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Despite the gloomy state of the global economy, Stuart Lombard believes his tiny Toronto company, Ecobee Inc., will attract customers who are interested in the green — both the environmental kind as well as the monetary variety.

The centrepiece of Mr. Lombard's green-tech startup is a smart thermostat, a technological upgrade to traditional programmable controls. It is equipped with a touch-sensitive digital display that allows users to easily program and control the climate inside their homes and businesses.

What makes the Ecobee thermostat "smart" is not merely the technology that allows users to program the device to change temperatures throughout the day, but also the features that enable the homeowner to make those changes remotely over the Internet. The plan is to extend the technology to mobile devices so that users can change their thermostat settings using an iPhone or BlackBerry.

"In a down economy, people are looking to energy conservation as a place where they can cut costs and save money, and our product definitely provides that for them," Mr. Lombard says. "We're still seeing an awful lot of interest."

The company has had some success from home developers, and from retail chains and other commercial clients. Green initiatives are a top priority in the U.S., with President Barack Obama pledging billions of dollars for green technology research and spending, and closer to home, Ontario's government recently introduced a Green Energy Act designed to promote job creation in green innovation sectors.

ecobee is Stuart Lombard's third entrepreneurial venture. Prior to becoming president and CEO of the startup, he was a partner with JLA Ventures and Co-CEO of Isolation Systems Ltd. Stuart sits on the advisory board of JLA Ventures and is a Director of QuickPlay Media.

Mr. Lombard was online to take your questions about capitalizing on the green IT wave and the challenges of launching a new product in less-than-ideal business conditions.

Editor's Note: globeandmail.com editors will read and allow or reject each question/comment. Comments/questions may be edited for length or clarity. HTML is not allowed. We will not publish questions/comments that include personal attacks on participants in these discussions, that make false or unsubstantiated allegations, that purport to quote people or reports where the purported quote or fact cannot be easily verified, or questions/comments that include vulgar language or libellous statements. Preference will be given to readers who submit questions/comments using their full name and home town, rather than a pseudonym.

Danielle Boudreau, globeandmail.com writes: Thanks for taking the time to answer questions for our readers today. In your opinion, how difficult is it for the "little guy" to get a new invention to market? For example, a homeowner who has found a unique solution for a problem around the house? Is this still possible, or is it too difficult to complete against the big companies?

Stuart Lombard writes: I think it is always hard to for an entrepreneur to get a new invention to market. It always takes a lot of very hard work, brain power and stress. Having said that, when things go well, the results are definitely worth the pain. On paper, the entrepreneur has few advantages against the incumbents. The magic is finding that space in the market that existing competitors are not addressing and to fill that space with a new product or service.

There are advantages and disadvantages to starting a company at any time. Right now, I would say that it is very difficult for entrepreneurs to attract risk capital and that is a minus. However, now is a great time to start a business because your competitors — big and small — are retrenching and cutting projects that are not delivering ROI today. Therefore competition with respect to leading edge products is probably less than at any time in the last 10 years and that is a big advantage.

A. Smith from Canada writes: Have you found that it's a tough sell to get people to spend more money these days, even though your product is good for the environment and might save them money in the long term? Thanks.

Stuart Lombard writes: I think people are cautious in this economic environment, but they have not stopped living. People are looking for practical things they can do to help the environment — things that are not too expensive, easy to do, have an impact, and do not overly affect their lifestyle. That is the core offering of our product. The average household will save 15-25 per cent on their heating and cooling bills and reduce their green house gas emissions by 500-1000 Kg/year and the thermostat will pay for itself in less than a year. We are extremely pleased with our sales to date and are surpassing every financial metric in our business plan.

Jeffrey Poulin from Calgary Canada writes: Stuart, When I hear a phrase like 'capitalizing on the green IT wave' my mind immediately goes to the stock market. Properly structured, your happy investors would have a way to say YES to you and your company. Have you given this any consideration? Thank you, Jeffrey Poulin

Stuart Lombard writes: We have a number of core company values and one of those key values is transparency. To our employees and our investors, we try to be very open and transparent. We provide regular reporting and actively solicit their feedback. We believe that our shareholders feel that they have a way to speak with us and to say yes or no.

David from Netherlands writes: Hi Stuart, I'm wondering if you can share any insights for young grads interested in working as employees for a start-up? Applying one's energy and abilities in a less-established enterprise and nurturing a project to growth has a certain energizing appeal. What qualities do you look for in your initial hires, how do you find them, and where can candidates of this stripe look to match up with entrepreneurs such as yourself.

Stuart Lombard writes: This is a really great question! I think the biggest advantage of working for a smaller entrepreneurial company is that you get great exposure to the entire business. For example, if you are a software engineer, you also get to add input into marketing decisions, go out and meet customers and participate in trade shows. Because all the decisions are made by the people sitting right next to you (and you), you get great experience in understanding how the business runs and why decisions are made. The second big advantage is that you can have a significant impact on the business. In a small company, the input and effort of every team member has a huge impact on the outcome. Whether it is suggesting new features, designing the application, coming up with the marketing strategy, blogging about the company, individuals can easily see how they contribute to the business. This is extremely rewarding and is an experience that is very difficult to achieve at a large company. We tell people that work with us that we have a white sheet of paper and that we are writing our own story on that paper. How well that story ends depends on what we do and the words we write.

The primary qualities we look for are initiative and curiosity. A lot of being able to find opportunities is asking the question "Why?" Often no one knows the answer, other than "that is the way it has always been done" and that is usually where there is opportunity. Initiative is about seeing things that need to be done and then going and doing them without having to go through a long process of getting them approved. That is what makes small companies nimble and that is how great companies respond to customer needs.

The best place to meet entrepreneurs is through events like the Mesh events where entrepreneurs get together to talk about their businesses. Feel free to also contact entrepreneurs of companies you like directly. Usually people are very open to talk and everyone wants to find great people.

Danielle Boudreau writes: How difficult is it to get your product into a big box store such as Canadian Tire, Home Depot, or Sears? Do those companies need to see an proven track record before they buy your product for their stores, or is there flexibility to give a small start-up a chance? It seems to me that this must be a tough "Catch-22" to overcome for a small business owner.

Stuart Lombard writes: It takes time to get into big box stores. They are clearly interested in looking at new and innovative products, but the sales cycle is long. Big box stores also come with a lot of terms and conditions which many firms might not expect. For example, they generally want to sell on consignment or be able to return any unsold product for a full refund (plus their handling costs). They have many supply chain requirements around timely shipping of orders, where they are shipped from and who pays for freight. They expect a marketing program (in store displays, sales training, TV or newspaper advertising, catalogue and flyer coop dollars, etc.). There is a lot more to getting into a big box store than getting them to agree that you have a great product. You can also expect that they will be looking for 40 per cent margins in addition to the costs above and so big box retail, while effective is expensive.

I think small businesses need to determine if they have the resources to effectively support a big box partner.

D David from Laval Canada writes: There is all this talk in the media about how difficult it is for companies to get credit. What is it like for you as a recent start-up? Do you find the banks are there to really help you or is it true that small businesses are not getting the support they need to grow their companies? David

Stuart Lombard writes:Even before the credit crisis, banks were really not keen to lend to us and I would guess to small businesses in general. I think technology companies are especially challenging for traditional banks because they do not have assets that banks typically look for and lend against. Start-ups — forget about it. Because of this, our business plan was predicated on not receiving bank financing.

However, there are a number of specialty lenders that do lend to small business against receivables, inventory and plant equipment. I would recommend that small businesses looking for credit search out these specialty lenders.

Danielle Boudreau, globeandmail.com writes: Stuart, thanks again for taking time out of your busy schedule to answer questions. Do you have any final comments you'd like to share with our readers?

Stuart Lombard writes: I would like to say that it is a great time to start a business. Build a business around something you love and feel passionate about. We get great satisfaction from the work we do, but also from knowing that our products are having a meaningful impact on reducing energy consumption and creating environmental benefits.