Well, this could ruin your day. Despite all their promise, green companies are awash in red ink.
First there was the dotcom bust of the late 1990s, then came the real-estate bubble that’s deflating before our eyes. Next up: the green bubble. Alternative energy ventures have received a lot of great press, heavy investment and lip service from politicians in the last couple of years, but many of the nascent green industry’s balance sheets are beginning to bleed red.
Well..la di dah is all I have to say. As I’ve mentioned before in previous articles, the green movement has reached a tipping point and between the recession and the movement of green into mainstream business, green companies need to act smarter.
While this article in Newsweek, specifically addresses alternative energy, there is a lesson to be learned for all green entrepreneurs. When there is a rush to enter any field, there will inevitably be winners and losers. The field gets over crowded and only the strongest companies survive.
I’ve worked in Fortune 500 companies, in start-ups and in mid-size growth companies and my take has always been – look ahead. That often means changing management style or even changing management. If you are an entrepreneur who is good at starting a business, you may not be the best person to lead your company to the next step. (O.K. I’m ducking here as shoes may be thrown at me.) But seriously. If you want to grow your business, consider taking advantage of the lay offs this recession has brought and bring in managers experienced at growing a company to the next stage…making it also easier to raise capital.
Looking at growing to $2 million? Bring in someone who has successfully brought a company to that stage. $25 million? Look for someone who may have just sold his or her $25 million business. Or, making the leap to $100 or $200 million? Maybe a division manager of a large company could help.
Now its not the time to “stick to your knitting”. You only need to look back as far as the tech bust to see which companies survived and why. The New York Times takes a look at two companies busy doing just that – ensuring their survival.
“In a lot of respects, the best time to start a company is in the middle of a recession, assuming you’ve got money,” he was quoted as saying. “Our target is to go to market when most people expect the economy to turn around.”
So, will green business go bust? Absolutely not? Will some green businesses? Of course! What are you doing to make sure your green business survives as the field gets saturated?
Photo Credit: Timetrax at Flickr Under Creative Commons License
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