Silicon Valley -- Newly minted rock star of green business, Kevin Surace shares his motivations and future vision for Serious Materials in an exclusive Fresh Dialogues interview. The CEO of Serious Materials was just picked as Entrepreneur of the Year by Inc. Magazine and joined Time Magazine's list of Tech Pioneers Who Will Change Your Life. It's an incongruous status for someone from the mundane world of building materials, but Kevin is being described as 'savior of the world', 'the Larry Ellison of green' and has even turned down an invitation to the White House. He knows he'll be invited back.
In an exclusive Fresh Dialogues interview recorded before the accolades descended, Kevin reveals his motivations for waging war on climate change and the lessons learned in building a green company. We discussed the influence of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth in helping create a market for green products; how Serious Materials got with the green program; and whether consumers are willing to pay a premium for green products. Kevin outlined how his company uses new media to get its message out and what his future plans are for the company.
On Kevin's motivations for wanting to save the planet
"When you have children, you start to think what world are you leaving them? I think that affects everybody."
On how An Inconvenient Truth helped create a market for green
"When that movie came out, it allowed the American public to get the story in a way they never got it before and that's when I could step back and say: there's an opportunity here to actually make a difference...LEED took off, green buildings took off...that had a profound impact on the entire industry."
Are consumers willing to pay a premium for green?
"I don't think they'll ever be willing to pay a premium. That's been our thinking from Day One."
How does Serious Materials use New Media?
"We blog, we Twitter, we Facebook, we do an awful lot with the web, that's unusual in the building materials space .... Our constituents are educated, they get it. They want to see video, hear audio, you're on the web: that is new media today. Many of the eyeballs -and ears- have moved to the web, and we have to go with that."
What does the future hold for Serious Materials?
"This is a venture backed company... they need to ultimately see an exit...you build these companies towards a potential IPO... you are ready for whatever life brings you: if that's M&A, if that's independence, an IPO...whatever. Over the next five years, one of those things will surely happen... We've increased our capacity ten X over a year ago and are ready for the onslaught here. Our business keeps growing...our products save people money."
This Fresh Dialogues interview was recorded on June 30, 2009 at Serious Materials in Sunnyvale, California.
To hear an exclusive interview with Bloom Energy CEO KR Sridhar, Time Magazine's "Tech Pioneers Who Will Change Your Life 2009" click here.
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