Comments for The Green Light Distrikt

Comment on The Polarization of Energy by Aaron Desatnik

Aaron Desatnik — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 14:01:00 +0000

Finally, someone “gets it”:
AccelPAC is a new voice supporting champions – at the local, state, and federal level – that are dedicated to diversifying American energy sources, promoting regional economic development, and fostering a positive environment for business.With partisanship at an all time high, AccelPAC is building support for leaders who display the political courage to move the country forward on energy policy in the face of these mounting partisan pressures.We are business leaders across the energy sector and the nation who support a rational energy vision that utilizes the full diversity of resources and technologies that exist in this country to create a better, more secure energy future. – AccelPAC

Comment on 5 Common Problems with Cleantech Prototyping and How to Solve Them by Chris Williams

Chris Williams — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 20:31:00 +0000

Manesh,

Glad you liked the post. Thanks for the comment! Keep up to date with Ethan, he’s going to be taking over the world someday!

Chris

Comment on 5 Common Problems with Cleantech Prototyping and How to Solve Them by Mahesh

Mahesh — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 03:49:00 +0000

_excellent_ post! ”
prototyping is fundamentally a project management exercise” is worth its weight in gold.

Comment on How to Leverage Data to Increase Clean Tech Sales by Aaron Desatnik

Aaron Desatnik — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 02:04:00 +0000

Chris, I think that’s right. Consumers and businesses are different in terms of priorities, and while I think there is room for innovation in B2B, it’s a harder case to make than consumers with discretionary income. Marketing still has a critical role to play, in terms of getting in front of potential clients, but you can’t convince a business to buy something they don’t need.

In terms of a new technology that you don’t know who your target is, I’m of the opinion that you’d have to be an idiot (pardon my French) to develop a product without a target group in mind. How can you imagine selling something without understanding how it will meet an unmet need? I think a lot of entrepreneurs make this mistake (especially in the Internet company space), and it usually proves a critical mistake. This is especially true in finding an early adopters that can hold up sales until you can scale up to a broader demographic. James, I’m curious both about your techniques as well as the new start up. Do share, even in a paragraph. No blog post necessary if you don’t have time.

Comment on How to Leverage Data to Increase Clean Tech Sales by Chris Williams

Chris Williams — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 01:01:00 +0000

Aaron,

Interesting point. What I take away from it is that data for data sake is essentially useless. Unless you understand the ‘why?’ question in the data your searching for a have a hypothesis before you start collecting data, you may reverse engineer conclusions based on correlations.

Regarding cleantech specific companies, I feel that specific marketing strategies, and what advice you should follow, depend heavily on where you are in the supply chain, who your customer is, etc.

For consumer products, customers may not know what they want.

For B2B sales, this is less likely to be true.

If you’re selling a commodity in a better, faster, cheaper way, marketing may have even less impact.

I find the hypothesis and data (both metric and anecdote) to be especially useful when you have a new technology and may not know exactly who your customer is, then simply getting any data because a chore and key for customer development.

Chris

Comment on How to Leverage Data to Increase Clean Tech Sales by James Byrne

James Byrne — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 11:12:00 +0000

Great post Aaron, I have been recently working on the techniques used by the likes of Steve Jobs and co, to discover those “jobs-to-be-done” that customers don’t realise exist or the small things that we do everyday for which there is a work around. The greatest opportunities are offered by offering solutions for these currently unrealised issues. It maybe very complementary if I write a blog on these techniques, however just began working at a new start-up so things are a little hectic at the moment.

Comment on How to Grow Electric Vehicle Sales by How to Leverage Data to Increase Clean Tech Sales | The Green Light Distrikt

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 15:49:56 +0000

[...] last month’s post “How to Grow Electric Vehicle Sales”, I discussed the importance of understanding your target customers so you can successfully market [...]

Comment on To College Students: If You’re into Green Just Get your Foot in the Door by Chris Williams

Chris Williams — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:42:56 +0000

Thank you

Comment on To College Students: If You’re into Green Just Get your Foot in the Door by Planet Green

Planet Green — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 14:43:00 +0000

Great article.

Comment on Green Light Distrikt in 2012 – Can We Increase the Velocity to $1 for Cleantech Companies? by Aaron Desatnik

Aaron Desatnik — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:51:00 +0000

Chris, thanks for starting this conversation. I hope many others chime in and also become members.

One change for our definition of cleantech, I wouldn’t focus just on reducing pollution, but also to talk about how cleantech can drive economic growth through lower-polluting energy sources. Framing it in terms of economic growth, at least to me, is immensely important. We’re about creating profit, creating jobs, creating growth through cleantech. That’s how I think about it.