Finalist in the Ignite Clean Energy Competition

Oct 6, 2009 01:03 pm 1 Comment

Hello to all my loyal backers and also to those of you new to Changents. I apologize for the lapse in communication but since I last checked in I have been hard at work developing a solid business and product for POWERleap.

One quick update: POWERleap is among 9 other finalists in the Ignite Clean Energy (ICE) Competition hosted by the MIT Enterprise Forum.

We entered POWERleap into ICE last spring. In June we advanced to the Semi-finals round when they paired us up with a set of mentors who have helped us disect and reconstruct our business plan through a series of Friday morning conference calls. Last month I flew out to Boston to compete in the Semi-Finals round presenting to a set of 5 judges. After a 10-minute presentation, a 20-minute Q&A, and 24 hours of waiting, we got word that we had advanced to the final round!

It was an exciting time for us when we entered the competition. We had recently located a source for the missing piece of technology needed to complete our comercial product. Since then, we have travelled abroad to visit the company, meet the founders, and see their facilities. I’ve done my share of traveling and marketing for POWERleap, but had not yet traveled to a foreign country to meet a prospective partner.

As a result, we’ve had to learn the ins and outs of various business relationships, the associated legal fees, and the influences of each on our business and financial model. Over the summer we’ve put our mentors to good use in guiding us through our possibilities while refining our business plan and constantly revisiting common start-up questions like, “Who is our initial customer, what is the market size, how do we position POWERleap in the cleantech industry, and where is POWERleap headed?”

On November 10, I will be back in Boston presenting POWERleap to a public audience at the Massachusetts State House.  If you live in the area, please come down to watch me compete. For those of you who are not in the greater Boston area, I'll do my best to shoot a video recording to post for you…!
 

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Monty
October 10, 2009 - 10:46pm

A truly fantastic concept. One of those things you always hoped you'd see come to fruition. I look forward and anticipate that we will see it underfoot in office buildings, schools, and every other possible location - globally - in the coming years. Best of luck and godspeed.

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