Solar City model [RE-wrenches]

[Greg Seelhorst]

Alan -

Thanks for keeping an eye out for us on these news events.

I agree with Mark, Patrick, and Todd.    We can't and don't compete with
this; who are we kidding?  These solar companies are backed by Morgan
Stanley and a whole bullpen of business egos.   Below are some excerpts
directly from their profiles.  This company was founded two years ago and
I'm sure their blogger is on their payroll.  I don't know if anyone knows
about solar technology here by their resumes.  I'm thinking that based on
everyone's profile that they want to make millions before they sell to
Google; this way they don't have to deal with warranty issues before the
ten years (a ten-year warranty is required for residential retrofit
rebates in California, but if they are going the commericial tax-credit
route, then maybe no one is requiring them to even have warranties??).  
I'm sure that since they invented and sell their own web based monitoring
systems, they will sell them to customers at inflated rates and make
millions on borrowed money.

Solar City is definitely financially aggressive, there is no doubt there. 
Most of our customers are either doing solar for the right reasons (taking
conservation measures before the installations), going with us based on
referrals, good maintenance/warranty record, timeliness.  As far as Solar
City goes, our customers do enough research to "go with a good company"
that is local and have been around for a while and are due to stay around.
 As long as this business model is making the top execs millions, they
could be in your neighborhood soon.

My concern here is the quality of installations.  If they ruin it for
solar, we're all doomed like in the 80's.  Solar City is blatantly open
about converting roofers, electricians, and plumbers into solar
electricians, as he admits that he is "having trouble finding workers". 
Let's hope that their Solar 101 academy is very thorough and fast so we at
least don't burn any homes down and cause more carbon emissions than we
hoped for.

Lyndon Rive – Founder, Chief Executive Officer; lead Everdream to a market
leadership position for which it was acquired by Dell

Peter Rive – Founder, Chief Operations Officer; Chief Technology Officer
at Everdream, where he designed a software platform to centralize computer
management

Elon Musk – Chairman (of the board); founder and CEO of SpaceX - a space
launch vehicle company. SpaceX is the third company founded by Elon. Prior
to SpaceX, he co-founded PayPal, the world's leading electronic payment
system, and served as the company's chairman and CEO.

Charles Ferer – Chief Financial Officer
Charles Ferer is responsible for Accounting, Finance, Banking and Human
Resources at SolarCity. He brings over twenty years of experience in
leadership roles at high growth companies in a variety of industries (all
in software tech industry).  He is chairman of the board and the primary
investor in Tesla Motors, a new all electric American car company.

David Arfin – VP, Customer Finance; David Arfin is a serial entrepreneur
with strong financial, business development, and marketing skills. David
founded FirstEnergyFinance.com (acquired by SolarCity), was co-Founder and
CEO of GlooLabs, Inc (acquired by Cisco Systems), co-Founded Flywheel
Communications, and was Founder and CE of CLE Group (acquired by
Practicing Law Institute).

Diana Helfrich – VP, Marketing; As SolarCity’s vice president of
marketing, Diana is responsible for the company’s marketing, branding,
communications and community programs. Diana has spent the last twenty
years driving growth for both public companies and early-stage technology
companies that have achieved market success through Initial Public
Offerings.

John Lefebvre – Managing Director, Sales & Business Development
John is responsible for SolarCity's sales, regional development, and
partner relationships. At Lam Research Corporation, Mattson Technology and
General Electric, John grew product divisions into muti-million dollar
organizations.


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