Every bottom was a beginning.
I don’t dwell on what I’d do differently. Every obstacle I’ve faced turned out to be the stepping stone to the next place I was meant to go. Here’s how I got here.
I spent the first twenty years of my career in technology — semiconductors, then software. I was happy in accounting. I like things organized. Sales was the last thing I wanted. Then someone who believed in me more than I believed in myself kept insisting it was what I was meant to do.
She was right. Selling to businesses became my craft, and building businesses became my calling. I’ve started companies with no money, through a financial collapse and a pandemic. I’ve had the best year of my life end with a bill from my best friend. I’ve been sued by a partner and come within inches of bankruptcy.
There’s only one difference between a loser and a winner, and that is where they decide to end their story.
Through all of it, the things that held me up were the same: my faith in God, my family, and a stubborn refusal to let the low point be the last word. That’s what this site is about — and it’s what the book I’m writing is about.
Watch: Only Winners Finish Their Story with Jamie Schneiderman
How it actually went.
- Childhood
“Duddy”
My siblings couldn’t say “Dustin,” so I became Duddy. The name stuck — and so did the people who gave it to me. It’s why I’m @theofficialduddy everywhere today.
- The first decade
An accountant who got talked into sales
I started my career in semiconductors, happy doing accounting — I like things organized. A colleague in sales kept telling me, “This is what you’re meant to do.” I finally listened. I tried to leave sales several times after that. I never could.
- The family business
Running my parents’ company
I came home to my parents’ company to run sales and ended up running much of the business as my dad stepped back. It was the most stressful job I’d had, and I learned more there than anywhere.
- 2007
The Yellow Pages and the Great Recession
With semiconductors leaving Silicon Valley, I joined ShareVault as roughly the third person in the door. My first prospecting list was the Yellow Pages. Three months later Lehman Brothers collapsed. We turned out to be in the right place — everyone was selling their business and needed a virtual data room — and we bootstrapped to around $8M in revenue without a dollar of funding.
- Nearly a decade ago
“Hoodwinked” into construction
After twenty years in tech, I left everything I’d built and learned to come into solar. It’s been one of the most rewarding journeys of my life.
- 2019
A $120 million year — and a bill
Two years into my first solar company, co-founded with my best friend, we did $120 million. I’d invested about $2.25 million of my own money and every hour I had. At the end of that year, instead of a payout, I got a bill. I decided it wasn’t worth the fight.
- 2020
Five days later, the world shut down
We started over, planning to repeat what had worked. Five days after launch, COVID closed everything. Sending reps into five homes a day stopped working overnight. We tried model after model.
- The turn
Building what didn’t exist
A few commercial projects showed us the gap: commercial solar had no turnkey path for sales organizations. So we built one — lenders, subcontractors, then our own general contracting and installation. When we opened it to every sales org with a commercial lead, the business took off.
- The fight
Sued, nearly bankrupt — and still standing
The move from residential to commercial nearly took us out. A sales partner sued us and almost bankrupted the company. Without either, we wouldn’t have the business we have today.
- Today
Power
Power is a commercial solar EPC helping businesses make their energy costs predictable — and helping sales partners close commercial deals in under six months instead of 18 to 24.
The foundation.
Faith
God first. Everything I build stands on that foundation.
Family
The people who named me Duddy are still the reason I do this.
Integrity
Do what you said, the way you said it — and get it in writing.
Leadership
Refine the plan with your people until it belongs to all of you.
Strength
Carry the weight so the people behind you don’t have to.
Perseverance
Every obstacle is the stepping stone to where you’re going next.