Latest News & Blogs
The Biggest Branding Mistake Made by Startups
by Aaron Heinrich Having worked with companies of all sizes over a 20-plus year career, I can honestly say I’ve seen a thing or two. While this hasn’t included the examples shown in the various Farmer’s Insurance commercials, like dogs that slip cars into...
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Profile: Athena Intelligence
Athena Intelligence is a Sacramento startup creating AI software to identify the actual cost of resource usage on agricultural land. The idea formed nearly a decade ago when founder David Sypnieski started selling to farmers and realized data driven...
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Insights on Early Stage Startup Financing from Silicon Valley Bank
John Lee, a VP with Silicon Valley Bank who focuses on lending to early stage companies, gave a nice talk on Tuesday to a group of about 50 at UCD's Venture Catalyst. SVB is one of the more creative banks in lending to startups, so getting Lee's...
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HaneyBiz: Gary Simon Interview
"Nothing good happens till someone writes a check" Check out Mark Haney's interview of CleanStart Chairperson Gary Simon from July 22nd. Listen to them discuss CleanStart, when clean tech companies should go after funding, how to listen to customers and...
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Sacramento Region Selected for $44 million Green City Investment
There’s a new source of opportunities for regional clean tech companies if they have something to offer on EVs. VW has agreed to a nearly $2 Billion settlement for cheating on its emissions testing, and $44 million of that looks like it will be...
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Entrepreneurs Dive into Crowdfunding Workshop
The number one need for a startup is almost always money. Now there is a new path to raising capital to launch a tech business. CleanStart is helping entrepreneurs get into the crowdfunding business! It requires some new skills and new techniques, most of which are...
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CleanStart was founded in 2005 as a nonprofit organization designed to accelerate the development of clean technology ventures within the Northern California region. Our mission is to empower entrepreneurs with the knowledge, capital, and connections that are critical to creating a successful new business. We do this by:
CONNECTING the Northern California region’s clean tech community through CleanStart PowerUP! networking events.
PROMOTING the region’s clean tech economy in the annual CleanStart Progress Report, on social media & news outlets and at statewide and national events.
EDUCATING Clean Tech business leaders through classes and the Entrepreneurs Showcase sponsored by Velocity Venture Capital.
Our Team
Gary Simon, Chairman
A seasoned energy executive and entrepreneur with 45 years of experience in business, government, and non-profits.
Mark Henwood, Board Member
CEO of Henwood Associates, Inc., an owner and operator of hydroelectric facilities in California. Mark also leads Powersoft, LLC, a SaaS provider and was a co-founder of CleanStart with Gary Simon.
Ken Bossung, Board Member
A proven sales executive and entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience in building high-performance sales teams and business development strategy.
Benjamin Finkelor, Board Member
Thomas Hall, Executive Director
Thomas has a strong background in supporting small businesses, leadership, financial management and is proficient in working with nonprofits. Thomas has a passion for sustainability and a commitment to supporting non-profits in the region.
Madeleine Jones, Intern
Madeleine is is a second-year Environmental Policy student at UC Davis. She is excited to be working with CleanStart to help Sacramento become a clean tech hub.
Terry Chen, Intern
Terry is a senior year Economics student at UC Davis. He is enthusiastic to help promote clean tech in the Sacramento region.
Sydney Cooper, Intern
Sydney is a fourth year applied statistics major at UC Davis and expects to graduate this spring. Sydney is eager to help Northern California be more sustainable.
CleanStart Accomplishments & Updates
CleanStart has been busy working to build the clean tech hub in the Sacramento region. We have been supporting local growth through education, networking, and promotion. Some of our recent successes include:
- CleanStart Restart, our successful crowdfunding campaign that exceeded its goal, brought stakeholders back and promoted several regional companies.
- 2017 CleanStart Networking Kickoff at The Urban Hive in Midtown Sacramento. With over 60 people from regional companies, Tenkiv live blogging their Kickstarter from it, and California Sunlight showing their solar power solutions.
- Our Legal Essentials Class nearly sold out and was highly recommended by attendees. Douglas Bosley of BTNT Law presented to a full room at Impact Venture Capital.
- The 2017 Progress Report was completed and released on April 26th.
- The 2017 Progress Report shows the 93 companies in the core clean tech sector is generating $3.2 billion in revenue and 5,300 jobs, up 26% from $2.54 billion and 4,150 jobs from the last survey released in 2015–five times faster than the overall economy grew.
- CleanStart will be hosting a class for companies interested in Crowdfunding. Leveraging CleanStart’s own experience and connections into the local crowdfunding community, CleanStart is proud to present “Is Crowdfunding Right for Your Tech Startup?” on June 20th.
CleanStart Companies
Upcoming Events
Contact Us
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801 K Street, 28th Floor
Sacramento, CA 95814
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