Comments on: Bob Metcalfe takes helm of biofuel company

Tech veteran of Xerox Parc and 3Com, and a longtime VC, he's now trying his hand in biofuels.

[billmosby]

Promising

Keep working on it, guys. It's a lot more promising than the other
biofuel options. But it just goes to show us how hard it will be to
get off of oil.

[larajh]

Hemp is better

Hemp is such a smarter fuel. votehemp.com

[wylbur]

when VCs hire outside of specialty

When you hire an IT exec to run a bio-tech fuel comapny, you know
you are in trouble. The VCs are just trying to impress the well
heeled IT execs who invest in their funds. That they can't find
somebody from the energy/bio-tech convergence reflects the
twenty years of failure that well experienced people have had with
this concept.

[Krassen Dimitrov]

No kidding?

Scams like this one don't last for too long. Too bad for Dr. Metcalfe, such a briliant mind... Unfortunately the laws of thermodynamics couldn't care less if you are the father of the Internet or not:

http://algae-thermodynamics.blogspot.com/

[Arbalest05]

Metcalf might just be able to do it

It is likely that Bob Metcalfe has accepted this appointment because he already understands the shortcomings of existing process and has an idea of how to work around them. One would think that he has read your document about the company's current process.

Since you have some expertise in this area Dr. Dimitrov, you should consider contacting Dr. Metcalfe to share your research with him. Quite frankly, the world can't wait for the traditional trial and error process to work - we're in trouble now.

[akoyfman]

Update on news from Xconomy

www.xconomy.com just published an update on Bob Metcalfe at Biofuel. Looks like the company received more financing to continue their work.

http://www.xconomy.com/2007/07/25/greenfuel-secures-bridge-financing-of-55-million/

[OKNow2009]

It is more complicated
by Krassen Dimitrov July 3, 2007 4:38 PM PDT
I did send my Case Study to Dr. Metcalfe, however things are more complicated. For starters, he is not alone in this: Jennifer Fonstad who is currently the Chairman of the Board is allergic to technical/scientific arguments, so she would be of no help.
Secondly, these ageing visionaries (like Metcalfe) have been so successful in the past that they develop a sense of invincibility that ultimately leads to their demise.