Seattle economy due for 'good ride' in 2008
Written on the original Movable Type site and recovered from the Internet Archive.
The Seattle Times wrote up a nice story on the Enerprise Seattle event at which I spoke yesterday.
my piece:
Dozens of local clean-technology companies – enterpriseSeattle estimates more than 400 – have been formed.
Access to capital is still a big obstacle. The Northwest Energy Angels alliance, made up of 45 people, is looking for companies to invest in. It has reviewed 22 companies and funded four so far. Three years ago, the group was founded by Martin Tobias, the former CEO of Imperium Renewables. He left the biofuel company in December.
“These companies need a lot more money to get created than standard software companies,” Tobias said.
Clean-technology companies face the inertia created by a well-established energy industry, he said. “The incumbent industries we are trying to change have more money than any of us, and they don’t want to change.”