SunCast

Pepper Construction has survived the Great Depression, World War II, multiple recessions, and a global pandemic. As the family business approaches its 100th anniversary, its next challenge is not simply surviving another disruption. It is pursuing new opportunities without losing the culture, discipline, and sense of responsibility that carried it this far.
Jake Pepper is part of the fourth generation preparing to lead Pepper into that next chapter. His path into the family business was anything but automatic. He resisted joining, studied building science, traded natural gas options, and earned an MBA before returning with a deeper understanding of both the company and the complicated dynamics of a multigenerational enterprise.
Jake went on to build Pepper Energy from an initial construction-only solar project while helping the broader company expand into batteries, powered land, and hyperscale data centers. He and Nico explore how new businesses earn trust inside an established company, why each generation may get only one consequential risk, and how leaders protect the core while adapting to markets that can change almost overnight.
Expect to Learn:
🔹 What Jake gained by building a career outside the family business before accepting the mantle of responsibility
🔹 How his particular MBA program helped him understand the family dynamics behind the financial statements
🔹 How a call from the carpenters union led to Pepper’s first solar project, a new energy business, and an incredible growth curve
🔹 How Jake evaluates powered land, data-center growth, capital partners, and counterparty credit risk
🔹 Why maintaining culture is harder than growing from $2 billion to $4 billion
This conversation offers a candid look at how one family business is preparing for its next century without losing the culture and values that carried it through the first.
Are there other technologies you’ve scouted on the frontlines of the Clean Energy Revolution that you think we should be covering here on SunCast?
Hit us up - team@suncast.me with your feedback & recommendations.
If you want to connect with today's guest, you’ll find links to their contact info in the show notes on the blog at https://suncast.media/episodes/.
Our Platinum Presenting Sponsor for SunCast is CPS America!
You can learn more about all the sponsors who help make this show free for you at www.suncast.media/sponsors.
Remember, you can always find resources, learn more about today’s guest and explore recommendations, book links, and more than 875 other founder stories and startup advice at www.suncast.media.
Subscribe to Valence, our weekly LinkedIn Newsletter, and learn the elements of compelling storytelling: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/valence-content-that-connects-7145928995363049472/
You can connect with me, Nico Johnson, on:
Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/nicomeo
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickalus

After building and selling multiple companies, Marc Lopata has learned that the decisions that shape a business are rarely the ones people celebrate. They're the small decisions, made consistently over time, that ultimately determine whether a company lasts.
In this conversation, Marc shares the operating philosophy he's developed through decades of building companies, leading teams, and mentoring the next generation of entrepreneurs. From hiring the engineering intern who eventually bought his company to thinking about exit strategies before starting a business, resisting the lure of venture capital, and building teams that don't depend on the founder to succeed, Marc's stories come from solar—but the lessons apply to anyone responsible for leading people, managing risk, and building something meant to last.
Expect to learn:
⚡ What separates companies that endure from those that don't
⚡ Why Marc interviewed 45 candidates before hiring the intern who eventually bought his company
⚡ How to think about partners, succession, and exit planning long before you need them
⚡ Why Marc considers chasing venture capital one of his biggest business mistakes
⚡ How decades of building solar and storage projects shaped his approach to technology, risk, and leadership
Whether you're building your first company or leading an established team, Marc offers practical wisdom earned through experience, mistakes, and decades of disciplined execution.
Are there other technologies you’ve scouted on the frontlines of the Clean Energy Revolution that you think we should be covering here on SunCast?
Hit us up - team@suncast.me with your feedback & recommendations.
If you want to connect with today's guest, you’ll find links to their contact info in the show notes on the blog at https://suncast.media/episodes/.
Our Platinum Presenting Sponsor for SunCast is CPS America!
You can learn more about all the sponsors who help make this show free for you at www.suncast.media/sponsors.
Remember, you can always find resources, learn more about today’s guest and explore recommendations, book links, and more than 875 other founder stories and startup advice at www.suncast.media.
Subscribe to Valence, our weekly LinkedIn Newsletter, and learn the elements of compelling storytelling: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/valence-content-that-connects-7145928995363049472/
You can connect with me, Nico Johnson, on:
Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/nicomeo
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickalus

We know how to build power. Every day, the clean energy industry builds more of it.
But there's another kind of power that's far more difficult to generate—and arguably even more important.
The kind that determines whether an industry continues to grow regardless of who's in office. The kind that shapes public opinion before a project is ever proposed. The kind that makes policymakers think twice before standing in your way.
Tom Matzzie has spent his career building both.
Before founding CleanChoice Energy, he spent fifteen years building political movements. Today, he's helping build something the clean energy industry has historically lacked: the institutions, relationships, and long-term political capacity that make an industry durable.
In this conversation, Tom introduces a phrase I hadn't heard before but haven't stopped thinking about since: mythic power.
It's a simple idea with profound implications.
What if the real measure of our industry's success isn't how many gigawatts we deploy...
...but whether we've built enough influence that our progress no longer depends on the outcome of the next election?
Whether you're a founder, developer, investor, policymaker, or simply someone who wants to see the energy transition succeed, this conversation will challenge how you think about what it really takes to build an industry that lasts.
In this episode:
What "mythic power" means - and why Tom believes every mature industry eventually develops it.
Why the crypto industry offers an unexpected lesson for clean energy.
Why political durability is built long before a crisis arrives.
Why institutions may matter as much as innovation in the next chapter of the energy transition.

After listening, I'd love to hear your answer to the same question I found myself asking:
Can clean energy build mythic power?
Are there other technologies you’ve scouted on the frontlines of the Clean Energy Revolution that you think we should be covering here on SunCast?
Hit us up - team@suncast.me with your feedback & recommendations.
If you want to connect with today's guest, you’ll find links to their contact info in the show notes on the blog at https://suncast.media/episodes/.
Our Platinum Presenting Sponsor for SunCast is CPS America!
You can learn more about all the sponsors who help make this show free for you at www.suncast.media/sponsors.
Remember, you can always find resources, learn more about today’s guest and explore recommendations, book links, and more than 875 other founder stories and startup advice at www.suncast.media.
Subscribe to Valence, our weekly LinkedIn Newsletter, and learn the elements of compelling storytelling: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/valence-content-that-connects-7145928995363049472/
You can connect with me, Nico Johnson, on:
Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/nicomeo
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickalus

Few people have had a front-row seat to the evolution of the modern solar industry quite like Jeff Spies.
Over four decades, Jeff has helped shape the industry as an engineer, educator, trainer, and founder of Planet Plan Sets, working alongside installers and EPCs to solve the technical and permitting challenges behind thousands of solar and storage projects. That perspective gives him a unique vantage point on how the industry has changed—and what hasn't.
In this conversation, Jeff shares lessons from a lifetime in solar, including:
⚡ How the earliest days of residential solar still influence the industry today
⚡ Why every solar project presents a different challenge—and why experience still matters
⚡ What the rapid growth of battery storage means for installers and system designers
⚡ Why permitting, engineering, and interconnection remain some of the industry's biggest hurdles
⚡ How decades of industry evolution have shaped Jeff's perspective on where solar goes next
Whether you're designing systems, running an installation business, or simply trying to better understand the forces shaping the solar industry, this conversation offers the perspective of someone who has spent a lifetime helping it grow.
Are there other technologies you’ve scouted on the frontlines of the Clean Energy Revolution that you think we should be covering here on SunCast?
Hit us up - team@suncast.me with your feedback & recommendations.
If you want to connect with today's guest, you’ll find links to their contact info in the show notes on the blog at https://suncast.media/episodes/.
Our Platinum Presenting Sponsor for SunCast is CPS America!
You can learn more about all the sponsors who help make this show free for you at www.suncast.media/sponsors.
Remember, you can always find resources, learn more about today’s guest and explore recommendations, book links, and more than 875 other founder stories and startup advice at www.suncast.media.
Subscribe to Valence, our weekly LinkedIn Newsletter, and learn the elements of compelling storytelling: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/valence-content-that-connects-7145928995363049472/
You can connect with me, Nico Johnson, on:
Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/nicomeo
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickalus

Plug-in solar has the potential to change far more than how or where we install solar panels. I believe it could fundamentally change who gets to participate in the energy transition.
I recently sat down with Stephan Scherer, Co-Founder and CEO of CraftStrom, who's spent nearly a decade helping pioneer the plug-in solar market—first in Europe, and now here in the United States. Stephan didn't simply watch this category emerge. He helped move it from a niche idea to a product you can buy off-the-shelf in mainstream retail stores like Aldi and Lidl.
In this conversation, Stephan shares what his customers taught him as the market evolved, why the U.S. is now wrestling with many of the same questions Europe faced years ago, and what policymakers, utilities, retailers, installers, and manufacturers should be paying attention to as this category begins taking shape here at home.
We also explore one of the biggest surprises from CraftStrom's own customer base: the people buying these systems aren't always who the solar industry expected. That raises a much bigger question about who traditional rooftop solar has been leaving behind—and whether plug-in solar could become an entirely new on-ramp to energy independence.
Whether you're writing policy, designing energy products, selling residential solar, or simply curious about where customer-owned energy is headed next, this conversation offers a rare opportunity to learn from someone who's helped build this market from the very beginning—and why he believes plug-in solar is about to change everything.
Are there other technologies you’ve scouted on the frontlines of the Clean Energy Revolution that you think we should be covering here on SunCast?
Hit us up - team@suncast.me with your feedback & recommendations.
If you want to connect with today's guest, you’ll find links to their contact info in the show notes on the blog at https://suncast.media/episodes/.
Our Platinum Presenting Sponsor for SunCast is CPS America!
You can learn more about all the sponsors who help make this show free for you at www.suncast.media/sponsors.
Remember, you can always find resources, learn more about today’s guest and explore recommendations, book links, and more than 875 other founder stories and startup advice at www.suncast.media.
Subscribe to Valence, our weekly LinkedIn Newsletter, and learn the elements of compelling storytelling: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/valence-content-that-connects-7145928995363049472/
You can connect with me, Nico Johnson, on:
Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/nicomeo
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickalus