Powering green energy with information

The faces are surprisingly young. But what did I expect? This is 2012, we are in an economic downturn, and these faces — lacking the imprint of doubt and disappointment — are faces of promise and change, faces that analyze the present in order to forecast the future, and possibly help to reshape it. These faces are the Boston team of Greentech Media. And I’m here to meet its CEO and co-founder, Scott Clavenna.



OK, let me get my metaphors out of the way now, since solar energy is the primary focus of Greentech Media’s Boston office. Clavenna has a sunny disposition. He’s warm, welcoming, unassuming, and he speaks glowingly — with no prompting from me — about the bright minds working hard in the open room adjacent and visible from his office. Clavenna says, “The biggest lesson we learned here is that the personnel is so much more important than the business idea. The people can totally make or break this business. Yes, we adapt our business model a lot. You have to be nimble. But man, the individuals. That’s the most frightening thing about a business like this. The people you hire is so huge.”



Clavenna says the solar market is global and complex, with many moving parts, and his team helps companies understand what the market is all about. According to their website, ‘‘Greentech Media provides critical and timely market analysis in the form of concise and long-form market research reports, monthly newsletters, and strategic consulting services.’’ Most of this interaction is done within the supply chain, not directly to the consumer.

What does this mean? Let’s say the glass company wants to sell to the module company. (In layman’s terms, the module company is basically a solar panel company.) The module company might need to know which global markets are heating up or cooling down, the implications of policy changes and finance trends, the pricing and availability of raw materials, and who’s grabbing market share, as well as who has the most competitive manufacturing cost model. Greentech’s market reports provide all of that information and more.

So I ask Clavenna why his company decided to focus on solar power. “We got lucky and took advantage of a generous introduction. I was fortunate to meet Travis Bradford who was running a non-profit. He was doing unparalleled economic research on the solar industry. Bradford felt if the solar industry got better economic analysis it would do better as an industry. He was publishing reports and basically giving them away for free. Over two lunches at Harvard Square we realized it was a great fit. We were building this big online website and all this infrastructure for doing market research and online news. He was creating this great content. We launched Greentech Media (Greentechmedia.com) in March of 2007 and released our first report in June of that year. We came right out of the gate with world class content.”

Source: http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/opinion/x2069498643/Ghose-Powering-green-energy-with-information#ixzz1u5lbUFw7