Jonah Greenberger On Raising $100 Million To Bring Subscription-Based Solar Power Solutions To Homes And Local Businesses In Mexico

Entrepreneurship is often about taking big risks, and for Jonah Greenberger, that meant leaving behind a stable job at a global energy giant to venture into an entirely new country, industry, and business model.

From growing up in an academically inclined household to founding Bright, one of Mexico’s leading solar energy companies, Jonah’s journey is a masterclass in bold decision-making, resilience, and strategic execution.

Bright has attracted funding from top-tier investors like Leonardo DiCaprio, Sierra Peterson, Ajax Strategies, and Soma Capital.

In this episode, you will learn:

• Spending time at a large company provided invaluable industry insights that shaped his entrepreneurial vision.
• In emerging markets, trust is often the biggest barrier to adoption. Finding creative ways to build credibility can make or break a business.
• Scaling a capital-intensive business requires smart financing—balancing equity and debt to sustain long-term growth.
• Entrepreneurship is an emotional rollercoaster. Success comes from pushing through doubt and uncertainty.
• Founders should focus on building relationships with investors early, not just when they need funding; choosing investors who align with your long-term vision is as crucial as raising capital.
• A strong company culture built on transparency and high-performance individuals fuels growth.
• Strategic pivots and adaptability are essential for scaling and staying relevant; enterprise AI and vertical SaaS solutions are shaping the future of business innovation.

 

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About Jonah Greenberger:

Jonah Greenberger began their professional career in 2008 at Bloom Energy, where they held the role of Marketing/Product Development. In 2009, they moved to Chevron, where they served as Director of Renewable Power.

In 2014, they co-founded Bright, Mexico’s #1 residential solar provider. From 2020 to 2021, Jonah held the roles of Scout at Kleiner Perkins and Angel Track at First Round Capital.

Jonah Greenberger received a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University, followed by an MS in Energy Systems – Mechanical Engineering from the same university. Jonah also attended Y Combinator’s W15 Batch in 2015.

Connect with Jonah Greenberger:

• LinkedIn
• Crunchbase
• TheOrg
• RocketReach

Read the Full Transcription of the Interview:

Alejandro Cremades: Alrighty, hello everyone, and welcome to the Deal Maker Show. Today, we have an awesome founder, someone who went all in and gave it his all. We’re going to be talking about building and scaling, his experience growing up with a highly influential father who was a professor at some of the top schools, and his transition from a large corporation to taking ownership of his own destiny.

Alejandro Cremades: So, brace yourself for a really inspiring conversation. Without further ado, let’s welcome our guest today, Jonah Greenberger.

Alejandro Cremades: Welcome to the show.

Jonah Greenberger: Thank you. Great to be here.

Alejandro Cremades: Originally born in Los Angeles, take us down memory lane. What was life like growing up for you?

Jonah Greenberger: That’s a great question. I was born into a family that was very focused on education. As you mentioned, my dad was a professor, born in 1931. He actually worked on developing the ARPANET, and his whole career revolved around information technology. He organized the first tech conference, and I think I met Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos when I was 10 years old.

Jonah Greenberger: It was an incredibly interesting environment to grow up in, and it put a big chip on my shoulder. It made me want to do something big in the world. That’s kind of where my journey started.

Alejandro Cremades: How did you get into engineering, mechanics, and all that?

Jonah Greenberger: I was always very fascinated by math. My dad studied math and shared that passion with me. But I wanted to figure out how I could use it to make an impact in the world, which led me into engineering. I went to Stanford and studied mechanical engineering. But even then, I kept asking myself, “Why does this matter? What can I do with it?”

Jonah Greenberger: That’s when I discovered Stanford’s entrepreneurial courses and ecosystem. There was one group in particular, the Mayfield Fellows Program, that gave me a deep dive into entrepreneurship. That experience opened up a world of possibilities for me and got me excited about the idea of starting something one day.

Alejandro Cremades: Out of all the possibilities, especially being at Stanford—the land of entrepreneurship and innovation—how did you end up at Chevron? That’s quite the opposite.

Jonah Greenberger: Yeah, it’s interesting. John Doerr, one of the godfathers of venture and entrepreneurship, once said that starting your career at a big company helps you understand how things work—what works, what doesn’t, and what’s broken. That experience then helps you figure out what you want to start and how to approach it.

Jonah Greenberger: He suggested that gaining context is critical because, if it takes 10 to 20 years to build a successful company, your choice at the start really matters. You can only pivot so much. That’s why I went to Chevron. I initially planned to stay for two years but ended up staying for five—longer than I intended—before finally starting my own company.

Alejandro Cremades: Looking back on your time at Chevron, considering what you heard from John Doerr at Kleiner Perkins, what were some of the things you took away? What stood out to you that you knew you’d focus on when starting your own company?

Jonah Greenberger: One major takeaway was the sheer amount of work, money, and time required to commercialize new technologies. At Chevron, we invested in all kinds of technology—fuel cells, biofuels, and other innovations. I realized that while these things are important, they take a long time to scale and become commercially viable.

Jonah Greenberger: I was always focused on figuring out what could have an impact in our lifetime—what could move quickly and matter. That led me to analyze trends and look at adoption rates as validation for opportunities rather than just following where my mechanical engineering background might have taken me.

Jonah Greenberger: I did an internship at Bloom Energy, which was Kleiner’s first clean tech investment, but I saw how long those technologies take to develop. I was impatient—and still am. That’s when I noticed the cost curve for solar panels was dropping dramatically, with energy storage about five years behind. Unlike other technologies, solar didn’t require specific conditions; you just put it on a roof, and there are roofs and sun everywhere. That’s what led me to focus on the solar sector.

Alejandro Cremades: After five years at Chevron, what was the moment when you knew it was time to leave?

Jonah Greenberger: There was a forcing function, which was actually helpful because I probably needed it. Like many large public companies, Chevron had to make a strategic shift when the price of oil dropped. They decided to go back to basics and cut funding for new initiatives.

Jonah Greenberger: At that point, staying at Chevron wasn’t interesting to me anymore. Plus, I had developed enough conviction about solar and its potential impact. That was the push I needed to take the leap. It was incredibly terrifying, especially since I didn’t have a co-founder and was launching a company in a country where I didn’t speak the language. But I took the leap anyway.

Alejandro Cremades: What were those early days like? You make the decision, and suddenly, you’re in Mexico—completely different country, different language, different everything.

Jonah Greenberger: It was a rollercoaster of emotions. Every day, I oscillated between being terrified that I didn’t know what I was doing and feeling like I was headed toward failure. I worried that I might spend years doing something that wouldn’t matter. That thought terrified me.

Jonah Greenberger: But then, I’d find a small win—something promising—and suddenly, I’d think, “Oh my God, I’m going to change the world.” It was an emotional seesaw, but I just kept going.

Alejandro Cremades: Let’s talk about keeping going because, in your case, the early days were bumpy. What was Bright’s business model, and what is Bright today?

Jonah Greenberger: When we first got to Mexico, even basic things like opening a bank account were incredibly difficult. It has gotten easier since, but back then, the entire infrastructure was underdeveloped—Uber and Rappi weren’t even there yet. But at the same time, that meant there were major opportunities in solar.

Jonah Greenberger: The value chain was inefficient—tons of margin stacking, installers showing up with the wrong materials, and financing rates exceeding 30%. I knew these problems were solvable, and solving them was key to making the industry take off.

Jonah Greenberger: Our business model evolved based on those needs. We focused on lowering the cost of solar by making the value chain more efficient and automating it. We also worked to reduce the cost of capital by making it easier to deploy funds and lower default rates. That evolved into a platform that connects third-party debt sources, installers, and end customers in a way that makes solar financing fluid and affordable.

Jonah Greenberger: Initially, we focused on homes. Then, we expanded into commercial projects, and now we’re heavily focused on large industrial projects and decarbonizing the manufacturing sector.

Alejandro Cremades: At what moment did you shift from building based on assumptions to building based on data and real customer insights?

Jonah Greenberger: The turning point came when we launched a student ambassador program. Other companies had tried to do rooftop solar in Mexico, including SunEdison and even SolarCity, but they all struggled with customer acquisition. Traditional marketing methods didn’t work due to a lack of trust.

Jonah Greenberger: We realized we needed a trusted channel to reach customers. Students were mission-driven and wanted to help make Mexico more sustainable, whereas their parents and grandparents were more practical and skeptical. So, we offered educational opportunities and internships to students, who then introduced us to their networks. That strategy worked, and those student ambassadors later became some of our best employees.

Alejandro Cremades: Beyond customer acquisition, what else did you learn from listening to customers?

Jonah Greenberger: Trust was everything. Customers had so many uncertainties—what if they needed more electricity? What if they sold their house? Many had experienced economic instability and were hesitant to sign long-term contracts. We had to design a business model that provided flexibility and built trust. Otherwise, we couldn’t scale.

Jonah Greenberger: And I think that partially involves making sure you choose people who can thrive in that environment. Then, it’s about being really good at figuring out what they need. A lot of that comes back to how you determine, in an interview process, in just a couple of days, whether someone is the right fit. You can only get so much information—it’s really hard to do.

Alejandro Cremades: So, let’s say I put you into a time machine and bring you back to 2014, when you were deciding that it was time to become an entrepreneur and really enter the venture world.

Jonah Greenberger: Mm-hmm.

Alejandro Cremades: If you could sit down with your younger self on that day and give him one piece of advice before launching a business, what would it be and why, given everything you know now, 10 years in?

Jonah Greenberger: It may sound cliché, but I’m going to say two things.
The first one is to spend more time with your customers—not just talking to them on the phone, but actually being with them. The information you get from watching someone’s face when they interact with your product or hear your pitch is incredibly valuable, and everyone underestimates it. I’m sure I still underestimate how important it is.
I had a coach who ran Gillette for a while, and he told me he would literally go into people’s houses at 6 a.m. to watch them shave. That was the most valuable thing he did. And that’s Procter & Gamble—a huge company—but their leaders still go into customers’ homes at 6 a.m. to watch them shave.
That’s something I constantly need to be reminded of, and I think everyone does.
The second piece of advice is to focus. As a 27-year-old, I got through school and my time at Chevron by doing a ton of things at once. I thought that was a good strategy, but it wasn’t. You always need to remind yourself to focus more because complexity grows exponentially without you realizing it. It’s sneaky. Both of those things—lack of customer insight and lack of focus—are sneaky killers. So, I would say both of those.

Alejandro Cremades: I love it. Jonah, for the people listening who would love to reach out and say hi, what is the best way for them to do so?

Jonah Greenberger: Yeah, just email me at Jonah, J-O-N-A-H, at thinkbright.mx. That’s probably the best way.

Alejandro Cremades: Amazing. Well, easy enough. Jonah, thank you so much for being on the Dealmaker Show today. It has been an honor to have you with us.

Jonah Greenberger: Awesome, thank you. Thanks, guys.

*****

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