Newco

Some of you may be wondering why I haven't posted a new entry in so long. Others may not have noticed. Regardless, there is a good reason why I haven't posted recently. Specifically, over the last two weeks, I met and decided to join a small (9-person) startup. They're in stealth mode so no website or other information at the moment. Current investors include Khosla Ventures and Flagship Ventures. On the Flagship site, they describe Newco as "designing microbial factories to produce energy related products". So very different than what I've been doing in the past but certainly well-aligned with my desire to help fight global warming (since biofuels are carbon-neutral since the feedstock for the biofuel is plant-based and takes an equivalent amount of CO2 out of the air as cars put into it).

I'll be the "business entrepreneur" (officially "Senior Director of Business Development") - basically the first full-time business person. Everyone else in the company is a scientist-type. Should be interesting. Certainly an opportunity for me to shine ... or fall flat on my face. Hopefully it will be the former. =)

I'm actually writing this from the Advancing Renewable Energy conference in St. Louis. Even though I won't officially begin my new position for about a month, I'm here "drinking from the firehose" to learn about this new space. President Bush will actually be speaking at the conference tomorrow but, unfortunately, I'll miss his speech since I need to catch a flight and couldn't get onto a later plane (darn!). It's not everyday that you get a chance to see the President of the United States in person.

I have to admit that I'm very curious to see how I do in this new role. If nothing else, there is going to be a massive learning curve associated with both the technology involved (biochemistry and synthetic biology) and the market for the technology (biofuels). I basically have zero domain knowledge/experience with either and will be relying upon (a) being smart, (b) learning quickly, (c) being a strong overall "business athlete" with diverse functional experience, and (d) leveraging the experience of others wherever possible. We'll see if that's enough to be successful .

I'm both excited and scared about what's to come. But I take a lot of comfort from knowing that I have so many people in my corner. Let the new adventure begin.