Happy Thursday Solar Warriors!
If you are a music buff, you’re without a doubt familiar with the sophomore slump - refers to an instance in which a second, or sophomore effort fails to live up to the relatively high standards of the first effort.
The idea is that it’s often very hard for an artist who has a massive hit with their debut album to follow it with an equally or more compelling album; but in statistics, it can better be explained as a regression to the mean. This happens beyond the recording studios and stages of music, however, and is a tale as old as Silicon Valley for many serial entrepreneurs.
Lest you think I’m being too critical, I’m no Fairweather Johnson about this and I have studied the effect both in the music and the energy industries, and we’ve discussed it in past episodes of SunCast.
Some notable acts, however, have been able to overcome this invisible barrier and produce an impressive second act in their careers! Sheldon Kimber seems to share DNA with greats like Nirvana, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, coming out swinging with an impressive followup to what was arguably a blockbuster hit in their first appearance on the big stage.
After brief stints as a consultant at Accenture and then energy finance manager with Calpine, Sheldon did what most 20-somethings looking to transition into a senior role did in finance: he went back for his MBA.
In today’s conversation, Sheldon and I dig into his fortuitous route to join then very-much-a-startup Recurrent power in the mid 2000’s and his ride to the top of the solar energy charts helping make Recurrent one of the most respected (and valuable) solar businesses of the last decade.
I really enjoyed hearing about Sheldon’s journey, introspection, and decisions around how he’d re-enter the work world after having earned enough with the Recurrent exit to never need to consider building another company or working that hard again. I also really appreciated his candor here to explore the post-exit reality, existential crises, and sense of purpose (or lack thereof) that often accompanies great success.
But as some of you already know (and I foreshadowed), Sheldon’s story is far from over.
His sophomore startup, Intersect Power, is anything but sophomoric and is firing on all cylinders at the moment. What’s driving it? Where does he go now? Stay tuned as we dig into today’s entrepreneurial journey.
If you are new to SunCast, thank you for joining us and I encourage you to check out the previous episode with today’s guest, Sheldon Kimber, where you can learn more about some of the fundamental elements of how he’s building his utility-scale solar company, Intersect Power.
Episode 229 - was recorded last September at the Podcast lounge
In that episode, he gave valuable insight into some of the nuanced topics he faces as a solar developer like:
Definitions of Merchant and hedge
Value of building merchant projects
What happens to the tail of market contracts for solar
Thanks a ton to our podcast sponsors, Extensible Energy for continuing to help make this content FREE to You! Please check them out and let me know what you think!
Resources
Connect with Sheldon on LinkedIn and Twitter
Follow Recurrent Energy on Twitter, and check out their website
Follow Intersect Power on Twitter, and check out their website
Remember that the transcript of this episode is available HERE
Books mentioned
Carry Me Across the Water - Ethan Canin
Sapiens - Yuval Noah Harari
Relentless - Tim S. Grover