Portrait of Dakota Malone with the Sustainability Strategies podcast branding

Ep 31: Brand Collaboration

by Dakota Malone | Dec 3, 2024

Dakota Malone explains how brand partnerships in community solar create synergy by stacking reputation, adding value, and winning business together. He shares examples of collaborations with retail energy companies, utility auditors, efficiency firms, and architects, where community solar was integrated as an added solution to help clients save money and achieve sustainability goals. Malone emphasizes that partnerships begin with pilot deals, scale into long-term growth, and allow partners to generate revenue effortlessly while making their clients look like heroes.

(0:00 – 0:08) Introduction

Dakota Malone, co-founder of Community Solar Authority, opens the episode by sharing that his company has unlocked over $20 million in future electricity savings. He explains that the podcast is meant to provide easy-to-digest insights into their business.

(0:08 – 0:29) Focus on Brand Partnerships

Malone introduces the topic of brand partnerships in community solar, emphasizing how collaboration is central to their growth strategy. He frames partnerships as a way to “stack reputation, add value, and win business,” noting that collaboration is the key to synergy in this space.

(0:29 – 0:51) Examples of Successful Collaborations

He describes how Community Solar Authority has been working with other brands for more than half a decade to provide turnkey solar solutions. Partnerships have included retail energy companies, where community solar was offered as an added service, allowing clients to benefit without seeking solutions elsewhere. By combining resources, both sides have been able to deliver more value and execute effectively.

(0:52 – 1:17) Extending Value Across Industries

Malone highlights additional examples of collaboration. Utility auditors have incorporated community solar into their services after finding client savings, efficiency companies have used it as a backup option when other projects stalled, and construction and architectural firms have cross-sold solar to complement their projects. These examples demonstrate the flexibility and broad applicability of brand partnerships in community solar.

(1:18 – 1:54) The Pilot Deal Approach

Before scaling partnerships, Malone explains, Community Solar Authority starts with a pilot deal. This allows both brands to test compatibility and quickly demonstrate results. Their launch template makes it possible to start small but deliver noticeable impact, while also determining whether cultural values and reputations align for long-term success.

(1:55 – 2:33) Why Partnerships Work

Malone outlines the reasoning behind their partnership model. End users are already seeking sustainable and commercial solar solutions, so instead of competing for the same clients, Community Solar Authority leverages existing partner relationships. Without partnerships, both sides risk losing deals or wasting resources prospecting independently. By collaborating, they can share the deal, achieve synergy, and scale together.

(2:33 – 2:47) Strategic Partners as Growth Engines

He underscores that strategic partners are the “lifeblood” of their business. By ensuring smooth pilot launches and successful collaborations, Community Solar Authority uses brand partnerships as a continuous growth engine. This creates a repeatable model for expanding impact in the community solar space.

(2:48 – 3:07) Outcomes of Collaboration

The payoff of collaboration is clear: partners can help their clients save money and enhance sustainability, while simultaneously elevating their reputation. Community Solar Authority handles the execution, partners bring in the opportunity, and both sides benefit. Pilot deals become case studies that fuel further growth and larger projects.

(3:07 – 3:23) Turnkey Growth for Partners

Malone emphasizes the simplicity of the process for partners. They only need to introduce Community Solar Authority to their clients, and from there, the work is handled turnkey. This model allows partners to add new revenue streams without additional effort, while their clients gain value and savings.

(3:23 – 3:40) Closing and Call to Action

He concludes by positioning Community Solar Authority as the “ultimate bolt-on solar team” that integrates sustainability directly into a partner’s business model. Interested brands are encouraged to explore collaboration opportunities through their website. Malone thanks listeners for tuning in and invites them to connect for future partnerships.

To listen to the full episode… go to Spotify to listen.

Want to CONNECT on LinkedIN? Go here

Q: How does brand collaboration enhance community-solar success?

A: Community Solar Authority partners with aligned brands and affiliates to expand outreach, educate audiences, and build trust. These collaborations amplify awareness and accelerate clean-energy adoption nationwide.

Read the transcript

(0:00 – 0:08)
Hey guys, this is Dakota Malone. I co-founded Community Solar Authority. We’ve unlocked access to $20 million plus in future electricity savings.

(0:08 – 0:29)
And we made this podcast as a way to talk about our business in an easy to digest way. And today I’m talking about how we collaborate in brand partnerships in community solar and our process to stacking reputation, adding value and winning business. Collaboration is a key ingredient to synergy.

(0:29 – 0:51)
We take the energy of working together, which is typically wasted in competition and use that as additional fuel to execute and win. We’ve been combining resources with other brands for over a half decade to help their clients access community solar without having to go elsewhere to find it. We’ve helped retail energy companies integrate community solar as a cherry on top for their clients.

(0:52 – 1:17)
We’ve helped utility auditors add community solar to their business vertical after finding savings. We’ve helped efficiency companies downsell community solar if they couldn’t get their original projects over the finish line, we’ve helped construction and architects cross sell community solar and so much more. So when it comes to brand collaboration, streamlining the process and making other teams look good for executing well, we’ve got that covered.

(1:18 – 1:33)
Let’s dive into our process about what it looks like to collaborate. Stacking reputation. Before we pull back the curtain to our work, bust out our growth playbook and scale our partnerships, we start with a pilot deal, which I’ve talked about on previous episodes.

(1:34 – 1:54)
Our launch template allows us to start small in collaboration, but make a big splash in executing quickly. This phase is about testing the waters of our brands, collaborating and seeing if we’re a good fit for each other. Beyond the culture and values, many factors determine a good fit for a long-term partnership, like how well our reputations stack together.

(1:55 – 2:18)
The reality is these end users are already seeking sustainability and commercial solar solutions outside of our partners that we work with. We would rather leverage their relationship in partnership because we have seen the power of bolting on our brand and services to unlock new value, add, get more deals closed and grow in business together. Here’s why that’s valuable to us.

(2:18 – 2:33)
These clients could go elsewhere and we both lose the deal. We could approach clients directly, but waste time and energy trying to prospect ourselves. We can partner, win the business and split the deal with synergy, then scale together.

(2:33 – 2:47)
We prefer this third option every time. And that’s why our strategic partners are the lifeblood of our business. We want partnerships to be successful and run a smooth pilot launch because we can keep using brand collaboration as the growth engine.

(2:48 – 3:07)
In conclusion, our brand collaboration in the community solar space allows our partners to help their largest clients save money and enhance sustainability, and then look like a hero for introducing our working partnership. We identify a pilot deal to collaborate on. We win the business, build an epic case study from it, and then go higher.

(3:07 – 3:23)
Our partners leverage us to grow their business in a simple way. They introduce us to their clients and make more money every time we close and we deliver our work turnkey. This means they don’t have to sacrifice any time or energy to add new revenue to their business while adding massive value to their existing clients.

(3:23 – 3:40)
The ultimate bolt on solar team that integrates sustainability into your model and straight to your clients. Want to see if we’re a good fit for collaboration with your brand? You can visit our website, community, solar authority.com slash partner to get started. Thanks for tuning in and I will catch you guys on the next episode.