Venture Capital 101

The AQMD’s Green Tech Connect Forum opened this afternoon.  I’ve worked on this conference off and on for a few months, so I’m excited about it finally starting in Pasadena.  The South Coast Air Quality Management District organized the show in order to introduce financiers to entrepreneurs in the green tech sector.

Today they hosted a free workshop, which I would title VC 101.  I’m not a financier nor am I a finance whiz despite my MBA.  While a lot of the content was basic to me, the message was clear and valuable:

Having a great idea is not enough to get your product ready to go to market.  Too often entrepreneurs and inventors focus too much on the technology, and now how this product will sell.  Some in the green movement may blanch at what may be crass commercialization, but that is the hard green truth.  How can your process or product save money?  How well does it scale?  Is the solution cost effective?  Can you implement this product on a wide scale? 

Indeed, venture capital has shriveled up.  But most of this inertia is because people aren’t buying, which means companies aren’t making money, so if no one’s buying . . . no one is going to invest.  Ugh, it’s an ugly circle of doom . . .

We want to clean the air, purify the water, and win back our energy independence.  But most of us are not celebrities that can afford the trappings of environmentalism (more on my $100 for 2 cans of paint later!) . . . and at the same time, people do not want to be lectured by the intelligentsia.  We’ve got to make it seamless for people to transition to these new technologies, whether they are smart electronics, hybrid cars, or green housecleaning products.

I’ll add more feedback as the conference continues over the next couple days . . .