Game-changing Pillars. The need to stay market focused in technology development and get products quickly into customer hands translates to the Pillar of Process. Market requirements, corporate direction and technology options can all change quickly and must be tightly integrated with the development Process. For a new venture, the ability to predict market conditions is limited at best. Thus, rapid new product and process development...

Cleantech is not a singular industry. There are many industries that have Cleantech opportunities. The maturity of the specific Cleantech target industry, its Phase, can have a powerful influence on Cleantech business success.        While Phase issues do exist in other industries, Phase challenges in Cleantech targets are considerably more pronounced. Target industry Phase should be considered in market selection, business...

Oil Rigs operate in LA California Proposition 23, backed by oil companies Tesoro and Valero, has been defeated by California voters. This is good news for green jobs and Cleantech ventures. This Proposition would have set aside California’s Clean Energy Bill, AB 32, passed in 2006. Among other things, AB 32 requires that the State meet a Kyoto Protocol-styled requirement for greenhouse gas emissions. Under AB 32, greenhouse...

Hoover Dam Relies on Four Pillars Government influence is fundamental in Cleantech  Public Policy has multiple direct and enabling influences in virtually all Cleantech sectors.  So What?  Where Cleantech is inextricably bound to Policy, the Information Age saw strong opposition to government subsidies and industry support. TJ Rodgers, CEO of Cypress Semiconductor, for example, provided the following 1993 Congressional...

Sienna Cathedral Leverages Four Pillar Framework The Cleantech Pillars framework is a new assessment tool for Cleantech ventures.  The four Pillars represent the generic contextual hurdles within Cleantech. These are the factors that differentiate Cleantech opportunities from more conventional technology ventures. The four Cleantech Pillars are Plant, Process, Phase and Policy. Plant and Process cycle are internally oriented business...