512: Delivering on Solar's Promise | Ronen Faier, CFO, SolarEdge Technologies

Published: July 10, 2019, 10 p.m.

As Ronen Faier recalls the career-building ups-and-downs of being entrepreneurial CFO, few memories appear to be more vivid than a meeting with Guy Sella, a seasoned Israeli entrepreneur, who invites Faier to lead the finance team of his solar startup. Not yet a midsize firm, SolarEdge Technologies was only about $9 million in annual sales with roughly 100 employees when Faier receives Sella\u2019s invitation.

Having already experienced firsthand the heartache and financial repercussions of climbing onboard a struggling startup, Faier says he was confident this time things would be different.

\u201cI saw this amazing entrepreneur with a very deep technological understanding of the field as well as a deep understanding of business and I knew you seldom find these in one (individual),\u201d explains Faier, who accepted Sella\u2019s invitation in 2011.

Eight years later, SolarEdge has close to 2,000 employees and last year reported sales of $937 million. Faier says, the company\u2019s impressive growth is perhaps most visible today inside the U.S.\u2019s residential realm where use of SolarEdge\u2019s offerings has jumped from less than one percent market share in 2012 to nearly 56 percent. \u201cOur CEO understood \u2013 that if we were able to get our cost point to where we were selling at almost an equivalent price to our competitors and at the same time offer superior technology \u2013 we would (experience) rapid growth,\u201d says Faier, who has sought to outfit SolarEdge with a finance function that prioritizes cost visibility as it manages rapid growth.\xa0\u2013 Jack Sweeney