Dylan Rudney, founder of Verano Energy, discusses raising $247M to build a leading solar and BESS-focused LatAm renewable energy firm, with a focus.
Dylan Rudney, founder of Verano Energy, discusses raising $247M to build a leading solar and BESS-focused LatAm renewable energy firm, with a focus on expanding the business by developing projects and raising over $1 billion to finance them. The discussion includes pivoting from small margins to exponential growth, expanding from startup to an independent power producer (IPP) and raising $100M for projects, and the solar and batteries changing the energy game.
Don't be fooled by how attractive a business plan looks on paper. Be very careful with fixed costs. The impact on how successful you have to be and might push you to make bad decisions is how much spending you have to make. I wish I was more cautious than that. Alrighty, hello everyone and welcome to the Deal Maker Show. So, today we have a really amazing founder joining. I mean, we're talking about a founder that got started with 100,000 bucks. That's it, you know, and last year they did 100 million in sales. They've raised 750 million for their projects. I mean, it's a it's unbelievable. You know, we're going to be talking about the building, the scaling, you name it. You know, I think that the conversation today is going to be quite inspiring and without further ado, let's welcome our guest today, Dylan Reid. Welcome to the show. Hey, thanks Alejandro. Appreciate the time. So, born in
DC, I mean, you've you've you've been around, you know, quite a bit, you know, you've traveled all over the place, you know, all over the world, too. So, tell us, how was life growing up for you? Uh yeah, born in DC, grew up in a in a small farm town in in Iowa. So, it's it's been interesting. From from Iowa, I went to school in California. I've lived in in Colombia, uh Mexico City, and I've been based here in in Chile and Santiago for the last 13 years. So, so give us some, you know, a little of a glimpse because, I mean, you you travel quite a bit, whether it was DC, then Farmingdale, then California, too. I mean, you've been all over the place. And now, obviously, Latin America. So, I think that as a kid, too, um that those changes, you know, they may be a little bit tough, but they also they they build you up a little bit, too. So, because you got to start again making friends, you
know, and things like that. So, so how do you think that shaped who you are? Yeah, you know, I I guess I I think what really changed me was my my introduction to Latin America and that's been where my focus has been and where I spent a lot of time, obviously. And and it actually it happened I didn't even speak a word of Spanish coming out of high school. Um I went to school in California where there's obviously a lot of Spanish and I remember my some of my university friends used to make fun of me in Spanish. Uh and so I I said I have to learn at least a few basics, right? To to defend myself. So, I started taking some Spanish classes and and really fell in love with it and then I saw kind of, you know, as I was studying business and finance saw the opportunities in Latin America and I decided that was kind of where I wanted to focus my time and like you said I'd kind of moved around a
bit. I wasn't wasn't scared of that and and ended up coming, you know, moving out of Chile eventually by myself to to start this business. So, Latin America out of all places. I mean, that that's quite a far away too, you know, from from the US and and especially Chile and and Mexico where you were. What do you think really captured your attention about Latin America? What what was so exciting about about the region for you? Yeah, I mean, it it started I think it kind of chose me as well. I mean, I was I my my first job was in Mexico City at PricewaterhouseCoopers where I was later recruited at a at a private equity which was more of a angel investors that were investing in in South America and and they had an office in Chile and so I think it started because I was sent there and I had the chance to see, you know, see Chile, see what it was. It's it's a market I knew almost nothing about
and when, you know, for those of you who who know who know Chile, you land here and it's not at all what you would expect, you know, it's it's a beautiful very well developed country. Services work, the economy works, it's a level playing field and it's it's for me it's always been a land of opportunity for for a foreigner, very serious market And so we started in in in Chile. And from here we've grown. Uh a lot of our growth has been based on opportunities in other markets. And I think kind of the the consistency we've had has been the Chilean market. It's been an incredible market, an incredible learning experience for us as a company. And personally, it's a place I also love. I love living. It's very comfortable. So um yeah, I I I can't say enough good things about about Chile and the experience I've had here both personally and professionally. What do you think about to the private
equity experience because you went from being on one side of the table to the other, right? Now as an operator with a company. So what do you think that those PE years really taught you? It was very interesting. I I The the group I was with previously came with with They had made a bit of money in in tech um in the early 2000s. And so they came with with with a background of finance, um very successful uh group of individuals with no experience in energy or infrastructure. And I think I would say we learned the hard way that uh projects or executing on the ground is very different than having, you know, being able to run a financial model, right? It's you know, we all came kind of from from finance, investment banking, or different kind of backgrounds where it's easy to show a beautiful financial model and projections of an incredible business. Um and when you get into it and and what I
eventually learned is the importance of a good project and a good execution of that project is really more valuable than the money itself. I I find there's always money. And and so in that experience, we learned that, you know, it's really about it's it's an asset-driven business. And good assets are driven by good good off-take, um long-term contracts. And that's what I've focused on in in in this life here at this company. So tell us about the um the the way that you're seeing the industry, too, Uh uh and the company, I guess. Before this, what what would you say was the immediate step for you to want to take action and wanting to get started with Verano Energy? Because that's quite the leap. It was really your first baby, you know, really taking ownership of your of your own future. And quite a jump from having a stable, you know, income and a job, you know, especially during the
private equity years, but before that you were at PwC. So, very stable, um you know, 9-to-5. So, what what really, you know, moved you to to wanting to take that leap of faith? Yeah, you know, I've always been very attracted to being an entrepreneur. I mean, I was I feel like I was I was raised in a family of entrepreneurs, my grandfather, my father. I've always wanted to do something on my own. So, every job I've had, the first thing I've done is, could I do this? Could I replicate this? How can I do this on my own? Um and this opportunity was was because we were we were actually at that time I was working on mini hydro, so run-of-river hydro projects, which is again a beauty in the financial model, and the reality of execution of run-of-river hydro is extremely difficult. You have um you know, community issues, you're literally intervening a river, which is environmental issues, uh
construction, civil works is very difficult. And so, what I'd seen at that time, which was 2012, was right when the cost of solar was was going down at very fast. And and, you know, at the same business model of developing, building, and operating assets, solar compared to run-of-river hydro or thermal plants, which have also been largely rejected in Chile and across the region and the world, um you know, coal plants, gas plants, you know, less and less easy to get those projects approved. And I said, solar's where we have to go. I mean, if this trend continues of dropping prices of of solar panels and equipment in general, um I said this has to be the way to go. Presented it at the company that I was, they weren't interested in that at the time. Um and so I said, "Look, I have all the contacts. I know how to do this. I've learned along the way. And I need a very small amount of capital
plus all of the all of my savings from the years of work. I can do this on my own." Um and I did. Yeah, I took the leap. I don't know if at the time it was smart or not, but it it you know, it worked out. So, feeling good about it now in retrospect. So, I guess I guess for the people that are listening to really get it, what ended up being the business of Verano Energy and how do you guys make money? Yeah, okay. The business has evolved a lot. So, what we started we actually don't even really do anymore. Uh and one of the the major lessons I've learned along the way is the importance of adapting and moving quickly. Uh we started as a what's a pure developer, renewable energy developer, which is kind of maybe better known as what it's similar to what real estate developers do, which is you basically do the early work, high-risk stuff uh at the beginning, which is, you know, lock up the
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