Hundreds of women descended on the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, January 30 and 31st for the second annual Silicon Valley She’s Geeky Conference.
Kaliya Hamlin did a stellar job moderating the proceedings. Introductions were made using the expression: “I’m geeky because….” and everyone tried hard to outgeek each other with comments like “I’m geeky because I named my first born child after my favorite search engine,” and “I’m geeky because I take my laptop in the bath with me.”
During intros, everyone was encouraged to share their Twitter ID, which revealed over 90% of the room was already Twittering. One gal proudly announced that she was going to do her 10,000th tweet that morning!
As for me, still a Twitter virgin, I decided I’m a just nuevo geek with a very long way to go.
Highlights on Saturday were a seminar on social media and business (twitter, facebook, myspace, Hi5 among others) by Jen Leggio – ZDNet, and Jen from Adobe; and Mary Vincent of Green Star Solutions led a seminar about ecopreneurship; and Lynne Sopchak talked about biomimicry You can check out more at this TED video
Great to see Debra Bowen, Secretary of State for California there. She’s a strong advocate for using the Internet to open government to computer users worldwide. In 1993, she successfully helped to pass legislation making all of California’s bill information available on the Internet.
If you want to read a wiki listing notes from all the seminars and information shared (and there was a ton of it!), check out this link. And if you want to find out more about my seminar, Greening your business, click here
A capacity crowd packed Sun Microsystem’s historic Santa Clara campus auditorium last Friday.
After introductions by hosts Susan Lucas Conwellof SDForum and Linda Holroydof FountainBlue, a rousing challenge to the green tech crowd came from Mayor Chuck Reed: “We want YOU to make us energy independent and pull us out of this recession!” Tall order, no pressure guys.
The Green Mayoremphasized the trillion dollar opportunity in the energy market and anticipates clean tech will receive between $40-$60 billion from President Obama’s stimulus package, most of which will benefit Silicon Valley. He underlined Silicon Valley’s reputation as the best place in the world to start and grow a business; and urged entrepreneurs to call him if they need land or buildings. The guy is serious and announced his number several times: (408) 535-4800.
The first panel “Where’s the Green in Clean?”assembled a group of top VCs: Laurie Yolerof Growth Point Technologies, Nancy Pfund– DBL Investors, Kjerstin Barley – GE Capital, and Stephen Eichenlaub -Intel Capital. Nancy Pfund addressed the issue of the price premium for clean tech products. She says some consumers are willing to pay a premium for efficiency improvements, but for a global thriving business, we need to get to parity with existing energy sources. Looking at the total cost of ownership (TCO) is key. ie a Tesla Roadster may cost a fortune to buy, but a “fill up” only costs $4.
Consumer sentiment is strongly in support of clean tech, says Laurie Yoler and cited Palo Alto where consumers were offered “green” electricity for a 15% premium. So far, the sign up rate is 60%. Of course, Palo Alto is hardly representative of the rest of the world, but what starts in Silicon Valley seldom stays in Silicon Valley.
The credit crunch is impacting investment activity especially for capital intensive solar comanies. Startups with smaller capital demands will do better, says Yoler and points out there’s a vibrant market for companies focused on energy efficiency: especially virtualization software and clean tech construction companies looking for $10 million/ round.
Someone had the audacity to ask what we can learn from the Europeans who invested heavily in clean tech, especially solar, over a decade ago. I look forward to discussing this issue further with Nancy Pfund at a later date.
Steve Eichenlaub emphasized the importance of keeping the green buzz going and credits the Obama administration for talking about the environment, global warming, energy independence and green tech almost every day since he took office. What a difference a Bush-less fortnight makes!
Check back soon for more on the conference from the Green Czars from Sun, HP, SAP, Intel and IBM
If we need any more evidence that clean tech is hot in Silicon Valley, this is it. Last Wednesday, I attended a lecture on Clean Tech Entrepreneurshipby Andres Wydlerat Stanford University. Originally planned for 20 to 30 students, the class was heavily oversubscribed and extended to 80 students. As of this writing, there are still 30 on the waiting list.
The class was packed with energetic people and ideas: a woman from National Geographic, just back from the Antarctic who’d witnessed the scale of the ice melting; a “green” executive from WallMart; entrepreneurs working in the solar, wind, and batteries sectors, and at least one VC. According to Andres’s questionnaire, two key factors are motivating attendees: making a living and making a difference. Several attendees are “between jobs” so the down economy is providing opportunities for some efficient reallocation of capital and labor.
Andres, founder of smartgrid company, BPL Global, wants to equip cleantech entrepreneurs with the tools they need to leverage their skills and ideas; and is bullish about Silicon Valley’s role in the world of clean tech. Admitting that the U.S. currently lags the rest of the world, he anticipates that we will be in the forefront of clean tech in certain sectors within the next 3-5 years.
“When Silicon Valley puts its mind to something, it’s a fantastic environment to pursue a cause,” he says.
The regulatory enviroment is moving in the right direction
Encumbant energy companies are motivated to change
FDR’s motivation: “a crisis is a terrible thing to waste.” (heard again by President Obama’s chief of staff Rahm Emanuel most recently )
VC fundingfor clean tech is at record levels. Although 2008 Q4 showed a marked reduction in VC funding, Andres points out that it’s still attractive and alternative clean tech funding sources are available
Coming Soon: After his last class in February, I will interview Andres at length to find out what hot clean tech entrepreneurs he discovered, and get an overview of his conclusions and predictions for clean tech in Silicon Valley.
I caught up with Anna Jaeger, Director of the GreenTech Program at TechSoup Global, during The Green Enterprise UnConference at The Computer History Museum in Mountain View, December 3, 2008. San Francisco-based TechSoup partners with many leading tech companies like Microsoft, Adobe and Cisco to put technology in the hands of nonprofits; and Anna is spearheading its efforts to educate organizations to reduce their environmental impact through effective use of technology. Our discussion includes:
Note: Another excellent source of best green business practices, just launchedthis month, is at the Environmental Defense Fund’s new online resource,The Innovation Exchange where you can find information about running a carbon neutral office.
Mary Vincent 
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