Women Who Build: Kate Henningsen, Co-founder and COO, Arcadia, on Community Solar, Working with Utilities, and Building for Scale

In a world where we are bombarded by stories of wars and recessions, if we practice an abundance mindset, we can still grow! This practice helps us to focus on the future rather than the past. Kate Henningsen is one of the few leaders I have met who swear by this practice, and I am excited to share the latest episode of Women Who Build with her.  Kate is the Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Arcadia and has seen the company grow from a start-up that sold renewable energy certificates to a $1.5bn climate tech company that empowers any business in the world to make an impact.  Most of Kate’s 20s were spent in school. She was a corporate litigator before joining the clean energy industry. Kate leveraged her legal understanding to cold-email Kiran Bhatraju and got the job! Kate studied History, Politics, Economics, Philosophy, and Law at Georgetown and Oxford universities.  Key takeaways from the episode: Community solar is the fastest way to gain access to clean energy and is especially viable for communities with limited rooftop installation space How to work with 10k utilities? Tech and automation, while also having a strong team coordinating with utilities  As you scale, your metrics, systems, and leadership change. Leadership transition at Arcadia: Generalists to specialists to managers who activate specialists to do amazing things The best people to hire are impact-first, curious, and motivated. They should have the SPARK! Climate tech, so far, is shielded from the macro/geopolitical issues that have been plaguing other markets. But you still need to have a solid business model and growth When making acquisitions, identify opportunities that accelerate where you want to go; assess internally for culture, focus, and capital risk Follow Kate Henningsen at https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-henningsen/ Follow Women Who Build at - Twitter: @TheWomenWhoBui1 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/women-who-build-podcast/