SunCast

The best technology does not always win.
Sass Peress has spent nearly four decades learning why. Since entering solar in 1988, he has built companies, introduced new technologies, sold hundreds of thousands of solar products, backed ideas that worked, backed at least one that did not, and learned firsthand what separates an exciting invention from something customers will actually buy.
One of his most useful distinctions is between “bleeders” and “leaders.” Being first can mean paying for every lesson the rest of the market gets to learn from you. The companies that survive know how to stay tenacious without becoming stubborn, change direction when the evidence demands it, and stop falling in love with their own technology.
Sass and Nico dig into the early entrepreneurial experiences that shaped him, why “claims are packaging,” what selling 250,000 solar chargers taught him about finding the right customer, and why great salespeople sell outcomes rather than features or pain.
They also explore supercapacitors, the changing power needs of AI data centers, and why evaluating any energy technology requires asking a deceptively simple question: under what conditions does this actually work?
Ultimately, Sass keeps returning to an even simpler standard for entrepreneurs:
Say what you know to be true.
If you build, sell, finance, or evaluate emerging energy technology, this conversation is full of lessons earned the expensive way.
Are there other technologies you’ve scouted on the frontlines of the Clean Energy Revolution that you think we should be covering here on SunCast?
Hit us up - team@suncast.me with your feedback & recommendations.
If you want to connect with today's guest, you’ll find links to their contact info in the show notes on the blog at https://suncast.media/episodes/.
Our Platinum Presenting Sponsor for SunCast is CPS America!
You can learn more about all the sponsors who help make this show free for you at www.suncast.media/sponsors.
Remember, you can always find resources, learn more about today’s guest and explore recommendations, book links, and more than 950 other founder stories and startup advice at www.suncast.media.
We'd love if you'd leave us a 5 ⭐ rating & review and it's never been easier: https://www.ratethispodcast.com/suncast
Subscribe to Valence, our weekly LinkedIn Newsletter, and learn the elements of compelling storytelling: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/valence-content-that-connects-7145928995363049472/
You can connect with me, Nico Johnson, on:
Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/nicomeo
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickalus
(00:00) Outsized Growth in a Defensive Solar Market
(01:54) The No Shortcuts Strategy and Response Speed
(04:58) Building Content for a Forever Company
(06:56) Using Content and AI for Internal Operations
(12:57) Quality Execution and Answering Real Customer Questions
(14:39) Speed to Response and Post-Install Engagement
(17:09) Structuring High-Value Customer Referral Programs
(21:46) Community Partnerships and Content Recycling
(25:52) Strategic Policy Adaptation and Safe-Harboring Supply
(31:42) Bringing Meta Ad Strategy In-House
(36:56) Multi-Channel Syndication and Executive Thought Leadership
(39:30) AI Integration Versus Original Human Creativity
(49:04) The Actionable Customer Story Assignment

While many solar companies are fighting to stay afloat, Exact Solar is flying.
After growing 23% and then 50% in the previous two years, the Pennsylvania installer says it's up another 73% so far this year. That kind of growth in this market raises an obvious question: what are they doing differently?
Aaron Nichols joins Nico once more to unpack the answer, and it isn't just one clever marketing tactic.
Exact has built a growth flywheel around learning. Completed projects become proof the sales team can use. Customer questions become content. Pleased customers become referral sources. Advertising results inform the next campaign. And years of accumulated experience are increasingly becoming searchable institutional knowledge that helps the team respond faster and sell smarter.
Aaron breaks down exactly how Exact brought more of its advertising in-house, built systems to stay in front of past customers, turned community partnerships into new opportunities, and used AI to make what the company already knows dramatically easier to find. He also explains how that same bias toward learning and adaptation helped Exact respond when the policy landscape changed directions right beneath them.
The bigger lesson goes well beyond solar marketing: the better Exact gets at learning from what works, the easier it becomes to keep growing.
Expect to learn:
🔹 How to turn completed work into reusable sales and marketing assets
🔹 Why capturing institutional knowledge can become a competitive advantage
🔹 How Exact turns customers, content, referrals, and advertising into a reinforcing growth loop
🔹 Where AI creates leverage—and where Aaron believes human creativity still wins
🔹 Why Aaron believes “the best shortcut is no shortcuts”
If growth feels harder than it used to, Aaron's approach offers a useful question: are you getting smarter with every customer you serve?
Are there other technologies you’ve scouted on the frontlines of the Clean Energy Revolution that you think we should be covering here on SunCast?
Hit us up - team@suncast.me with your feedback & recommendations.
If you want to connect with today's guest, you’ll find links to their contact info in the show notes on the blog at https://suncast.media/episodes/.
Our Platinum Presenting Sponsor for SunCast is CPS America!
You can learn more about all the sponsors who help make this show free for you at www.suncast.media/sponsors.
Remember, you can always find resources, learn more about today’s guest and explore recommendations, book links, and more than 950 other founder stories and startup advice at www.suncast.media.
We'd love if you'd leave us a 5 ⭐ rating & review and it's never been easier: https://www.ratethispodcast.com/suncast
Subscribe to Valence, our weekly LinkedIn Newsletter, and learn the elements of compelling storytelling: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/valence-content-that-connects-7145928995363049472/
You can connect with me, Nico Johnson, on:
Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/nicomeo
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickalus
Timestamps:
(00:00) Exact Solar's Outsized Growth Trajectory
(01:54) The "No Shortcuts" Strategy in Solar
(04:58) Building a Content Engine for the Long Haul
(06:56) Leveraging Content as an Internal Resource
(12:57) Prerequisite for Growth: Delivering Exceptional Work
(14:39) Speed to Response and Eliminating Friction
(17:09) Designing High-Impact Referral Programs
(21:46) Community Partnerships and the Solar Tour
(25:52) Strategic Leadership Post-Inflation Reduction Act
(31:42) Bringing Meta Ad Operations In-House
(36:56) Multi-Channel Syndication and Executive Profile
(39:30) AI Leverage versus Human Creativity
(48:45) The Actionable Customer Story Assignment

America needs more power. Data centers are accelerating demand, utilities are planning billions of dollars in new infrastructure, and households will ultimately help pay for much of it.
But what if we invested some of that money in the households themselves?
Ari Matusiak, co-founder and CEO of Rewiring America, makes the case that homes can become a meaningful part of America’s energy infrastructure—and that households should be compensated for the value they provide to the grid.
In this wide-ranging conversation, Ari and Nico explore the rise of Homegrown Energy, why the old equilibrium between utilities and customers is breaking down, how hyperscalers could help fund household energy upgrades, and where regulators and utilities are already testing what’s possible.
They also get into the harder question underneath all of it: who gets to participate in the value created as we build out the grid?
For Ari, the opportunity is bigger than electrification. If households can provide real value to the grid, the question becomes whether we continue treating them primarily as customers, or start investing in them as part of the solution.
That could create a very different deal: more capacity for a power-hungry economy, more flexibility for the grid, and tangible value flowing back to the households helping make it possible.
Are there other technologies you’ve scouted on the frontlines of the Clean Energy Revolution that you think we should be covering here on SunCast?
Hit us up - team@suncast.me with your feedback & recommendations.
If you want to connect with today's guest, you’ll find links to their contact info in the show notes on the blog at https://suncast.media/episodes/.
Our Platinum Presenting Sponsor for SunCast is CPS America!
You can learn more about all the sponsors who help make this show free for you at www.suncast.media/sponsors.
Remember, you can always find resources, learn more about today’s guest and explore recommendations, book links, and more than 950 other founder stories and startup advice at www.suncast.media.
We'd love if you'd leave us a 5 ⭐ rating & review and it's never been easier: https://www.ratethispodcast.com/suncast
Subscribe to Valence, our weekly LinkedIn Newsletter, and learn the elements of compelling storytelling: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/valence-content-that-connects-7145928995363049472/
You can connect with me, Nico Johnson, on:
Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/nicomeo
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickalus
(00:00) The Fastest Path to Power
(00:12) Meet Ari Matusiak, Rewiring America's Founder
(03:17) The Thread Behind a Career of Big Problems
(09:42) Winning an Affordable Housing Bond in Rhode Island
(22:47) Rewiring America and the 42% Emissions Insight
(27:06) Reframing Households as Energy Infrastructure
(29:57) Why the Grid's Political Economy Just Shifted
(41:13) Energy Value vs. Community Benefit Payouts
(42:30) Building the Missing Middle Market
(48:47) The Slow Start of Homegrown Energy
(55:31) Data Centers, Grid Distortion, and Homeowners
(1:00:25) Illinois as the First Domino
(1:05:23) Answering the Subsidy Critique
(1:15:13) Dignity, Shared Winning, and What's Hardest

En Latinoamérica, la oportunidad no siempre está donde se anuncia más capacidad, sino donde existe una combinación real de demanda, capital comprometido y capacidad de ejecución.
Nico Johnson conversa con Juan Manuel Carbajosa, Director de Ventas para Latinoamérica de Shoals Technologies, y Mario Gomez, Presidente de TCI GECOMP. Juntos aportan dos perspectivas complementarias para entender el mercado: la de un responsable global de desarrollo de negocio que habla con decenas de operadores y la de un operador regional con décadas de experiencia construyendo proyectos en varios países.
A partir de esa experiencia combinada, la conversación aborda algunas de las decisiones que hoy más importan para desarrolladores, IPPs, EPCs e inversionistas:
🔹 Cómo distinguir un pipeline atractivo de capital verdaderamente comprometido
🔹 Por qué las baterías están reabriendo oportunidades que el curtailment había limitado
🔹 Por qué México vuelve a concentrar tanta atención, pero exige cautela
🔹 Cómo la industrialización, la estandarización y menos trabajo en campo pueden reducir riesgo y acelerar la ejecución
Si estás evaluando dónde enfocar recursos y capacidad de ejecución en Latinoamérica, esta conversación aporta una perspectiva basada en experiencia directa en la región.
**Este episodio fue grabado originalmente en español. También publicaremos una versión traducida en inglés.**
Marcas De Tiempo:
(00:00) Apertura: El Estado del Solar y el Almacenamiento en LatAm
(00:33) De Vuelta a SunCast en Español
(02:08) Construyendo Solar Donde Todavía No Existía Manual
(09:41) Por Qué Chile, Brasil y México Juegan con Reglas Distintas
(12:59) Subastas, Capital Privado y la Trampa de los Permisos
(16:05) Elegir Mercados: La Estrategia de Crecimiento Orgánico de TCI
(18:39) El Horizonte de 18 Meses para Asignar Capital
(20:54) Hacia Dónde Está Fluyendo Realmente el Capital Ahora
(24:55) De Desarrolladores de Solar a Desarrolladores de Baterías
(28:23) Dentro del Nuevo Reglamento de Socio Local en México
(34:07) Demostrar Credibilidad: Proveedor vs. EPC en un Mercado Nuevo
(36:47) Logística, Compras y el Riesgo del BOS que Nadie Ve
(41:52) Separar la Señal del Ruido: Fuentes Confiables en el Solar de LatAm
(51:54) Consejos Para la Próxima Generación de Desarrolladores en LatAm
Are there other technologies you’ve scouted on the frontlines of the Clean Energy Revolution that you think we should be covering here on SunCast?
Hit us up - team@suncast.me with your feedback & recommendations.
If you want to connect with today's guest, you’ll find links to their contact info in the show notes on the blog at https://suncast.media/episodes/.
Our Platinum Presenting Sponsor for SunCast is CPS America!
You can learn more about all the sponsors who help make this show free for you at www.suncast.media/sponsors.
Remember, you can always find resources, learn more about today’s guest and explore recommendations, book links, and more than 950 other founder stories and startup advice at www.suncast.media.
We'd love if you'd leave us a 5 ⭐ rating & review and it's never been easier: https://www.ratethispodcast.com/suncast
Subscribe to Valence, our weekly LinkedIn Newsletter, and learn the elements of compelling storytelling: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/valence-content-that-connects-7145928995363049472/
You can connect with me, Nico Johnson, on:
Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/nicomeo
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickalus

Good companies don't automatically get noticed. And doing good work isn't enough to ensure that customers, investors, journalists, communities, or increasingly AI systems understand why your company matters.
Melissa Baldwin has spent more than 20 years exclusively in energy and climate communications. As Senior Vice President at Tigercomm and host of the Scaling Clean podcast, she's had a front-row seat to what helps companies earn attention and trust, and what causes otherwise strong companies to remain largely invisible.
Melissa and Nico dig into why communications is routinely underfunded, why executive silence is itself a strategic choice, and what the best companies do differently to become useful sources of information for their markets. Melissa shares examples from Zillow and Redfin, explains why proprietary data can create authority far beyond traditional promotional content, and makes the case for giving CEOs a much larger role in telling the company story.
Then they turn to a rapidly changing question: what happens when discovery moves from Google search results to AI-generated answers? Melissa explains how longer, more specific prompts are changing search behavior, why mentions and credible third-party sources increasingly matter, and how companies can begin auditing whether they even show up when an AI system is asked who matters in their category. The conversation also explores why community engagement should be treated as project risk management and why developers need to begin earning local trust long before they need an approval.
Expect to learn:
🔹 Why strong companies can remain invisible despite doing great work
🔹 What useful content does differently from promotional content
🔹 How to evaluate whether your company is showing up in AI-generated answers
🔹 Why community engagement belongs in the project-risk conversation
If your company is doing work worth noticing, this conversation is a useful challenge to ask whether you're making it easy enough for the right people to actually find, understand, and trust you.
Are there other technologies you’ve scouted on the frontlines of the Clean Energy Revolution that you think we should be covering here on SunCast?
Hit us up - team@suncast.me with your feedback & recommendations.
If you want to connect with today's guest, you’ll find links to their contact info in the show notes on the blog at https://suncast.media/episodes/.
Our Platinum Presenting Sponsor for SunCast is CPS America!
You can learn more about all the sponsors who help make this show free for you at www.suncast.media/sponsors.
Remember, you can always find resources, learn more about today’s guest and explore recommendations, book links, and more than 950 other founder stories and startup advice at www.suncast.media.
We'd love if you'd leave us a 5 ⭐ rating & review and it's never been easier: https://www.ratethispodcast.com/suncast
Subscribe to Valence, our weekly LinkedIn Newsletter, and learn the elements of compelling storytelling: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/valence-content-that-connects-7145928995363049472/
You can connect with me, Nico Johnson, on:
Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/nicomeo
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickalus