more than the money - home energy storage

FloDesign wind turbine, 2007
Is the starting point of Western Massachusetts.
Largely unfamiliar with venture capital or the high
Flying startup culture was discovered in Boston, New York and Silicon Valley.
Subsequently, Wilbraham won the first $200,000 of the MIT clean energy entrepreneur award in a rigorous competition, not only did it introduce its founder's business plan and pitch to venture investors and successful entrepreneurs.
Since then, FloDesign, which produces efficient wind turbines, has raised $40 million from Wall Street, Silicon Valley investors and other supporters;
Received more than $11 million in federal funding and state support;
And began to expand, by the end of this year, the number of jobs will more than double, to about 75 people.
"Through competition, we are ready for a real deal," said Stanley Kovalski III, founder of FloDesign . ".
"It provides us with guidance and guidance.
It is the epitome of the word "angel.
"Flodesign is an example of the impact of the MIT competition since winning the first clean energy Award in the spring of 2008.
Of the 50 teams that advanced to the semi-finals two years before the game, 16 are operating companies today, raising at least $65 million in venture capital and government funds, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
These companies include The Levant Electric Power Company.
Cambridge has manufactured equipment that uses bounce shock absorber energy and funnel it back to the electrical system of the car to reduce gas consumption;
FastCap Systems
Now expand to 17,000-square-
The foot facility in South Boston is developing an energy storage system to replace or replenish the batteries of hybrid buses, trucks and other heavy vehicles;
And the Energy Center in New York, which invented a range of home energy management equipment that employs about 25 employees.
They are both finalists or semi-finals.
"This is a great Test ground," says Seth Frader . "
Energy Center Chief Executive Thompson“As a first-
Time startup team, you have a lot of bad ideas, but you pair up with mentors, successful entrepreneurs, and business executives.
They can really help you focus.
"Last week, MIT presented the third Clean Energy Award to the Stanford University startup C3Nano --
Use nanotechnology to improve the efficiency of solar cells.
However, competition is not only the promotion of new technologies.
The main purpose is to develop the business skills needed to bring products to market, while developing a group of entrepreneurs who will create several companies in their careers.
In the clean energy competition, 30-
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology sponsored a competition in which competitors gave
Minute stimulus to potential investors, as well as an executive summary competition in which the scope of publicity has been expanded to twopage proposals.
Along the way, competitors are criticized, advised, grilled, coaxed and supported by successful entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and industry experts.
Bill Olette, general manager of MIT's start-up center, said that in the end, the $200,000 bonus is not an end in itself, but a motivation for learning.
"The prize is a fake head for them to eat vegetables," says Olette . ".
"We are very focused on building the capacity of entrepreneurs.
How do you find customers, how do you build teams, how do you raise funds, and how do you build a sustainable clean energy business?
"Nanopur, the finalists of the 2008 Clean Energy Award, provides an example.
The MIT team, led by then MBA candidate Justin Ashton, plans to obtain a license for thin film technology from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, the technology will significantly reduce the process of turning salt water into fresh water used in seawater desalination.
However, NanoPur has not been able to obtain a license and has never been successful.
Soon after, Ashton co-founded another company, the XL Hybrid.
The company is developing hybrid technology for commercial fleets of trucks, trucks and other heavy vehicles.
So far, the company has raised about $1.
2 million of angel investors now have about 6 employees.
Ashton said the company plans to conduct pilot tests in the fall and start commercial production in early 2011.
"Although NanoPur did not succeed, competition did inspire my desire to become an entrepreneur," said Ashton, 33 . " Ashton received an MBA in 2008.
"It was a great experience to have a mentor, get feedback and learn so quickly.
"The awards are funded by the US Department of Energy and NStar, a Boston utility.
In addition to the grand prize, each of the five finalists won $15,000 from other sponsors.
For the final, according to a review by 25 judges of the executive summary, the field was reduced for the first time to 25 semi-finals players.
Then, 25 new judges select finalists according to the business plan, 12-
Slide presentation and short presentation.
Seven judges identified award winners in a process that could be described as businessschool-meets-reality-show.
Each of the five finalists has 10.
Minutes of presentation, face the judges 10 minutes of questions, then leave the room while the judges dissect the plan and the stadium.
After all the team shows, the judges started a discussion of selecting the winner.
"They wiped out from the bottom and threw people out of the island," o'leite said . ".
"But they are more compassionate than they are on TV.
They are very sympathetic to entrepreneurs.
The judges come from different backgrounds, so the scope of the problem is very wide.
For example, one of the judges this year, Penni McLean, vice president of customer service at NStar-
Conner says she focuses on the target market: "Who are you selling to and how are you going to convince customers?
Susan Tiney, managing director of the Boston Consulting analytics group, said she often asks entrepreneurs, "Is there enough games here? changing?
"This is the final difference between the winner and the runner --
The judges said: the scale and potential of this idea.
They're not looking for small-to-medium deals.
Ian Bowles, Secretary of State for Energy and Environmental Affairs, judged the first game in 2008.
He supported FloDesign as the winner and he said he could see the beginning
By redesigning the turbine, it uses short blades in the hood, disrupting the entire wind power industry
Like covering the funnel wind, the efficiency is greatly improved.
"Part of the reason is, how realistic is the game plan from prototype to commercial scale?
"But this is also the potential scale of the underlying technology," Bowles said . ".
"FloDesign has a big realistic idea.
"Robert Gavin can be reached at rgavin @ globe. com.