MIT Enterprise Forum

Apr 18, 2007

Lessons Learned in the Lessons Learned in the Entrepreneurial TrenchesEntrepreneurial Trenches

Copyright 2007 REGEN Energy Inc.

Mark Kerbel, CEO

2© 2007 REGEN Energy Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Let your equipment work as a team tolower peak electrical demand

600KW 400K

W

3© 2007 REGEN Energy Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Picture the benefits of a self-organizing, low-cost peak demand technology…

4© 2007 REGEN Energy Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Need to stand out from the crowd

• Incremental improvements don’t lead to large

businesses

• …but everyone’s a skeptic: Departures from

conventional wisdom need to be managed: early

adopters, independent verification

5© 2007 REGEN Energy Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Simplify, simplify, simplify

Your friends

• Product: Features, benefits

• Milestones: Focus on few

• Operations: Stick to the core

• Your Thinking: Undergo

continuous refinement

Your enemies

• Complexity

• Time & cash flow

• Distractions, perfection

• Your own stubbornness

6© 2007 REGEN Energy Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Funding: Customers, Investors, Gov’t

• Everyone’s busy Initial Enthusiasm ≠ Funding

• You will always be more excited about your product than any one else

• Value chain (Customer -> intermediaries -> you) is more subtle than you think

• “It’s who you know, not…”: Project champions are the key to closing deals

7© 2007 REGEN Energy Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Public Funding

• “1st time” = “at least 9-12 months”

• Assumes complementary private investment

• Programs always changing (esp. with elections)

8© 2007 REGEN Energy Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Investor Funding• Assume they won’t understand your technology, only

its benefits and marketability

• Your credibility is key: be realistic and sincere

• Investors “looking for checkmarks”

• Investors often work in the same space and think

similarly => they look for a trusted lead

9© 2007 REGEN Energy Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Recommended Reading

• Innovators Solution, by Christensen & Raynor

• The Art of the Start, by Kawasaki

• Blue Ocean Strategy, by Kim & Mauborgne