#225: Gary Skulnik, Founder & CEO of Neighborhood Sun, a Mission-Driven Company Using Community Solar to Fight Climate Change

Gary Skulnik is a senior executive and strategic thinker who has been a leader in developing the clean energy market in Maryland and Washington, DC, through innovative marketing and sales, partnerships, community building, business management, and legislative advocacy. Founder of two entities focused exclusively on marketing clean energy, a for-profit and a non-profit, which collectively helped more than 17,000 consumers and businesses switch to clean power. Currently, Gary is the Founder and CEO of Neighborhood Sun, exclusively focused on the fast-growing community solar space.

Some of the Topics Covered by Gary Skulnik in this Episode

• What Gary and Neighborhood Sun are doing with community solar
• How Neighborhood Sun got started and the importance of community solar
• The regulatory hurdles Gary had to overcome
• How community solar makes solar power available to lower-income households
• The difficulties in getting the first 100 customers for Neighborhood Sun
• How Gary has been able to keep his customer acquisition cost so low
• Why Gary decided to do equity crowdfunding for Neighborhood Sun
• Why Gary chose Wefunder for Neighborhood Sun
• How the fundraising process itself went for Gary
• The benefits of choosing equity crowdfunding over venture capital
• The biggest challenges of equity crowdfunding
• The team behind Neighborhood Sun
• Where Gary and his team are looking to grow next with Neighborhood Sun
• How Gary thinks about building a brand, especially in a competitive market
• What the process of expansion looks like for Neighborhood Sun
• How Gary sees the solar industry evolving moving forward
• The incredible potential of other clean energy projects like offshore wind
• Lessons Gary took from his first startup and has applied to Neighborhood Sun
• Books that have been impactful for Gary
• How Gary recharges away from work

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