Ross McDonald | Banker | Strategist | CFO

GlobalScot

2010-02-05T09:28:18-08:00

Ross McDonald, President Clean West, is honoured and delighted to be nominated a GlobalScot, being a network of a few hundred international Scottish leaders invited by the Scottish government to help mentor Scottish growth companies. The GlobalScot nomination was confirmed...

SFU Guest Speaker - Early-stage finance

2009-11-07T09:18:16-08:00

Clean West is always delighted to interact with entrepreneurs. In November 2009, Ross McDonald of Clean West, was a guest speaker to an entrepreneurship class at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver. A PDF file of the related slides can be downloaded.

Canadian Waste Recycling Expo

2009-10-26T08:15:35-07:00

The 12th annual Canadian Waste and Recycling Expo will take place in Vancouver, Canada, on 28th/29th October 2009. The event strives to bring together various stakeholders - including equipment manufacturers, municipal/other buyers, site operators, policy makers and expert advisors -...

US green company rankings

2009-10-25T14:23:29-07:00

Curious about the sustainability credentials of large US companies? Newsweek has just published its rankings of the top 500 Green Companies, based on a methodology supported by KLD Research and Analytics, Trucost and Corporate Register. The top firms? Check out...

BCIC Connect 09 event

2009-10-19T09:52:26-07:00

Ross McDonald, President of Clean West, today will attend Connect 09, the annual landmark event of the BC Innovation Council, as a nominated technology leader within the clean energy / clean technology sector. Connect '09 will bring together 500+ company...

BC lessons from Ontario FIT

2009-10-19T00:11:19-07:00

Clark Wilson LLP's highly informative blog Megawatt, recently published a posting that raised ten lessons that British Columbia could take from the Ontario feed-in tariff. Clean West applauds these informed suggestions and agrees that British Columbia can learn numerous energy...

Ontario feed-in tariffs

2009-10-12T23:47:00-07:00

Ross McDonald welcomes the Ontario Power Authority launch of the first feed-in tariff of North America. Feed-in tariffs are not a new concept. They were introduced in Europe many years ago (e.g. Germany 1990, Spain 1994). But they are widely...

WSJ: Business plans, pitfalls & fixes

2009-06-24T08:26:32-07:00

John Mullins, Chair of Entrepreneurship at London Business School and my old professor, just published an article in the Wall Street Journal. The article concerns business plans, common pitfalls and how to avoid them. According to John then the five...

1GW off-shore wind project - London Array

2009-05-13T21:34:06-07:00

Clean West reports that the London Array is a 1GW nameplate capacity off-shore wind project located 11 km off the south-east coastline of the UK. Over 300 turbines will cover 90 square miles, and it is expected to provide power...

Half of Scotland power generated from wind farms

2009-05-09T16:24:09-07:00

Those canny Scots intend to build 10 offshore wind farms, capable of generating over 6GW of wind power. The wind farms each have nameplate capacity of between 280MW and 1.5GW. Exclusive land permits were recently issued by the UK Crown...

Business plan shocker

2009-01-28T22:00:00-08:00

Recently I read the worst ever business plan. It arrived in the mail. Below, in italics, are direct quotations (with spelling corrections) followed by some observations ... 1. UNDEFINED TARGET MARKET "Our system and product will have an application in...

Business plan pitfalls

2009-01-28T09:58:15-08:00

Being a corporate financier then I read quite a few business plans. Their quality varies substantially. Well prepared, professional business plans stand out from the crowd. They explain the value proposition clearly, evidence assumptions, answer key questions and provide comfort...

VC-venture success

2008-12-09T20:00:00-08:00

Not all venture capital backed businesses are successful. OK, so that's not exactly a surprising or controversial statement. But how important are factors such as (a) prior experience of entrepreneur, (b) prior success of entrepreneur, (c) experience of venture capital...

Private Equity vs Piracy - Wall Street Journal

2008-11-21T13:01:00-08:00

Over some time now, the private equity has tried to bolster its poor public image. A gulf has emerged between the private equity self-image (best practice management and financing that creates substantial long-term economic value) and the image held by...

VC poker ?

2008-11-07T14:32:22-08:00

Seems that VCs, with no exits in sight and starved of fresh investor capital, have found a new hobby - poker. No kidding, the CVCA will shortly host a poker tournament for its members. OK, so it's just entertainment but...

Geothermal potential

2008-10-30T23:05:16-07:00

Things are looking up for geothermal power producers. Although one of the oldest clean technologies, and widely credited with virtually limitless power generation potential then geothermal makes only a tiny contribution to the energy needs of almost all countries (Iceland...

"Trust me" ...

2008-10-30T21:13:37-07:00

"When should a director opt to leave the Board of an early-stage company?" "When should an management member or employee opt to leave an early-stage company?" I get asked these questions periodically, typically informally over a mentoring glass of wine....

TV- Global News

2008-10-18T21:11:22-07:00

Today saw an impromptu appearance on the lead story of the Global TV BC news channel. This winter then I plan to materially improve my skiing and quite fancy the notion of being a weekend ski instructor. Skiing is a...

SFU New Ventures - Financing an early-stage business

2008-10-16T11:38:33-07:00

Last night I had the pleasure of being a guest speaker to an undergraduate 'New Ventures' entrepreneurship class at Simon Fraser University. The blend of approx 50 business students plus approx 80 engineering students are in the process of developing...

Top 100 European cleantech firms

2008-10-02T09:50:38-07:00

A study that lists the Top 100 European Clean Technology companies of 2008 has been jointly published by Library House (a British market research firm run by Doug Richard, a panelist on the UK TV series of Dragons Den) and...