Mountain View, CA, June 3, 2008
Source: BusinessWire/CNBC
http://www.cnbc.com/id/24947569/
Alan Hahn, a career entrepreneur and Silicon Valley “gun for hire” famous for making the shared tenant services (STS) model profitable, has teamed with Peter Fuller, a go-to-market strategist, to found a company that makes solar power a profit center for commercial real estate owners. According to Hahn, a stalemate to solar adoption exists in commercial real estate. Solar investment costs building owners millions of dollars, with the majority of the benefit flowing to the tenant. Tenants aren’t inclined to invest in the building they rent. These competing interests stall solar adoption in the commercial real estate market, despite a strong desire by both owners and tenants for environmentally friendly, renewable energy. Hahn seeks to end this stalemate by not only covering the capital costs of solar equipment, but also making solar energy a profit center for building owners through the use of his yet-to-be-disclosed technology. His business plan is based on his experience building the STS market and is similar to some Power Purchase Agreements (PPA).
In STS, commercial real estate owners received revenue sharing for long distance service, Internet access and telephone equipment deployed in their buildings. Tenants took advantage of these premium telecommunication services without building owners paying any of the capital costs to provide them. For Fairchild, Hahn grew this business into the most successful STS model in the United States, turning a $40MM investment into a $1.1 billion return and acquiring 21 competitors in just 12 years.
“As was the case in STS, there exists today a real need for a company that removes primary obstacles, such as capital equipment costs, for commercial real estate owners,” said Hahn. “Owners want green energy; tenants want to consume it; and both the environment and nation benefit if commercial real estate makes the move to renewable solar power. That’s why I founded this company.” In addition to his success at Fairchild in the late 1990’s, Hahn has been an SVP of sales for many Silicon Valley companies. For LogLogic (Sequoia), Hahn built the company’s worldwide sales team and completed more than $5.7MM in sales in 12 months. At Corvigo (Sequoia), he ramped sales that lead to the company’s acquisition for 8x its Series A funding in just six months. Hahn has served on executive teams backed by Kleiner Perkins, Telesoft, Worldview Technology Partners and others.
While at Corvigo, Hahn met Fuller, who was the VP of Marketing. Fuller has 16 years of go-to-market experience in several industries ranging from consumer marketing to security hardware and mobile technologies. Prior to co-founding solarX, he helped launch two industry associations, founded two companies, raised series A capital, and was involved with two successful acquisitions. He has aided prior management in the market launch of nearly a dozen companies backed by Greylock Partners, Cardinal Venture Capital, WorldView Technology Partners, Interwest Partners, True Ventures and others. He’s served on executive teams funded by Sequoia Capital, Alloy Ventures, USVP, and CMGI.
“I’ve watched this market mature during the last eight years and have seen many solar service business plans,” said Ephraim Lindenbaum, managing partner of Advance Ventures. “This is by far the best team, with the right focus and technology. The work they’ve done over the last six months sets the stage for some very interesting announcements that will be forthcoming.” About solarX solarX was founded to end the solar stalemate between building owner and tenant and make solar energy profitable for the commercial real estate owner. By covering all capital expenses associated with deploying solar, solarX makes solar energy a no-cost investment that makes buildings more profitable, protects against massive utility company rate increases, creates a new revenue stream for building owners and provides renewable green energy for the tenants. Visit us at www.solarxcorp.com.