Guy Kawasaki: Venture Capital Insights

Guy Kawasaki: Venture Capital Insights

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh DialoguesGuy Kawasaki on Fresh Dialogues

Download or listen to this lively Fresh Dialogues interview

 

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This week, we feature an interview with Apple evangelist and venture capitalist at Garage Technology Ventures, Guy Kawasaki. He shares his candid thoughts on the venture capital industry; the fragile economy and why he sees light at the end of the tunnel.

On the stock market and VC investing

“If you are investing in two people in a garage today, it doesn’t matter what the Dow Jones Industrial Average is at all…if you say ‘the market is down so I’m not going to invest in a startup today,’ there’s something ass backward about that. It matters what it (the stockmarket) is in five years.”

Is there light at the end of the tunnel?
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Tom Friedman: Driving the Green Agenda

Tom Friedman: Driving the Green Agenda

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh DialoguesTom Friedman on Fresh Dialogues

Download or listen to this lively Fresh Dialogues interview

 

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I caught up with Pulitzer Prize winner, Tom Friedman, at the Foothill College Celebrity Forum lecture series last month, where he delivered a spirited argument for why the United States must embrace a green economy. In this second part of our interview, we explore his part in driving the green agenda. This January, he took part in a congressional hearing on green tech and economic recovery, sponsored by US Senator, Barbara Boxer. We discuss his role in that; how he deals with critics; and why he enjoys daiquiris with New York Times colleague, Maureen Dowd.

Click here for part one of the interview about his book, Hot Flat, and Crowded.

On Friedman’s role in driving the green agenda

I use my platform as a journalist to drive this agenda that I see as important… I see a lot of things that are very exciting happening – exploding really – on a kind of small scale, but they haven’t yet reached critical mass and when you’re talking about changing the climate, you are talking about critical mass. It hasn’t yet been translated into policy at scale.

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David Chen: Government Catalyst for Green Tech

David Chen: Government Catalyst for Green Tech

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh DialoguesDavid Chen, Fresh Dialogues interview

Download or listen to this lively Fresh Dialogues interview

 

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I caught up with David Chen, an executive director at Morgan Stanley, while attending the AlwaysOn Going Green Conference 2009 in Sausalito. Chen, a specialist in the green tech investment sector, discussed the morale of investors; and why he’s expecting a bumpy ride ahead. He also explains the key differences between high tech and green tech business plans; and how the government plays a vital  role as catalyst in the development and commercialization of the green economy.

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KR Sridhar: Power to the People, with Bloom Energy

KR Sridhar: Power to the People, with Bloom Energy

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh DialoguesKR Sridhar, Bloom Energy - Fresh Dialogues interview

Download or listen to this lively Fresh Dialogues interview

 

We welcome feedback at FreshDialogues.com, click on the Contact Tab | Open Player in New Window

SEE THE VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH KR SRIDHAR HERE – A FRESH DIALOGUES EXCLUSIVE Part One: Fuel Cell Technology and Efficiency

Also Part Two Bloom Energy: Affordability is Essential Video

Part Three Bloom Energy: Mission to Change the World Video

Bloom Energy CEO KR Sridhar is a man with a mission to change the world. A former NASA advisor who developed technologies to sustain life on Mars, this earnest scientist is now harnessing his visionary skills and a large team of engineers to solve the energy crisis. His ambitious goal? To revolutionize the energy industry, just like cell phones revolutionized the communications industry. His team is developing  high efficiency fuel cells to provide a global distributed system of electricity supply at low cost.

Although the company is still in stealth mode industry speculation is rife about its future plans. KR agreed to discuss Bloom Energy’s progress in this exclusive Fresh Dialogues interview recorded on September 30, 2009. To read the interview transcript click here

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Why is energy the focus of KR Sridhar’s mission?

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Stuart Evans: Green Cement and Vinod Khosla

Stuart Evans: Green Cement and Vinod Khosla

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh DialoguesStuart Evans Fresh Dialogues interview

Download or listen to this lively Fresh Dialogues interview

 

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Vinod Khosla, the green investment guru, was asked to name the company with the greatest chance of becoming the next Green Microsoft  while onstage at the GoingGreen Conference in Sausalito.  He declined to name his “favorite child” but did praise Calera, the green cement maker he’s backing; and spoke about the huge potential growth in this sector. Since cement production creates 2.5 billion tons of CO2 annually,  representing  5% of manmade sources, it offers great potential in both climate change impact and market opportunity.

I caught up with Stuart Evans, Chairman of Novacem, who shares Vinod’s bullishness about the market for green cement. This British entrepreneur has assembled a team from Imperial College, London (he dubs it the MIT of  the UK) and claims to have invented a carbon negative cement.

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Tony Perkins: Green Bubble or Obama Bubble?

Tony Perkins: Green Bubble or Obama Bubble?

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh DialoguesTony Perkins  Fresh Dialogues Interview 2009

Download or listen to this lively Fresh Dialogues interview

 

We welcome feedback at FreshDialogues.com, click on the Contact Tab | Open Player in New Window

I caught up with Tony Perkins, founder of AlwaysOn and Red Herring Magazine, just before he opened the third annual GoingGreen Conference in Sausalito, California. He agreed to talk for five minutes but well, we got talking…about what’s hot in the green sector, the downside of going green, and his thoughts on a Green bubble …and an Obama bubble. The online media pioneer also shared his predictions for 2010:  citing online video as the highest growth area.

On the power of the green economy

“We’re probably on the steepest innovation curve we’ve ever seen and of course, it’s always the innovation driven companies that create the most growth in the economy and the most new jobs. It’s clear that the world is becoming more committed to being kinder and gentler to itself and that’s going to create a tremendous amount of entrepreneurial opportunities.”

Predictions for 2010: the hot green sectors
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