Cleantech Start-ups Shouldn’t Put the Cart Before the Horse
By some strange coincidence, I have a couple of clients whose company’s purpose is “to be acquired.” While there is nothing wrong with that per se, I suggest that it’s rather like putting the cart before the horse. I recommend getting the company into a position where it’s of great value, and that means filling a previous unmet market need.
Make yourself a pain in the neck to competitors in your space by eating into their market share. Or, better yet, dominate a new market category. If you can do that, the exit strategy takes care of itself.
As we scour our civilization in an effort to identify and rid ourselves of all things unsustainable, perhaps we should look past cleantech for a moment and examine a wider circles of our lives – perhaps including our involvement with medicine. Rightfully, we’re all very grateful for the advancements in medical technology that are enabling us to live longer and healthier lives. But don’t we have an inkling that, just as we look back on the standards of medical practice 100 years ago with a mixture of pity and horror, the world even a few decades hence will regard what we’re doing here and now in the same way?
