League of Extraordinary Gentlemen-

I have been researching renewable energy for a while now, and found a few things, that I list out below, that I have assumed you will find very interesting. It all began with my meeting with a gentleman called Atam Kumar, a gentleman par excellence, and a pro in the field, consulting to many companies, at least as many as I can count on my fingers.

I was ushered into his office, and as I slipped into a chair, “Sir, how are you doing ?” I said shaking his hand.

“Very well very well.”

He made me absolutely comfortable, “How may I help you ?”

“Sir, I have been in the renewable sector for over 4 years now, and, I figured you were the best person to talk to on this.”

“Yea sure,” as he casually brushed his bald head with his hand and then got a hanky out to sniff his nose.
“Water heating is no longer a profitable proposition,” I was sure he would acknowledge this.

And he did, and what he further said surprised me, “Neither is Solar Lighting.”

My eyes opened wide, “ Really ?”

“Yes, think of it this way, the Germans have the infrastructure, the Chinese the hardware manufacturing capacity and India must sell services and tailored products.”

It really set my mind racing, he was talking and my mind was racing ahead, what he said made sense, we must sell tailored solutions.  Wasn’t it the other day I had heard somebody say, that a Solar Powered ATM would do wonders and what about Solar Air Conditioners, a still untapped market.  Many today would say, an untapped resource, but I tend to believe marketing a tailored product will bring customers in.   The office had air gushing out of the airconditioners, and the computers hummed to a new tune that only the quietness enhanced.  It was a plush office and one that anyone would love working out of, the leather chairs and coffee table with two comfortable looking chairs by the window were fantastic.  Add to this the aroma of cigars, Atam Kumar obviously loved his smokes, were overwhelming, it gave the feeling of power and psychologically that was an aphrodisiac for any man.

“………. And so we must do the following things,” he finished off as I finished taking notes, which I elucidate as below :

The Eight Stages to Product Development

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1.        Idea Generation

2.       Idea Screening

3.       Concept Development

4.       Business Analysis

5.       Beta Testing and Market Testing

6.       Technical Implementation

7.       Commercialisation

8.       New Product Pricing

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This would sum up my the de-facto best renewable energy experience vis-a-vis an expert.  I have met a lot of them over a period of 5 months now, including Mr Narsimhan, Mr Jain, Mr Gopalan to name a few, all big shots with enough muscle to run through any product and that’s what they normally do, no beating around the bush.  However, if you understand my job is to talk and get a feel of the market and unless I talk I have very little by way of understanding whats happening at the client end.  A few dollars or rupees here or there and a discount that ranges from five percent to ten percent doesn’t hurt me.

But a new product gives remarkable facelift to the company and this is what I intend to do first of all, idea generation.

An Idea An Idea, For An Idea I live.