Lynn Jurich
![Lynn Jurich](/assets/img/authors/unknown.jpg)
Lynn Jurich
Lynn Jurich is the co-founder and CEO of Sunrun, a residential solar company headquartered in San Francisco, California. Jurich holds an MBA and BS from Stanford University, with her BS in science, technology, and society. Early in her career she worked at Summit Partners, where she "completed investments with an aggregate market value of over $900 million in the financial services and technology sectors." She co-founded Sunrun in 2007 while attending Stanford Business School. In November 2008, she helped Sunrun...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBusinesswoman
CountryUnited States of America
For Pocketbook Environmentalists, financial savings are the primary motivator. However Pocketbook Environmentalists are changing the face of the market and the planet for the better by demanding that going green saves you money.
For every family in liberal San Francisco that went solar with SunRun in 2010, nearly eight families in more conservative Fresno made the switch to our solar power service.
With Zipcar, consumers avoid the upfront cost of buying a car, not to mention gas, insurance, and repairs. Plus, they reduce the number of polluting vehicles on the road. Suddenly the planet-smart carless option is also the convenient money-saving option.
We're leading a fundamental shift from centralized energy to distributed energy. Energy will go in that direction, just like mainframe computers went to client servers, then to the Internet. I believe in solar, and the macro trends are just too undeniable.
Hire people who are smarter than you, and don't be afraid to work with them as partners. Make it clear that you plan to learn from them, not just the other way around. The right, smart, motivated people respond very well to that approach, particularly coming from a younger manager like I am.
It's common for cultural shifts to start with young, urban adopters before going mainstream.
Innovative companies have started to realize there are not enough 'green consumers' willing to pay more for something just because it's green.
I was an investor doing well and decided to be an entrepreneur.
All people believe in America, jobs, creating energy here, not being dependent on foreign energy sources.
You have to accept the fact that not all your decisions are going to be right - and when they are wrong, you have to own it right away. I try not to have an emotional connection or investment in the decisions I make so that when they need to change, I can quickly move on to: 'How do we fix this?'
With the right infrastructure in place, home solar will be recognized publicly as affordable, easy, and smart, and every new home built in the developed world can have clean energy sources built into it.
Since Sunrun introduced solar as a service in 2007, it has become the preferred way for consumers to go solar in the nation's top solar markets. Sunrun has deployed more than $2 billion in solar systems and has raised more than $300 million in equity capital.
I think, in a lot of places, the solar panels are a badge of honor; they're trendy. If you go to Hawaii or Japan, people even install fake solar panels because it's cool and it's popular. And so I think solar panels have gotten a lot more attractive. They're sleek, black, they look good on a roof.
As we settle into 2013, I predict this: We'll see companies that promote this shift from private ownership thrive. More people will be able to access things they simply don't need to own, and they'll save money and live better, cleaner, green lives doing it.