We interviewed Jonathan Backman, Founder & CEO of Sunhero Sverige AB, the company that focuses on streamlining and enabling better purchases of solar cells for households. Now SunHero has been accepted into Founders Loft's incubator and we are very happy to welcome another company with a fantastic business idea that makes the world a better and more sustainable place.
What is SunHero and your business mission?
We organize collective group purchases, by collecting all households in the same geographical area that intend to acquire solar cells. We draw up a complete quotation document, and then take in quotations from several players, both large and local, for each project. When several households buy solar cells together from the same operator, the cost of installation is reduced and opens up the opportunity to negotiate better prices and terms than would be possible on their own. We always procure an independent inspector to protect consumers from substandard installations, which is the biggest problem in our industry. According to insurance companies, 8 out of 10 facilities have faults and deficiencies. In our own statistics, we see that nearly 90% of installations have errors and deficiencies that need to be fixed.
We always make sure that the customer has the right to withhold part of the payment until any errors and deficiencies are rectified.
Today, less than 1% of consumers who install solar cells bring in an external inspector.
Who are you, the founder who is behind this startup?
I have my background in the security industry and have worked in sales throughout my professional life, I am basically a finance geek who is passionate about making the world better and fairer. I believe and want to prove that there are significantly better economic models that benefit ordinary people and consumers more than the big companies and those with the most financial resources.
What are you excited to work on as part of the FL incubator and community? Why did you apply?
Access the vast knowledge found at Founders loft that has helped dozens of startups reach more of their full potential. I am a young and relatively inexperienced entrepreneur so the knowledge and support from Founders Loft will hopefully help me to have an even more secure base to stand on to grow SunHero. I encountered Founder Loft through the YOES (Young Entrepreneurs of Sweden) network of which I am a member.
YOES is a network that brings together Sweden's leading young entrepreneurs with high ambitions and an interest in growing as people and entrepreneurs.
What is the next step for your company?
We are in a phase where the demand for our services has increased enormously, also from the installers' side. From the start, we have had no difficulty in gathering large numbers of customers who are interested in installing solar cells. Last year when we started, the interest in solar cells was huge, but there were more people who wanted to install solar cells than there was installation capacity around Sweden.
We saw months of work go up in smoke because there was no opportunity for installers to submit tenders for our procurements. We had to fight enormously to succeed in getting our requirements through with various installers. Now the market has finally turned, the price of electricity has become longer over the summer due to the fantastic weather, interest rates have increased and the contribution to consumers being more cautious with their investments. The bottlenecks with material shortages and year-long waiting times for installation are over.
Today, we have many installers who want to submit tenders for our procurements. Which means that we can negotiate significantly better prices and terms than before. We also finally have the opportunity to expand with more staff and hopefully be in more locations than Gothenburg.
For more information, please visit: sunhero.se
Solar cell facts
Solar cells have significantly lower emissions than energy types such as coal, oil and gas.
Because it only takes three years for the energy used in manufacturing to be offset by the renewable electricity produced and solar cells produce no emissions once they are on the roof producing electricity, and have a guaranteed lifespan of 25-30 years, there will be many years without environmental impact.
As we move towards more renewable electricity production and as the production becomes larger and more efficient at the same time, the emissions per solar cell will also decrease over time.
- Source: Waterfall.