Good stuff. My only objection is, as a hiring manager, I don't really care what format the resume is in. With me, candidates can use a text file, word or a napkin if it's clear. Just help me understand your education, career track, any key projects and passions.
Good post.. But I do think this general line of argument is a bit one sided. IMO there's just no one size that fits all. Some things have more R&D up front and that costs cash, others less so. Each business needs to try to figure out a reasonable tradeoff of how much needs to be done before entering the market.
Ha. How would consultants make their money if this was easier to figure out?
It's natural for any smart person to ask "Why would someone who sells energy want to drive energy efficiency?."
The short version is utility spending on energy efficiency is largely driven by 2 key factors - one is regulation and the other is capital deferral.
On the regulation side, it's 31 flavors... E.g. you have decoupling, renewable portfolio standards which have efficiency components, efficiency portfolio standards, mandates to target all cost effective savings (e.g. WA), etc... Some flavor of this applies to about 35 of the 50 states.
On the capital deferral side, it's more about a utility getting more rate payers on the same capital assets. Turns out it's not easy to permit a new coal based power plant. So more users on existing plant may mean less revenue but more profit depending on the circumstances. In some markets (e.g. FL) the utility commission lets the utility charge consumers for conservation programs. So in these case, the utility has effectively marginal CGS/OPEX on a program which drives up profitability.
What is really cool is that the $10k can often reduce a home's POWER demand by 30%.
Pricing varies, but this gets to around $0.12-$0.5/kW. BUT. That's kW not kWH (e.g power, not energy). So the power demand reduction translates to energy savings for the lifetime of the building or systems in it..
This post helps raise some of the issues. I agree with webwright that it's just one factor though. It seems like considering pre money valuation as an output aligns you with the kind of thinking on the other side of the table - though I'm not an investor so can't really say.
That said, the big one seems to be finding an investment partner that you really like, that will be there through the ups and downs and who has well aligned motives.
Either way, what I can say from experience is that it is very useful to understand how the math works backwards and forwards. Investors go through this many more times then we do as entrepreneurs. So the better you understand the financial administration aspect of raising money the easier time you'll have when the conversation goes there. And you do want it to go there.
Joe seems to be one of those hybrid hungry entrepreneur types that happens to have an MBA. I went through the same debate and decided to skip the MBA, but I have friends that went Joe's route and it can clearly work. So in the end, it's more about the person and whether they have the stuff and circumstances than any particular degree - at least imo.