It's nearly impossible to succeed as an energy startup without a little help from some friends and partners. It's always challenging to perfect a new technology, launch a product and secure early customers in any market. In energy sectors, these challenges are amplified given the enormous investment in existing assets and infrastructure, well-established incumbents, regulation, and processes that place a premium on high reliability and minimizing risk. One step founders can take to begin navigating these waters is recruiting a high-quality advisory board that they engage actively. In many startups, advisory boards are really just a list of folks who've lent their name in exchange for a little equity to help the company establish credibility with investors or other external partners. In practice, this sort of “passive” advisory relationship rarely benefits the company and is often a real missed opportunity for founders.
I'm pleased that in the past few months I've seen the team at Alphabet Energy assemble and begin to actively engage a diverse group of experts as advisors who are helping in the areas of technology, product and market development. On October 19 Alphabet announced the addition of Robert McFarlane, former US National Security Advisor who also serves on the board of the American Counsel on renewable energy. Alphabet has enormous opportunities to deploy its products in national security applications and waste heat is not yet a prominent part of many policy discussions on renewables. In the past month Alphabet announced the additions of both Dr. Lon Bell, a visionary founder of Amerigon and world expert in the field of thermoelectric, and Dr. Graham Fisher, Chief Scientist at MEMC and an expert at introducing and manufacturing new silicon-based devices. In addition, Alphabet has added Eric Ries, a successful entrepreneur and pioneer of the “lean startup” movement to help Alphabet continue of lean startup methodologies and product strategy in a “fat” sector like energy.
I'm thrilled by the ground-breaking work that Alphabet is doing. Now I'm really looking forward to what the company can accomplish with this tremendous group of advisors to help us push ahead even faster.
October 18, 2011 source: PRWeb
Mr. McFarlane sees the potential of thermoelectric waste-heat recovery to improve both the US economy and the country's energy security.
Alphabet Energy Inc., maker of thermoelectric materials for waste-heat recovery, has named Robert C. McFarlane as a strategic advisor. Mr. McFarlane, a recognized authority on the importance of energy security to a nation's political and economic stability, has championed the development of renewable and alternate energy sources as viable competitors to petroleum, which today powers 97 percent of all air, sea land and transportation in the United States. He also sits on the board of advisors of the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) and the Myriant Corporation, a Boston-based bio-chemical company.
“Energy is fundamental to the growth of all nations, from developing countries to the United States, so it's essential that we develop technologies to enable us to use it more efficiently,” said Robert C. MacFarlane. “Waste heat is an important national energy resource, and Alphabet Energy's technology offers the potential to capture and harness it for power generation. This has applications in both industrial settings domestically, and can provide developing countries with the means to achieve greater energy security.” …
Read the full press release at PRWeb