Cool Idea, Cool Company, Cool Planet

I heard a presentation recently by Howard Janzen, the CEO of Cool Planet. Often in Colorado entrepreneurs start companies to stay in the state. Much less often people transplant successful enterprises in order to migrate here. Howard's Cool Planet is one of those rare and beautiful stories.  Activity like this is great for Colorado and we should applaud and embrace it and do what we can to help make Howard feel at home here and thrive. 

The Cool Planet story centers around the production of "carbon negative hydrocarbon fuels".  They take various non-food biomass feedstock sources and produce high performance hydrocarbon fuel and a co-product known as CoolTerra.  The hydrocarbon fuel is gasoline and diesel - not ethanol - and is virtually indistinguishable from the refined equivalent and extremely price competitive. 

CoolTerra is the cool part.  It is a co-product of the process and a soil additive that promotes better water and nutrient absorption and dramatically faster crop growth.  The overall impact (including the burning of the gasoline for transportation) is carbon negative - that's right - it reduces the overall carbon footprint.  Too good to be true - maybe - we are all aware of the enormous sums that have been lost chasing similar clean tech dreams over the past few years.  The ultimate success of the concept is dependent on getting the process fine tuned and scalable.  Never the less, they have had incredible early testing success with a pilot fractionator built in 2012 and their first plant will be on line in 2015 so we will know shortly how well it works. 

They have great investors including, North Bridge, Shea Ventures, ConocoPhillips, Exelon, GE, Google Ventures, and BP and have raised over $150M through a Series D round.  They also have great exposure being on the CNBC Disruptor 50 Class of 2014 list, receiving the Frost & Sullivan 2014 Technology Innovation Award, the Global Hot 100 at the World Summit on Innovation & Entrepreneurship, the IHS-CERA Energy Innovation Pioneer list and many more.

You have got to love a guy that went to both Colorado School of Mines and HBS (there aren't many of us) and Howard has an incredible track record of success.  He was the CEO of One Communications until it was sold to EarthLink in 2011 and before that he was the President of Sprint Business Solutions (10k employees, and $12B in annual revenue).  Before that he was the Chairman of Williams Communications Group.  He also has a great track record of giving back.  Howard serves as a board member for a number of non-profit organizations including The Colorado School of Mines Foundation, The University of Tulsa, Hillcrest Healthcare System, Morningside Foundation and The Heart of America Boy Scout Council. He also serves on the Governor's Science and Technology Council for the State of Oklahoma and is a Commissioner and Chairman of the Global Information Infrastructure Commission (GIIC).

Their long term plans include building over 400 plants through the US and potentially multiples of that worldwide over the next decade.  They also plan to built a fabricating facility possibly right here in Colorado to build components for those plants.  What a great story and accomplished business and community contributor in Howard.  Please help us in welcoming him to our great state!

Three Years With S&P Capital IQ And Quite Happy

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While I typically stay away from plugging for services and products that I use, I will make the exception with Standard & Poors Capital IQ platform.  The S&P CapIQ platform combines great global company information, credit ratings and market research with powerful tools for financial analysis, projections and risk assessments. The web access is easy to use from any machine and/or device and we find the Excel-based platform and the spreadsheet plugins and templates provides a great way to automate screens, analysis and provide both real-time and historical info on companies, markets, transactions, and people worldwide. CapIQ is integrated completely with every aspect of our workflow now and is an incredibly powerful tool. The team at S&P including Shannon Scott and Justin Sevy here in Colorado and Aarti Desai in Chicago have been fantastic to work with and they have gone out of their way to include us in their next generation platform feedback group which has been fun. Although smaller than their competitors, Factset and Blomberg, we find them incredibly responsive and a great alternative to the bigger more traditional players in this space. I would definitely recommend the platform to anybody in asset management, private equity, investment banking, advisory or corporations. Great service!

Joel Moxley - Foro Energy

Joel Moxley

Joel Moxley

Over the last several weeks I have had the pleasure to meet a new face - new to me anyway - Joel Moxley a PhD from MIT, a serial entrepreneur, an active angel investor and a great contributor back to our community.  We met through BEN Colorado and I look forward to working more with Joel.  Currently Joel is a founder and in charge of business development at Foro Energy.  Before Foro, he was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at North Bridge Venture Partners.  He has had loads of entrepreneurial success himself as a Co-Founder of PriorSmart, acquired by RPX Corporation (NASDAQ:RPXC), and as the Vice President of Operations of Semprus Biosciences, acquired by Teleflex Incorporated (NYSE:TFX), that developed specialty materials for medical devices.

Foro is pretty cool too.  The company is built around technology developed at Colorado School of Mines (one of my alma maters and near and dear to my heart) and is focused on the  commercialization of high power lasers for the oil, natural gas, geothermal, and mining industries.  Apparently their unique capability is to be able to bust through the “sound barrier” of Stimulated Brillouin Scattering that previously made it impossible to transmit high power lasers over long distance fiber optic cables.  With this problem solved, they got a nice grant from US Department of Energy and are working on commercializing technology to transmit high power lasers over long distance fiber optic cables enabling step change performance in applications to drill, complete, and workover wells - a pretty novel and unique application of laser technology.

With all that going on, Joel has still been able to dedicate loads of time to the BENCo advisory activity and has been a prolific contributor with lots of value add.  My thanks to Joel for his efforts to give back to our entrepreneurial community and looking forward to getting to know him better in the months and years ahead!

Simple Energy Is Simply Elegant!

Simple Energy Mission

They say that great organizations are built around easy to understand, powerful, actionable and emotional missions.  If that is true, then Simple Energy is off to a good start.  Their mission (graphic left - click to expand) is not only compelling but according to Yoav Lurie and Justin Segall (the two founders who I met earlier this week) it is really working. 

Simple Energy has a simple product.  Their utility partners (like SDG&E and Pepco) pay them a fee to engage with the utility customer base on the utility's behalf to help those customers save energy.  That is a regulatory requirement so the utilities are motivated to do it and according to Simple Energy not very good at it.  Simple Energy pockets the cash and then provides three things to that customer base, (1) Energy Insights - data-driven micro-targeted messaging providing tips, insights and rewards for the customer in catchy, easy to understand emails and web engagement, (2) Energy Community - social competitions and leaderboards encouraging users to conserve and rewarding engagement, and (3) Energy Rewards - a marketplace for energy-related products and services that helps the user put their savings to work.

The key to their success is the third objective above.  In essence, the utility is paying Simple Energy a fee to sell that utility's customers (in a fully endorsed way) products using credits the customer obtained through conservation and/or product subsidies that come from the utility with the purchase of energy savings appliances, air conditioners, etc.  It is really an elegant model and Simple Energy seems to be doing a great job executing it.

We got their pitch as part of the Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network briefings and I was truly impressed.  Great to have such a creative group of folks right here in Boulder doing well by doing the right thing for the environment!

Sage Hughes - A Shining Star From CU Law

Sage Hughes graduation - CU Law School

Sage Hughes graduation - CU Law School

May 16, 2014 is a big day in the Gatz household (Julie Gatz is my invaluable assistant and Sage's mom) - a big day because today is the day that Sage graduates from CU law school.  That is a big day for anybody but it is especially important because of all Sage has already accomplished at CU and all she will undoubtedly accomplish in NYC.  She is headed to probably one of the most prestigious law firms in the entire country - Simpson, Thatcher. 

For 2015, Simpson Thacher was ranked #6 on The Vault's Top 100 Most Prestigious Law Firm Rankings, and #1 in Private Equity. The firm is also recognized in various other surveys, including Vault.com’s 2010 review of the 20 Best Law Firms to Work For.

The firm has relationships with private equity firms Blackstone Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, and it has longstanding ties to JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and the United States Department of the Treasury.

To have a CU grad headed to a firm with that kind of reputation is an incredible feather not only in Sage's cap but for CU Law School too.  Congrats to Sage and to Phil Weiser (the dean) for such great success!  I look forward to seeing all Sage with accomplish and to the other great talent that Phil and CU Law School are producing!

 

 

Blackstone Entreprenuer's Network Board

Senator Michael Bennet - Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network

On April 23, 2014, the Blackstone Charitable Foundation formally announced the donation of $4 million dollars to Silicon Flatirons (at the University of Colorado) to form the Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network of Colorado.  The gift and initiative was announced at an event featuring Governor John Hickenlooper, Senator Michael Bennet, University of Colorado President Bruce Benson, University of Colorado-Boulder Chancellor Phil DiStefano, Blackstone Charitable Foundation Executive Director Amy Stursberg, and The Blackstone Group Managing Director Jon Gray.

The Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network in Colorado (BEN Colorado) has a mission to strengthen and grow the networks across the aerospace, bioscience, digital/technology, energy, and natural foods sectors and will focus on the Boulder and Denver Metro Area regions initially but expand to include the entire state over time.

The vision is to combine Master Entrepreneurs and Advisors to open up important networks of influence to a select number of companies on the verge of rapidly 'scaling up'. The goal is to extend, expand, and connect the networks of experience and expertise in and outside of Colorado.

I have been asked to participate in this incredible project on the Steering Committee of the Advisory Board and I am greatly honored to be involved and grateful for the generous Blackstone contribution and their selection of Colorado as a place to implement the vision.

 

Tom Wheeler - A Peak At His Agenda For The FCC

Tom Wheeler, FCC Chairman

Had dinner with the FCC Chairman, Tom Wheeler, last night in Boulder, hosted by Phil Weiser (Silicon Flatirons).  In attendance were half a dozen Colorado entrepreneurial leaders.  The setting was informal and Chairman Wheeler was interested in hearing about issues the FCC should be concerned about from us and also interested in highlighting some of his agenda as the new Chairman.  

Chairman Wheeler has some of the standard background you would expect of an FCC Chairman - President of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association and a prominent cable and telecom lobbyist, but he also has an interesting background in venture and entrepreneurship and is quite well plugged into current technology trends, social media, etc.  He is also an extremely well informed and published historian (Take Command: Leadership Lessons of the Civil War (Doubleday, 2000) and Mr. Lincoln's T-Mails: The Untold Story of How Abraham Lincoln Used the Telegraph to Win the Civil War (HarperCollins, 2006), and many of his opinions seem to come from that extensive historical viewpoint. 

Unlike some of his predecessors, in his short time in that post he has already formed some strong positions on critical issues such as net neutrality.  Rather than seeing the federal appeals court decision last month to vacate the FCC’s 2010 Open Internet rules as a major setback, he feels that is actually a blessing in disguise as it allows the FCC now to re-craft policy around net neutrality that is broader and more comprehensive.  He told us we wouldn't have to wait long to get an idea of what he intends to do there.

He also seems to have a desire to be more collaborative with industry, preferring to call or visit with CEOs in cable or wireless to brainstorm ideas and solutions rather than the more traditional but ridged formal process around NPRMs, etc.  That would be a really welcome breath of fresh air.

It was great to get the chance to met him in a small setting and to hear first hand a little about his background and vision for the Commission.  It was also fantastic to hear about his extreme confidence in Phil Weiser and his policy contributions.  My gratitude to Phil for hosting the event for letting me be a part of it.

Gigi Sohn Appointed As Special Counsel for External Affairs - FCC

My friend Gigi Sohn is headed to the FCC.  Chairman Tom Wheeler today announced Gigi will serve as the Special Counsel for External Affairs at the FCC.  In my opinion, he could not have made a better choice.  Gigi has served since 2001 as the President and CEO of Public Knowledge and, from 2011-2013 as the Co-Chair of the board of directors of the Broadband Internet Technical Advisory Group (BITAG). She has served on the board of the Telecommunications Policy Research Conference (TPRC) and on the Advisory Board of the Center for Copyright Information. In 1997, President Clinton appointed Gigi to serve as a member of his Advisory Committee on the Public Interest Obligations of Digital Television Broadcasters.  Gigi is a tireless consumer advocate and should serve us well at the FCC. Good luck and keep up the great work Gigi!

Spoke To The Telecom Graduates In Boulder Last Week

Beautiful CU In the Fall

Always a treat to interact with the great students at the Masters Telecom Program at CU.  I was in Boulder last week speaking to over a hundred of the students in the program and I am always encouraged about the future of technology in our nation's youth when I am there.  I spoke about the roll of satellites in global telecommunications in general and highlighted the current competitive battle going on to dominate broadband on commercial airlines (between ViaSat and Gogo amongst others).  I got great questions and interest and a very nice email from every single student in the auditorium (which severely clogged my inbox but was a very nice gesture non-the-less).   Thanks to Jill Dupre, the Associate Director, for having me and thanks to everybody there for the very warm welcome!

Phil Weiser Named Dean Of CU Law School

Phil Weiser - Dean CU Law

Incredible news for Phil Weiser, for the University of Colorado, Silicon Flatirons and the state as well, as Phil is named Dean of the University of Colorado Law School.  Phil has been the senior adviser for technology and innovation to the National Economic Council at the While House and he will now be returning to Boulder.  I agree with the CU Provost Russell Moore who said Phil's credentials are impeccable, as he is a well-known, nationally recognized great legal mind.  He is also an incredible rainmaker for CU and our state and a networker extraordinaire.

 

I have known Phil for almost two decades and enjoyed working with him on everything from Silicon Flatirons to Governor Ritter's Innovation Council and am excited to have him back in Colorado!   Congrats, Phil, on you new appointment.  It could not have gone to a better person!

Speaking At The Cable Center Next Week

Cable Center - Denver, Colorado

Next week on October 4th I will be speaking on Disruptive Innovation and a Changing Technological Environment at the Cable Center in conjunction with a conference focused on the technological dynamics, economic forces and business issues, as well as public policy and social implications of the shift from broadcast (multicast) to video-anywhere (unicast).  Should be a great event.

Phil Weiser appointed as White House Senior Advisor for Technology and Innovation

A huge congratulations for my good friend, Phil Weiser, who was recently named as the Senior Advisor for Technology and Innovation to the National Economic Council Director at the While House.  He has spent the last year as the Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the DOJ - Antitrust Division and now gets even closer to the flame.  I got to know Phil while he was on the CU Law School faculty before joining the DOJ and through Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology and Entrepreneurship (which he founded). 

Phil Weiser - White House Senior Advisor

Before going to Washington to aid the Obama Administration, Phil has been at CU for over a decade where he worked to establish a national center of excellence in telecommunications and technology law.  He is a networker extraordinaire and a prolific author - having written a number of books includingThe Jury and Democracy: How Jury Deliberation Promotes Civic Engagement and Political Participation; Telecommunications Law and Policy; and Digital Crossroads: American Telecommunications Policy in the Internet Age amongst others.  He is extremely smart and will serve us very well in the White House.

I have missed seeing Phil around CU over the past year while in Washington and I guess this will only prolong that but the Administration could not have picked a better person!

ViaSat To Buy Internet Provider WildBlue for $568M

In an article in the Wall Street Journal today, ViaSat announced the purchase of WildBlue for $568M buying out existing shareholders Liberty Media, Intelsat, Kleiner Perkins and the NRTC.  WildBlue now has over 400,000 subscribers and has been growing rapidly but is capacity constrained and this deal paves the way for an expansion of the service using new ViaSat technology, including the ViaSat-1 satellite scheduled to launch in early 2011. 

The two companies have worked together for over ten years and this acquisition is a great thing for both sides.  By joining forces, the two companies will be able to reduce long-term costs and risk of expanding Internet access via satellite and brings a great combination of scaled services and terrific brand name at WildBlue together with technology creation expertise at ViaSat.

Obama Appoints Don Gips Ambassador to South Africa

Don Gips

President Obama announced today his appointment of my great friend, Don Gips as Ambassador to South Africa.  Don has been out of the public sector for awhile at Level3 but having raised over $500k during the campaign and serving on the President's transition team advisory board this is a well deserved and expected appointment.  Don is an incredibly talented public servant clear back to the late 1990s when he was Vice President Al Gore's Chief Domestic Policy Advisor and he also put in a stint as the chief of the FCC international bureau amongst many other incredible accomplishments.

Although I will sure miss hanging out with you Don, I couldn't be more happy for you and your new adventure!  Congrats on your appointment and on a job well done.

Dr. Mark Cooper - Director Of Research at the Consumer Federation of America

Dr. Mark Cooper - Consumer Federation Of America

Dr. Mark Cooper - Consumer Federation Of America

Finally had the chance to get to know Mark Cooper one on one last week.  He is the Director of Research at the Consumer Federation of America, and is an extremely intelligent, hard driving, tireless advocate for consumers particularly in the areas of telecom, energy and high tech.  I have been on the other side of issues with Mark a handful of times and he can be as tenacious as a bulldog if he feels the consumer is being harmed. 

He is also always a very worthy opponent and has provided expert testimony in over 250 cases for public interest clients including Attorneys General, People’s Counsels, and citizen interveners before state and federal agencies, courts and legislators in almost four dozen jurisdictions in the U.S. and Canada.

I learned he is a prolific author and has written dozens of books including; The Case Against Media Consolidation (Donald McGannon Center for Communications Research 2006), Open Architecture as Communications Policy (Center for Internet and Society, 2004), and Cable Mergers and Monopolies: Market Power in Digital Media and Communications Networks (Economic Policy Institute, 2002).

I am never happy to be on opposite sides of an argument with Mark but fortunately he is human and not always right (giving big business some chance), but as a consumer we could not ask for a better advocate.  Mark has dedicated his life to being a loud and effective voice for consumer rights and we are lucky to have him doing a great job in that position. 
 

Speaking At Colorado Entrepreneurs Week Event Next Week

Next week on April 16th, I have been asked to speak on Identifying Disruptive Technologies at Silicon Flatirons, following the Governor's Keynote in conjunction with Colorado Entrepreneurs Week.  It should be a great event, focused on creating the "entrepreneurial ecosystem," and examining how such an ecosystem facilitates innovation. In particular, the conference will evaluate the ingredients that enable a local community to develop an entrepreneurial culture and reach a critical mass of inventive activity, and evaluate how entrepreneurs are able to recognize what inventions truly matter--i.e., are "disruptive" in the sense that they can make a big impact on an established market.

These are really important questions and I hope you can join us for the debate.

Bag Borrow or Steal Lands The Role of a Lifetime – WSJ

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As the Wall Street Journal reported today, when Sex and the City's Carrie Bradshaw endorses a product people notice.  Now, with luck that will spill over to Bag Borrow or Steal, who is hoping that an unexpected snippet of dialogue in the new "Sex and the City" movie - due out May 30, will be just the big boost our business needs.  Execs at BBoS say that in one line in the movie, Carrie's assistant, played by actress Jennifer Hudson, admits to Carrie (played by Sarah Jessica Parker), that she "borrows" her pricey handbags from Bag Borrow or Steal, instead of buying them.  When Carrie Bradshaw scampered through Manhattan in Manolo Blahnik stilettos, women across the country bought them in droves and when the four ladies in the show talked about how much they like Cosmopolitans, the cocktail's popularity skyrocketed.  Maybe just the endorsement we need.

Silicon Flatirons Board

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One of the coolest things going on in Boulder and at CU around telecom policy, entrepreneurship and technology is the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology and Entrepreneurship.  The group is run by the iconic Phil Weiser and has a core mission to elevate the debate surrounding technology policy issues; support and enable entrepreneurship in the technology community, and inspire, prepare, and place students in these important areas. The mission statement truly undermines the incredible contribution this group is making not only at CU but throughout Colorado and in our nation's Capital as well. 

I have been asked to serve on the Advisory Board of this incredibly important program and am honored to be included and special thanks to Phil Weiser for his vision and all his hard work on pulling this together.

WaveBender Announces Closing of $2.0M of Venture Debt

Dedi Array Antenna - WaveBender, Inc.

WaveBender, Inc. announces the closing of a $2.0 million of venture debt financing with Western Technology Investment.

The funding adds to the $4.5M of equity capital already raised by the company and will allow the company to commercialize its ground breaking flat panel antenna technology initially targeting the satellite TV (DBS) reception market.  The company’s growing product line is centered around patent pending innovation in the fundamental physics of radio frequency antenna reception.  ”We are very impressed with the technological innovation, the market potential and the team at WaveBender” said Brian Best an Investment Partner at WTI.  “This is the kind of investment that we like to make.”

WaveBender, Inc. Announces The Filing of Four Additional Patents

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Dedi Haziza, WaveBender's CTO continues to innovate and the company announced the filing of four additional patents adding depth to the company's extensive patent pool.  The new patent apps focus on enhancing the benefits of the construction of flat panel antenna systems including:

  • Passive Geometry - unlike traditional flat antenna systems that rely on high cost, inefficient active electronics, Dedi Array antennas are very simple and rely solely on passive geometric structures.

  • High Efficiency - Traditional high cost active-component phased array antennas exhibit very low efficiencies particularly as the antenna grows in size.  The Dedi Array antennas relying solely on passive geometry created from air and metal yields very high efficiency structures (80% efficient) that means reduced size for a given performance criteria.

  • Wildband Application - The Dedi Array is scalable across all applicable communications technology frequency bands from 1MHz to 100GHz, and a single Dedi Array antenna can typically provide reception to frequency bands spanning 40-50%.

  • Multi-Beam Forming Capability - The Dedi Array technology can form multi-beams with high discrimination across a single frequency band or across multiple frequency bands simultaneously.  

  • Low Cost, High Volume Manufacturing - These antennas are constructed of simple materials (plastic, metal) with high volume manufacturing tolerances yielding the ability to address a number of low cost consumer electronics product applications.