01
Which Lenders Give You an Advantage
Which finance partners approve more of your deals, fund faster, and treat independents right, and how to set up your stack so a decline isn't the end of the deal.
Solar Founders
Solar Founders Inner Circle · Membership by Application
Get more deals approved. Get paid at NTP.
A private inner circle for proven California solar entrepreneurs: independent dealers, EPC owners, and installers. The finance playbook nobody posts on Instagram, plus direct consulting from Thomas Davenport, founder of Brighthouse.
The next era of solar is being built by the operators who survived the last one.
Want to talk first? Book a consult
- Inner Circle
- Proven Operators
- Private Mansion Events
- Application Only
Why this room exists
The tax credit is gone. But there's a way homeowners can still get the same benefit or better. Members learn how. NEM 3.0 gutted export rates. Too many good appointments die at the credit check, and the ones that close leave you floating payroll and materials until PTO.
The independents still standing aren't knocking more doors. They control two things: approvals and cash flow.
That's what the Inner Circle is for.
What members get
The secrets of the industry.
From an installer-owner.
02
The No-Credit Close
The Decline Cascade: the order to run loan, lease/PPA, PACE, and prepaid so a credit "no" becomes a different structure instead of a dead deal. Done compliantly, including who PACE is not for.
03
Paid at NTP
How milestone funding actually works, what makes a file NTP-ready, and how to ask your finance partners for a front-loaded draw (targeting 50% at NTP) so you stop bankrolling installs.
04
Follow the Money
How lease and PPA companies make money on the back end of your deal, why that gives you leverage, and the 25 questions to ask any finance partner before you sign.
05
Selling Without the Credit
The post-25D pitch and battery-first proposal that work under NEM 3.0.
06
Direct Consulting with Thomas
Bring your stuck files (redacted). Thomas works through them with you and shows you how he'd restructure them.
The First Mansion Event
Private Malibu estate. Fall 2026.
Membership includes one mansion trip. The first private mansion event is at an ocean-view Malibu estate in Fall 2026 and will host 35 members. Expect working sessions on the finance stack, live deal restructuring on members' real files, and time at the table with operators who are actually closing. Dates and details are shared with approved members.
Private Malibu EstateFall 202635 MembersIncluded with Membership
Who sits at the table
Proven operators only.
It's for you if
- You own a California dealer or EPC doing $1 million or more a year.
- Or you just went independent and you're building a team.
- Credit declines are costing you deals, and you wait too long to get paid.
- You'll do the work, show up, and keep the table private.
It's not for you if
- You're a new setter or a rep who isn't building a team.
- You're looking for a party. The fun is earned after the work.
- You want a shortcut around credit rules. We teach compliant structures.
- You expect guaranteed approvals or income. Lenders decide approvals.
Membership
Membership is by application.
We won't put two direct competitors from the same small market at the table without both agreeing. Not everyone gets in.
Solar Founders Inner Circle
- Which lenders give you an advantage
- Closing no-credit deals, compliantly
- Getting paid at NTP
- Other high-leverage finance and sales playbooks
- Direct consulting from Thomas Davenport
- One mansion trip included (first event: private Malibu estate, Fall 2026, 35 members)
Apply here and a member of our team will reach out to you.
Have questions first? Book a consult
The Solar Founders
We've all ridden the solar coaster.
I started as a sales rep for a large dealer in 2021. I came from pest control, and I loved selling solar because the product works. Then I saw the other side. The EPC we worked with went out of business. So did the financier. Hundreds of sales reps, roofers, and panel-upgrade electricians were left unpaid, and the damage landed on people I cared about.
I stayed because I know the product works, and because this industry is still in its infancy and badly needs fixing. Solar taught me that people pay in proportion to the size of the problem you solve. This industry has a lot of problems to solve, and it isn't going anywhere.
That's why we're here. We've been through the pain, we see the potential, and we're staying to be part of the solution.
— Thomas Davenport
The enemy: the sign-and-dip model.
It shows up in three places, and together they're killing this industry:
- Reps who will say anything to close.
- EPCs run like a Ponzi scheme, selling warranties they don't have the margins to honor.
- Capital leaving solar, because investors can't trust future payments when customers feel misled.
Our mission
30% of residential solar and battery by 2030.
We get there by out-trusting everyone else in the market. Members brainstorm together and get access to the best financing, failed-credit approvals, and getting paid at NTP. Behind the scenes, we're masterminding our own PPA, built to solve these problems at the root. Members get first access.
The code
INTEGRITY.
Our word is the contract. Break it and you're out.
FAITH.
We don't quit on the product, on each other, or on doing it right when it costs us.
RELENTLESS.
EPCs folded, financiers vanished, and paychecks bounced. We're still here, and we don't stop.
Who gets in
The Solar Founders is small on purpose. To apply:
- Your business does $1 million or more a year in solar sales.
Operators who keep running the sign-and-dip model will get clawed back, cut off by lenders, and go under like the companies we watched fail. We're building what comes next.
Integrity is non-negotiable. If your playbook is to say whatever it takes to sign deals, then leave town and stick grandmas with 25-year leases, don't bother applying.
Membership by application
Apply for Membership
Solar Founders Inner Circle
Join the Inner Circle.
Membership by application only. A member of our team will reach out to you.
Apply for Membership