Many consider energy efficiency the easiest path to immediate gains in reducing carbon emissions and counteracting the ever-increasing cost of energy. As an example, Al Gore contends that turning American television sets fully off rather than using standby mode will eliminate the need for a 1,000-megawatt coal-fired generating plant.
Be it televisions or office lights, energy use can be dramatically curtailed just by improving the monitoring and control mechanisms through software-enabled solutions developed by today’s entrepreneurs. Venture capitalists recognize the opportunity too, so investments in energy are up; energy efficiency leads the way with 39 funding rounds in first quarter 2010. We see the impact all around us here in California where policy makers and business leaders have understood the importance of energy efficiency for over thirty years, thus leading the nation in reducing energy use on a per capita basis during that period.
Now, a new wave of innovation emerges as increased incentives and market demand drive entrepreneurs to develop energy efficient solutions in which software plays a unique role. Many companies, both large and small, leverage the data-rich ecosystem where every point of energy use now can be monitored, analyzed and controlled. This access to data will change everything from building design to product development to consumer behavior.
Come join us and learn more about the opportunities, changes and implications. This growing sector provides fertile ground for discussion.
Topics to be explored:
What will it take to be a winner in this sector? And, how early will we know who the winners are?
How important are strategic alliances?
Is there room for more start-ups? If so, where?
How will the sector evolve in the coming five years? Continued growth? Consolidation?
What are the implications when every point of energy use can be monitored, controlled and analyzed?
Prior to joining Greentech Media, Eric Wesoff founded Sage Marketing Partners in 2000 to provide sales and marketing-consulting services to venture-capital firms and their portfolio companies in the alternative energy and telecommunications sectors. Mr. Wesoff has become a well-known, respected authority and speaker in these fields. He also was the publisher of the Venture Power newsletter, a subscription-only newsletter covering venture-capital investment in renewable energy.
Eric’s expertise covers solar power, fuel cells, biofuels and advanced batteries. His strengths are in market research and analysis, business development and due diligence for investors. He frequently consults for energy startups and Silicon Valley’s premier venture capitalists.
From 1988 to 1996, Eric served as product marketing manager for Siemens Optoelectronics, where he oversaw complex product lines and managed relationships with global customers. He then became the U.S. marketing and sales manger for Akzo Nobel Photonics, which was acquired by JDS Uniphase. Eric later served as the sales director for Dicon Fiber Optics, where he was responsible for selling millions of dollars of fiber-optic telecom-equipment. He has consulted for Merck, JDSU, Coherent, IBM and scores of other firms, governments and organizations.
PRESENTER:
John Steinberg, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, EcoFactor
Prior to founding EcoFactor, John was Director of Corporate Business Development for Electronics for Imaging, where he had a leadership role in $500M in transactions. He was also founder and President of Bebop Incorporated, and co-founded Involved Professionals Against Cancer, a 501(c)(3) stressing hands-on involvement with pediatric cancer patients at Long Beach Memorial Hospital.
John is a graduate of Stanford Law School, where he was an Associate Editor of the Stanford Law Review. He received his undergraduate degree (with honors) from Oberlin College, where he majored in Economics and Government, and was Phi Beta Kappa.
John has been issued 12 US patents for inventions in such diverse fields as digital photography, networked printing, and various mechanical devices. He has served on the Board of Directors of Long Beach Youth Centers and the Board of Advisors of the Tech Coast Venture Network. John has been a featured speaker at multiple cleantech industry events, including the Behavior Energy and Climate Change Conference.
Dharmesh joined ATV in 2007 as a member of the firm’s Cleantech and IT Infrastructure practice areas. He observes on the boards of AltaRock Energy, Calisolar, Nuventix, Qumu, and Sub-one Technology. He is a founding member and Co-President of the Wharton Cleantech and Energy Network and also serves on the Cleantech Advisory Board at TiE.
Dharmesh brings ten years of business development, product strategy and sales experience at start-ups and public companies. Previously, he was the Director of Corporate Business Development at Keynote Systems (NASDAQ: KEYN) where he supported acquisitions in the wireless and video infrastructure sectors and established alliances with H-P, Computer Associates and European VARs. Previously, he was a member of the founding team at InterNetwork (acquired by FinePoint Technologies). He was part of the early strategy consulting team at Manhattan Associates (NASDAQ: MANH), and served briefly in the Investment Banking team at Thomas Weisel Partners.
Dharmesh received his M.B.A. from The Wharton School and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin.
Danie l Yates, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, OPOWER
Daniel Yates is the CEO and Founder of OPOWER, an 85-person Smart Grid and Energy Efficiency software company that partners with utilities to engage their customers to drive large-scale measurable and verifiable reductions in energy usage through a combination of behavioral science, data analytics and software expertise.†
Prior to founding OPOWER, Dan was Founder and CEO of Edusoft, the leading educational software company providing assessment platforms to US public school districts. Dan led the company from inception to national success and sold the 150-person, $20M revenue company to Houghton Mifflin in 2004.
After leaving Houghton Mifflin, Dan embarked on a year-long adventure with his wife, driving from the Arctic Sea in Alaska to the southern tip of South America. During this trip, Dan became aware of the shocking degradation of the environment, and he subsequently resolved to dedicate his life to sustaining what’s left of our beautiful natural world.
In 2009, Dan was named a “Tech Titan” by Washingtonian magazine and was a finalist for the Ernst and Young 2009 Entrepreneur of the Year award for the Greater Washington region.
Dan received his B.A. in Computer Science, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Harvard University.
Da vid Hsieh, Vice President of Marketing, Emerging Technologies, Cisco
David Hsieh is a seasoned executive with over 20 years of experience in building and marketing software and services. At Cisco he has marketing responsibility for Cisco’s Emerging Technologies—innovative new businesses created from an internal venture model. Prior to Cisco, Hsieh was a co-founder of FaceTime Communications, a leader in instant messaging solutions for large enterprises. He also served as an VP of Products at WebEx, entrepreneur-in-residence at Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), Vice President of Product Marketing at Sybase and Vice President of Worldwide Marketing and Business Development at LBMS. Hsieh is a graduate of Northwestern University.
