Ross McDonald | Banker | Strategist | CFO

Clean West mentee and client in NVBC 2011 winners

Clean West Capital was delighted with the recent awards ceremony of New Ventures BC that celebrated the success of innovative early-stage technology BC companies and distirbuted almost $400,000 in prize money. A handful of the top 10 finalists were clean technology ventures, and two of the top three prize winners were waste/recycling technology ventures. Waste/recycling has been a primary sector of client work of Clean West over the last few years and Clean West continues to be very positive on this sector.

In the current NVBC contest then Clean West President & CEO Ross McDonald co-mentored MineSense, a metals recovery waste technology venture. The MineSense team was delighted to win third prize and scoop $40,000 in prize money. Go for it Andrew!

First-prize was awarded to Polymer Research Technologies, a current consulting client of Clean West Capital in regards application for grant finance to Sustatinable Development Technology Canada - a $550 million Canadian federal fund. Polymer Research Technologies was awarded $130,000 in prize money.

Thanks also to the team at Quadrogen Power Systems, mentee of Ross McDonald in the 2010 NVBC contest in which it won two prizes. In the spirit of peer-support then the Quadrogen team provided thoughtful guidance in the current content. Thanks guys, appreciated.

BCIC New Ventures 2011

Last night saw the kick-off of BCIC New Ventures, a BC entrepreneurship competition that has $370,000 of prize money.

I'll be participating as a mentor, for the third year, and it was great to meet budding entrepreneurs and hear of their venture ideas. Good luck in your next round submissions.

My five top tips for success in BCIC New Ventures:
1. Have a compelling concept ... Not all ideas are great. Nor indeed different. Understand your competitors. Find your 'special sauce'.
2. Define your value proposition ... What is the product? Who are the target customers? How does the business/revenue model work? Defining negative aspects (e.g. what customers not to target) is important as it gives focus. Simple is good.
3. Source secondary research ... All entrepreneurs think that their idea is fabulous! But only a subset can provide proof with external data. Market sizing and competitor analysis are precious.
4. Refine a crisp elevator pitch ... Describe your business in 30 seconds to a stranger, so that they understand it and want to learn more. It's much harder than you might think. Practice out loud.
5. Think big ... Let's assume that your idea works. How can it be scaled to be a big business? Does it have "sustainable advantage"? Investors like this as it means that they make money :)

GlobalScot

Ross McDonald, President Clean West, is honoured and delighted to be nominated a GlobalScot, being a network of a few hundred international Scottish leaders invited by the Scottish government to help mentor Scottish growth companies. The GlobalScot nomination was confirmed in late 2009 with a personal invitation letter from Alex Salmond, First Minister for Scotland. Clean West expertise in renewable energy is timely both given the increasing emergence of clean technology ventures plus also the 2010 launch of the UK feed-in tariff. Clean West embraces the opportunity to leverage its expertise and international network, as a GlobalScot, for the benefit of promising Scottish companies.

BCIC Connect 09 event

Ross McDonald, President of Clean West, today will attend Connect 09, the annual landmark event of the BC Innovation Council, as a nominated technology leader within the clean energy / clean technology sector.

Connect '09 will bring together 500+ company executives, academics and entrepreneurs for a series of panel sessions, awards and a huge Structured Network session.

The Structured Network session will include a number of industry-specific network areas, at which a few local technology leaders will interact with and provide guidance to event attendees. Clean West encourages BC innovators and policy-setters to attend this commendable event. For those with interest in clean energy or clean technology - such as wind power, solar power, or biomass / waste to energy - then feel free to visit the clean technology stand in the Structured Network session to make an introduction. See you there.