Читать книгу Entrepreneurial Finance - Robert D. Hisrich - Страница 21

Bill Gates, Nathan Myhrvold (the former chief technology officer of Microsoft), and Lowell Wood (a renowned astrophysicist) were brainstorming about new ideas at an intellectual property incubator and licensor, Intellectual Ventures. The three knew that they needed to come up with an idea that would have significant potential by solving a large problem in the future and then developing a strategic plan and eventually a business plan to get there. While looking into the general area of energy, they focused on delivering massive amounts of emission-free energy that could occur in all kinds of weather conditions. This focus eventually led to concentrating on new designs to create and deliver nuclear energy that were technically feasible and developing the necessary plans for achieving this.

The group formed TerraPower, Inc. in Bellevue, Washington, and hired John Gilleland, founder of Archimedes Technology Group, a company that developed solutions for the disposal of nuclear waste, as CEO of the company. Since TerraPower did not require any public funding, the nuclear power startup could more easily develop an affordable endless supply of electricity through engineering an innovative traveling wave reactor (TWR) technology that would run on depleted uranium. Requiring a very small amount of enriched material to start, the wave reactor would slowly burn over decades the depleted uranium without refueling. This would provide better control of costs and reduce any opportunity for theft by terrorists.

The supply source of depleted uranium was enormous, with over 680,000 metric tons in just the United States. In addition, the coolant in the reactors would be liquid sodium, which is much softer water, just in case of an earthquake or another natural disaster such as happened in Japan in 2012.

As called for in the plan, the company had about 60 employees by March 2013 and has the objective of having a prototype ready for testing in 2022. This projected timeline is reasonable despite the technological and particularly the licensing problems associated with nuclear reactors.

The plan requires developing a brand-new supply chain for the components of the technology, a feat in itself. The distinctive fuel assemblies needed will require nontraditional materials and manufacturing techniques. Over 100 partner sources have been approached such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Michigan, Kobe Steel, and Toshiba to develop the supply chain and conduct the necessary research.

As occurred in the development of TerraPower, Inc., a business plan is an important part of the new venture process, as it provides a road map for implementing the entrepreneurial strategy established. Strategy is defined in the strategic management literature as developing a plan for creating and operating a profitable new enterprise through the obtainment and development of internal and external resources in alignment with the environment (Dess & Miller, 1993; Mintzberg & Quinn, 1991; Pearce & Robinson, 1992; Thompson & Strickland, 1992). Strategy exists at various levels in a new venture, such as enterprise, corporate, business, functional, and subfunctional, so that implementation can occur throughout the firm.

A key aspect of developing a strategy at each level is establishing goals. Goals need to be difficult to achieve and represent a challenge for the new venture and yet realistic enough to be achieved with effort. Such is the case of the goal of TerraPower of having a prototype traveling wave reactor available in 2022.

To accomplish the goals established and implement the strategy, it is best to write a business plan before an entrepreneur goes very far in creating and starting a new venture. While the original plan developed will be modified and changed many times, remember, “If you do not know where you are going, any road will get you there.”

Chart 2.1 presents a schematic representation of the material covered in this chapter.

Chart 2.1 Schematic of Chapter 2