Clean Business Investment Summit

Pictured here is Gillian Christie, among the most talented, charming and energetic people I know, who runs a fabulous marketing agency called Christie Communications in Santa Barbara.  I’ve gotten to know her very well over the past few years, due to our mutual involvement in the Clean Business Investment Summit, where I serve on the board of advisors.  Every year in early September, a group of about 15 budding cleantech entrepreneurs hungry to raise financial capital presents a PowerPoint version of its business plan to a room full of potential investors of various stripes: angels, VCs, etc., in a large auditorium at the University of California at Santa Barbara. 

I just returned from a “CBIS” planning meeting at Gillian’s office in Santa Barbara, during which she asked what the team thought were the proper “categories” of entrepreneur business types for the event.  In response, I began to write her a private note, but then realized that, in fact, there was nothing private about it at all, and that it might be worth sharing.  Here goes:

Gillian:

I don’t claim to speak for the team, but here’s my own personal take on this: We want any legitimate provider of products or services in a business arena that demonstrates a respect for humankind, other life forms, and natural resources, which, if implemented, will improve conditions accordingly.  I say “legitimate,” because a large percentage of the things I come across are terrible business ideas (some of them even fraudulent), and needless to say, we don’t want to foster asinine concepts, of which, again, there are a peck out there. Included in the meaning of “legitimate” is this: the company should be able to demonstrate that its idea is feasible, both technologically and economically.

In terms of categories, I would say: 

• Renewable energy — solar PV, concentrated solar power, solar thermal hot water, wind (large, medium, and small), biomass (of which there are hundreds of different combinations of feedstocks, technologies, and products), geothermal, hydrokinetics (tidal, wave, ocean current, and run-of-river hydro), as well as ocean thermal and any others that can come along in the future.

• Energy efficiency and conservation – concepts in reducing energy consumption

• Energy storage – again, dozens of flavors of chemical (e.g., batteries) and mechanical (e.g., flywheels)

• Water – improving the quality and quantity of potable water

• Low-impact transportation, especially alternate fuels

• Education — highest priority: educating women in the developing world

• Population control — this is why focusing on women in the developing world is the top priority: educated women have far fewer offspring  

• Sanitation/human health

• Facilitating communication, harmony, and mutual respect among the world’s people 

• Anything else in sustainability – agriculture/food, building design, clothing, personal products, etc.

I’m sure other members of the team may look at this differently, but there’s my two cents’ worth.  Keep up the stellar work!