's opinion, because the region weathered the recession better than other parts of the country.

In part, this is due to the fact that it didn't have very far to fall, and partly due to relatively stable real estate prices -- especially outside of New York City and Washington, DC -- but also because the region boasts healthy components that are critical to getting out of the recession and building beyond it: health care and education.

"50 year olds are the single largest age group in the US," Zandi remarked. "And they will be sucking up a lot of health care."

The second largest age group? The 20-year-old firstborns of that top group, most of whom are setting out on their secondary and tertiary educational paths. Both education and health care will be engines of growth in the future -- and the future is here.

The MAC Conference is the annual venture capital gathering for the Mid-Atlantic region, which comprises the area between New England and the South, and can include states such as Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., and sometimes Virginia and West Virginia.

The Conference runs through 4 November, with company presentations and other speakers and panels. (I'll be covering the clean tech track and reporting on it here later.)

For more information, visit the MAC Alliance website.

Related articles by Zemanta

• 2009 MAC 2009 Conference to Include Cleantech Track, Zandi, and Godin too (greenskeptic.blogspot.com)

2009 MAC Conference to Include Cleantech Track, Zandi, and Godin too

Image via CrunchBase

The Mid-Atlantic Capital (MAC) Conference is the premier venture conference in the region, bringing together the private equity and entrepreneurial communities. Over the years, it has been the catalyst for billions of dollars of venture funding and entrepreneurial activity.

The day-and-a-half event offers both sponsors and attendees access to emerging companies from the Mid-Atlantic region; networking opportunities with the movers and shakers from the community; and educational panels and content sessions.

The 2009 MAC Conference, Hosted by Blank Rome LLP, will be held on November 3 & 4 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia.

And this year, the MAC Conference, will feature a cleantech track, signaling the arrival of the sector as a significant component of the region's economy.

Cleantech companies from the region featured at the conference include Benefuel, BG Automotive Group, Clean Water Resources, CogniPower, Confluense, Enersol Inc., Green Badge, Primet Precision Materials, SRS Energy, and TerraCycle.

Rob Day of Black Coral Capital and Enertech Capital's Tucker Twitmeyer will be among the panelists addressing cleantech investing opportunities in the current environment.

Keynote speakers scheduled to appear are Mark Zandi, chief economist and cofounder of Moody’s Economy.com and the incomparable marketing guru Seth Godin

MAC Alliance is offering a special $200 registration rate for the full MAC Conference to the first 200 qualified entrepreneurs. This is an exciting opportunity for young entrepreneurs to get in front of some of the key players in the region. Spots are almost gone, so register today: entrepreneurs.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]">

BuildGreen Philly: Prosperity with Sustainability

"No matter how well we develop renewable energy sources, we will not be able to meet global demand," Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell said to the crowd gathered at BuildGreen09 in Philadelphia in his opening keynote. "We also need to reduce consumption."

Rendell is a governor that gets it. He understands the economic realities that will drive energy consumption in the future and about a realistic response that includes all sources (including coal and nuclear), as long as can be made clean and with reduced risk. (For coal, he encourages development of carbon capture and storage technologies, to make it cleaner.)

While Rendell gets the economic side, he also understands the limits and boundaries as well. It's not just about finite resources, according to the Governor, but about demand, which will increase as the population increases globally and as economies in developing countries improve and people prosper.

Prosperity with sustainability was the tenor of the two day conference at Philadelphia's Sheraton Center City Hotel (a decidedly unsustainable venue, I might add).

As Dr. Dayna Baumeister, co-founder of the Biomimicry Guild, noted in her fantastic presentation over lunch on Thursday, it is "about learning to live and build on a dynamic, non-equilibrium, water-based, boundaried world." And not only to survive, but to thrive.

Others echoed these sentiments and highlighted the economic opportunity that presents itself right now and that is only at the beginning.

Dennis Yablonsky of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development and former secretary of the PA Department of Community and Economic Development, cited a recent study indicating there is a $30-40B market in green building, which potentially grows to $200B if you add retrofitting of existing infrastructure.

Companies all across the state are being created while older companies are reinventing themselves around the green economy, Yablonsky noted.

There was evidence of this in the panel discussions, especially around product development and research. There you could find companies such as Armstrong, which started as a cork-cutting shop in 1860, as well as new initiatives such as the team of professors from Philadelphia University who are developing construction materials from alkali-activated fly ash, a waste product of the coal industry.

Green jobs were also on the agenda at BuildGreen, with a focus on economic empowerment and the shortage of skilled and unskilled labor the new green economy requires. Education and training are needed, as well as a clear definition of what qualifies as a green job.

Awareness of the existing opportunities is also needed, however, as was made apparent by Mr. Yablonsky's revelation that there are currently 30,000 "green jobs" posted on an online job bank for Southwestern PA. The jobs range from entry level positions to $100K+ executive roles; that's a lot of job openings in an economy that needs employment. Why are these positions not being filled?

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter also addressed the conference, repeating his pledge to make Philadelphia the Greenest City in America. His plan includes goals to reduce city energy consumption by 30 percent and energy costs by 10 percent, representing savings of over $3 million in a city budget that needs every extra penny.

Philadelphia is not alone in trying to glean benefits from the new green economy. Micah Kotch, from the New York City Accelerator for a Clean & Renewable Economy, an incubator initiative of NYU-Poly aimed at stimulating invention, innovation, and entrepreneurship in New York.

"Our goal is to grow an ecosystem of entrepreneurs, companies and local businesses around clean tech and renewable innovations," said Mr. Kotch.

One of their companies is Rentricity, which captures energy from water pressure reduction -- common to any municipal water distribution system -- to spin turbines and create clean electricity.

BuildGreen was convened by the Pennsylvania Green Growth Partnership and hosted by the Delaware Valley Green Building Council, which plans to host the international GreenBuild conference and expo in 2012.

My three takeaways from BuildGreen09:

1.) The transformation of the building sector to adopting green practices is both a great step forward and a great opportunity -- and other sectors, such as financial services, must now follow.
2.) The convergence of talent, resources, and infrastructure in the region is well-positioned to own a significant piece of the new green economy pie, but it still needs to foster and build the financing, commercialization, and innovation opportunities to seize the day.
3.) Biomimicry -- the conscious emulation of nature's design solutions -- is an increasing opportunity for innovation that can lead to sustainable products, companies, and services -- and a better way of life. If only we can "quiet our cleverness," as Dr. Baumeister put it.