Latest News & Blogs
Sacramento’s Sustainability Beacon
Arch Nexus is a Sacramento architecture design firm, and is California’s only certified Living Building to date. It serves as a beacon of sustainability for other building owners in the community to follow suit and accept the living building...
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Helios Altas Hits New Milestones
Remember sitting outside at EcoFitness (on one of the hottest days of the year) hearing Mike Carroll talking about his Powerball small hydro technology at our June 21 MeetUp? remember his excitement about being close to having a microgrid going...
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Sac State’s Living Building Project
California State University Sacramento is on the path of making history with their new project that aims at creating a certified living building on campus. The project is being led by Dr. Rustin Vogt of the Mechanical Engineering Department, Professor Gareth...
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The Global Climate Action Summit: What it means for businesses locally
Over 3500 people attended the first Global Climate Action summit in San Francisco September 12-14. It was a pretty amazing assemblage of leaders from business, non-profits, cities and state governments, and philanthropies. Outside the Summit, over 300...
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Profile: SPIN – Kinetic Storage
Storing electricity has always been a huge problem and one now that is commanding a great deal of attention as more and more of the power available on the grid from renewable sources is hard to control. There are two ways to store energy. Chemical and...
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Electrify America proposes Second Round of Investment.
As California leads in developing a clean tech economy it is important we get involved with our state government. Right now The California Air Resources Board (CARB) needs your input on Volkswagen (VW) subsidiary Electrify America second stage of...
read moreAbout CleanStart
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.
Benjamin Finkelor, Board Member
Kiara Reed, Board Memeber
Kiara Reed is a digital media professional and community advocate based in Sacramento. In her current role with Comstock’s Magazine, a local award-winning business publication, Reed oversees the marketing efforts, digital management and community engagement. In addition to serving the Clean Start board Reed is also an executive board member of the Oak Park based nonprofit, Green Tech Education and Employment and volunteers her spare time to other Oak Park community organizations, including Oak Park Neighborhood Association and Oak Park Promise Neighborhood.
Brian Hoblit, Board Member
Brian is a Business Development Officer for U.S. Banks’ commercial lending division and is passionate about helping companies in Sacramento and the broader Central Valley region grow through debt and other financial services. Brian’s educational background includes advanced degrees in environmental engineering and business he has held a variety of roles in banking, finance, clean technology and water resources.
Dan Koellen, Board Member
Dan Koellen is a veteran of more than 25 years in the high technology and semiconductor industries. Dan has mentored and invested in several Sacramento area startup companies including two companies that have gone public. He is a board member of several Sacramento non-profits in technology, community support, economic development and world class botanical gardens. Recognizing his commitment to excellence in STEM; Dan is the development chair for the Astronomy Department Board of Visitors and adviser to the Applied Math, Engineering and Physics program, both at the University of Wisconsin.
Thomas Hall, Executive Director
Thomas has a strong background in supporting small businesses, leadership, financial management and is proficient in working with nonprofits. Thomas holds a BS in Finance and BA in Economics and has a passion for sustainability and a commitment to supporting non-profits in the region.
Renonedo Williams, Intern
Renonedo is a current Sacramento State university student in his senior year, studying Mechanical Engineering. His interest in renewable energy and a clean environment has allowed him to become a member of the CleanStart team as an intern. Renonedo has a back ground in design and material selection along with motor efficiency.
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.