3 April 2024

13:30 – 15:05

Amphi 4

Dan Boucher

Dan has over 25 years’ experience in the energy and automation markets. A natural entrepreneur, he has also worked with some of the largest companies in this sector, on a national, North American and global scale. His responsibilities included general management and strategic development of green technologies, sales and marketing management, engineering, operations, project management and strategic acquisitions. He has also led a number of initiatives to develop complex organizations, including utilities, mission-critical consumers and global suppliers such as Siemens, ABB and Schneider Electric. Currently, Dan leads the board of vadiMAP, which he founded in 2016. The company’s missions are focused in the energy sector and clean technology innovation such as vadiMAP.com, a turnkey solution for distributed energy integration for commercial and industrial customers including S&P500 organizations. Dan is a professional engineer who earned his engineering degrees from the École de technologie supérieure de Montréal (ÉTS) and a PMP diploma from the Project Management Institute in Newark Square, Pennsylvania. He is also a climate reality speaker and board member of energy-focused organizations.

Debate: How do you finance business development?

Financing start-ups is relatively complex. Generally speaking, funds are available for research and development. There are also traditional venture capitalists willing to support companies as they grow or expand. What happens in between? Where marketing is often regarded as the Valley of Death? It’s a time-consuming period for generating the first productions, organizing promotion and seeking out contracts. It’s also a time when you have to deal with all the red tape involved in certification and homologation, as well as the many and varied facets of sales and after-sales service. How can we support our start-ups through this Valley?