Energy pioneer ready to scale...
Donation protected
April 2016 Boulder, CO
What does it take, in some cases, to do well by doing good?
My name is Eric Doub. Below I will share with you how I pioneered energy performance in buildings; how I am launching a business to leverage my decades of commitment to a better world through efficiency and renewables; and how – at this moment – I am raising smaller funds to reach the point where the business takes off. I hope you will be inspired by my story.
From age seven I was raised in privilege in Boulder, Colorado – rock climbing since age 13, bicycling, running marathons, and enjoying the beauty of the mountains with wonderful friends. I have always had much to be thankful for and still do. One of my sayings is that I am a Gratitude Junkie – I can't live without it!
By my early teens I recognized that with privilege comes responsibility to make a difference. A few years later at Stanford, I tailored my education to help me accelerate our society's transition from dirty and vulnerable energy to clean, distributed energy sources: I titled my major "Sustainable U.S. Resource and Security Policies."
In 2004 I took on a challenge to do what no one had achieved before: Design and build a home in a cold climate that would produce as much energy as it used for the year, at an affordable level.
Well, we did it. The home is called Solar Harvest. I moved my family into this precedent-setting house in November 2005.
Thousands of people have toured through our affordably-built zero net energy home. There have been hundreds of media features, from the New York Times to HGTV to Investor’s Business Daily, plus many awards. I have been hauled all over the country to give presentations, lead professional trainings, and co-author the national guidelines for residential green remodeling.
This local and international recognition has given this home the power to help raise the bar nationally on building codes so that homes everywhere are more comfortable, healthier and lower cost to live in, and lighter on the planet in terms of energy and environment.
If I had gone to potential investors or benefactors in 2004 and said,
Look, I know it's never been done. But here's what I'm going to do: Create a house that costs no more to live in than an average code-built house, but which is future-proofed – so that even 50 or 80 years from now, when no one knows what fossil fuels will cost, the house is humming along. And for right now, this house will have a payback that is immediate, in the first month, because residents will pay a little bit more in mortgage for the extra features, but less than that in energy...and end up neutral as to net cost of ownership, or even cash flow positive. For research and development, and delivering our vision, how about doling out a big pile of cash?
I would have been laughed out of the room as just another Boulder dreamer.
______________________________________________________________
Parallel #1: The MP3
In 2014, the inventor of the MP3 told me that he raised $6M for that project, $25,000 at a time. Then when he had 400 people working, and a $60M investment was supposed to come in and got delayed, and then was going to happen and was again postponed, etc. etc., he was looking at his bank account online: $23 available. Hitting Refresh, the balance became $60,000,023.
______________________________________________________________
Now, years later, it is time to recover financially. Our daughter started college this year, for example, with exactly zero dollars in her college fund; like everything else on this entrepreneur's journey of pioneering and charitable work, including three generations of money in our family, money saved for her college was used to advance this mission and fuel years of educational and advocacy work proving and promoting that zero net energy is possible and affordable.
There probably are not many Stanford alumni on Medicaid, or driving Uber all night to put food on the table. Both these things are true in my case -- temporary, and true.
From here:
In our startup company, in our for-profit work, my team of five people and I have prepared the last three years to go to scale with energy-saving measures. One of our sales deals coming up should save the amount of electricity equivalent to that used by 75,000 homes -- and generate several million dollars in net earnings over two years. That's Philanthropy at a Profit, in a big way.
We have many sales like this one waiting for action. I can't wait for us to launch this new revenue model. It will be the culmination of a third of a century of dedication to positive social and environmental change.
______________________________________________________________
Parallel #2: "Being All-In to go All-Out"
Another person in Los Angeles, who could become an investor for us, had zero in his accounts and was about to lose his studio apartment, when he was walking into the closing for the deal that made him $600M.
______________________________________________________________
At the moment the challenge is to secure enough money to make it through the transition to the new business taking off. It takes an unpredictable amount of time to raise money from private individuals to take a business to the next level. We have raised a considerable amount already, to get this far and do this much good. We just went through 24 months of believing what two different investors said – that they would act quickly – and then witnessing these individuals never perform.
Fortunately we have structured one of the next investment deals to be secured by Solar Harvest and have people networking to bring investors to the opportunity. There is another capital deal that is like a light switch – it has been approved and documents are signed, and we are waiting for paperwork and next steps so that the switch flips to ON. Another potential capital source is with a San Diego-based system for which we have been selected to present on April 21, 2016. (This system looks much higher probability than standard pitch venues, because our rep with the system will be working with individual investors ahead of time and providing them with the business plan.) From whichever source, or a combination of multiple sources, this next capital infusion will provide not only for my housing security but also food security and other basics through my receiving the first standard, predictable compensation I have had in seven years.
Then our team will be off to the races, deploying energy efficiency measures at portfolio scale.
This next phase is also where I will finally be able to reward people who have helped so far, and do well by doing good.
To give time for the larger capital raise underway to cross the finish line, it's the smaller personal funding that I need now – to get our family to safe ground.
As a longtime rock climber I know how to suffer. I know how to not show hardship. I know how to stay calm and focused in the face of danger. But I also know how to recognize when certain actions are necessary to keep from falling.
From here we can see the summit of the mountain. The smaller money that comes in now will give us a lifeline rope to reach the top (where we raise the larger capital for the company and take off on the mission for saving energy at scale) so that we can descend to the lowlands and safety.
Timeline: ASAP for a rope to climb to the summit.
______________________________________________________________
Parallel #3: What it can take to do well by doing good
In September 2014 at his 13,000-square-foot home in Piedmont, I met with a retired civil rights attorney about his investing with us. He told me his story.
One of his cases took 12 years, 1973-85. Before he challenged a certain major insurance company, its California workforce had one female agent. Afterward, over fifty percent of the agents were women.
The award was $239M.
To get there, it was harrowing. With everything taking so long, and expenses mounting, at one point in his law career he had borrowed from everyone he could, mortgaged his home, and unsuccessfully gone to the banks for support.
Then two women came into the picture and said, "We believe in you" -- and backed a $1M line of credit.
That level of capital swung open the gates. This attorney went on to win 13 cases in a row. His earnings were many tens of millions of dollars.
I am at a similar inflection point.
______________________________________________________________
Above I offered three parallel stories. I believe our own similar story will unfold, and soon. Exactly when, and in what form, I can't predict.
I also said above that I am a Gratitude Junkie. I will say that again here, and say to the many people who have supported this mission so far that I am deeply grateful for your pitching in. For people who participate right now, you will be doing good in the world on multiple levels. I will be very, very thankful.
Eric
--
Quotes that apply:
Never undertake a project unless it is manifestly important and nearly impossible.
- Edwin Land, inventor
I have learned that the most critical ingredient for innovation is faith. You have to have faith in your vision, in your ability to create reality from that vision, and in the potential of the future. Faith is the force that allows you to ignore the naysayers.
Very little is possible without the ability to commit. Bringing a vision to life can be a long journey. What separates success from failure is the discipline to hone in on your target, make decisions, and focus through the hurdles and not quit.
As a first ascentionist, you climb at your limit on a line that best expresses your vision for the route. As a technology innovator, you conceive of the greatest invention you can with the highest impact that expresses your most important values.
- Hugh Herr, 50, climbing prodigy, double amputee above the knee in 1982, and adaptive technology visionary
Source: Rock&Ice, January 2016, p. 20
What does it take, in some cases, to do well by doing good?
My name is Eric Doub. Below I will share with you how I pioneered energy performance in buildings; how I am launching a business to leverage my decades of commitment to a better world through efficiency and renewables; and how – at this moment – I am raising smaller funds to reach the point where the business takes off. I hope you will be inspired by my story.
From age seven I was raised in privilege in Boulder, Colorado – rock climbing since age 13, bicycling, running marathons, and enjoying the beauty of the mountains with wonderful friends. I have always had much to be thankful for and still do. One of my sayings is that I am a Gratitude Junkie – I can't live without it!
By my early teens I recognized that with privilege comes responsibility to make a difference. A few years later at Stanford, I tailored my education to help me accelerate our society's transition from dirty and vulnerable energy to clean, distributed energy sources: I titled my major "Sustainable U.S. Resource and Security Policies."
In 2004 I took on a challenge to do what no one had achieved before: Design and build a home in a cold climate that would produce as much energy as it used for the year, at an affordable level.
Well, we did it. The home is called Solar Harvest. I moved my family into this precedent-setting house in November 2005.
Thousands of people have toured through our affordably-built zero net energy home. There have been hundreds of media features, from the New York Times to HGTV to Investor’s Business Daily, plus many awards. I have been hauled all over the country to give presentations, lead professional trainings, and co-author the national guidelines for residential green remodeling.
This local and international recognition has given this home the power to help raise the bar nationally on building codes so that homes everywhere are more comfortable, healthier and lower cost to live in, and lighter on the planet in terms of energy and environment.
If I had gone to potential investors or benefactors in 2004 and said,
Look, I know it's never been done. But here's what I'm going to do: Create a house that costs no more to live in than an average code-built house, but which is future-proofed – so that even 50 or 80 years from now, when no one knows what fossil fuels will cost, the house is humming along. And for right now, this house will have a payback that is immediate, in the first month, because residents will pay a little bit more in mortgage for the extra features, but less than that in energy...and end up neutral as to net cost of ownership, or even cash flow positive. For research and development, and delivering our vision, how about doling out a big pile of cash?
I would have been laughed out of the room as just another Boulder dreamer.
______________________________________________________________
Parallel #1: The MP3
In 2014, the inventor of the MP3 told me that he raised $6M for that project, $25,000 at a time. Then when he had 400 people working, and a $60M investment was supposed to come in and got delayed, and then was going to happen and was again postponed, etc. etc., he was looking at his bank account online: $23 available. Hitting Refresh, the balance became $60,000,023.
______________________________________________________________
Now, years later, it is time to recover financially. Our daughter started college this year, for example, with exactly zero dollars in her college fund; like everything else on this entrepreneur's journey of pioneering and charitable work, including three generations of money in our family, money saved for her college was used to advance this mission and fuel years of educational and advocacy work proving and promoting that zero net energy is possible and affordable.
There probably are not many Stanford alumni on Medicaid, or driving Uber all night to put food on the table. Both these things are true in my case -- temporary, and true.
From here:
In our startup company, in our for-profit work, my team of five people and I have prepared the last three years to go to scale with energy-saving measures. One of our sales deals coming up should save the amount of electricity equivalent to that used by 75,000 homes -- and generate several million dollars in net earnings over two years. That's Philanthropy at a Profit, in a big way.
We have many sales like this one waiting for action. I can't wait for us to launch this new revenue model. It will be the culmination of a third of a century of dedication to positive social and environmental change.
______________________________________________________________
Parallel #2: "Being All-In to go All-Out"
Another person in Los Angeles, who could become an investor for us, had zero in his accounts and was about to lose his studio apartment, when he was walking into the closing for the deal that made him $600M.
______________________________________________________________
At the moment the challenge is to secure enough money to make it through the transition to the new business taking off. It takes an unpredictable amount of time to raise money from private individuals to take a business to the next level. We have raised a considerable amount already, to get this far and do this much good. We just went through 24 months of believing what two different investors said – that they would act quickly – and then witnessing these individuals never perform.
Fortunately we have structured one of the next investment deals to be secured by Solar Harvest and have people networking to bring investors to the opportunity. There is another capital deal that is like a light switch – it has been approved and documents are signed, and we are waiting for paperwork and next steps so that the switch flips to ON. Another potential capital source is with a San Diego-based system for which we have been selected to present on April 21, 2016. (This system looks much higher probability than standard pitch venues, because our rep with the system will be working with individual investors ahead of time and providing them with the business plan.) From whichever source, or a combination of multiple sources, this next capital infusion will provide not only for my housing security but also food security and other basics through my receiving the first standard, predictable compensation I have had in seven years.
Then our team will be off to the races, deploying energy efficiency measures at portfolio scale.
This next phase is also where I will finally be able to reward people who have helped so far, and do well by doing good.
To give time for the larger capital raise underway to cross the finish line, it's the smaller personal funding that I need now – to get our family to safe ground.
As a longtime rock climber I know how to suffer. I know how to not show hardship. I know how to stay calm and focused in the face of danger. But I also know how to recognize when certain actions are necessary to keep from falling.
From here we can see the summit of the mountain. The smaller money that comes in now will give us a lifeline rope to reach the top (where we raise the larger capital for the company and take off on the mission for saving energy at scale) so that we can descend to the lowlands and safety.
Timeline: ASAP for a rope to climb to the summit.
______________________________________________________________
Parallel #3: What it can take to do well by doing good
In September 2014 at his 13,000-square-foot home in Piedmont, I met with a retired civil rights attorney about his investing with us. He told me his story.
One of his cases took 12 years, 1973-85. Before he challenged a certain major insurance company, its California workforce had one female agent. Afterward, over fifty percent of the agents were women.
The award was $239M.
To get there, it was harrowing. With everything taking so long, and expenses mounting, at one point in his law career he had borrowed from everyone he could, mortgaged his home, and unsuccessfully gone to the banks for support.
Then two women came into the picture and said, "We believe in you" -- and backed a $1M line of credit.
That level of capital swung open the gates. This attorney went on to win 13 cases in a row. His earnings were many tens of millions of dollars.
I am at a similar inflection point.
______________________________________________________________
Above I offered three parallel stories. I believe our own similar story will unfold, and soon. Exactly when, and in what form, I can't predict.
I also said above that I am a Gratitude Junkie. I will say that again here, and say to the many people who have supported this mission so far that I am deeply grateful for your pitching in. For people who participate right now, you will be doing good in the world on multiple levels. I will be very, very thankful.
Eric
--
Quotes that apply:
Never undertake a project unless it is manifestly important and nearly impossible.
- Edwin Land, inventor
I have learned that the most critical ingredient for innovation is faith. You have to have faith in your vision, in your ability to create reality from that vision, and in the potential of the future. Faith is the force that allows you to ignore the naysayers.
Very little is possible without the ability to commit. Bringing a vision to life can be a long journey. What separates success from failure is the discipline to hone in on your target, make decisions, and focus through the hurdles and not quit.
As a first ascentionist, you climb at your limit on a line that best expresses your vision for the route. As a technology innovator, you conceive of the greatest invention you can with the highest impact that expresses your most important values.
- Hugh Herr, 50, climbing prodigy, double amputee above the knee in 1982, and adaptive technology visionary
Source: Rock&Ice, January 2016, p. 20
Organizer
Eric Doub
Organizer
Boulder, CO