In this clip, Erik Straser, a partner at Mohr Davidow Ventures, discusses a case study of his firm's investment in a new solar technology modeled after printing a daily newspaper. Straser speaks in depth about reducing the costs and complexity of the sector, choosing the right entrepreneur, and gauging the level of capital investment required.

Venture is more policy-influenced than ever before, says Erik Staser, Mohr Davidow Ventures partner. For the first time ever, public policy has a horizon of investment tax credit to help facilitate long-term investment in clean technologies. Says Straser, the Valley is learning to plan its investment strategies within the confines of burgeoning and supportive policy framework.

Will the nation's famed investment avenue suddenly reach a dead end? The map toward future investment could be marred with tighter coffers in a poor economic climate, says Mohr Davidow Ventures partner Erik Straser, though good and intrepid companies will likely continue to find backers. Alternative sources of capital are a necessity in a global financial crisis, says Straser, and emerging technologies will likely feel the pinch of the higher cost of capital resulting from the credit crisis of 2008.

Learning the history of Silicon Valley, says Erik Straser, partner at Mohr Davidow Ventures, is the best method to predict its future. He suggests that students of business and entrepreneurship investigate the emerging trends in technology at research universities and elsewhere to unearth the Valley's forward focus. His advice: Find a lengthy, immutable trend that will permeate the next the 30 years, jump on it, and launch your career.

As the tech bubble was bursting on American soil, Mohr Davidow Ventures partner Erik Straser realized that a tremendous opportunity was rising overseas. Forty percent of the planet's population is coming into a middle-class standard of living, and infrastructure and energy to support their desire for products and services is to become the driving force behind his career focus. This observation motivated the investor to explore the growing field of clean technologies.

A good VC must be be thesis-driven, says Erik Straser, a frequent investor in alternative technologies and partner at Mohr Davidow Ventures. Waiting for new ideas and technologies to come knocking on your door is a slow reactive strategy, and it won't produce leaders in the field. Stay meshed in the university research centers where innovation is being extracted, and the investor will attract the right entrepreneurs.

In addition to his focus on clean technologies, Mohr Davidow Ventures VC Erik Straser has his eye on other global trends capable of significant macroeconomic consequences. Biofuels, bioengineering, more quantitative study in medicine, and the exploration of lifestyle diseases, in Straser's analysis, all present the seeds of future entrepreneurial endeavors.