5 Reasons Why Cleantech Business Plans Fail to Attract Funding

2GreenEnergy’s editor and senior business analyst Craig Shields knows that he’s signing up for an awful lot of unpaid work, but he doesn’t seem to mind.  “I know some of these plans will be good, solid opportunities, where I can play a major role in raising investment capital and developing the enterprise. Everyone wins.” he said. 

Shields, whose clients have included IBM, H-P, AT&T, FedEx, Sony, 3M, Porsche, GM, Microsoft, ABB, Philips Electronics, Magnavox, Mitsubishi, Pioneer Electronics, Oracle, and 3Com, is a self-described “big picture guy.” He doesn’t have too much patience for long-winded business plans, but he’s very happy to look at concepts at a 50,000-foot level. “It takes me just a few seconds to wrap my wits around the highlights, and determine if I can help,” he continues.  “Sometimes I can do exactly that, by tapping into relationships that I maintain with VCs, angels, private equity, and institutional investors.”

Interested parties should go here:

http://2greenenergy.com/contact/

Send a short description—perhaps just a 50- or 100-word description.  Just make sure to nail down what Shields calls the “Big Five” – the criteria that must be in place to make a business idea appealing.  Show that you have a solution that:

BIG FIVE

1.    If adopted, will make a large difference in our world, i.e., if it’s not obvious, demonstrate that the total market is significant.

2.    Is working in the laboratory – or at least doesn’t rely on unproven concepts or new laws of physics.  (Note:  Shields doesn’t need the full details, or to understand the “secret sauce.”  But, as he notes, “The fact that the recipe for CocaCola and the algorithms used by Google are closely guarded secrets wouldn’t prevent a discussion about soft drinks or search engines.”)

3.    Can scale; show that there is no reason based in engineering or economics that the solution cannot be deployed cost-effectively at its ultimate scale.

4.    Has some competitive barrier to entry, either in terms of meaningful IP protection or some other credible mechanism.

5.    Is supported by a bright, proven team.  Shields says, “I have to believe that you guys are smarter than other people aspiring to to solve the same problem.”

“I can’t promise that I’ll fall in love with your idea; in fact, that would run decidedly counter to my history in this space,” Shields quips.  “I resonate with only a couple of percent of the concepts I review.”  But he does promise prompt and honest feedback.  And you’ll find it hard to beat the price; he’ll happily do this free of charge.