the leadership group basically for free. because we want to capture in the them to the dna that david packard, our founder had, which waa balae of running, brilliance, dynamic companies while, at the same time, being deeply engaged in your communities and in the quality of life of your employees. that is the scale that we want to raise up in these incredibly innovative young entrepreneurs. we have about 20 of them here in the audience today. i want to just mention three of them and embarrass them. they do not know i am going to do this. all of these at this in common. they have less than 40 employees currently. their business has been around for less than four years. and, like me, they are younger than 40 years old. [laughter] why are you laughing? [laughter] let me introduce the ceo of snoozie. stand. [applause] the ceo of good joe. [applause] and the ceo of sylvantex. [applause] a lot of these start-ups doing incredible innovation. some will succeed. others will not. these
very active, quiet, kind of a grey-haired mentoring culture that helped people do what they do. i do not see that anywhere else. people give up their time, give of themselves. it is just a spectacular way to foster innovation. i want to talk about innovation in the bay area for a moment. this is for all of you, but i will start with you, mayor lee. how would you describe the state of innovation in the bay area right now? are you concerned instagram comes to mind about a bubble? we have been trying to analyze that question with financial people and people in the industry. i do think there is more maturity with the companies. i get a chance to go out and talk to one new company week, when i get out of my city hall prison to meet the innovators. they introduced me to their employees. i get to have a direct dialogue with the employees and ask them what they need to stay. they say they really like being in our city because of the night life, the culture. they want educatio
i will use us as an example. we have a team in this building working on lithium batteries. their goal is to build a battery with 500 miles of range, for obvious reasons. we hope they will have a prototype in the feet next few years. we think in the next few years. we think the stars are lined up. that is a long-term investment. next question to all of you. michael, we will start with you. we know government is the regional at the regional, state, and local level can help or hinder startup companies. what would you like to see from the governments here in the valley, sacramento, or in d.c., that would strengthen the innovation economy? i could go on about immigration and corporate tax policy reform, but i am a researcher, so i will not. and we have seven minutes. mayor lee said it perfectly. the fundamental thing that companies are looking for is to be engaged in the process. we use a term in computing called agile. we look for more ability and the possibility to w
very active, quiet, kind of a grey-haired mentoring culture that helped people do what they do. i do not see that anywhere else. people give up their time, give of themselves. it is just a spectacular way to foster innovation. i want to talk about innovation in the bay area for a moment. this is for all of you, but i will start with you, mayor lee. how would you describe the state of innovation in the bay area right now? are you concerned instagram comes to mind about a bubble? we have been trying to analyze that question with financial people and people in the industry. i do think there is more maturity with the companies. i get a chance to go out and talk to one new company week, when i get out of my city hall prison to meet the innovators. they introduced me to their employees. i get to have a direct dialogue with the employees and ask them what they need to stay. they say they really like being in our city because of the night life, the culture. they want educatio
years. we think the stars are lined up. that is a long-term investment. next question to all of you. michael, we will start with you. we know government is the regional at the regional, state, and local level can help or hinder startup companies. what would you like to see from the governments here in the valley, sacramento, or in d.c., that would strengthen the innovation economy? i could go on about immigration and corporate tax policy reform, but i am a researcher, so i will not. and we have seven minutes. mayor lee said it perfectly. the fundamental thing that companies are looking for is to be engaged in the process. we use a term in computing called agile. we look for more ability and the possibility to work with us, iterate in the process, rather than what we often see as we call the waterfall, take-it-or- leave-it. flexibility and agility is what is most important. mayor lee? i have always thought of our city as being the gateway to the rest of the world