Houston’s Mentor-driven Seed Accelerator

“Empowering entrepreneurs solving the world’s energy problems using

software”

SPRING 2012

Seed Accelerator Overview• Provide Entrepreneurs with

Capital, Mentorship & Connections, in Return for Equity

• Structured 12 week curriculum culminating in “Pitch Day” to Angels, VCs and Industry Execs

• Similar programs have achieved strong returns in other IT verticals

There is NO accelerator focused on ENERGY IT vertical

Why SURGE?Growth/Success of US Seed Accelerators

Case Studies: IT Successes Another Y-Combinator Win: WuFoo Exits for $35M, After Raising Only $118,000

Salesforce.com has just announced that it is acquiring Heroku for $212M in cash

AOL acquired SocialThing with $550k in fund raising post TechStars

$35M

$212M

Limbo merges with Brightkite and announces $9M funding round

$9M

Localytics Raises $2.5M for Mobile Analytics Platform

$3M

Dallas’ TechWildcatters ImageVisionLabs raises $2M from Walden Venture Capital

$2M

$10M

SURGE• Houston’s For-Profit, Mentor-Driven Seed

Accelerator

• 12-week Bootcamp launching in Spring 2012

• 1st & Only Accelerator Focused on ENERGY Software

• SURGE Accelerator Overview 80+ Mentors: Leading VC’s, Energy Execs, Entrepreneurs

Raised over $1M in funding

Launched Website and Attracted PR

Paying Sponsors including Energy Focused Service Providers

Joined TechStars Network for global Accelerators best practices

Core Purpose

To be the pre-eminent mentor driven seed accelerator focused

solely on enabling entrepreneurs to solve the

world’s energy problems using software.

SMART GRID

IT applications used to increase grid efficiency, measure demand, and

reduce waste

Includes Smart Grid, Smart Meter, and EV

Grid

TRADING & RISK MGMT (ETRM)

Capital Markets + IT = Increased visibility and

flexible response to supply or demand

shocks

DIGITAL OILFIELD

Data + IT used to inform exploration

and maximize production, safety, and efficiency

at the wellhead

Efficient Energy Software Technologies

Portfolio StrategyFOCUS: Entrepreneurs developing innovative applications at the intersection of Energy + IT

GOAL: Take startups from theory & prototype to pilot, next round of funding and commercialization

INVESTMENT:• 10 teams

• $30k per team

• 6% common equity

CAPITAL

CUSTOMERS

World Class Ecosystem

COMMUNITY

SERVICE PROVIDERS

ACCOLADES

Leadership: Steering Committee

Kirk Coburn – Co-founder & Managing DirectorSerial Entrepreneur and Large Corp Exp: PGA TOUR Network, Chief Outsiders,

Blair Garrou – Board MemberCo-founder DFJ Mercury. Incubator Expert. Entrepreneur. Rice Faculty.

Andrew Clark – Board MemberFormer Chairman of HAN. HTC EIR. DFJ Mercury Venture Advisor. Compaq Exec.

Brett Perlman – Smart Grid LeadFormer Public Utilities Commissioner. McKinsey & Co. Smart Grid Expert.

Brian Landrum – Board MemberFormer COO Reliant Energy. Compaq GM. McKinsey & Co.

Why HOUSTON

The Energy Capital of the World

Home to more than 5,000 Energy

Companies

#1 IT Services Economy

Fully Deregulated Utility Market (Gen to

Cust)

Largest Population of Deployed Smart

Meters

Largest Purchaser of Green Power in

Nation

#1 Wind Generation

Keys to Program: Mentors

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Week 12

SURGE DAY

STAGE 1: Connections

STAGE 2: Product

Readiness

STAGE 3: Pilot Landing

Term Sheet Prep

SURGE: Custom Curriculum

Customer Validation

Customer

Discovery

Customer

Creation

Company

Building

Pivot

Connections to Capital, Customers, Entrepreneurs, Expertise, Talent

Business Plan and Financial Model Development

Product Development and Market Validation

Mentor Workshops (Marketing, Sales, Ops, IT, Legal, etc.)

Connect Lead Mentors to Teams

Program Next StepsPILOT INCUBATION &

FUNDINGIDEA

Global Entrepreneurs

Texas Universities

Industry

Incubators

Pilots

Funding

40+ VC’s from SURGE DAY

Timeline

Date Activity

11/1/11 Open Applications

1/20/12 Investment Committee narrows down finalists

2/01/12 SURGE invites top 25 applicants to pitch

2/10/12 SURGE selects top 10 teams and invites to HOUSTON

3/01/12 SURGE Class 1 Begins

5/23/12 SURGE Class 1 Last Class

5/24/12 SURGE DAY (Pitch Day to 300-400 Angels, VC’s, Corp.)

Next Steps to SURGE

STEP 1: Become a Mentor

STEP 2: Identify Other World-Class

Mentors

STEP 3: Identify Key Problems to

Solve

STEP 4: Participate in SURGE Day

STEP 5: Agree to Pilot/Connect

STEP 6: Invest

Mentoring at SURGE

• Giving Back and Building an EcoSystem• Lead Mentoring vs. Ad Hoc Input • Exclusive and World-Class• Timing Commitment: 2-3 hours per

week • Focus: business model, go to market

strategy, branding, pricing, the investor pitch, connecting to customers

• Long-term: Board, Invest, Connect, Give-Back

SURGE Day

• What: Class 1 Presents Plan and Demo • When: May 24, 2012• Who: 300 – 400 venture capitalists,

angel investors, energy companies and corporate development teams, media, entrepreneurs

• Where: House of Blues • Goal: 50%+ to land follow-on funding

(>$500k) and land critical pilots in next 6 mos.

BACKUP

Target Entrepreneurs LOCATION: Willing to locate in Houston for 3 month

bootcamp FOUNDERS: Coachable Intelligence, Integrity and

Energy★ Strong value proposition★ Strong competitive advantage★ Target a large market

CAPITAL: Will bootstrap with seed funding COMPANY FOCUS:

★ Information Technology that Improves Energy Efficiency★ Existing Prototype/Product★ Capital Efficient ★ Leverage Texas Ecosystem

• Global: Partnerships Leading Industry Networks including Energy, CleanTech, and Entrepreneur

• Regional: Alliance with TechStars Network, Start-up America, Kaufmann Foundation

• Local: ~30 Efficient Energy Companies in HTC, Rice, UH Systems, & Local Startup Groups

• Local: Connect with existing Energy ecoSystem to promote Entrepreneurship

Attracting Entrepreneurs

Smart Grid: $138B market

Key Application Areas:Distribution Automation

Data AnalyticsDemand Response

Cyber SecurityCarbon Management

Home Energy ManagementElectric Vehicle

Customers:

UtilitiesResidential ConsumersCommercial Buildings

Cities

Key Application Areas:Market data acquisition

Real-time position trackingPredictive analytics & reporting

Carbon tradingWeather Integration

Demand-Response integration

Customers:

Energy CompaniesUtilities

Commodity TradersCompanies that hedge energy

use (i.e. airlines, freight logistics)

Energy Trading & Risk Management: $500M market

Digital Oilfield: : $150B+ market

Key Application Areas:Real time data acquisition

Reservoir managementWell modeling

4D Seismic Wireless remote operations

Customers:

E&P companiesOil field service companies

Technology vendors