Go fly a kite

Raising money to fund product development is never easy, as any tech entrepreneur will tell you. But I've had to grapple with a unique complication: My company, WindLift, is developing a kite-based system that generates electricity. The prototype, designed to put out 12 kilowatts, could save tons of money for some people now using diesel generators. But when I pitch the business to potential investors, it often seems as if all they can remember is their childhood struggles with those cheap stick-and-string fliers, making it impossible for them to envisage what my company aims to achieve. © 2012 IEEE.