497: The never-told stories of founding Tradewind & Savion - Rob Freeman, Geoff Coventry, & Matt Gilhausen, Part 1

What do a technology entrepreneur, a musician turned engineer and a corporate attorney have in common? They built a company in middle America called Tradewind Energy that became one of the largest developers of wind energy projects in the U.S., and had not one but TWO successful exits as a team on virtually the same platform. If you haven’t heard of Tradewind, perhaps you heard of Savion?  And, if neither ring a bell, well, you’re in for a real treat bc today we’re  going to unpack a story that’s yet to be told, until this interview that is, of how these 3 unlikely business partners engineered a 2-decade run together and managed to build 2 of the most successful wind, solar and storage development platforms in the world. Along the way, they learned to trust one another, to build a team, find world class partners to help fund the vision, and find their unique value proposition. As you no doubt noticed - this conversation was so good, and so in-depth, that we are breaking it up into another 2-part episode. In this Part 1, we get the never-before-told backstory on how & why these 3 entrepreneurs came together and how they thrived as early renewable energy founders. We discuss in depth the early challenges of Tradewind, one of the earliest successful wind developers to scale in the US, and the guys get really personal about the ways they compliment each other, how they built the team, and even how they found enough money to keep the thing alive, over and over again.You’ll be rewarded if you stick through this one.If you want to connect with today's guest, you’ll find links to his contact info in the show notes on the blog at https://mysuncast.com/suncast-episodes/.SunCast is proudly supported by Trina Solar.You can learn more about all the sponsors who help make this show free for you at www.mysuncast.com/sponsors.Remember, you can always find resources, learn more about today’s guest and explore recommendations, book links, and more than 650 other founder stories and startup advice at www.mysuncast.com.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/nicomeoLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickalus