Lara Abrams Communications

The Clean Tech Accelerator

Thursday, March 27th, 2008

I had the opportunity to speak recently with Paula Rhoades, the Managing Director of the Clean Tech Group’s Clean Tech Accelerator.

As someone who thinks about business development generally most of my daily grind, understanding how the Clean Tech Group planned to play with the Accelerator concept was something I wanted to get a grip on, which prompted my call to Paula. If executed correctly, from what I can tell, this program could potentially really help forge some interesting and valuable ties. I’m actually quite fascinated to see this play out. I can tell you that the most rewarding thing there is when you’re doing business development for companies is seeing the connections happen, and the positive outcomes that can be created from such a simple thing as, for example, introducing one person to another, one company to another, knowing that the commonalities between them will create a win-win for both sides. It’s a very exciting and rewarding process to be a part of, so I’m sure it’s not without a little excitement that Paula sits in her seat at the Accelerator.

The Accelerator itself grew out of the original steps taken by the Clean Tech Group: the Group didn’t charge anything to clean tech companies seeking funding who wanted to distribute information to potential investors. The concept was then expanded further, and formalized into what we see now with the Accelerator, with Walmart as the first company to test the Accelerator program. In putting the Accelerator program in place, and with the first 7 projects already posted, a cadre of researchers, writers, and team-members with an eye to the market for potential investments at their fingertips, as well as the networking capability to reach out and find almost any resources that are needed, the Clean Tech Group has positioned itself, via the Accelerator, to enable large-scale business development projects to move forward in a very real way. Charging a flat rate fee (no commission) for large corporate clients and governments who request the assistance of the Accelerator, the team within the Accelerator will go into companies like Walmart, and work with them to identify what issues they need help with regarding sustainability, and then parse that information back out in the form of statements to interested vendors. The vendors interested in being considered for qualification on potential projects can then submit a response. It’s not exactly an “RFP” process, but in essence, it is on a certain level, as there is a lot of research, both behind the scenes and onsite at client companies, that eventually goes into the process of ‘match-making’.

Does the Group appear well-positioned to be able to execute on this? From the outside, yes. Is it a surprise to see this model pop out of the Group? No. As probably almost every head of sustainability, or green guru in corporate America will likely tell you — they’re swamped. No one has enough time to tackle every green/clean tech business development initiative that’s been put on their desk, and certainly it’s also true that a lot of these clean tech ventures are growing ventures, a lot of them very young companies. What they need is a team that has access to the resources, money, and interested customers. And interestingly, the Clean Tech Group pretty much has that at least theoretically wrapped up with their model. So, theoretically, the Accelerator should, as a “system” facilitate exactly that — accelerated action, speeding cleantech solutions to waiting customers.

The most important take-away as far as I can tell? Sign up. This appears to be a great opportunity. Paula will tell you that you have nothing to lose if you have something that a waiting Accelerator client needs. And if either you as a company aren’t quite ready, need more funding, or need more resources – the Group could probably lend you a hand with at least a piece of that. It remains to be seen how effective the Accelerator will really be, but it’s great to see such a proactive step taken within the industry. Those organizations that do end up using the Accelerator as the channel it’s meant to be will likely also benefit from it.

What will likely really enrich the Accelerator team over time is if they put together and keep a top-notch business development staff. They must remain adept at knowing what connections to make and how, and with whom, and if they can do that over the long haul, this Accelerator program could be a real, and strong business development resource for at least some time to come for those organizations in the clean tech and renewable energy sectors.

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Contact Lara Abrams

To contact Lara, please email her at lara@laraabrams.com or call 415 613 1704.