EP. 87 | From $70M to $9M in One Quarter — Then Back. The Tigo Energy Comeback Story (CMO)

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jd-dillon/Website: https://www.tigoenergy.com/In Q2 of 2023, Tigo Energy hit almost $70 million in revenue. By Q4, it was under $9 million.JD Dillon, their Chief Marketing and Customer Experience Officer, was in the room for all of it — the IPO, the collapse, and eight straight quarters of growth since.We talk about what actually caused the crash, how they rebuilt, what a real B2B marketing system looks like at a publicly traded company, why JD combined marketing with customer experience, the pricing secrets behind the $.99 you see everywhere, and why the solar industry still has a long way to go on quality.JD is a West Point grad, a former Army officer, a pricing obsessive, and one of the most structured thinkers I've had on the show.Timestamps:0:00 – Intro: What Tigo Energy does1:14 – Welcome + JD introduces himself1:36 – Optimizers, inverters, batteries — and Antarctica2:58 – 101 countries, including Antarctica3:51 – How JD went from the Army to semiconductors to solar4:52 – Why he combined marketing with customer experience7:01 – The solar industry is immature — and it costs everyone8:29 – Total Quality Solar: what it is and why it matters11:31 – Self-policing the industry before the government does it13:47 – JD wakes up at 3:30 AM and drives 54 miles to the office every day14:33 – 62% of revenue comes from Europe — why early mornings make sense15:32 – Why he won't use Tesla Autopilot17:40 – The turnaround: $70M to $9M in two quarters19:00 – How they rebuilt — eight straight quarters of growth19:54 – Four strategic pillars: Thunder, Lightning, Roots, and Balance20:59 – 45 metrics tracked across four areas (yes, in Excel)22:32 – Four active AI use cases at Tigo — translations, battle cards, routing, and agents25:26 – Why they're being careful about replacing humans with AI in tech support27:05 – What gives JD the most fulfillment after 30 years in business28:48 – His plan to become a college professor (pricing is his favorite topic)30:22 – The real reason everything is priced at $.99 (not what you think)31:59 – Book recommendations: Sales Pitch by April Dunford + Lead With No33:42 – Reading three books at a time — always36:00 – A plug for his local bookstore in Danville, California