{"id":13725,"date":"2013-03-13T12:54:18","date_gmt":"2013-03-13T16:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/?p=13725"},"modified":"2013-03-13T12:54:18","modified_gmt":"2013-03-13T16:54:18","slug":"from-black-gold-to-green-economy-long-time-entrepreneur-talks-new-markets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/2013\/03\/13\/from-black-gold-to-green-economy-long-time-entrepreneur-talks-new-markets\/","title":{"rendered":"From Black Gold To Green Economy: Long-Time Entrepreneur Talks New Markets"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_13773\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 274px;\"><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"Steve Owens is making his third foray into energy-related entrepreneurship.\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2013\/03\/Altered-Steve-Owens-Portrait.jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13773\" title=\"Steve owens Portrait\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2013\/03\/Altered-Steve-Owens-Portrait-274x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"274\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2013\/03\/Altered-Steve-Owens-Portrait-274x300.jpg 274w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2013\/03\/Altered-Steve-Owens-Portrait-620x676.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2013\/03\/Altered-Steve-Owens-Portrait.jpg 1023w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 274px) 100vw, 274px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Amanda Loder \/ StateImpact New Hampshire<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Steve Owens is making his third foray into energy-related entrepreneurship.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>It&#8217;s been three years since the <a title=\"Green Launching Pad\" href=\"http:\/\/greenlaunchingpad.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Green Launching Pad<\/a> initiative was started at the <a title=\"University of New Hampshire\" href=\"http:\/\/unh.edu\" target=\"_blank\">University of New Hampshire<\/a> with $1.5 million in federal stimulus money.\u00a0 The goal of the project was to fund and support the state&#8217;s most promising, eco-friendly start-ups, and enhance New Hampshire&#8217;s <a title=\"A Guide To NH's Growing Green Economy\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/tag\/green-economy\/\" target=\"_blank\">green economy<\/a> in the long term.\u00a0 Under federal rules, the GLP was required to use all of the money by last spring.\u00a0 While the program is raising money to privatize, it&#8217;s been a year since it has handed out any grants.\u00a0 Last week, we checked-in with the <a title=\"Three Years Later: The Progress And Challenges Of The Green Launching Pad\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/2013\/03\/06\/three-years-later-the-progress-and-challenges-of-the-green-launching-pad\/\" target=\"_blank\">Green Launching Pad<\/a> itself, and one of its biggest success stories, Portsmouth-based <a title=\"Renewable Energy Entrepreneur Talks Benefits, Challenges Of Going Green In N.H.\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/2013\/03\/05\/renewable-energy-entrepreneur-talks-benefits-challenges-of-going-green-in-n-h\/\" target=\"_blank\">Revolution Energy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Revolution Energy\" href=\"http:\/\/www.rev-en.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Revolution Energy<\/a> has the feel of a new start-up&#8211;young environmentalists-turned-businessmen wearing the jeans, t-shirts, and hoodies that have become visual short-hand for 21st century innovation culture.\u00a0 But an hour&#8217;s drive southwest takes you to a very different, but no less successful, <a title=\"How The Green Launching Pad Works\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/tag\/green-launching-pad\/\" target=\"_blank\">Green Launching Pad<\/a> company.\u00a0 <a title=\"EnerTrac\" href=\"http:\/\/www.enertrac.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">EnerTrac<\/a> in Hudson has seen dramatic growth since winning a $20,000 GLP grant in the first round of funding.\u00a0 With more than 20 years of experience with start-ups, and wearing a dark sport coat, EnerTrac founder and CEO Steve Owens fits more into the classic mold of of an entrepreneur.\u00a0 A few months ago, he moved his company into permanent office space at a nondescript business park.\u00a0 Inside, the business looks ready to expand, with its white walls, open floor space, and rack of promotional t-shirts hanging up behind the reception desk.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>StateImpact caught up with Owens to discuss the Green Launching Pad, energy-based entrepreneurship, and the psychology of successful entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"question\"><span class=\"abbr\">Q: <\/span>What does your company do?<\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\"><span class=\"abbr\"><div class=\"related-content alignright\"><h4 class=\"related-header\">Related<\/h4><div class=\"links\"><h5>Posts<\/h5><ul><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/2013\/03\/05\/renewable-energy-entrepreneur-talks-benefits-challenges-of-going-green-in-n-h\/\">Renewable Energy Entrepreneur Talks Benefits, Challenges Of Going Green In N.H.<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/2012\/05\/07\/stimulus-funding-dries-up-for-eco-biz-incubator\/\">Stimulus Funding Dries Up For Eco-Biz Incubator<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/2012\/01\/23\/how-a-start-up-incubator-is-racing-against-the-clock-to-create-jobs\/\">How A Start-Up Incubator Is Racing Against The Clock To Create Jobs<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/2012\/01\/25\/stateimpact-talks-job-growth-and-the-green-launching-pad\/\">StateImpact Talks Job Growth And The Green Launching Pad<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/2011\/07\/29\/nh-green-jobs-growth-picture-unclear\/\">NH Green Jobs Growth Picture Unclear<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div><div class=\"topics\"><h5>Topics<\/h5><p class=\"topic\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2012\/01\/2431794477_263d4c5acc-60x60.jpg\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/topic\/green-launching-pad\/\">How The Green Launching Pad Works<\/a><\/p><p class=\"topic\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2012\/01\/3036254720_052d0020cc-60x60.jpg\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/topic\/officeofenergyandplanning\/\">Inside The Office Of Energy And Planning<\/a><\/p><p class=\"topic\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2011\/07\/386108144_94112a950d-60x60.jpg\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/topic\/green-economy\/\">A Guide To NH&#8217;s Growing Green Economy<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div>A: <\/span>\u201cWe are an M2M company.\u00a0 That stands for &#8216;Machine To Machine.&#8217;\u00a0 So we make devices that tell the status of different things that are out in the field back to another machine, which is really a computer system.\u00a0 It then uses that information to create efficiencies about how to deliver, when to go, how to route things, etc.<\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\">An example of that would be if you have a propane tank, we sell a monitor that goes on the propane tank, so the dealer gets that information, instead of delivering based on a guess of when you need propane, he delivers exactly when you need propane.\u00a0 That saves him a lot of money, because he\u2019s going to your house less often, saves the environment because he\u2019s driving the truck a lot less often.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\"><span class=\"abbr\">Q: <\/span><strong>When did you start this company?<\/strong><span class=\"abbr\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\"><span class=\"abbr\">A: <\/span>\u201cIt was officially started in 2006, when a guy who owned a fuel oil company came to me and said, &#8216;I need to know how much is in all my fuel tanks.&#8217; And I said, essentially, &#8216;That sounds pretty easy, we\u2019ll do this, we\u2019ll do that, we\u2019ll do the other thing.&#8217;\u00a0 And he says, &#8216;Well how much will each one cost?&#8217;\u00a0 And I said, &#8216;Well, you know, maybe a hundred bucks, maybe $150.&#8217;\u00a0 He said, &#8216;No, you don\u2019t understand.\u00a0 I need this to cost $25 apiece.&#8217;\u00a0 And that was the genesis, if you will, of the whole company.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"question\"><span class=\"abbr\">Q: <\/span>How did you get into this field?<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_13854\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 300px;\"><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"Earlier in his career, Owens focused on subsea wells\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2013\/03\/992914260_823b9dd451.jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13854\" title=\"Oil Rig\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2013\/03\/992914260_823b9dd451-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2013\/03\/992914260_823b9dd451-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2013\/03\/992914260_823b9dd451.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">tsuda \/ Flickr Creative Commons<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Earlier in his career, Owens focused on subsea wells<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"answer\"><span class=\"abbr\">A: <\/span>&#8220;I do have an engineering background.\u00a0 I\u2019m sort of what they call a serial entrepreneur.\u00a0 The first company was called PES.\u00a0 It is now called <a title=\"Halliburton: Intelligent Compeletions\" href=\"http:\/\/www.halliburton.com\/ps\/Default.aspx?navid=825&amp;pageid=2018\" target=\"_blank\">WellDynamics<\/a>, and they renamed it after we sold it [to <a title=\"Halliburton\" href=\"http:\/\/www.halliburton.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Halliburton<\/a>].\u00a0 And a second company was called <a title=\"Welltronics\" href=\"http:\/\/www.welltronics.com\/c.php?p=1\" target=\"_blank\">Welltronics<\/a>, which we sold to <a title=\"National Oilwell Varco\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nov.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">National<\/a> Oilwell Varco.<\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\">[PES] used what\u2019s called a remote control, or &#8220;smart well,&#8221; which is a way to\u00a0 reconfigure a sub-sea well.\u00a0 They change over time and they need certain well intervention measures.\u00a0 In sub-sea wells, the well is on the sea floor.\u00a0 So it\u2019s not a matter of pulling up there with a truck and just getting in the well.\u00a0 It\u2019s extremely expensive.\u00a0 In fact, basically, it\u2019s impossible.\u00a0 So by having a remote control well system, we were able to do this well intervention remotely, not having to reenter the well with tools, but by pushing buttons on a computer.\u00a0 Wells before were not candidates for production, because they were too deep, and you couldn\u2019t use sub-sea technology because would require well intervention too often, and that would be too costly.\u00a0 So suddenly all these fields opened up as a result of that smart well technology.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"question\"><span class=\"abbr\">Q: <\/span>What was so exciting to you about breaking into the M2M world with EnerTrac?<\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\"><span class=\"abbr\">A: <\/span>\u201cTo me, technology is exciting, period, for its own sake.\u00a0 But you know, maybe a better question is, is why did I decide to get into this versus everything else?\u00a0 And it\u2019s because I personally look for inflection points, which is points in the technology where costs are radically falling.\u00a0 Because what we\u2019re doing&#8211;i.e. using wireless technology to measure things&#8211;that\u2019s not new.\u00a0 People have been doing that for 50 years, at least.\u00a0 But whereas 10 years ago, that might cost several hundred dollars per site, today we can do that for a few dollars per site.<\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\"><span class=\"abbr\"><\/span><span class=\"abbr\"><\/span><span class=\"abbr\"><\/span><span class=\"abbr\"><\/span><span class=\"abbr\">Q: <\/span><strong>Can you describe the growth of EnerTrac since you started?<\/strong><span class=\"abbr\"><\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_13858\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 300px;\"><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"Owens says M2M cuts down on carbon emissions by making fuel delivery more efficient\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2013\/03\/2914384178_a786bdc554.jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13858\" title=\"Round Propane Tanks\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2013\/03\/2914384178_a786bdc554-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2013\/03\/2914384178_a786bdc554-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2013\/03\/2914384178_a786bdc554.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Rennett Stowe \/ Flickr Creative Commons<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Owens says M2M cuts down on carbon emissions by making fuel delivery more efficient<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"answer\"><span class=\"abbr\">A: <\/span>&#8220;Two years ago we had less than 500 units.\u00a0 Now we have 40,000 of them, and will probably go over 100,000 this year.\u00a0 So yeah, it\u2019s growing very, very rapidly, which is more a comment about the overall M2M market than it is about EnerTrac. Because this is an exploding market.<\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\">We\u2019re focusing on the low-cost, low-bandwidth M2M field. So getting it at a point where it\u2019s affordable is really where we shine.\u00a0 We can do this for fractions of the cost, you know, 10 times less, 100 times less than a lot of other M2M providers.\u00a0 They may have some fancy sensor or something like that that\u2019s very valuable in a certain niche market, but if you simply need a few data points per day, and the sensors are very simple, then that\u2019s sort of our sweet spot, if you will.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"question\"><span class=\"abbr\">Q: <\/span>So when the Green Launching Pad comes along, where were you in the development of your company at that point?<\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\"><span class=\"abbr\">A: <\/span>\u201cWe were pretty far along.\u00a0 We were still self-funded, and had a few angel investors in the company.\u00a0 But we hadn\u2019t gotten VC [venture capital] money.\u00a0 We had a product, it worked, we had deployed a few of them, we had done a lot of test marketing, and we were at the point where we concluded that, hey, we could make money with this!\u00a0 That was when we first heard about Green Launching Pad.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"question\"><span class=\"abbr\">Q: <\/span>In terms of your development, what was the GLP\u2019s role?<\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\"><span class=\"abbr\">A: <\/span>\u201cI think there were several roles.\u00a0 They did offer a lot of support from the University of New Hampshire.\u00a0 So we got a lot of students helping us to build the business, everything from doing analysis to building websites, etc.<\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\"><div class=\"module pull-quote right half\"> &#8220;The demand for M2M is outstripping the supply.\u00a0 And it\u2019s as if nobody has anything to eat, and you\u2019re the only one who has a restaurant.&#8221;&#8211;EnerTrac Founder and CEO Steve Owens <\/div>You know, credibility is a big thing, especially for a very early stage company.\u00a0 The sea is vast.\u00a0 There are just so many early stage companies out there. Green Launching Pad looked at a lot of different companies, and they only awarded stuff to a handful. The amount of resources that we actually got from them [$20,000] is really not that significant, quite frankly. But the idea that there\u2019s your picture with the governor, that can be the thing that gets you above the noise floor that now this early-stage investor says, &#8216;Well, I want to go talk to those guys and learn more about them.'&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"question\"><span class=\"abbr\">Q: <\/span>A major theme I\u2019ve heard in the course of interviewing entrepreneurs is you can have the best idea in the world, be passionate, and work 20 hours a day, and sometimes, it just doesn\u2019t come to anything.\u00a0 Why do you think that is?<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_13876\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 300px;\"><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"Whether it's the iPod or M2M, Owens says success is ultimately down to execution.\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2013\/03\/465497119_31f256ab04.jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13876\" title=\"iPod\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2013\/03\/465497119_31f256ab04-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2013\/03\/465497119_31f256ab04-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2013\/03\/465497119_31f256ab04.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">hdaniel \/ Flickr Creative Commons<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Whether it&#39;s the iPod or M2M, Owens says success is ultimately down to execution.<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"answer\"><span class=\"abbr\">A: <\/span>\u201cIf those are smart hours, great.\u00a0 You have to work both hard and smart.\u00a0 What is the best idea?\u00a0 In fact, if you look at most &#8216;Great Ideas,&#8217; many, many people had that idea long before. By the time the iPod came around, I\u2019d already had ten different versions of digital music players.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t call it an iPod.\u00a0 But the functions were all there.\u00a0 It recorded a message on the little hard drive, and it had a little menu and it played songs and stored songs and some of them even had photos and everything else.\u00a0 But today, people think an iPod as if that\u2019s the only product that\u2019s even available.\u00a0 It\u2019s a generic name.<\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\">And why was <a title=\"Apple\" href=\"http:\/\/apple.com\" target=\"_blank\">Apple<\/a> so successful in that and other people weren\u2019t?\u00a0 It\u2019s because they out-executed everybody.\u00a0 There are lots of great ideas out there.\u00a0 But unless you can turn them into a product that people will buy, and the product that people will buy in preference to every other product that\u2019s likely to be on the market, you\u2019re not going to be successful.\u00a0 There are many geniuses that nobody will ever fund, because they simply can\u2019t run a business.\u00a0 If you can\u2019t run a business, you can\u2019t turn an idea, you can\u2019t monetize an idea.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"question\"><span class=\"abbr\">Q: <\/span>In terms of funding and execution where are you right now?<\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\"><span class=\"abbr\">A: <\/span>\u201cFunding is not really a problem right now.\u00a0 You used to never even [hear] of the idea of M2M, and now\u00a0 everybody\u2019s talking about it in the VC world.<\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\">I don\u2019t tell anybody, but I\u2019m always disappointed in our execution.\u00a0 I always think it could be done so much quicker and so much faster than it is being done.\u00a0 So if you ask me, &#8216;How are we executing?&#8217;\u00a0 My real answer is we could do a hell of a lot better.\u00a0 But if we look at all our competitors, at the moment, knock on wood, we appear to be out-executing everybody.\u00a0 So I guess I should be happy with that, but that\u2019s one of the problems with being an entrepreneur!\u00a0 You\u2019re never satisfied!<\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\">If you open a restaurant, you\u2019re happy when the restaurant\u2019s filled every day.\u00a0 But when you open something like this, it\u2019s like you\u2019ve got to build another restaurant <em>every day<\/em>.\u00a0 And you\u2019re not happy, ever.\u00a0 Because every day, you\u2019ve got to build more restaurants.\u00a0 The demand for M2M is outstripping the supply.\u00a0 And it\u2019s as if nobody has anything to eat, and you\u2019re the only one who has a restaurant.\u00a0 And that requires continuous scaling and scaling and scaling.\u00a0 I guess it\u2019s also why I\u2019m very typical of a lot of entrepreneurs.\u00a0 When a business reaches sort of a point of maturity, it\u2019s no longer fun for me, and I have to quit and start over again!\u00a0 Which sounds a little masochistic, but that is very typical entrepreneurial behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"question\"><span class=\"abbr\">Q: <\/span>And in the case of a company like EnerTrac, how long do you see that taking?<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_13882\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 300px;\"><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"Once the last &quot;restaurant&quot; is built, Owens says the fun stops for early-stage entrepreneurs\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2013\/03\/3755555856_a6c64bf69d_o.jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-13882\" title=\"Imagen de Hola Gourmets 2009\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2013\/03\/3755555856_a6c64bf69d_o-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2013\/03\/3755555856_a6c64bf69d_o-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2013\/03\/3755555856_a6c64bf69d_o-620x412.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2013\/03\/3755555856_a6c64bf69d_o.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Javier Lastras \/ Flickr Creative Commons<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Once the last &quot;restaurant&quot; is built, Owens says the fun stops for early-stage entrepreneurs<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"answer\"><span class=\"abbr\">A: <\/span>\u201cThree to five years, and it\u2019ll be beyond the point where\u2026I may make a little bit of an exaggeration, because, I do love technology, so I won\u2019t say that I would be bored.\u00a0 But it\u2019s not as exciting as working in a company that is growing very, very fast.\u00a0 There\u2019s driving down a normal road, and there\u2019s driving in a race car on a track.\u00a0 It\u2019s infinitely more exciting.\u00a0 You may enjoy driving.\u00a0 You may even enjoy a country drive.\u00a0 But when the car is just going 50 miles an hour down a regular road, and you stop at every stoplight, and every stop sign, and yield for the pedestrians, it\u2019s not the same kind of excitement as going door-to-door with somebody else, trying to beat them to the finish line.\u00a0 And so it sort of loses that luster, and like many entrepreneurs, they like to go back to that original point.\u00a0 Back to the racetrack.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"question\"><span class=\"abbr\">Q: <\/span>The Green Launching Pad is privatizing.\u00a0 As an entrepreneur with a GLP company, what are your thoughts on that transition?<\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\"><span class=\"abbr\">A: <\/span>&#8220;Let\u2019s face it, most economists say that all new jobs come from new businesses.\u00a0 They come from small businesses, especially entrepreneurial businesses.\u00a0 And so anything the government can do to promote that is, assuming they do it correctly, is going to make our economy more competitive.\u00a0 And you know, we\u2019re not the only people that can invent things. The world is very global now.\u00a0 So it is extremely important that from an economic point of view, that we foster entrepreneurship, because that\u2019s where the jobs are going to come from, that\u2019s where the growth in the economy is going to come from.<\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\">Now what is the proper role of government versus the private enterprise?\u00a0 My personal opinion is the government shouldn\u2019t pick winners and losers.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think it\u2019s very good at that.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think it\u2019s very good at taking public money and saying, &#8216;Well, you should invest it in this thing or that thing.&#8217;\u00a0 But I also don\u2019t think that that means that they have no role in the process at all.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know that I would favor completely privatizing the Green Launching Pad, although there are certainly aspects of what the Green Launching Pad is doing that probably should be privatized.\u00a0 But I think there\u2019s still a role for the state government in promoting entrepreneurship and green energy and technology in the state of New Hampshire.\u00a0 I\u2019d be disappointed if I saw the state government sort of moving away from trying to foster early-stage companies from being in New Hampshire.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"question\"><span class=\"abbr\">Q: <\/span>And what parts wouldn&#8217;t be beneficial, as far as privatizing the Green Launching Pad goes?<\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\"><span class=\"abbr\">A: <\/span>&#8220;The later stage venture capital community works really well.\u00a0 If you need $200 million, that works.\u00a0 There are plenty of companies out there that are really good at figuring out who should get that $200 million.\u00a0 Where the system tends to lag is figuring out who should get $250,000. \u00a0That\u2019s where we have a lag in our economy.\u00a0 And every company starts at that level.\u00a0 And that sort of very beginning seed capital, it\u2019s not even as much capital as it is guidance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\">I was very, very fortunate in my experience. If I hadn\u2019t met certain people, I would never have known how to do it. Most business schools are teaching how to run GM, which is already an established company.\u00a0 They don\u2019t have to start out raising $250,000 and figuring out how they pay people and how to get resources and how they promote themselves and how they develop products..\u00a0 And I think that\u2019s really where government can play a part is because it\u2019s not a role that\u2019s very attractive for making money.<\/p>\n<p class=\"answer\">The reality is there\u2019s a long shot whether that company\u2019s going to be successful or not.\u00a0 But if we don\u2019t at least provide them some assistance, you\u2019re not going to get any of them.\u00a0 And it may be no more than just connecting people to business leaders who have been through that process so they can mentor and coach the people who are coming up through the ranks.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s been three years since the Green Launching Pad initiative was started at the University of New Hampshire with $1.5 million in federal stimulus money.\u00a0 The goal of the project was to fund and support the state&#8217;s most promising, eco-friendly start-ups, and enhance New Hampshire&#8217;s green economy in the long term.\u00a0 Under federal rules, the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":13773,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[473],"tags":[518,80,511,552,364,124],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13725"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13725"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13887,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13725\/revisions\/13887"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}