Industry die Renewable energy, solar
Student Name (s) Founder: Robert Sewell, T’21
Solution brief: VesprSolar provides high-performance connectors for fast and secure photovoltaic modules. The award-winning binding technology Vespersolar V-Clamp is recognized by the US Department of Energy and the National 10 Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) as the top 10 innovations in solar. Reduces installation costs for large solar projects, increasing the resistance and reliability of PV negotiations in severe weather.
Financial support dollars To date, $ 950,000 — $ 600,000 raised by race, $ 350,000 by donation.
What inspired you to start this business? We saw the opportunity to improve the cost of solar panels with smart, multi-function hardware.
What has been your biggest success so far at Venture? Successful production has begun at major solar trade fairs. V-clamps are now used by some of the largest solar companies in the world.
How did your MBA program help you further enhance this startup? Took helped me build the company from scratch, including fundraising, team building, operations management and technology development. Took has helped me better understand how all parts of the business need to work together.
Which part of the MBA was most important in building your startup and what was the biggest lesson you learned from it? Entrepreneurship thinking. This section has helped to provide a solid framework that we use on a daily basis to evaluate how best to serve our customers. It also helps us think about all the aspects of our business that we need to build before we can market our products.
Which professor made the biggest contribution to your plans and why? Jim Fuel and Danielle Reichstate. In their courses (Entrepreneurial Thinking & Venture Capital Workshop) we met beginners and started digging their business and revenue models. Outside of class, we met every week to advise on all my business ventures.
What is your long-term goal at the start? Our bold goal is to establish Vesperssolar connectors as the default solar panels worldwide.