Business Weblog

Perkins Kleiner Caufield and Byers, a large Silicon Valley venture-capital firm, recently announced that it is doubling its investment into green technologies. If you were thinking of approaching them or any VC with your new biodegradable dog leashes, you may want to re-think that. Look carefully at what they Perkins Kleiner is investing in:

KPCB Partner John Doerr said “The largest trend on the planet is urbanization as the number of people living in megacities triples from 2 billion to 6 billion. There are enormous needs for clean water, power, and transportation. The partners of KPCB are doubling their commitment to Global Greentech Innovation (GGI) at the Clinton Global Initiative with $200 million over the next two years. We’re already backing 11 Greentech ventures with breakthrough technologies in biofuels, solar cells, fuel cells, storage, energy management and conservation. And we look for many more. Now 19 KPCB partners are applying our 35 year track record of startup success to the biology, chemistry and physics of ‘Greentech’. The power of entrepreneurs can make a big difference in our prosperity and our planet’s precious environment.

But urbanization is obvious and has been documented. For instance, the BBC has a fasci- nating interactive map that graphically shows the trend of urbanization. The Institute for the Future lists urbanization as a major trend in its 2005 Map of the Decade.

The type of products that a VC firm like Kleiner Perkins is planning to invest in, are technolo- gies designed to address the impact of the larger urbanization trend. For the most part they are technologies that might be used in public works projects such as water filtration systems and clean energy buses.

Punctuality is the politeness of kings.

Small business owners have smaller margins for error than our larger big company counterparts. One way a person, a company, can stand out and avoid error is to respect people’s time. By being on time.

Your Business Blogger was reminded of this truth last year while working with small busi- nesses in a trade show. Some 10,000 of us sat of the feet of the keynote speaker Karen Hughes, presidential advisor. She was flogging her book Ten Minutes from Normal about working on the political campaign trail.

Getting down to business is best done in the atmosphere of mutual trust and respect. It can best start by checking your watch. Promptness is the soul of business said Lord Chesterfield 1694 - 1773. Timeliness is impressive.

More recently, Emily Post has much to say on the courtesy of timeliness. In Business Etiquette Tips on Making a Good First Impression Post reminds us when traveling to an appointment you should “know how to get there and how long it will take (BEING ON TIME IS CRITICAL).” Emphasis in original.