I swear that I'm always the last person to embrace disruptive technologies. Open-source software is a perfect example. Having worked for Big Blue for several years, I never accepted open-source software. How could you make money? Why would a competitive company embrace something that everyone else has? What would be the security risk to adopting open-source code? What would be the competitive advantage? What's the discriminator?

Well, this time, I am on the leading edge. The company is TopCoder, a maverick company according to William Taylor and Polly LaBarre, authors of Mavericks At Work.

Open-source collaboration is an innovative concept that TopCoder has perfected. TopCoder, Inc., a for-profit business, has developed a creative business. Founded in April of 2001 by Jack Hughes, the company is essentially a talent search firm. The essence of their business is providing software development expertise to solve their blue chip clients' application needs. The end result is TopCoder brings to bear the absolute best programming skills from around the world.

How do they do it? According to Taylor and LaBarre,

TopCoder signs a contract to build a computer application for one of the big-name companies, divides up the application into a collection of discrete software components, and then turns its members loose to create the code in an open-source style, with everyone eligible to contribute and everyone's work visible to everyone else.

But here's the twist: these programmers collaborate to produce great code by vying fiercely in head-to-head competitions. Their work is organized as series of online matches in which TopCoder members battle deadlines to design and write the most elegant components and impress a jury of their peers. These competitions are dripping with geek machismo: members boast about their technical prowess, talk trash about their rivals, and aren't afraid to express outrage when don't win.

Several companies are catching on to the TopCoder business model. TopCoder has over 95,000 members from 190 companies. The members have incredible programming skills, skills in great demand by the likes of Google, Yahoo, Intel, Sun Mircosystems and Microsoft. Each member has a profile and performance track record - information available to recruiters.

And what are the results? Remarkable! In 2005, Google worked with TopCoder to run a competition in India. The competition attracted over 14,000 registrants. At stake - the top 50 finalists won a job offer from Google!

More to come on TopCoder!

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 5:05 PM | Permalink

Congratulations to Serious Magic on their acquisition by Adobe.

Founded in 2001 by many of the former employees of another local company, PLAY, Serious Magic won multiple best of show awards for their innovative video products. CEO Mark Randall, a serial entrepreneur and altogether good guy, gets his company acquired on October 19th, and nine days later he shows up to teach a class on his take on being an entrepreneur to the Sacramento Entrepreneurship Academy. Now that's class and what a lesson those SEA students got!

Mark and many of the Serious Magic staff will stay with Adobe. One of the blog predictions:

....from what I can tell from internal buzz, you might want to keep your eye on the longterm significance.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 7:56 AM | Permalink

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 7:19 AM | Permalink

Oxford Analytica, an independent strategic-consulting firm drawing on a network of more than 1,000 scholar experts at Oxford and other leading universities and research institutions around the world, attempts to predict what the US political future will look like if the Democrats win the House and/or the Senate.

Just weeks before the midterm elections, polls suggest that the Democrats have a good chance of seizing control of the House and may come close to a majority in the Senate. A switch in control would have significant implications for U.S. economic policy over the next two years.

President George W. Bush's low approval ratings, an unpopular war in Iraq and the recent scandal involving former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley have hurt the Republican party's election prospects. Recent polls show Democrats besting Republicans by 10 to 15 percentage points on "generic" congressional ballots. The Democrats need to pick up 15 seats to take control of the House and six seats to take control of the Senate. They will most likely take 20 to 25 House seats and four to seven Senate seats. If the Democrats capture either chamber, they would have the power to set policy priorities, call congressional hearings and make new rules for organizing the Congress. Economic policy would be high on their agenda.

A sense of Democrats' economic policy priorities can be gleaned from their "Six Campaign Themes for 2006" agenda, which suggests that they would immediately attempt to:

--pass new lobbying and ethics rules;

--raise the federal minimum wage to $7.25 per hour (from $5.15);

--cut student loan interest rates in half;

--require Medicare to leverage its bargaining power and negotiate lower prices with drug companies; and

--restore "pay as you go" rules to pay for tax cuts or spending increases.

While the Democrats would push hard for these reforms, their majorities in Congress (if they exist at all) are likely to be very narrow, necessitating hard debate and bargaining with the Republicans:

-- Fiscal policy. House Democrats are likely to push "pay as you go" budget rules for both entitlement programs and taxes. They may also promote discretionary spending caps and ten-year budget windows. These measures were in place in the 1990s and played key roles in creating the deficit-to-surplus budget turnaround late in the decade. .

-- Tax policy. Most of the tax cuts passed in 2001 and 2003 expire in 2010, and it is unlikely that any of these cuts would be extended if the Democrats secure a majority. Indeed, they are likely to try to repeal a portion of them. The most likely targets are the lower marginal tax rates that apply to the highest income earners, and the dividend and capital gains tax cuts. However, Bush is certain to veto any attempt to raise taxes, which the Democrats would not be able to override.

-- Trade. The Republicans have long led the push for trade liberalization. However, many Democratic candidates for the House are now campaigning on platforms that criticize globalization, and some favor higher tariffs for imported goods. The most likely consequence of Democratic control of the House is a policy stance against further liberalization.

-- Energy policy. Many Democratic candidates have made "energy independence" a central campaign theme. Although oil prices have recently declined significantly, the party is likely to press for sweeping energy policy reform, especially in areas that were absent from the president's Energy Policy Act of 2005, such as corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards and a carbon cap regime. Republicans have blocked such measures, but Bush has put significant emphasis on energy policy and asked Congress for help toughening CAFE standards. If the Democrats score a major election victory, and the president decides to cooperate with Congress, energy policy offers the best chances for joint action.

-- Entitlement reform. With spending on Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security projected to increase significantly, entitlements would be a source of friction between Bush and a Democratic Congress. A Democratic majority would push for improved drug coverage for senior citizens and tougher government price negotiations with pharmaceutical companies. Bush could surprise pundits and go along with expanded coverage, in part to improve Republican chances in the 2008 elections.

-- Financial-sector regulation. Recently issued rules by bank regulators are intended to crack down on non-traditional, interest-only and adjustable-rate mortgages. If housing has a hard landing, many consumers will face higher monthly payments as their loans reset, and some may be forced to sell their homes at a loss or face foreclosure. A Democratic Congress would be much tougher on the mortgage industry than the Republicans.

"Divided government"--with at least one Democrat-controlled chamber in Congress and a Republican White House--would probably bring smaller budget deficits. However, Democratic party populism points to a setback for the U.S. free-trade agenda.

To read an extended version of this article, log on to Oxford Analytica's Web site.

It's an interesting look at the implication of your vote on November 7th.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:56 AM | Permalink

Morgan Quitno compared all cities with populations of more than 75,000 to come up with its list of the most dangerous cities using FBI statistics.

Most dangerous:
St. Louis, Mo
Detroit, Mi
Flint, Mi
Camden, NJ

Safest:
Brick, NJ
Greece, NY
Orem, Ut
Irvine, Ca
Troy, Mi

Note: Illinois was left out because the state's rape case data does not match the FBI's.

Stockton, Ca was the 19th most dangerous city.

You can buy the whole report for the next week at a special price of $1.99. After that it costs $4.99.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive.com

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 12:09 PM | Permalink

From Charles Schwab, an interesting article on what affect the elections will have on the markets

Do Elections Matter for the Market? Not as much as you might think. Beware of strategies that claim otherwise. By Mark Riepe CFA, Senior Vice President Schwab Center for Investment Research® With the Democrats fighting to wrest Congress from Republican control, investors are understandably concerned about what effect the mid-term elections could have on stocks. My advice is don’t worry. The fact is there’s no evidence of a statistically significant relationship between political control of Washington and the stock market.

1. Don’t let your overall asset allocation be overly swayed by which party wins in November—or by which one you think is going to win. Your long-term asset allocation, which is always your most important decision, should be driven by your situation (i.e., your goals and overall tolerance for risk). To the extent you make small tactical shifts from time to time, take a page from the book of our own Chief Investment Strategist Liz Ann Sonders and focus on a large number of variables—not just Washington.

2. Use the political outlook as one piece of information to fine-tune your sector exposure. Check out our latest sector views in the Schwab Market Perspective on schwab.com/marketinsight.

3. If you’re inclined to act, don’t wait until after the election. The stock market processes information quickly. By November 8, it will be too late to take advantage of the election results.

Whatever the effect, please remember to vote!

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 10:53 AM | Permalink

At the big nanoTX '06 conference in Dallas last month, one of the biggest exhibitors was .... the state of New York. Several states see the business benefits of attracting nanotechnology comapnies, including Texas, New York, and California.

Let's see who is winning.

My dubioiusly scientific results - a Google search of Nanotechnology with a State name attached:

Texas - 5M hits
California - 6.3M hits
New York - 6.85M hits

Wow, maybe those aggressive marketing techniques by New York are working. Except...

if I exclude the word times (as in New York Times, which seems to have written quite a few articles regarding nanotechnology on a nationwide scale), the number for New York falls to $4.9M.

But be warned, California - New York is out and about exhibiting at trade shows across the nation. Further proof - NEW YORK LOVES Nanotech is a registered trademark and service mark of the New York State Department of Economic Development. Seems like they mean business - nano business.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 9:00 AM | Permalink

Silicon Valley came in last? What?

According to a survey by the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, Silicon Valley came in dead last in an annual ranking of 12 U.S. technology hubs. The region's notoriously high cost of housing, high level of traffic congestion, high unemployment rates and other quality-of-life issues brought the score of the region to the bottom of the list.

Top of the list - making it the nation's top-ranked tech hub - is North Carolina's Raleigh-Durham area. Its ranking was helped by relatively affordable housing and a booming job market. Education is also highly ranked as well as low sales tax and cost of utilities.

The No. 2 city is Seattle, follwed by No. 3 - the greater Denver area. Although Denver suffered from traffic problems and soaring housing prices, it more than made up in the area of the number of startups in the emerging alternative energy niche.

Of course, it's not all over for Silicon Valley. It was clearly top of the list in the amount of venture funding it attracts - $8B, which is four times more than its closest domestic rivals.

I suppose one could always make the case that all of that technology leadership for so long has raised the cost of housing and improved the economy. Isn't that always the argument we make in Sacramento as to why we should be supporting the technology community?

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Red hair is by far the least common hair color in the United States and in the world - so says Wikipedia. But tell that to Larry King, Arnold Schwarzenegger, John Travolta, Michael Reagan and every other man who doesn't want to admit he is graying, preferring to walk around with hair color that defies all logic. I call it bottle red because it sure didn't come from nature. It reminds me of a catastrophically failed chemistry experiment.

Get a clue - when we see that color we don't for one second think it's natural. I think Arnold might have gotten a clue (or a better hairdresser) because during his one and only debate with Phil Angelides, Arnold's hair was looking almost black. And talking of politics - in that sorry Senatorial race in Virginia, both George Allen and James Webb seem to be using the same bottle red, although that's one of the least bad claims made against either of them!

. Here's Arnold pre-debate.

Let's get this straight. Women like gray haired men, We think you look distinguished, we don't think you look old. Stop messing with the color. If you decide to ignore that piece of advice, please, please go to a top colorist - don't try to cover your gray with a product purchased from the drug store. First, you will most assuredly not pick the right color and secondly one misstep and fiery red will be your constant companion for many weeks. People will definitely notice, even though no one will saw a word directly to you. We aren't even going to discuss how you will probably drop the bottle on the rug in your bathroom and if you don't get how bad the bathroom rug looks and equate that to what your hair looks like...... Need I say more?

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 1:13 AM | Permalink

Congratulations to Ethan Conrad Properties Inc. for moving from 66th position to 28th position on the Fastest-Growing companies list published by the Sacramento Business Journal. Ethan was a 1989 graduate of the Sacramento Entrepreneurship Academy. He started his career as a commercial real estate broker and quickly became successful. He started buying commercial real estate for himself. Slowly, he transitioned from being primarily a broker to performing the leasing, renovation and purchasing of his own properties. Annual companies revenues top $11M, growing from $6M the previous year.
Ethan is a big supporter of the Sacramento Entrepreneurship Academy. He credits the Academy with exposing him to the real business world versus college which he describes as being rather disjointed from the real world and real business decision makers.

I know when I drive down Highway 50 and see the large sign on one of the buildings - Ethan Conrad Properties - it affirms that the Sacramento Entrepreneurship Academy has for more than 20 years provided the best entrepreneurship training to more than 500 very high potential future business leaders. Ethan is a great case in point and there are many more that will help to build Sacramento into a successful city run by smart, hard-working, creative and very highly ethical business men and women.

If you want to know more about the Academy and how you can participate either as a student, a mentor, a Board member or a sponsor, check out their website

Ethan, we couldn't be more proud.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:55 PM | Permalink

Sometimes your product is good, you just need to figure out a new way to deliver it. That's what Mike Hagan, recently named Entrepreneur of the year by Forbes Magazine, did when he joined Nutrisystem in 2002. The company at that point was 30 years old and languishing with revenues of $28M and profits of $2.5M. Four years later, revenues are $413M and profit stands at $55M. This year, the company will add 800,000 new customers and stock analysts just raised their buy target price to $77 - the stock was at 60 cents when Hagan took over. Nutrisystem has just been named as the top Best Small Companies of America by Forbes.

Mike explains that he realized that target customers were busy and not willing to come to a fixed location once a week to get counseling and pick up food products. So he moved the counseling tools onto the Internet and began shipping food products directly to the customer. That shift began a complete revival of the company.

Nutrisystem is the 800 lb gorilla in the weight loss industry dwarfing the likes of Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers. And they have lots more room to grow owning only 1% of the projected market. Watch the Dan Marino ads increase the male clientelle and what woman can resist the ad where a husband of a wife who has just lost weight using Nutrisystem says, "I got my wife back." Watch an interview of Mike Hagan

So next time you plan on transforming your company, don't just look at the product, look at how you deliver it to your target customer base. And a new CEO wouldn't hurt either!

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

60% of Americans had no plans to take any sort of summer vacation this year -- this from a survey by the Gallup organization and the worst showing in the poll's 28 years. 25% of US workers get no paid vacation according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a huge increase from the 5% in 1998 and 33% only get 7 days including a weekend.

How does this compare with the Europeans. The British get 50% more vacation than Americans and the French and Italians get twice as much.

Some US companies are fighting back - for example the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, has taken to shutting down its entire national operation twice a year to ensure that people stop working — for about 10 days over Christmas, and 5 days or so around the Fourth of July. Rockwell Collins also closes down over Christmas, a benefit for which Pierre and I are very grateful!

So can the US workforce maintain their competitiveness by simply working harder or eventually will it suck all of the creative juices out of us?

Here's my theory. All of the great designer furniture comes from Italy - B&B Italia, need I say more? And US designers scurry around like lunatics at the end of July trying to get all their orders in so that they will be first on the list when the Italians return from their month long factory closedown in August. Maybe, just maybe, as the Italians lie on some beach in the Adriatic in their skimpy Speedos and bikinis, they allow the left sides of their brains to imagine great new furniture designs and return refreshed and at their creative peak after their month long vacation.

As I said - that's my theory and I am sticking to it. And I hope our new sofa arrives soon!

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 1:35 PM | Permalink

I am starting to get really excited about Podcasts. TED Talks keep winging my way and I have quite a collection. And now the new release of iTunes has suddenly opened up my eyes to a limitless amount of really interesting information that I can download to my iPod. I just saw that Ted Koppel has 14 episodes from Discovery News on really difficult and timely issues - for example:

What's Up With North Korea?;
Is the US Stuck in Iraq?
What Will the United States Look Like in 50 Years?

So I have added those to my list of 'have to listen to podcasts'. And now my problem is, when?
What do I give up to fit podcast time into my schedule?

I think I need to find a way to hook up my iPod to show these through my TV set which would make for more natural viewing during the evening when we switch from one terrible TV show to another without finding anything substantive to watch.

Guru help needed!

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 9:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Here's a good thing to get involved in. Pierre and I have enjoyed our times coaching the teams at the dry runs. Hanging out with smart, motivated young MBA students always gives back more than you invest. Try it. Here are the details:

UC Davis Graduate School of Management Presents...
The Seventh Annual Big Bang! Business Plan Competition Kickoff Event

Date: Wednesday, October 25th
Time: 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Location: Buehler Alumni & Visitors Center, UC Davis Campus Directions
RSVP By: Friday, October 20th Click here to register!

PLEASE JOIN US! The entire UC Davis and Sacramento area community—including faculty, students, staff, alumni, and local business people—are encouraged to attend. You will have the opportunity to interact with students, researchers and others interested in participating in the competition. Learn how you can get involved and boost your entrepreneurial spirit!

This FREE event will present you with all the details you need to participate in this year’s competition. We are pleased to present Michael Hart, CEO of Sierra Railways, as the keynote speaker for this year's Kickoff Event. In his speech, titled “Excitement of Entrepreneurship”, Mr. Hart will draw on anecdotes and examples from his own professional experience and reflect on his past involvement with the Big Bang! Business Plan Competition.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER... Michael G. Hart serves as President and CEO of the Sierra Railroad Company. Sierra, founded in 1897, is California's oldest independently owned railroad. Since Mr. Hart's acquisition of Sierra, it is now the parent company for a number of subsidiaries that provide freight operations, passenger and tourism operations, dinner train operations, film and television services, railroad constructions services, and renewable energy development.

Visit the Big Bang! web site for more information about the competition!

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 3:04 PM | Permalink

Democrats are within striking distance of regaining control of the
U.S. Congress. But their momentum is driven more by anger against
certain policies of the Bush administration than by their own vision
for America. People are not voting for the democrats, they are voting
against the republicans.

When you still have republicans able to win elections on platforms of
being fiscally conservative, socially moderate, and environmentally
progressive, you have to wonder how the democrats can really
distinguish themselves. Americans prefer to elect moderates, and they
can come from either side of the aisle. So what vision can the
democrats offer that will keep them in power?

There is one fundamental difference between democrats and republicans
that hasn't gone away and won't go away; democrats believe in a
greater role for government in promoting the general welfare, and
republicans want to reduce the role of government. This classic
difference in philosophy is something the democrats must embrace - and
the way democrats can do this is to confront and solve the biggest
government budget challenge of our time, the out of control pay and
benefits for public employees.

In California, retirement benefits to public employees are now so
extreme they threaten to render insolvent every government entity in
California; municipal, county and state. Any reasonably intelligent
person can do the math. You don't have to be an actuary. Public
employees retire, on average, over a decade earlier than private
employees. They enjoy pensions, on average, that are many times
greater than what private retirees are eligible to receive under
social security. They also usually get paid health care benefits
during the period between when they retire and when medicare kicks in
several years later.

The cost for these benefits, per year in California, is over 30
billion dollars more than the cost would be if public employees got
the same retirement guarantees as the rest of us. This is the reason
public entities are all nearly broke in spite of a strong economy and
record property tax revenues.

Private employee taxes are funding benefits for public employees that
private employees can never enjoy - it would destroy America's economy
to offer state funded benefits this generous to all workers. And
don't think it's just the heroes such as firefighters who get these
generous benefits - the vast majority of beneficiaries are agency
bureaucrats who take no greater risks than the rest of us.

Republicans won't tackle this issue, because they want government
entities to be starved for funds. Only the democrats have an
incentive to confront this fact: The disproportionate cost for public
employees is preventing us from having more government services and
investment and instead is breaking government budgets. We have
created "two Americas," where if you're a tax-funded government
employee you have health and retirement security, and if you're a
taxpaying private employee you don't. It's that simple, and what's
happened in California is happening throughout the United States. The
costs, and the injustice of this, are staggering.

Reform wouldn't have to be terribly disruptive. It would probably be
necessary to honor deals already made, so anyone already in public
service could retain most if not all of their bloated benefits, but
new incoming public employees would not. Instead, new public
employees would get a defined contribution benefit along with being
eligible to receive social security. This would level the playing
field, and public employees would have the same challenges and
opportunities in planning for their retirement as the rest of us.

It would take great courage for democrats to make this proposal. But
it would provide lasting credibility to the democratic party, since
this one reform would restore solvency to governments, allowing them
to again pursue the great society visions - for all citizens - which
have been set aside in order to service unsustainable and inequitable
public employee benefits and pensions.

Ed Ring
Editor, ECOworld

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 9:58 AM | Permalink

Percentage of children ages 6–17 who are overweight by gender, selected years 1976–2004 Source: ChildStats.gov

Headed in the wrong direction...

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:46 AM | Permalink

KeyEye Communications Inc., a local Sacramento fabless semiconductor company has completed a $16M second round of funding . Participating in the Series B round were Menlo Ventures and American River Ventures, both part of the original investment. The Sacramento Angels have also previously invested in the company.

Additionally, KeyEye has named Chuck Fox, former president and CEO of Chameleon Systems, as its new chief executive officer.

KeyEye designs chips for high-speed data transmission over ordinary copper wires.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:19 AM | Permalink

The conference provides a forum to network with senior leadership from business, finance, government, academia, philanthropic, and news media organizations. California state policy issues to be discussed include: budget concerns, energy, environment, job creation, home prices, immigration and infrastructure.

The mission of the Milken Institute is to "improve the lives and economic conditions of diverse populations in the U.S. and around the world by helping business and public policy leaders identify and implement innovative ideas for creating broad-based prosperity".

Click here to register.

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 5:28 AM | Permalink

Travel and Leisure magazine published their list of the World's Best Cities for 2006.

Here it is:

Top 10 Cities Overall
Rank Last Year Name 2006
Score
1 Florence
2 Rome
3 Bangkok
4 Sydney
5 Chiang Mai, Thailand
6 Cape Town
7 Buenos Aires
8 New York
9 Beirut
10 San Francisco

now the list appears with an asterisk after no. 9 pick Beirut with a footnote:

*The list of World's Best Cities was voted upon before the war in Lebanon. As always, please consult the US State Department's Travel Warnings and Advisories before planning travel abroad.

And wasn't there a coup in Thailand too?

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 11:06 AM | Permalink

A team of WiMAX and cable television technologists from Japan paid a visit to Folsom near Sacramento, California to discuss WiMAX deployments and municipal wireless networks on October 13, 2006. Kosuke Ito, and geof lambert both Forum Leaders with the global IPv6 Forum coordinated the event with the help of a team of volunteers affiliated with Rotary International, the City of Folsom, SCV Network, North American IPv6 Task Force, California IPv6 Task Force and Intel. Check out some photos

Great job geof for making good on your vision to make Sacramento a hub of IPv6 technology.

If any readers are interested in being a part of this vision, attend the Sacramento Center of Excellence for Information Security & Privacy meeting the 3rd Tuesday of the month at Pachanga Restaurant in Folsom at Noon.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 10:19 AM | Permalink

Invited to a dinner party and looking for a great bottle of wine to take? Or planning on giving wine to your employees or good clients for the holidays? It is possible to impress without breaking the bank. Go online and do a little research.
We have a subscription to Wine Spectator and they have lots of tools you can use to find great wines at reasonable prices. But you can also do the research for free. Go visit the Beverages and More! website. You can search on 90 point wines in various price categories - they even have an under $10 category. Impress your host and impress your palate. It's not that hard. And many of the wines you find online are available at your local grocery store. One of our favorites - Columbia Crest, Merlot Columbia Valley Grand Estates 2003 with a price of $11 and a Wine Spectator rating of 90. (You can get it even cheaper at Costco).

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 9:50 AM | Permalink

It’s always fascinating how I come upon ideas and materials to write about for the Sacramento Executive. The best time is Sunday morning, the hours before my fantasy football starts. That’s when I have free time to think or read.

I usually rise at the same time every morning, because I have urban dogs and they need to be walked (I have no yard). Else I fear I might find myself cleaning up an “in-doors accident”.

So this morning after the walk, I nestled down with a pot of coffee and the Sunday newspaper. It was 8:30 and I still had over three hours to go before fantasy football.

I quickly became consumed by the front-page story of Matt Doherty - an All-American high school basketball player from New York City.

Matt’s career fascinated me. He played basketball for Dean Smith at University of North Carolina. In 1982, together with Michael Jordan and James Worthy, Matt’s team won the national title. Matt went on to become the head coach at Notre Dame.

With Matt’s success at Notre Dame, he was offered the head coach position at his alma mater, UNC. His first year at UNC (2000-2001 season) saw immediate success – a number one ranking and a 26-7 season. Matt was named Associated Press coach of the year. Then things began to unravel. His second season produced a 15-13 record and his third 8-20 (the first losing record at UNC since 1962). Matt resigned under tremendous pressure.

Matt had failed. Or so it seemed.

Matt Doherty took two years off to learn what happened and to take corrective action. So Matt attended three executive leadership courses – Virginia’s Darden School of Business, the Bell Leadership Institute at UNC, and the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania.

I thought this was unusual - sports figure enrolling in executive leadership courses. But it makes perfect sense. Sports, like the business world, depend on strong leaders.

While attending Wharton, Matt met instructor Fran Johnston, co-founder of the Teleos Leadership Institute in Philadelphia. Matt became so interested in her class, that he hired Fran for several one-on-one sessions. Once a month, Matt flew to Philadelphia for a two-hour session with Fran. According to Fran, coaches rarely seek help, especially outside the athletic arena. In one of the sessions, Matt received a homework assignment – to form a personal board of directors.

This assignment hit me like a jab from Mike Tyson. It was an epiphany for me!

For those who know me, you have frequently heard me talk about the need to seek out a mentor or coach. To move up the corporate ladder, I contend you must have a mentor.

But now, I realize that I have been wrong all these years. There’s a much better way – build a personal board of directors.

Think about it – what a concept. Surround yourself with a board, a set of directors just like a corporation. Can you imagine the results?

Implement this advice and you will grow in leadership.

Oh, by the way, Matt Doherty is now the head coach at SMU. SMU has not played in the NCAA tourney since 1993.

I predict Matt will soon lead the Mustangs to their first NCAA tournament in over twelve years. Matt is a leader and leaders know how to make their teams perform.

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 9:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

One by one, our leaders, those whom we have every right to believe we can look up to, are violating the public trust. A long list are being found guilty on charges such as bribery, conspiracy, lying to authorities and more. They serve out their time in decidedly white collar jails and then they merrilly receive their congressional pensions. I take great exception to allowing these guys to receive a pension.

Last case in point, Congressman Bob Ney, who will receive a $29,000 annual pension based on his 12 years of service. He also is eligible to receive social security. And draw down funds in hi 401K which was matched by the US government. Not bad for someone who has pleaded guilty and is looking at a minimum of 27 months in prison.

Periodically, usually after the most recent set of scandals, Congress makes a half-hearted attempted to change the rules, but has never succeeded. The last attempt was in May when the House passed a bill that included a provision barring lawmakers convicted of certain crimes from collecting pensions. Ney would have been covered by this prohibition as conspiracy, was one of those crimes covered by the legislation. However, the House and Senate failed to reach agreement on this issue in the compromise bill and another chance to put some real teeth into an ethics bill was lost again.

As reported by Paul Krawzak of the Copley News Service:

Norman Ornstein, a congressional analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, said it’s hard for a pension change to pass unless it’s part of a larger ethics proposal.

“Frankly, the will to enact a larger ethics package that causes disruption in their (lawmakers’) daily lives is something that has not gotten the level of intense support that it should,” he said. “It’s not going to do so until you get the public demanding it.”

Are we, the public, going to allow these criminals to continue to bear little consequence for their complete betrayal of the public trust? Let's cause a stink - criminal lawmakers lose their pensions - new rule.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 2:59 AM | Permalink

Before a sell-out crowd of 19.982 (of which at least half didn't show up!), the Kings began their hunt for the ever-illusive championship. And where better to start but against another strong contender, the Dallas Mavericks, who came oh so close to winning the whole ball of wax last season.

The Kings looked good, from our new season ticket seats.
Hey, you got to start somewhere! But we do miss good old Arco.
And we sure don't get the Maverick's Dancers - could they wear any less in this highly religious, conservative city?

But we do like the 300-400lb male dancers - the ManiAACs. Remember when the Kings tried this and they got booed off the floor and never returned?

All in all, we are going to have to grow into Mavs fans simply based on our living arrangements. But we still think the food, the crowd, the dancers, the giveaways, the press coverage and the general atmosphere is better at Arco. And for all the hype, you only notice it's a new (fairly new) arena because there are lots more private boxes - which pretty much only benefits the owners who can sell more corporate sponsorships.

Go Kings - and if you don't get it this year, go Mavs.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 8:08 AM | Permalink

Another very thought-provoking report from the Public Policy Insitute of California.

Thinking about California's future, did you know:

o By 2025, the state will add a population about the size of Ohio. Only 14 percent of Californians believe such growth is good for them and their families.

o California is not likely to have enough college-educated workers to meet the future economy’s demands. A majority (58%) of Californians say the quality of education is a big problem.

o Transportation investment has seriously lagged behind use and population growth. Most state residents (74%) believe traffic conditions will get even worse in the next 20 years.

o Californians’ trust in government to handle major problems is near an all-time low. Only 12 percent have great confidence that state government can plan for growth and the future.

o Most Californians believe that the important decisions about future growth should be made by voters at the ballot box, but only 35 percent of eligible California adults went to the polls in the last statewide election.

With these mega issues to be dealt with, please make sure you are well-prepared when you head to the polls in November to elect leaders who will be willing and able to act.

PPIC recommends you ask yourself these 10 critical questions - and also ask the people who want your vote:

1. What can government do to accommodate huge population growth?

2. Will California have the educated workforce that the new economy will demand?

3. How do we plan for the state’s future in an unequal society?

4. How can we encourage economic development while preserving the environment?

5. If we can’t build our way out of the infrastructure problem, what can we do to fix it?

6. Do we want bigger or smaller government in the future?

7. Is our state government up to the task of future planning?

8. What can we do to make the state’s fiscal system more transparent and accountable>

9. Can we rebuild trust and confidence in our government?

10.Has an exclusive electorate been given the reins of government?

For more background on each question, download the full report. The state of California and its future is in your hands. You owe it to yourself and your family to be informed.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 2:25 AM | Permalink

From Robert McKeown:

Reminder: Friday night - Independent America: The Two-Lane Search for Mom & Pop

This documentary follows husband and wife NBC journalists-turned-filmmakers
Hanson Hosein and Heather Hughes as they hit the road and travel 13
thousand miles through 32 states looking for an America unchained by
corporate retail and for the hardy souls fighting for the right to remain
independent. They set out to follow two rules in their travels: no
interstates - they could only use secondary roads; and no business with
chains - only mom & pop businesses.

It's a film that encourages people to think hard about where they spend
their money and offers a compelling view of the state of small business in
America.

Friday October 13 at 7 PM - $5 gets ya in. Presented by Shiny Object and
Fools Foundation. Location: Fools Foundation - 1025 19th St, Sacto. 19th &
K - in the alley, in the basement. Digital projection on to a big screen.
Seating is on folding chairs - feel free to bring a pillow or cushion or
whatever.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 2:55 PM | Permalink

As I wrote about previously, two new podcasts to listen to in the very helpful series The Capitol Food Chain hosted by Funding Universe - a mine of very useful information in its own right.

We have already highlighted self-funding and bootstrapping, now we learn how to raise funds from friends and family and whether to fund using debt or equity.

More topics promised in the series - Raising $ from Angel Investors, Raising $ from VCs, Investment from Public Markets, Using business brokers & consultants to raise money, Using your attorney to Raise $

This is really good stuff.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 8:29 AM | Permalink

We first took notice of Bob Fountain at a Comstock's event five or more years ago. He was talking on the subject of the housing boom and how long it would last in Sacramento. He predicted as long as Sacramento retained its positive price differential advantage over the Bay Area. We often quoted him to others who were concerned about the market. And he turned out to be absolutely right.

Bob Fountain, by the way, is Dr. Robert Fountain, Director of the Applied Research Center, College of Continuing Education at CSUS. In April, he completed a study, Keeping California's Edge, which examines the relationship between higher educated employees and the California economy. Recently he was interviewed by Bob Schmidt for the Sacramento Business Journal and said some more pretty profound things.

Regarding Sacramento:

"It still hasn't made the transition to the big regional center that it should be."

"For years SACTO and the Metro Chamber have sent teams to different cities to see how other cities do things. We used to come back with the conclusion that some of these cities, no bigger than we were, seem to have more sophistication and capability in their public sectors than we do. They had smarter people working in the mayor's office than we do. The new city manager Ray Kerridge...is head and shoulders above anyone we've had in that office. We need 50 more of him."

"If we were able to take everything on the downtown table away and bring back to the table a regional vision which encompasses 3 million people, going on 4, by the year 2050, we would produce an entirely different vision of what downtown would look like....We tend to do "little think" in small increments and that's a bad way to get into the future."

"What's happening with the Kings is illustrative. We just don't have anyone in the public sector with the skills to put together the kind of deal necessary. The city botched it twice before and maybe now again."

No surprise he is a big supporter of propositions Q and R.

And his thoughts on California in general:

"The state of California has been coasting, entrepreneurially. It's been cashing in on the assets it had because of Pat Brown, but we've run those assets into the ground. What have we done lately? Very little. But if we had the right vision, we could make giant steps."

"This is a state which hasn't invested much in anything, except prisons, in the past decade."

On his concern that we are not training enough people to be a part of an economy that will depend on a workforce more highly skilled in technology:

"..recent immigrants and their first generation of children are not going into software development. Half of them are not graduating from high school. So, to the question of what jobs are being generated for them, the answer is none. That is scary--the crisis du jour.

This is a smart guy who has been studying this region since he came here 30 years ago. We need to start listening.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:56 PM | Permalink

Crystal Basin Cellars - a big supporter of non-profit events in Sacramento, has moved to a new facility in Camino.

This weekend, they will be celebrating their 2006 harvest. They will be sharing their wines and dancing to the beats of Late for Dinner from 11am to 6pm on Saturday AND Sunday the 21st and 22nd of October at our cool new winery at 3550 Carson Road in Camino. Just go 8 miles east of Placerville and turn left at the Carson Exit and then turn right!

Crystal Basin Cellars, started by 5 friends, is winning lots of medals. In the Orange County Fair their Syrah Port won GOLD! The 2004 Zinfandel earned Silver. At this year's San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition their 2003 Zinfandel, 2003 Renegade Red and 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon captured Silver, while the 2003 Syrah garnered Bronze. And, at the El Dorado County Fair they received Silver for the 2003 Syrah Port, their Syrah won Silver and the 2004 Cabernet Franc earned bronze. Quite a haul!

Take a lawn chair and a friend. For more information contact:

Crystal Basin Cellars
3550 Carson Road
Camino, CA 95709
(530) 647-1767

Thanks Mike, Peter, Bob, John and Bill.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 7:59 AM | Permalink

Pierre is checking the settings on our digital camera and takes a photo of our dog Caymus (our of our two SPCA adopted dogs) to test. He suggests I use the photo as my screensaver. I upload the photo and look at Caymus' face. Exactly what expression is that? I call Pierre over and we take guesses - mad, sad, aloof, bored, tired.
And then I notice - right between his two front legs - a little mouse toy that belongs to our cat.


The expression? Busted.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Disclaimer: When you have a website you are allowed to sneak in one picture of each of your animals once per year!

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 2:30 PM | Permalink

Seven Rosen, one of the leading venture capital firms, is refusing to accept investors' money citing “too much money” and “too many deals funded in almost every conceivable space.” The firm saw no changes on the horizon.

Seven Rosen was in the process of closing its 10th fund and had received commitments from investors of approximately $300M.

This is not the first time something like this has happened. During the Internet boom, Crosspoint Venture Partners also returned investors' money. Other firms followed suit.

What does this mean for the venture community in general and specifically for local Sacramento venture funds - DFJ Frontier, American River Ventures and Velocity Ventures?

Could it be a good thing for Sacramento in that Bay Area funds might have to look a little further from home to find good investments for their funds? Like maybe in good old Sac?

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 8:56 AM | Permalink

Pierre and I had a chance to check out the Mavs last Sunday prior to the upcoming preseason game against the Kings on Thursday night. Sunday was Fans Day and the local radio station held a lottery to allow a certain number of fans to get into the arena an hour early and meet and greet the owner, coach, and players. I was one of the lucky winners - and, when we showed up, we discovered so were 1,000 others! Tables were set up all around the concourse with different players at each table giving autographs and allowing their photos to be taken.

Mark Cuban was looking very relaxed. The lines were pretty short at his table so I was able to remind him about his talk to the Sacramento Entrepreneurship Academy in 2005. "Yes," he said, "I really enjoyed that." Mark took a beating in the press during last year's playoffs for what some considered unsportsmanlike conduct. I think that Mark just displayed the kind of behavior that people who want to win do and Mark is all about winning. And this might just be the year for the Mavs.

Later, during the scrimmage, we saw him in his usual seat at the end of the arena, again looking pretty relaxed. Well, after all, those weren't real NBA refs and this wasn't the playoffs.

The line to Dirk's autograph table was long, long, long. He is definitely a superstar in the eyes of Mavs fans. He too seemed very relaxed, joking with the fans, enjoying his time in the sun. Dirk must live close to us because he is often reported dining in several of the neighborhood restaurants we go to.

Pierre caught this incident. "Ah," he said, "We must tell the Kings that if they want to stop Dirk, they should hold his jersey."

Avery was also front and center at the event. Jason Terry addressed the crowd and promised that the Mavs would 'get it done' this year, referring to the disastrous end to last year's playoffs.

We are excited to be back in basketball season again. And very excited to get a chance to wear our Kings' paraphenalia at our first Mavs game of the season.

We are having two couples over for dinner on Saturday night - both old Sacramento acquaintances. I am sure there will be lots of Kings talk over dinner. We even have a bottle of Lodi-based Jewel Viognier to start the evening.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 5:03 AM | Permalink

According to CNNMoney.com, less than an hour ago, after the closing bell on Wall Street, Google announced the acquisition of YouTube for $1.65 billion.

Speculation about a possible acquisition started early Friday morning. As we reported Saturday morning, the deal was imminent.

Congrats to the YouTube team! A liquidity event 20 months after start-up. Wow!

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 3:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

"Rough Ride In The City," a study is based upon data the Federal Highway Administration requires states to collect, finds that Sacramento has the seventh worst roads among urban areas with at least 500,000 residents.

"In the case of Sacramento, 50 percent of the roads provided motorists with a rough ride. These roads are not only shaking up motorists, but are shaking up the vehicles increasing operating costs," said Frank Moretti, author of the study.

California cities don't show well in this study. Here are the worst 10 cities in the 500,000 resident category:
San Jose, Los Angeles, San Francisco – Oakland, Kansas City, San Diego, Sacramento, New Orleans (pre-Katrina) , Oklahoma City, Omaha and St. Louis.

The best roads according to the study are in Atlanta. A desirable goal for state and local governments is to maintain 75 percent of its roads in good condition, but only three of the nation's urban areas of 500,000 people or more – Atlanta, Orlando and Phoenix –
achieve this goal.

And things aren't likely to improve any time soon. Through 2022, the U.S. faces a $76 billion shortfall in the cost to maintain urban roadways in their current condition and a $138 billion shortfall in the cost to make significant improvements to urban roadways, according
to the study.

Like I said, fasten your seat belts.....

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 7:39 AM | Permalink

Chad Hurley and Steve Chen are living the American dream, right before our eyes. Their story is amazing! Just when you think the rapid creation of giant wealth in the technology industry can't be outdone, it happens again. Bigger. Better. Faster.

It's all about passion, creativity, and taking action. Nearly two years ago, Chad and Steve came up with an idea on how to share video files over the Internet. At the time, they worked for PayPal. On February 14, 2005, at the ripe ages of 27 and 25, Chad and Steve, together with Jawed Karim, co-founded YouTube in a Menlo Park garage. Bootstrapping the company with credit cards, they quickly developed a prototype and by May of 2005, they were beta testing it with their friends.

Using their network to gain access to venture capital, YouTube raised $3.5 million from Sequoia Capital in November 2005 (Roelof Botha, former PayPal CFO and partner at Sequoia). Sequoia invested an additional $8 million this past April.

The company officially launched its service last December. Since then, market adoption of YouTube's video file sharing service has been off the charts. YouTube attracts over 20 million unique users per month. Users download over 100 million video views per day. 65,000 new videos are uploaded each day.

This is nothing but amazing. This is simply mind-boggling!

And now for the rest of the story - Chad Hurley and Steve Chen are about to become very, very wealthy (Jawed left early on to pursue graduate studies at Stanford). According to Michael Arrington at TechCrunch, Google is rumored to be in discussions with YouTube to acquire the company for $1.6 billion. The rumor just may have validity, per the Wall Street Journal on Friday.

A billion dollar liquidity event, from the garage to Google in less than twenty-four months!

I think Chad and Steve are about to become the latest media darlings - very soon!

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 10:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

First Fridays announces the Premiere of movie Daddy Hunger, which will be hosted by Actor Ernie Hudson and Thomas Drayton of Fox 40 News. Daddy Hunger features interviews with "lifers" inside California state prisons; mothers who have raised their children without a father's influence; and men, women, and youth who have experienced extreme consequences of this serious issue - growing up without a father. The film also features surprising commentary by the controversial Fillmore Slim; rapper, J.T. Tha Bigga Figga; and Poet Terry Moore.

Jon Johnson, who was so tragically shot in Elk Grove a few months ago, was the Director of Photography for this film and a portion of the proceeds will be awarded to a scholarship recipient in his memory.

Tickets on sale at The Crest or at Tickets.com for $20. Click here for more details

Sounds like an important subject and a great cause.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 9:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

From Mark Cuban's blog, as part of an interesting discussion on the blown call in the Oregon Oklahoma Pac10 game:

The job of management is to hire the best possible people for a position and put them in a position to succeed. Which means that the hiring process has to be strong. It means the recruiting and training process has to be strong. A workforce of professionals has to have bench strength. There have to be well trained individuals ready to take the place of those who quit, retire, or cant meet the standards of the organization.

It means communication has to be strong so that employees and management can have give and take and work to improve the organization and profession. It means the evaluation process has to be strong. Its not simply a matter of tracking statistics.... Statistics are worthless if management doesnt understand how to use them as part of a bigger goal. Managers need to be able to communicate with each employee about their individual needs and design programs to help them improve, or make a change if they cant meet those expecations. And finally, management needs to be open to communications with the outside world as a means of developing strong relationships with its customers and garnering ideas and suggestions that independent eyes and ears offer that might improve the quality of performance.

Thats good business.

And Mark sure knows a lot about good business.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 8:01 PM | Permalink

A recent email brought info on what appears to be a very valuable program at an extremely reasonable cost. The Sacramento program is sponsored by Sacramento Employment and Training Agency (SETA), but in other cities, Intel is the sponsor. If any Sacramento Executive reader attends, please report back on its effectiveness.

The Small Business Technology Institute, a non-profit institution, is inviting small businesses to attend the Small Business Technology Boot Camp, a unique day of learning, solution demonstrations and networking to take your business to the next level. The special $20 admission rate, to include breakfast, lunch and all training material, is made possible thanks to the sponsorship of Sacramento Employment and Training Agency (SETA) - reduced from the standard event fee of $400.

The Micro-Enterprise Technology Boot Camp takes place over one full day, during which participants go through four sessions detailing use of information technologies in the four functional areas that are common to all small businesses: infrastructures, marketing, operations and finance.

Each training session provides concrete and proven advice and addresses how to adopt the best, most cost-effective technology solutions to directly and positively impact your business. The sessions are taught by senior business and technology experts and include presentations, case studies, real world scenarios, and hands on application work in the four core subject areas.

The Micro-Enterprise Technology Boot Camp curriculum was developed through SBTI’s in-depth consulting experience with over 200 clients. The Boot Camp has been delivered to hundreds of small businesses since 2002, reaching all sectors and industries across the US. SBTI’s instructors are experienced professionals who have dedicated their careers to technology and are actively committed to supporting the small business community.

This event is tailored for businesses with 20 or fewer employees having only a limited understanding of information technologies and how they factor into business operations. This event is not recommended for technology experts.

Each training module is accompanied by practical demonstrations of technology solutions that best fit the needs of small businesses.

Date: October 19th.

More information and registration can be found here

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 10:08 AM | Permalink

Has the Time Finally Arrived for 'Green' Investing?

By Nancy Zambell, Staff Writer, Big Idea Investor

Simply stated, environmental, green, or clean, technology is defined as ‘the application of environmental sciences to conserve the natural environment and resources by curbing the negative impacts of human involvement’. In other words, it is the clean-up of the mess we humans have made on our planet, as well as the aim to do better job of protecting it in the future.

Since the energy crisis of the 70s, pundits have been foretelling of the potential for great riches by investing in the alternative energy and environmental technology industries. Certainly, over the intervening years, interest in alternative energy, as well as pockets of profit have waxed and waned, pretty much in sync with the price of oil. Oil price rise, interest in this technology booms. Oil prices decline and suddenly bigger, gas-hungrier SUV’s are back in vogue.

We have done an abysmal job of staying on track. In 1975, renewable energy amounted to 6.6% of total energy consumption. By 2005 it was just 6.1%.

But this time around may be a little different. And the reason is compelling. For the first time ever, a widespread collaboration of efforts – from environmentalists, the offending industries, academia, the agriculture industry, state and federal government regulation, security sector and lastly, but very importantly, the financiers – is promising not the rapid development of new technology, but also the money to market it.

Just six years ago, clean technology amounted to a mere 1% of venture capital (VC) expenditures. Last year, VC investments of $1.6 billion in green technology were record-breaking and up 43% over 2004’s numbers. And they are continue to rise significantly this year. In the first quarter of 2006, VC’s invested $513 million, up 52.9%, with the average deal size increasing to $8.28 million. In the second quarter of this year, VC’s surpassed the previous record of $797 million which was achieved during the frothy first quarter of 2000, with investments of $843 million.

Clean energy is now ranked as the fastest growing sector in private funding and the third largest VC investment category, accounting for some 13% of invested capital.

This new devotion to green technology couldn’t come at a better time. In 1999, oil was $17 a barrel. Recent prices climbed to the high $70s, and although they have since substantially pulled back, the need for more energy is not declining and will continue to put upward pressure on prices as we go forward. Here’s why:

Out of the 6.4 billion people in the world, 2 billion still do not have electricity
In China, there is just one car for every 65 citizens, but that is expected to increase seven-fold by 2020
By 2030, experts estimate that global energy demand will climb by 50%
Forecasts for peak oil, when half of the world’s exploitable oil is gone, range between 2015-2020
Today, coal still accounts for 50% of total energy and renewable resources provide just over 6% of U.S. energy sources. Consequently, it’s clear that there is much work to be done, but we are beginning to see significant advances.

Last year $17 billion was invested into clean energy projects in the U.S., an increase of 89% from 2004. The rapid growth is reducing costs, driving technological breakthroughs and spurring new economic opportunities worldwide, including employment of more than 2 million people.

According to Clean Edge, a U.S.-based green technology research firm, wind power, solar energy, biofuels, and fuels cells were a $40 billion market in 2005, but are estimated to grow to $167 billion over the next ten years.

Here’s how investments in alternative energy currently stack up:

Wind, the least expensive of modern renewable energy resources, has more than tripled worldwide since 2000. It was an $11 billion industry in 2005, and is estimated to grow to $48.5 billion by 2015.

Solar sales received a big boost with Al Gore’s movie “An Inconvenient Truth”, a commentary on the dangers of global warming. Helped along by media coverage, rolling blackouts, rising electric costs and more generous rebate programs, the production of electricity-generating solar cells is one of the fastest growing sectors in the world. The industry grew 45% last year, to $11.2 billion, and six-fold over 2000 levels. Estimates are for expansion to a $51.1 billion market by 2015.

Bio, including Bio-Ethanol (made from crops like corn) and Biodiesal (produced from vegetable oils), is on a phenomenal upswing. U.S. Ethanol production last year grew to more than 4 billion gallons, produced by 106 facilities in the U.S. Biodiesal consumption in the U.S. grew from 25 million gallons per year in 2004 to 78 million in 2005, and is forecast to hit 300 million this year and 750 million in 2007. Currently, there are 15-20 biodiesal plants in the southeastern United States, each producing 1 – 30 million gallons per plant, with more facilities being built. Right now, the demand for ethanol and biodiesal for cars and trucks is estimated to more than double, to 6% of all road fuels in the next 4 years – a $28.4 billion market.

Internationally, the story is the same, especially in Southeast Asia. In Indonesia, the biofuels industry is based on turning palm oil into biodiesal, which is purported to be cheaper and more environmentally-sound than existing technologies. Palm farmers have recently been promised $110 million in help from the government and the industry currently employees 1.5 million people. And in Malaysia, 52 new biodiesal facilities have been approved, backed by growing orders from the EU and Japan.

Fuel cells posted 2005 revenues of $1.2 billion, a market estimated to grow to $15.1 billion by 2015. One of the sexiest of the alternative technologies, due to its immediately-recognizable applications in automobile products, this sector is booming. The U.S. Postal service just announced a new minivan powered by fuel cells, bringing the total alternative fuel vehicles in its fleet to more than 37,000. For 2007, General Motors will offer 17 flex fuel models that can burn either ethanol or gas, nearly double this year’s nine models. The company already has more than 2 million flex fuel cars, accounting for almost half of the five million currently on our nation’s roads, many owned by consumers who are totally unaware they have the option.

This tremendous growth is being helped along by government – state and national initiatives:

Federal actions:

Last year, the U.S. Congress enacted legislation to speed up the adoption of ethanol as an additive in fuels.
A congressman from Michigan recently proposed giving automobile manufacturers up to $20 billion in federal loan guarantees for R&D and to retool their plants for manufacturing alternative fuel vehicles.
State actions:

22 states have ordered utilities to obtain as much as 33% of their electricity from renewable sources within the next ten years.
In a landmark action, the state of California recently said it was suing six U.S. and Japanese vehicle manufacturers for allegedly contributing to global warming. Additionally, Governor Schwarzenegger just signed the toughest U.S. emission law calling for energy-intensive industries, such as oil refineries, to reduce discharges of carbon dioxide and other gases linked to global warming by 25% over the next 14 years. And next month, voters in California will decide on an initiative that would tax oil production to fund alternative energy research.
Other states are trying to woo clean technology companies with strong incentives. Pennsylvania has set up the Keystone Green Fund to encourage and leverage private sector investments, and is putting up $40 million in Treasury assets, plus several million from Pennsylvania-based energy funds. The state is also seeking to invest up to $50 million of its Treasury assets in environmentally-friendly companies.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 9:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Check out The Best of California website. It's loaded with 117 streaming videos of destinations within California. No more excuses along the lines of there's nothing to do. Check out this website for unlimited inspiration. California is truly the destination of all destinations...and you are lucky enough to be right in the middle of it all. Take advantage of it. And don't forget to check out the travel discounts offered on the site. 50% off the combined ticket for SF venues - that's a deal!

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 10:13 AM | Permalink

"California is facing a tidal wave of aging baby boomers," said Assemblyman Dave Jones, a Sacramento Democrat. "We need to act now to ensure that we provide adequate health care, housing, and protection from financial and other forms of abuse."

Assemblywoman Patty Berg, a Eureka Democrat who chairs the Assembly committee on aging, said California will be the "grayest state in the nation," exceeding the elderly population of Florida by 2020.

The number of residents age 65 and over — about 4 million of California's total population of 36 million — will nearly double in relation to the total population by 2020, according to a report by the AssemblyCommittee on Aging and Long-Term Care.

"No state has ever seen a demographic shift like this," said Berg. "There is no roadmap because it's never happened before. That's why it's crucial that we begin planning now. California is either going to get ready or get swamped. It's really that simple."

Watch for legislation to try to sort out the myriad of various departments to provide better services to meet this incrase.

Growth opportunities? More demand for health care workers, certain types of housing and transportation alternatives.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 8:49 AM | Permalink

Are you thinking of starting a company? If you are short of capital, the best way to bootstrap your company is get sales. Right away. Do it before you do anything else. Don't write a business plan. Don't develop the product first. Go get orders.

Call me crazy? Let me explain by example - RightNow Technology a software company located in Bozeman, Montana. This is their story - a customer relationship management software solution provider, started in 1997, bootstrapped their way to an IPO in 2004 at $7.00 per share, and now has 530 employees, generating $99 million in annual revenue, with 1,700 customers, $15.61 per share, and a market cap of $504 million.

How did they do it? Founder and CEO Greg Granforte writes:

There's a sign that I keep on the wall of my office. It says simply, “Nothing happens until somebody sells something.” In other words, sales is where your business begins. Sure, you may have a great product or service that you’ve worked hard to develop. You may have hired a fantastic staff. You may have cash in the bank, a logo and letterhead, a beautiful office, computers on the desks, all those things that come to mind when we picture a business. But that’s not what makes a business. Only sales can do that.

This is good news for bootstrappers. Bootstrappers can’t afford fancy offices or big staffs. They may not even have a finished product yet. But the bootstrapper doesn’t need those things to get started. As soon as you can start selling—that is, go out and find customers willing to buy his product or service—you have a business.

So when you’re bootstrapping a business, you don’t worry about the nonessentials at first. Your first concern is sales. Everything else can come later, and sometimes that includes the product or service that you’re selling. In fact, if you approach it the right way, sales is the best way to come up with a product that people will buy. Let me explain.

I started RightNow Technologies with just an idea for a product. What made it real was sales. It was 1997 and the Internet was just starting to boom. Sitting at my home computer, surfing the Web, I noticed that a lot of companies didn’t have a very good way of responding to customer inquiries at their websites. Most of their software solutions seemed to be homegrown and not very effective. When entrepreneurs see a need that’s not being met, they scent opportunity. So I tried to imagine what kind of software would be able to respond to customer inquiries automatically. I made a list of features that I thought would be important for the product to have. Then I hit the phones.

I called hundreds of companies and asked to speak to the customer service manager. I described the software that I had dreamed up and faxed them the specs—just a page, nothing more. Then I asked them whether they’d be willing to buy this product for their company’s website.

Some of them said that yes, they would like to buy the product, and I was certainly happy to hear that kind of positive response. However, when a potential customer said no, I didn’t mind. In fact, that’s when I went into full alert and really started to listen hard. “Why not?” I asked. “What features do you really need? What would make you want to buy this?” And they would tell me. Of course, not everything that the customers wanted was feasible, but if I thought that I could realistically add it to my software product—still purely hypothetical at this point—I’d jot down a new feature on the spec sheet. Plus, there were a few bells and whistles that I’d thought of that didn’t seem to interest customers at all. That lack of interest was important feedback, too. I dropped those features from the spec sheet.

In other words, I used the sales process to do my market research. Had I been awash in start-up capital, I could have hired a marketing firm to run some focus groups and do some surveys of potential customers to figure out what the market wanted. But my way didn’t cost anything, and when I was done, I had a stack of orders. If the reverse had happened, if no one wanted to buy my product, I would have learned quickly and relatively painlessly that I didn’t have a viable business idea. Rejection isn’t easy, but it’s a lot easier than raising money, renting office space, hiring staff, producing product—and then going out of business because your brilliant idea didn’t pan out in the marketplace.

In fact, I would argue that going out and talking to customers myself taught me more about my market than a dozen surveys or focus groups. For an entrepreneur, real learning doesn't start until you actually have real customers. So the goal of the bootstrapper is to get a real customer as quickly as possible.

Of course I couldn’t actually fulfill those orders immediately, because there wasn’t an actual product yet behind that spec sheet. But I had been honest. You never want to lie to people, especially if they’re your customers. I had told them that the software was still under development and wouldn’t be ready for another sixty days. And I had made sure that the product on my spec sheet was something that I could build within a reasonable period of time so the customers would wait for it. A lot of people who start businesses get hung up because they think, "Oh, I've got to have all this stuff in my initial offering.” The way bootstrappers think about it, they figure out what they can deliver quickly with a reasonable set of features, so that they can go ahead and start the business.

Once I knew that people would buy the product on my spec sheet, I holed up in front of my computer for six weeks and wrote the software. To be honest, the result was a very minimal, bare-bones product. To call it a 1.0 release would be a stretch. However, it did what I had promised it would do. Then I started implementing it for customers. At first I didn’t charge for it. It was more important for me to get the software into the hands of real customers, so that I could find out what they liked and didn’t like about the product, and then fix it.

The beauty of it was that I got a lot of feedback at first. So I ran really fast and I kept dropping in changes, and eventually I heard the response, "I'm not happy because...” less and less. That’s when I knew that I was starting to get a mature product. It probably took about ten months of iterations to get a mature product.

Meanwhile, after a couple of months I started to charge for my product. My market was made up of big corporations that easily could afford to pay $100,000 for a piece of software. I could have charged customers that much—and it would have been six months before I closed my first real sale. I didn’t want to wait that long to start generating cash. So instead I priced RightNow’s software to move, at $5,000 for a two-year lease, and then I offered big discounts, up to 50 percent, on top of that. At this point, my business expenses were almost nil. I was still working out of my home, and I had no employees. I could practically give away my product and still manage to be profitable.

Excerpt from "Bootstrapping Your Business: Start and Grow a Successful Company With Almost No Money", Greg Granforte. (copyright 2003)

I have much more to tell about RightNow Technologies and one of their backers - Rob Ryan. Entrepreneurs of America - stay tuned!

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 9:31 AM | Permalink

Last week I had a chance to meet with an incoming class member of the Sacramento Entrepreneurship Academy. It's always such a privilege to meet these young people who are so full of ideas and hope and energy. During our discussion, he mentioned his father was raising money to make a movie. I offered the Sacramento Executive forum as a place for his father to preview his plan and recruit local talent to assist. So, what follows is the plan synopsis his father sent. If the movie turns out half as well as this bright, charming young man, it should be an Academy award winner!

Sasquatch Entertainment LLC, is proud to be part of the Northern California film-making community. The goal of Sasquatch Entertainment, a new independent film company, is to produce profitable, feature length films in Sacramento, using local talent to fulfill that endeavor.

It wasn’t until seven years ago that the owner of Sasaquatch Entertainment, David W. Keon put his lifetime passion for films into action as a screenwriter. David has written three screenplays and has five others (2 Thrillers, 2 Comedies, 1 Drama) in development phase. In early 2004, one of his screenplays, (Money For Nothin), a big-budget, action buddy-cop film caught the attention of Hollywood and was optioned by The Donners Company (Lethal Weapon, X-Men) and had interest as well from Todd Phillips Company (Starsky and Hutch, Old School), C-2 Pictures (Die Hard3, Terminator) and Davis Entertainment (The Firm, Behind Enemy Lines).

David started Sasquatch Entertainment after rebounding from his Hollywood disappointments, heeding the words of many within the industry, “you have the talent to produce your own works”. David took this advice to heart and used his schooling from The Hollywood Film Institute to do exactly that and formed Sasquatch Entertainment, LLC in late 2005.

With the average cost of a Hollywood studio production sitting around $40 million, the door has swung wide open for the fast growing independent film market. Based in Sacramento, Sasquatch Entertainment will play a major role in this ever expanding marketplace and supply film audiences with quality, enjoyable entertainment.

Presently, Sasquatch Entertainment has numerous projects at various stages of development. One such project titled “Xtra space,” has moved from the development phase into pre-production. The four phases of filmmaking are development (script), pre-production (cast, crew, budget and funding), production (filming) and then post production (editing, marketing and distribution). Principal photography (filming) is tentatively set for early 2007. “Xtra space” should carry a PG-13 rating.

“Xtra space” Short Synopsis: Two enterprising college grads, with a dream of launching their video game development company, temporarily take over management of a self-storage facility. Complications arise when one of them discovers, a local gang operating an illegal casino down the street, suddenly needs a new place of operation. Will our strapped for venture capital college grads cross the line and risk everything to outsmart the local cops and their cliché abusing, tyrant boss?

During the shooting of the film, Sasquatch Entertainment will select a young person from the local community to apprentice in whatever area of production his or her skills and desires dictate. It is my hope that, in sharing the storytelling skills of filmmaking, we will encourage others to tell stories of their own someday.

"Xtra space" is a motion picture budgeted to be produced at $400,000.00 for theatrical exhibition in the United States and Foreign Market(s). The U.S. domestic box office totaled $8.99 billion in 2005. Analysts project $25 billion worldwide revenue for films in 2006, growing to $31 billion by 2010. The market for independent films has expanded tremendously in the last few years with worldwide gross revenue of $23.24 billion in 2005..

In 2005, comedy films debuting for the first time at the American Film Market amongst those companies registered by AFMA, composed 37% of the total number of films. As the world moves away from pictures containing graphic content, the marketplace needs films that entertain and stir the emotions without the use of violence and gratuitous sexual content..

Using a conservative, selective revenue projection, an assumption of general industry distribution agreements, Sasquatch Entertainment projects domestic gross revenue of approximately $8.5 million with a producer / investor income of $1.78 million (Domestic only) for "Xtra space"..

At this time, Sasquatch Entertainment is seeking production partners and investors. Inquiries requesting detailed information regarding the project can be emailed (sasquatchent@aol.com) or sent directly to David W. Keon at 5951 West Oaks Blvd., Rocklin, California 95765 .

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 8:04 AM | Permalink