Ep. 138: Dave Riess, Co-Founder & CEO of Wunder Capital

Today's guest is Dave Riess, Co-Founder & CEO of Wunder Capital.

Wunder Capital is a technology company that's financing the renewable energy revolution. It develops software and partners with leading solar organizations and financial institutions to build large scale solar projects for businesses, municipalities, nonprofits, and communities. Founded in 2014, Wunder Capital is the #1 commercial solar financing company in the U.S.

Coming out of undergrad amidst the chaos of 2008 with a degree in electrical engineering, Dave interviewed at SD G&E and quickly realized he didn't want to work in a sea of cubes. He landed at an early-stage tech company in New York and later worked at Facebook in software advertising for big brands. One day, Dave woke up wanting to feel that his work was purposeful. He decided to reorient his career around climate change. Dave was fascinated by the energy ecosystem and took a research job at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. While at LBNL, Dave discovered the growth rate disparities in the various solar market segments, and he knew that software could help solve this problem. In 2014, Dave co-founded Wunder Capital and, in 2019, assumed the role of CEO.

In this episode, Dave walks me through his career path and how he got hooked on energy. We talk about Wunder Capital, its initial hypothesis, and how the company has evolved. We also dive into how the solar revolution has developed, Dave's thoughts on the future of solar, and how to accelerate the clean energy transition. I enjoyed having Dave on the podcast!

Enjoy the show!

You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at info@myclimatejourney.co, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded November 25th, 2020