From Investment Banking to Impact: The Solstice Story with Sandhya Murali
Welcome to Season 5, Episode 7 of Better Than We Found It, the go-to podcast for sustainable leadership and purpose-driven business practices.
Today we're joined by Sandhya Murali, Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer at Perch Energy, the largest community solar subscriber acquisition and management platform in the United States. Sandhya's career began in investment banking at Barclays in New York and London before she pivoted to clean energy, earning her MBA and Sustainability Certificate at MIT Sloan. It was there she caught the startup bug and co-founded Solstice, spending nearly a decade building it from a five-person nonprofit into a nationally recognised community solar platform.
Following a strategic acquisition by Mitsui and a subsequent merger with Perch Energy and Arcadia, Sandhya now helps lead an organisation managing three gigawatts of projects across 16 US community solar markets. In this episode, we explore the full arc of that journey from co-founder dynamics and hiring for character over credentials, to navigating multiple acquisitions and the complex leadership challenge of merging three companies into one unified culture. Sandhya also shares her honest perspective on why mission and financial sustainability aren't a trade-off, and what the future holds for community solar in a shifting political and economic landscape.
If you're a founder, leader, or anyone navigating the intersection of purpose and commercial growth, this episode is packed with practical insight.
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