Engine For Green Jobs: Premier Power CEO Dean Marks (Part 5)

SM: Talk about your competitive landscape. Are there hundreds of companies like yours out there right now?

DM: There used to be about 350 companies. I have not looked recently, but the way things have been consolidating I would expect around 175.

SM: Is that spread across America?

DM: They are primarily in California and New Jersey, primarily because of tax rebates. Businesses are starting in those states. There are some states with renewable portfolio standards such as Colorado, which has some very good ones. North Carolina and Florida also have viable ones. We would like to take our business model and roll it out like we have done in California.

A lot of other companies were opening up offices right and left to gain market share. We, being conservative, looked at southern California as a good area to start. We did not open an office or take a lease; rather, we hired sales people. We trained them and got a backlog of 30 jobs and then hired the installation crew and leased an office.

SM: That is a classic bootstrapping approach and I love it. That is why you are profitable.

DM: I think you are right. That is a big part of the reason.

SM: What happens in your evolution? I know you just went public.

DM: We had just gone public when Lehman Brothers closed down. We were walking by and the poor people were walking out with their boxes. That is the day we announced it on Fox. It was good timing for us because we have held our own since then. We have money to do acquisitions.

SM: How much did you raise?

DM: We raised $7 million.

SM: That’s all?

DM: We also extended our $3 million line of credit a few days ago.

SM: Are you going to do acquisitions?

DM: We are. We have been looking very closely. Borrego came to us when they needed money and were looking to join forces. We almost did it and spent four days with them. They said they were profitable, and then two months later they were losing $7 million. When it came down to it and we were about to sign papers, they did not know where they were. It was too risky for us so we passed.

There is really only one other company in California we are willing to consider. There is a company in Italy that we are about to wrap up. It is just a perfect match. We are finding out there are companies that have big megawatt jobs but they do not have the financial backing to qualify with the banks to do those jobs. This company in Italy has 20 megawatts of jobs lined up, and they want to team with us so they can actually install those jobs. We are excited about that.

SM: Who is advising you on all the financial engineering?

DM: Genesis Capital out of LA. They are pretty much employees of the company by now. They have been with us for three and a half years, they took us to the public market. A lot of other companies would have made their commissions and left. We have given them stock in the company, and they are continuing to help us grow and take this to the next level.

This segment is part 5 in the series : Engine For Green Jobs: Premier Power CEO Dean Marks
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