It’s an unwritten rule that new product development gets more secretive as the stakes go up. Some of the most discontinuous innovations are driven by an invitation-only society representing some of the world's most famous, brilliant and powerful people. Currently the players in this game are partnering with the world’s most respected venture capitalists(VC) to tackle a six trillion dollar industry…energy.
The premise of the game is clear. The roar of an energy revolution will make the 90’s period of economic expansion sound like a kitty’s meow. In the end, new energy sources and storage technology will result in an unprecedented global transfer of wealth and power. Jon Gertner's recent NY Times Magazine article describes the emerging trend.
“Last summer, the growing number of stealth companies involved with clean energy formed a kind of dark matter in the Silicon Valley universe, businesses that could not be seen yet nevertheless exerted a discernible gravitational pull. Executives would suddenly leave jobs at established companies to join ventures with no official name. Manufacturing facilities would set up shop in cheap, anonymous buildings in towns like Santa Clara, Calif., then begin round-the-clock operations.”EESTOR is a company based in Cedar Pak, TX that fits the mold of keeping a low profile. EESTOR has no web site, yet is funded by the VC Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KBCP), renowned for their early investments in Google, Intel, Amazon, AOL, Sun, Genentech and Intuit to name a few. EESTOR is developing a new generation of supercapacitor energy storage units designed to replace gas and chemical batteries as the world’s most prevalent storage medium.
All signals, such as publicly announced contracts with Lockheed Martin point towards a world changing discovery to be announced soon. However you may never hear about EESTOR again if it suffers the fate of the majority of KBCP's investments. That's just how the whales play the game. Dream big or go home.
Follow breaking news at The EESTORY blog here.
Interesting, John.
This gets to a key question about what powers innovation: Is the most ground-breaking innovation that which comes from a few people working behind closed doors, or is it from massive collectives of people interacting over a period of time. That translates into the strategic question about whether innovation benefits from being communicated early and inviting feedback and input, or whether it is better to hide innovation until that 'ta-da' moment.
I would argue that openness results in more-sustainable innovation. The behind-closed-doors type means that there is a significant gamble and risk in the marketplace not even caring about your innovation when you get to the 'ta-da' moment.
Also, I find it strange that Kleiner, which is so pro-Internet/cloud computing would be acting in this way. It's very 'off-brand' for them.
It's all about whether the technology works or it doesn't in this case.
Until that point Kleiner risks bad press if the venture is hyped up and fails or risks early copycats if it proves promising. This is truly one innovation where it's better to have no competition for a while.
Not all development should be open for a multitude of reasons. Just imagine if the h-bomb NPD was public during WWII. No bueno! :)