DreamMakers: Innovating For Good
This was posted in the Huffington post on August 7, 2013
My
passion is to seek out and shine a light on people who found the courage to
create big, bold visions and are transforming their visions into reality, to
help make the world a better place. I call these people DreamMakers. They take
on seemingly intractable problems like poverty, the degradation of the planet,
global health, illiteracy, hate and prejudice… These visionaries are accomplishing extraordinary results in the face
of tremendous obstacles.
I
believe we learn best through stories, especially personal stories of challenge
and triumph. I have interviewed numerous DreamMakers for my book series,
documentary and my articles - it seemed like I was always talking to the same
person. Although they are highly diverse and unique in their own way, they
share some common characteristics that seem to transcend age, culture,
ethnicity, geography, and circumstances. The secret to their success seems to
be their attitude; how they think about themselves and the world around them.
My goal is to share a little about their journey in hopes of giving people some
information, inspiration and the courage to Dream Big.
I
am sure you have noticed that young DreamMakers are emerging in record numbers
around the world. Entrepreneurship is growing exponentially and many of these
entrepreneurs are innovating for good.
They are not taking the traditional path of either doing good or pursuing profits, they are achieving
their success by transforming real world problems into opportunities to make a
difference and make money. Aided by technology and a “can do” spirit, they are creating businesses that serve as an
agent for world benefit. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michele-hunt/business-as-an-agent-of-w_b_2091045.html
I want to give you a glimpse into SiNode
Systems, a startup company cofounded by six young entrepreneurs innovating for
good: Samir Mayekar, Cary Hayner, Nishit Mehta, Guy Peterson, Joshua Lau and
Thomas Yu. They have developed a company whose vision is to help impact the
world’s clean energy future. I was introduced to these young men at the Kellogg
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Global conference at Northwestern University.
Kin Global “...nurtures a community of
change agents and generates opportunities for discovery and synchronicity”. http://www.kinglobal.org/index.php
SiNode was one of the finalists of the KIN
Prize – four teams of Northwestern students who were competing on business
proposals focused on global prosperity. All of the teams are developing amazing
businesses with missions to positively impact our world. SiNode however, is
developing a business to help impact what I believe to be the most pressing issue
of our time, climate change and its affect on people and our planet. All other
problems go away by default if we lose our planet.
Let me introduce you to Samir Mayekar, Chief
Executive Officer of SiNode. He shares some of his views on SiNode’s evolution
and a little about his personal story; some defining events that led him take
on such a big challenge.
“This all got started at
Northwestern University via a class called NUvention. The class
brought together MBA students from the Kellogg School of
Management with engineers from the McCormick School of Engineering; that’s
where I met my fellow cofounders. We all shared an interest in
helping mitigate climate change via new technology, so we decided to form a
business that focused on commercializing novel materials that can enable the
world’s clean energy future.”
The
team formed SiNode Systems in 2012 while they were in graduate school. They
have developed a new material that enables batteries to store more energy and
charge faster. This will impact cell phones, tablets and the heavy soldier
packs that military troops carry. Down the road it will help enable electrical
vehicles.
“
Energy storage affects us all on a personal level because we all get frustrated
with our cell phones and tablets because the batteries don’t last the whole
day. Mobility and being constantly connected have changed the world and longer
lasting batteries are a key component of letting people communicate. In the
emerging markets cell phones are critical – many people don’t have landlines so
having long lasting batteries is essential in these markets. From a broader
societal perspective, having electrical vehicles that charge faster and hold
their charge longer is an incentive for people to buy electrical cars. SiNode
can do our part to help mitigate the impact of climate change by providing
better energy storage solutions.”
Developing a startup business with such a
magnanimous vision has to present a lot of challenges. I was curious how the
SiNode team has learned how to weather the storms and keep going.
“It is not just if you fall
down get up, but expect to fall down. Knowing that will happen will help you
get up even quicker. Don’t spend too much time looking in the rear view mirror
or focusing on your mistakes. You need to focus on the road ahead of you.”
2012
was a year of formation and struggle for the Sinode team. They entered many
business plan competitions to win seed funding. They faced their share of
disappointments but they persisted. The team continued to work on their
business plan, called on customers and they refined their technology. They
course corrected and improved and that process led them to the successes they
are now experiencing.
There
were two tipping points for SiNode team. The first was the summer of 2012 when
they won a federal research grant focused on battery technology for electric
vehicles. That provided them with the seed capital they needed to advance the
technology outside of the university lab. The second tipping point was winning
the grand prize of the 2013 Rice Business Plan Competition. That gave them
significant private funding and their first group of investors. The Rice
Business Plan Competition is an award that has been described by Fortune and
CNN/Money as the Super Bowl and World Series for startup companies. This was a
major milestone for SiNode.
I
asked Samir about the vision for the company three years from now and what
values guide the way they work.
“Three years from now we
will be a sustainable, profitable company that has joined forces with a large
strategic partner that can mass-produce our technology.”
There are three core values
that guide our work: the first is Focus.
There are plenty of distractions out there in the world. The most important
thing for a startup company is to stay focused on what you are trying to
accomplish. Second, is to Challenge
Conventional Wisdom. The clean energy world has struggled to create
successful businesses. At SiNode we challenge conventional wisdom about what a
business model looks like in our industry and how you bring technology to
market. We are always thinking about creative ways to build a successful
company. The third is to Maintain Integrity in everything that
we do. It is very important to be credible; it is important to be fact and data
driven. We are a young management team so integrity is especially important
given we will be partnering with larger more mature companies who need to trust
us.”
All
the DreamMakers I have interviewed came to crossroads where they made important
decisions that set them on the journey to pursue their dreams. Samir shared his
defining moments. He started out as a management consultant and then decided to
go work on President Obama’s 2008 campaign. He wanted to use the skills he
learned in consulting for public benefit so he joined the campaign’s budget
team. After the campaign Samir went to work for President Obama in the White
House. Next, he worked for a small executive branch agency that focused on
clean energy investments.
“It was that experience that
helped me realize how much technology
development our society needs to be able
to mitigate climate change. That realization led me to business school. I
really appreciated what the government was doing from a policy standpoint but
ultimately we need a lot of successful companies out there leading the charge.
It is interesting that the world of government service unlocked the passion in
me to pursue entrepreneurship. The
experience of working for President Obama taught me that I needed to think big.
That inspired me to cofound a company that can contribute to the world’s clean
energy future. I also learned that it’s not just government and nonprofits that
can change the world; it is vital to have entrepreneurs and businesses working
to make a difference in our world.”
Samir
shared some advice for leaders and entrepreneurs who are considering innovating
for good.
“There
was a philosophy that the President used to guide his campaign team - Respect, Empower and Include. We adopted this management
philosophy at SiNode. It helps us to stay on course as we do our part to help
create the energy future this world needs.”
The
entrepreneurs at SiNode are DreamMakers,
innovating for good. Like all the DreamMakers I have interviewed, they
share a sense of responsibility beyond their own lives. They take
responsibility for the world they live in and are committed to making it
better. They share a characteristic I call “practical optimism” - although they
clearly see obstacles, they unflinchingly confront them. They have a deep
belief that any challenge can be overcome so their vision is large, deep, and
unaffected by cynicism. We can learn a lot from the DreamMakers at SiNode.
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