Starting a Clean Tech Business

Matt Goldman, Co-founder and President Sustainable Spaces
Sustainable Spaces is Bay Area's leading home performance retrofitter.  Their program to bring homes up to today's high standards of energy efficiency has been recognized as the case study for home performance retrofitting in the REGREEN Green Remodeling Best Practice Guidelines (USGBC/ASID).   Prior to founding the company in 2004, Matt worked as an energy consultant helping homeowners and businesses develop solar power systems.  

Matt speaks extensively on building science and integrated green design to groups such as the AIA (American Institute of Architects), West Coast Green, Build it Green and others. Matt has authored a number of articles for Home Energy Magazine, and has been featured in USA Today, SF Chronicle, KQED Radio, and the Ellen Degeneres Show. He currently resides on the following boards: Department of Energy (DOE) Home Performance Council, Building Performance Institute (BPI), California Building Performance Contractors Association (CBPCA), Build It Green, and Fine Home Building Magazine Green Building Advisory Board.

Matt holds a bachelors degree in foreign relations from Georgetown University. 

Alex Kinnier, Partner at Khosla Ventures 
Khosla Ventures is spearheading venture assistance in Biorefineries and Clean Energy. Alex is working to speed up the next industrial revolution, focusing on solar energy utilization, thermal efficiency, energy conversion devices, energy storage, and biofuels. Over the past 10 years, Alex has successfully created, launched, and grown a variety of technology and household products. 

Alex also knows the joy and pain associated with starting a venture from scratch. In 2002, Alex began in Cleantech, founding Ocular Technologies to commercialize enhanced efficiency evaporators utilizing a proprietary monolayer coating that improved air conditioning performance. The challenges of commercializing components of a larger system controlled by an entrenched industry provided Alex with a learning experience that informs his investing. 

Alex earned a BS in Chemical Engineering with honors from Lehigh University and later an MBA with distinction from the Harvard Business School.

Deborah Magid, Director, Software Strategy, IBM Venture Capital Group 
IBM establishes professional relationships with Venture firms and their portfolio companies in order to drive innovation in the industry, to share insights, and to build ecosystems around IBM’s infrastructure products and services. Deborah is the primary liaison with the venture community for software business, and has world-wide responsibility.  She specializes in IT, software, internet products and services, infrastructure, middleware; emerging technologies, markets, and business models; venture capital.  She is a sought after participant in the Clean Tech discussion. 

Deborah holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and a MA from The University of Connecticut

Steve Newcomb, CEO Virgance
Steve is a 39-year-old entrepreneur and political advisor who has been involved in building 9 companies, creating over $3 billion in market value.  In addition to being the CEO of Virgance, Mr. Newcomb is also currently the chairman of Serious Business, a Facebook application company that attracts over 250 million visitors a month, and the founder of SF Green, San Francisco’s premier event that brings together leaders in activism, business and government. Mr. Newcomb sits on the policy committee for the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and is an environmental policy advisor to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. He is also the well-known founder of Powerset (now MSFT) and Loudfire (now Nokia).

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