The Ziggurat building in West Sacramento looks like a step pyramid, like the ones you might see in ancient Egypt or Mesopotamia. But this modern pyramid has eleven steps, corresponding to its eleven stories, a bit more than the step pyramids of Egypt or the ziggurats of Mesopotamia. The Ziggurat building is currently owned by California’s State Dept. of General Services, or DGS.

In the old days, this beautiful building was lit at night by warm floodlights that made the sides of the square building glow like a white canvas tent that has illuminations burning inside.

Those lights took a gem of a building and turned it into an ethereal and enchanting jewel, and every night its reflection shone in the Sacramento River, and could be seen in the reflective sides of the multi-story downtown buildings on the eastern shore.

Today the Ziggurat building looms in the dark like a gloomy phantom, because we must not emit CO2. And how much CO2 are we talking about? If we assume CO2 emitted equates to energy expended, then we know we have to figure out how much electricity these lights require, and install a sustainable (and non-CO2!) power supply.

According to sources, the electric bill to light the Ziggurat at night is about $300 per month, and that really isn’t a lot of electricity - if we assume they paid $.10 per kilowatt-hour, we’re talking 3,000 kilowatt-hours, or 100 kilowatt-hours per night. Just park and hook up two fully charged Tesla Roadsters, and you’d have just enough.

With at least eight good hours of sun at 12 watts per square foot output, you would need 15,000 square feet of photovoltaic array to store 100 kilowatt-hours each day. Even in winter, a good 15,000 square foot, 12.5 kilowatt (output in full sun) PV array could easily produce enough electricity each day to power the lights on the Ziggurat each night. At $10 per watt (installed), this solar power system will cost $125,000.

Ah, but you might say - what about the storage of that electricity? Well let ’s assume we use batteries to store all this electricity, and let’s assume these batteries don’t cost more per kWh than, say the batteries in the Tesla Roadster. Since the Tesla Roadster has about 50 kWh of battery storage onboard, if we assume 50% of the $100K cost for a Tesla Roadster is for the battery pack, then battery storage costs $1,000 per kilowatt. That is probably on the high side for what we need at the Ziggurat building - but let’s just say the storage system will cost $100,000. It will probably cost a lot less than that.

So what sort of bang can we get for this 100 kWh we’re ready to throw into the night sky in the form of glorious, frivolous illumination? If you figure the Ziggurat building is 400 feet long and 300 feet wide, with eleven “steps” with 20 feet between each step, then the total sum of all eleven progressively smaller floor circumferences is 28,600 linear feet. If you put one 8 watt LED bulb every 28 feet, then you will have exactly one thousand inspiring points of light to envelop the Ziggurat. At a mind-blowing $30 apiece, you still only add another $30,000 to purchase the bulbs for a system that, clearly, can be built for under $250,000.

Is this just a boondoggle to please the aesthetically minded among us? Well anything that does nothing but make the world more beautiful is a boondoggle, if you put it that way. But what is the return on investment for this installation? If you figure you’re saving $3,600 per year in electric costs at the night rate of $.10 per kWh, you’ve only got half the picture.
During the summer when there are more hours of sun, the system will generate surplus energy to help power the buiding during the day, which at peak rates of $.25 per kWh, will earn another $2,300. Using conservative assumptions, the system will return 2.3% per year before any subsidies or credits.

What’s stopping this simple adapatation so Sacramentans can admire and be inspired by a beautiful building again? Can’t we let these lights shine in the darkness, reminding us that we live in a spectacular city? Turn on the lights! As long as we don’t allow our obsession with CO2 emissions to cause us to overlook (or even enable) the destruction of our forests and fisheries, the earth will abide.

As for the costs - please know that if you deferred the retirement benefits of just one average public sector worker within this building for five years, you would have more than enough money to pay for this upgrade to a sustainable system. And know that funds from CO2 offset credits and CO2 taxes will not be paying for this photovoltaic system, they will mainly be paying to keep afloat otherwise completely unsustainable public sector retirement benefits. So as private sector taxpayers sign up for reverse mortgages to supplement their social security, while paying more for their “footprints,” they might please understand which way the financial river flows, and why.

Ed "Redwood" Ring is the Editor of www.EcoWorld.com, reporting on clean technology and the status of species and ecosystems.

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:07 AM | Permalink

Marquiss Wind Power, based in Folsom, Calif., an innovator in wind turbine technology, has announced that Paul Misso is the company's new president and CEO.

Misso was formerly director of information technology at Intel, where he managed the company's global network of application development, support and business analysts. He was recruited for his position by Velocity Venture Capital, a fund specializing in early-stage investments in the greater Sacramento region. Velocity Venture Capital led the company's initial round of funding.

"This is an exciting time in the development of clean energy sources," says Misso. "Marquiss has outstanding products that put the power of wind to work to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. Our products provide a cost-effective way for all businesses to reduce their power costs and take a step to help our environment."

Courtesy of Alternative Energy Retailer

I and a couple of others met with the guy who developed the initial technology a few years ago and frankly it seemed like way too big a job to turn into a real company. So I give lots of credit to Jack Crawford at Velocity for making it happen. I know it couldn't have been easy.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:35 AM | Permalink

Check out the wonderful authors coming to Sacramento under the auspices of the California Lecture Series. Tickets are still available. The opportunity is waiting for your enjoyment. Don't miss out.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 11:13 AM | Permalink

Yesterday, in Bob Shallit's column in the Sacramento Bee, he wrote about a New-York based electronics-recycling company, Plastinum Polymer Technologies Corp., that is considering moving its headquarters to Roseville.

Shallit writes:

Plastinum, which opened its first plant in Holland three years ago, boasts of an advanced, environmentally friendly system that separates the various kinds of plastics in old computers and other "e-waste".

Much of that plastic now goes into landfills, (Plastinum spokesman Paul) Hayes says. "But we basically put it into a blender, and we get out reusable plastics and polymers," he says..".....The company's first U.S. plant will cost $5 million to open and employ about 40 people, Hayes says.

Could this be just what California is looking for? Now we have shown we are on the leading edge of the cleantech movement, maybe companies will move to the state because we are cleantech company friendly instead of moving away because we are business hostile. Make some new regs quickly, Arnold!

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:04 AM | Permalink

From Ask the VC

Q: We have an interested Angel for an investment in our startup LLC. We have a strong lawyer for support. We’d like to submit a draft Term Sheet to, as you say in your blog, “control the paper”. Everything I find online about Angel Term Sheets contemplates shares, which presumes a corporation (vs. an LLC). We expect to give secondary (non-voting) membership as well as putting the investor on an Advisory Board. Can you point to resources that are more appropriate to an LLC structure?
A: (Brad) Your lawyer should be able to quickly crank this out. There’s nothing special about it – just slightly different language given the notion of “members” vs. “shareholders” and the difference in how members rights are allocated / delineated. I don’t know of any generic forms online, but if your lawyer doesn’t have this in a boilerplate form, I’d recommend you revisit the notion that you have “a strong lawyer for support.”
COMMENTS (2)
As an additional resource, you may want to check out the following book. "Term Sheets & Valuations - A Line by Line Look at the Intricacies of Venture Capital Term Sheets & Valuations (Bigwig Briefs) (Paperback)". Term Sheets & Valuations - A Line by Line Look at the Intricacies of Venture Capital Term Sheets & Valuations (Bigwig Briefs)
As Brad indicates, there is probably nothing in there that your lawyer does not already know, but there are a lot of variations on the term sheet theme that may give you some new ideas.

The one additional issue to consider is where your LLC is formed. LLCs are still a bit of an evolving creature and the statutory default provisions are much more limited. Therefore, your LLC operating agreement has to cover a lot more in terms of mechanics and minority protections that would have otherwise been necessary with a corp. This is more of an issue for the party that will be in the minority post deal, which I assume is your investor, but something to keep in mind as discussions continue.

Dimitry Herman , November 8, 2007 5:37 AM
As an angel investor, I'd insist on a C corporation. I'm biased a bit, tho--95% of the companies we fund go on to get institutional capital--which almost always insist on a C corp as well. My advice--think of the future, not just the present.
Also, if a company I was investing in wanted to give me "non-voting" shares, I'd pass on the investment. Remember, it's meant to be a two way street where all parties involved are succesful. At this early stage, it should not be who gets the "best" deal("control the paper", "non-voting", etc).
Knox Massey , November 8, 2007 4:55 PM

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 8:40 AM | Permalink

Broadway has always held so much potential. But between the demise of the Tower chain, the uncertainty as to the long-term status of Tower Theater, and the fire at Joe Marty's, it is not a street you feel enticed to stroll down.

But now a local family (who also happens to be developers) are hoping that a new project might entice others to upscale Broadway.

The Gianulias family has owned the property that was Tower Books,now the Avid Reader, since the 1940s. When Tower Records went bankrupt, the Gianuliases acquired the property and rented it back to Russ Solomon, the Tower Records' founder. They also own the lot across the street. And they have big plans for a new building that will hold one or two nationally known restaurants.

Let's make sure to support their efforts. It's another wonderful area of Sacramento waiting to come alive.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:00 AM | Permalink

This week I have spent several hours undertaking site visits for potential investees. But it's not what you think. The investees are local non-profits and I am volunteering on behalf of a local engaged philanthropy organization.

It has been exhilirating to learn that all of the business skills I acquired while working in corporate America are completely transportable to the non-profit world. There are still Boards that need to be effective, there are still financials, there is still money to be raised, there are still issues with staff and, most importantly, there are clients to be delighted!

As I am driving home from one of the visits, I get a call from an old colleague. He tells me that he is quitting his job and going to work for a non-profit. He expresses the same thoughts that I have been having. It sure is good to go to work and feel like you did some good - like saving someone's life, giving them a second chance, making them stand tall.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Despite all those dire warnings from industry groups, including the California Chamber of Commerce, California is losing relatively few jobs as a result of businesses relocating to other states, with most business moves involving relocations within the state, according to a recent Public Policy Institute of California study. During the past 15 years, California only lost 11,000 jobs due to business relocations of the state's 18 million jobs (0.06%).

When the governor next considers vetoing all bills that the California Chamber of Commerce has designated as 'hostile to business', which he did this year, he might want to consider the real facts and stop listening to BS.

The Public Policy Institute of California report says other factors are much more influential on the state's employment status.

"Business births, deaths, contractions and expansions have a much greater effect on employment," the report said.

"Establishment relocations within the state are much more common than relocations into and out of the state," the report added. "Among intrastate relocations, short-distance moves are more common than long-distance moves."

"This short-distance pattern suggests that businesses are not moving primarily in search of differently skilled or cheaper labor or a more friendly business climate," the report said. "Rather, it is more consistent with businesses looking to be closer to more productive business clusters, a more affordable real estate market, or workers or customers who have themselves moved toward less expensive real estate."

A good example of this was the Sacramento region which gained 15,000 net jobs between 1992 and 2004. Areas that lost jobs: Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The report concludes by stating: "Although some industries and some regions in the state are not growing as fast as others, California's job growth has kept pace with the nation."

Thank goodness for PPIC and organizations like them that deflate all the 'noise' and present the facts.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 4:47 PM | Permalink

Learn from the best how to turn your business idea into a succinct plan that investors will want to read .

Both speakers are partners of well-respected VC funds in Sacramento and both have real-life experience working in startups and both have spent many, many hours working with entrepreneurs.

This is a definite-attend event.

Date: Wednesday, November 7th Time: 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM Location: AOB IV Room 174 (Graduate School of Management Building), UC Davis Campus http://www.cevs.ucdavis.edu/map/

EVERYONE IS WELCOME! Learn the secrets to building a successful business plan. Discover how to commercialize your next great idea. This workshop will present you with valuable tools for creating a business plan. We are pleased to present Dr. Barbara Grant, Managing Director at American River Ventures and Scott Lenet, Managing Director of DFJ Frontier, as presenters for this year's workshop.

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS...
Dr. Barbara Grant is a Managing Director of American River Ventures, a $100M, early stage venture capital firm headquartered in Sacramento. Prior to joining ARV in 2004, she was CEO of Siros Technologies, a Silicon Valley start-up company developing laser light sources, where she raised funding from top-tier investors. Prior to joining Siros, Barbara was at IBM for 21 years, where she held numerous executive positions , most recently as VP and General Manager in the Data Storage Solutions Business. Grant and her teams have been responsible for the development and introduction of over 50 new products over the course of her career. She was elected to the inaugural group of the Women in Technology Hall of Fame in 1996.

Scott Lenet is a founder and Managing Director of DFJ Frontier, a Draper Fisher Jurvetson affiliate and early stage technology venture capital fund. At Frontier, he leads fund management, fundraising and portfolio management efforts. Mr. Lenet has significant experience in the technology industry as an entrepreneur and as a venture capitalist. He was the founder and CEO of SmartFrog.com, purchased in 1999 by Cybergold (acquired by UAL).

For more information, visit the Big Bang! web site or email the Big Bang! at bigbang@ucdavis.edu.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 10:18 AM | Permalink

Jon Toigo, a disaster recovery expert at Toigo Partners International, has put together nearly 100 disaster recovery plans. His clients include Office Depot (NYSE: ODP), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO), and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) over the past twenty years.

"The bottom line in disaster preparedness is to protect your most irreplaceable assets – your people and your data," said Toigo.

People
Employees will want reassurance and direction. If not, things can fall apart pretty quickly.

As a result, Toigo recommends building solid contact lists. They should include at least five different points of contact -- say, phone numbers, mobile numbers, email, SMS and also information on relatives.

Data
"You may be astonished to learn that nearly 20 percent of small businesses do not back up their data," said Toigo. "With businesses relying on technology now more than ever, it's my job to remind professionals that if you lose your data, you can lose your business."

Thus, he recommends a data back up at least once a week – and there should also be an off-site storage facility.

Fortunately, storage technology is getting much cheaper. For example, Toigo likes small flash drives like Ativa's 8GB system (which can store up to 320,000 pages) and can be put in your pocket when you leave the office.

"The truth is, more than one in four businesses will experience a significant crisis in a given year, and of those businesses that experience a disaster and have no emergency plan, 43 percent never reopen," said Toigo. "But with a plan in place, the overwhelming feeling should be greatly reduced because you'll know you are covered."

Thanks to Tom Taulli of Entrepreneur's Journal

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 5:46 AM | Permalink

"Even for someone like Anne Mulcahy, who had spent nearly 20 years at Xerox, collating its problems seemed next to impossible when she took over in 2001. At the time, the company was buried in $15 billion of debt and an SEC scandal. Onlookers were sure that Xerox was destined for Chapter 11. Despite this, Mulcahy managed to dig out by drastically cutting the workforce and steadily increasing innovations (they've launched 100 new products in the last three years)." - Fortune.com

Anne Mulcahy, a SacWomen Power Women 50 Index member, has delivered better than most of her male counterparts and handsomely rewarded investors along the way. Since her debut as CEO of Xerox (NYSE symbol XRX) in August 2001, a $10,000 investment in XRX has grown to $21,541 versus $12,464 for the S&P 500 Index.

What exactly has she achieved? Comparing results of 2000, (the year ending before Mulcahy took charge) versus 2006, she has grown:

• book value per share from $3.33 to $7.48;
• return on equity from -12.3% to 17.1%;
• return on assets from -1.0% to 5.6%;
• net profit margins from -1.7% to 7.4%;
• earnings per share from -$.48 to $1.22; and,
• net income from -$273 million to $1.21 billion.

Wow! Those are great results! Anne Mulcahy, job well done!

Pierre Cutler
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Pierre Cutler at 9:30 AM | Permalink

Glassboth is an interesting quiz that allows you to spread 20 points to provide your ranking of importance to the top issues with which this country is dealing e.g., healthcare, the war in Iraq, drugs, immigration, social security etc. (makes you realize how hard it is for politicians to decide where the money should go - almost all are critically important to me). You then answer a series of questions related to the topics you designated as important. Out pops the Presidential candidate which whom you are most in tune. Pretty interesting stuff.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 6:32 AM | Permalink

Prosper magazine, launched in 2004, will halt publication of a printed edition, but the Prosper Media Group business will continue in some form online, company executives said.

The December issue will be the last. There was no answer at the Prosper office to a phone call Friday afternoon, and the magazine Web site still invited readers to subscribe to 12 issues for $12.

"The economic model that we had running here with Prosper, both Prosper Media and the print publication, just wasn't working," said majority owner Mike Teel in a videotaped statement dated Nov. 1 and posted on the prospermag.com Web site. "And what we needed to do was eliminate the pressure of the ongoing business to give us the time and platform to rethink the model. ... We're laying off all employees. We've given them a great severance package."

The company did not disclose how many employees were laid off or the specifics of the severance package.

Teel said Sacramento-based Prosper Media would "meet all of our obligations as a business" and is current on most payments. "We want to bring an end to this business and then go on in a virtual realm." The Prosper brand will continue, Teel said, on an Internet platform. Executives now are working through two possible business models, he said, and will make an announcement on the future of the business once they've worked through both strategies.

Teel, an heir of the family that built Raley's Inc. of West Sacramento, and Sacramento River Cats owner Warren Smith are major financial backers of Prosper.

The move comes less than a year after the appointment late in 2006 of several executives at Prosper, including a new editor-in-chief. Two top managers had resigned last fall and the company announced plans to position itself as a national media player.

Reached at his home in Rescue, former editor-in-chief Jeffrey Young said the layoffs took place Thursday. Prosper employed about a dozen people, including seven full-time editorial employees, said Young, a former Forbes magazine editor hired in December to head Prosper's editorial staff.

The December issue has gone to press and is expected to be Prosper's last. But Young said the magazine's fate is uncertain, and the print edition could make a comeback as early as next spring. "There's a possibility we may resurrect it and move the magazine to the Bay Area," where there are more readers and advertising dollars, he said.

"One of the real problems with the Sacramento marketplace is that it's too small to attract first-tier national advertisers," Young said. "You're stuck in a small market with an inability to get access to the media buyer decision-makers."

He said revenue was growing at Prosper, but the magazine was not generating enough return on equity. The problem, he said, is the small pool of business-publication advertisers. Prosper has a circulation of 30,000 per issue.

Scott Doniger, vice president of marketing and circulation, confirmed that Prosper is "reviewing opportunities that would make sense in the print world," but he declined to offer specifics. He said prospermag.com would continue in some form. "We want to try to stay a step ahead of where the market is moving, particularly the market for business news and for businesses that are looking to promote themselves," Doniger said.

Story courtesy of Sacramento Business Journal

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Magazine

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 5:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A wonderful opportunity to get smart about patents courtesy of the Sacramento County Bar Intellectual Property Section. And free wine too.

Intellectual property rights in today’s information age are not only extremely valuable assets, they are also tools used in a competitive business environment to both shield companies from their competitors' attacks and as swords to gain a competitive advantage. Sophisticated managers wield these tools adeptly. The fundamental changes in patent law in the last five years, however, has dramatically changed the way managers must think about protecting their company's products and methods of doing business. Join us for a discussion about those changes and how one renowned leader in the technology sector is adapting.

About our Speakers
Cindy Faatz is an Assistant Director of Patents at Intel Corporation. Ms. Faatz has worked at Intel for 23 years, where she worked first as an engineer. Since joining the legal team, she was worked in a variety of different roles in the patents and licensing group, including her current focus on overseeing management of the wired and wireless communications patent portfolios.
Professor Amy Landers litigated patent, copyright, trademark, and trade secret matters for high technology and Fortune 100 clients prior to joining the faculty at the University of Pacific, McGeorge School of Law. Professor Landers is authoring Patent Law Fundamentals, which is forthcoming on Westlaw publications.
The Business End of Patents
with
Cindy Faatz, Esq.
Assistant Director of Patents at Intel Corporation
&
Patent Law Primer
Prof. Amy Landers
UOP McGeorge School of Law
Panel from Sacramento’s IP Community Legal
Glen Gross, Esq. | Pamela Bertani, Esq. | Scott Plamondon, Esq. | Daniel Ballard,Esq.

Wednesday, 11/28/2007 at 5:30 - 8:00 pm
Hyatt Regency Sacramento
1209 L Street, Sacramento, CA 95814
Complimentary Wine Provided By Coppola Vineyards, Napa
5:30 - 6:15 pm
Please RSVP:

Ian A. Rambarran
Attorney-at-Law
Klinedinst PC
The Forum Building
1107 Ninth Street,
Suite 680
Sacramento, CA 95814
www.klinedinstlaw.com
irambarran@klinedinstlaw.com
Ph: 916-444-7573 (x) 4205
Fax: 916-444-7544

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 1:11 PM | Permalink

Not according to Climate Progress which exposes nuclear power's Achille's heel:

No, I don’t mean cost, safety, waste, or proliferation — though those are all serious problems. I mean the Achilles heel of nuclear power in the context of climate change: water.

Climate change means water shortages in many places and hotter water everywhere. Both are big problems for nukes.

… nuclear power is the most water-hungry of all energy sources, with a single reactor consuming 35-65 million litres of water each day.

You can read the whole blog on Climate Progress's blog.

One more reason to do a little research before you make a decision on ways to mitigate global warming.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive

Posted by Gillian Parrillo at 8:55 AM | Permalink