Viewing posts tagged "Spinal Tap"

CPV CEO Hotseat (Updated 10/7)

If a recruiter calls and asks you to interview for the CEO position of a Concentrating Photovoltaic (CPV) firm – beware, brother, beware – it's a dangerous role. You might want to consider auditioning for the drummer's chair with Spinal Tap before accepting the position. 

There was an announcement today that Kevin Arthur is leaving the CEO position at QuantaSol to be replaced by Chris Shannon. QuantaSol is looking to supply high efficiency chips to the suppliers of CPV systems like Concentrix and SolFocus.

Speaking of SolFocus, the firm's original CEO, Gary Conley (now Chairman) was replaced by Mark Crowley in 2008. SolFocus just announced an agreement with Portuguese utility Águas de Portugal for the installation of 8.5 megawatts of CPV systems at the utility's facilities.  SolFocus is one of the leaders in actually deploying CPV.

Steve Eglash, former CEO of Cyrium, a triple junction photovoltaic cell vendor like QuantaSol, was replaced by Harry Rozakis, after Barry Turner, a board member, warmed the seat as interim CEO.

GreenVolts' original CEO, Bob Cart, stepped upstairs to Chairman to allow Gary Beasley to assume the CEO hotseat of the low-profile CPV system vendor.

Soliant's brand new CEO, Terry Bailey, an Evergreen alum, just replaced interim CEO Marco DeMiroz who had replaced Art Buckland who had replaced founding CEO, Brad Hines. DeMiroz was one of the firm's venture investors at Trinity Ventures. It's rarely a good sign when the VC steps in as CEO.

Press releases and parting CEOs will spout marketing drivel about how "it was time to step aside to let a more seasoned exec take the reins" and the like. Might as well say "wanted to spend more time with his family." The fact is the CPV market is taking a lot longer to develop than expected.  And VCs have a limited number of tools in their toolkit.  They can stop giving funds, give more funds, or make C-level personnel changes. 

So while the startups wait for the CPV market to kick in, CEO heads roll, and we end us with new CPV drummers. 

Some studies have shown that the more successful startups, the ones that make it to the finish line of IPO or acquisition, are the ones that keep their founding CEO. It's not a hard, fast rule but it's worth noting. Plenty of factors contribute to a start-up's success, not all of them under the startup's control. 

Fortunately, the management structure at Sunrgi remains stable.

Remember to turn it up to 11.

CPV CEO Hotseat

If a recruiter calls and asks you to interview for the CEO position of a Concentrating Photovoltaic (CPV) firm – beware, brother, beware – it's a dangerous role. You might want to consider auditioning for the drummer's chair with Spinal Tap before accepting the position. 

There was an announcement today that Kevin Arthur is leaving the CEO position at QuantaSol to be replaced by Chris Shannon. QuantaSol is looking to supply high efficiency chips to the suppliers of CPV systems like Concentrix and SolFocus.

Speaking of SolFocus, the firm's original CEO, Gary Conley (now Chairman) was replaced by Mark Crowley in 2008. SolFocus just announced an agreement with Portuguese utility Águas de Portugal for the installation of 8.5 megawatts of CPV systems at the utility's facilities.  SolFocus is one of the leaders in actually deploying CPV.

Steve Eglash, former CEO of Cyrium, a triple junction photovoltaic cell vendor like QuantaSol, was replaced by Harry Rozakis, after Barry Turner, a board member, warmed the seat as interim CEO.

GreenVolts' original CEO, Bob Cart, stepped upstairs to Chairman to allow Gary Beasley to assume the CEO hotseat of the low-profile CPV system vendor. 

And Marco DeMiroz, Soliant's CEO, joined the company in April to replace Brad Hines, the founding CEO of the rooftop CPV firm. DeMiroz was one of the firm's venture investors at Trinity Ventures. It's rarely a good sign when the VC steps in as CEO.

Press releases and parting CEOs will spout marketing drivel about how "it was time to step aside to let a more seasoned exec take the reins" and the like. Might as well say "wanted to spend more time with his family." The fact is the CPV market is taking a lot longer to develop than expected.  And VCs have a limited number of tools in their toolkit.  They can stop giving funds, give more funds, or make C-level personnel changes. 

So while the startups wait for the CPV market to kick in, CEO heads roll, and we end us with new CPV drummers. 

Some studies have shown that the more successful startups, the ones that make it to the finish line of IPO or acquisition, are the ones that keep their founding CEO. It's not a hard, fast rule but it's worth noting. Plenty of factors contribute to a start-up's success, not all of them under the startup's control. 

Fortunately, the management structure at Sunrgi remains stable.

Remember to turn it up to 11.