SPARK POWER CORP • FALL 2015

HOW SPARK POWER IS USING ACULTURE OF INNOVATION TO DISRUPT THE

100 YEAR OLD CANADIANPOWER AND ENERGY INDUSTRY

PART 1 OF 2

This white paper, presented in 2 Parts, describes how Jason Sparaga and Andrew Clark, Co-Founders (the “Founders”) of Spark Power Corp (“Spark” or the “Company”), an Ontario leader in the power and energy sector, have established a culture of innovation as the Company’s strategic cornerstone and most critical competitive advantage.

The contemporary de� nition of innovation tends to connote ‘technical’ innovation; � nding e� ciencies through the development and application of technologies, but Spark Power takes a fundamentally dif-ferent approach. Spark’s innovation is focused on the business model (and ultimately the broader en-ergy value chain) and making conscious e� orts to drive innovative thinking and problem solving into their team culture. Through Spark’s � rst six years, this approach has been an integral part of the Compa-ny’s success in an industry that for the past 100 years has been staid and conservative.

The Founders feel that this “problem solving” has established a reputation for the Company as indus-try-leaders and problem solvers and has helped the � rm “punch above its weight” in attracting top proj-ects, clients, suppliers, and employees. Clark and Sparaga know that truly innovative companies don’t limit innovation to their leadership teams and that long-term success involves new thinking at all levels. To this end, they are working to drive a culture of innovation across the whole Company.

Furthermore, the Founders endeavor to carry this approach outside the Company through to stake-holder relationships as well. They knew that Spark’s successes are in many cases, driven by and depen-dent on partners, customers, and suppliers also realizing their own goals. So the Company has worked to (where possible) involve and indoctrinate clients, vendors, community groups, and its numerous gov-ernment regulators into their approach.

Following is Part I of the white paper, which outlines Spark’s history and highlights some key innova-tions and milestones and Part 2 will explore and detail those factors that the Founders feel have enabled their successes to date, and those factors they feel will guide their success in the future.

INTRODUCTION

SPARK POWER CORP IS A CANADIAN LEADER IN THE POWER AND

ENERGY SECTOR. THE COMPANY WAS LAUNCHED IN 2009 BY CLARK

AND SPARAGA TO CAPITALIZE ON OPPORTUNITIES UNDER THE

PROVINCE OF ONTARIO’S RENEWABLE ENERGY INITIATIVE - THE 2009

GREEN ENERGY AND GREEN ECONOMY ACT (THE “GREEN ENERGY ACT”).

PART 1: A HISTORY OF INNOVATION AT SPARK POWER CORP

THE BEGINNING

The Green Energy Act was a key plank in the Provincial government’s political agenda to position Ontario as a world leader in renewable energy. At the time, the Act was the most progressive renewable energy program in the world.

The Founders had studied the space and came together from two di� erent but complimentary perspectives. Ja-son Sparaga, a leader in the Canadian � nancial services sector and growth equity investor, had over the previous decade built a boutique corporate � nance and mergers and acquisition (M&A) � rm called Spara Capital Partners. Spara Capital had focused exclusively on serving entrepreneurial clients and through its high pro� le and robust relationships, began seeing signi� cant interest from both investors and management/operators eager to target the Green Energy Act.

Andrew Clark’s family had built a major Canadian plastics business called CPI Plastics, that at its peak, was listed on the TSX and employed a sta� of over 1000 across Canada. Andrew had been active in a senior executive role with CPI and had a deep interest in the opportunity having recently exited CPI.

The two would-be Founders, Sparaga and Clark, were introduced and a partnership (and friendship) was quickly formed under the moniker “Spark” (a combination of their last names), with a shared vision to pursue opportuni-ties in the renewable energy sector based on their complimentary skill sets and relationships.

“One of the things that drew us together initially was a shared determination that we would NOT be speculators trying to gather up contracts and sit on them,” said Clark. “We both knew that the right way forward in that market was to build something real and not chase rainbows or the mythical ‘quick � ip’,” he added.

According to Clark, one of the appeals to both he and Sparaga and a key bond in their relationship, was the oppor-tunity to build and shape a Company from the ground up in an emerging industry and have a cultural fresh start.

“We were aiming high, heading into a disruptive world with new players and technologies who were all trying to � nd the way forward,” said Sparaga. “We wanted a place where we could build something innovative and disrup-tive, and renewable energy was the perfect home for us”.

“We were both students of team culture, having seen the power of these in our own businesses and others. We knew that the business was going to morph and adapt but in our shared culture was the DNA for success or failure. It was a critical part of our vision,” Sparaga continued.

The Founders believed that emulating a technology “start-up”-style culture and creating a work environment and socially-responsible corporate approach, were key planks in di� erentiating the Company from competitors and incumbents.

“We realized that Spark Power needed to embrace a very millennial-friendly culture, which took some getting used to,” said Clark. ”We both had come from very traditional industries in manufacturing and � nancial services. But we realized that we were competing for the best and the brightest and the tech sector, and probably technol-ogy had created a very di� erent notion of work amongst young engineers and technicians,” he added.

“We had this incredible opportunity to de� ne and cement our team culture in early hires and could only get them to stay on by selling them our vision and then implementing,” he continued.

2

And the Founders would argue from a team perspective they’ve been very successful with 100% retention amongst its non-� eld team. A fun work environment and a young aggressive team taking ambitious and at times unconventional approaches to projects, have all helped Spark Power attract stakeholder attention and momen-tum in the sector.

“When we picture a hungry young engineer or MBA going into the ‘power and energy’ sector twenty years ago they were either joining something corporate or in government; either way it was dull and sleepy” said Sparaga. “When people get exposed to our team culture they are knocked over. It’s an exciting place to be and our people fuel it and bring out the best in each other,” he added.

Early DaysSpark’s initial foray into the industry was through the agricultural community, following an introduction to a 1,200 strong agricultural co-operative from southwestern Ontario called AGRIS Co-operative (AGRIS). AGRIS members had all been badgered by speculators keen to aggregate land leases for eventual sale to renewable developers. The Board of AGRIS knew that their membership sought to participate in a more meaningful way than simply leasing their land to speculators.

While the Green Energy Act’s MicroFIT program (o� ering the highest rates for energy tari� s) was designed for individual agricultural and rural landowners and featured language in its contracts that aimed to dissuade institu-tional investment, Spark was able to create a unique solution for AGRIS.

North America’s Largest Renewable Energy Co-operative:To capitalize on this opportunity, Spark proposed development of a co-operative structure, that would be man-aged by Spark (with initial seed funding coming from Spark as well) and AGRIS Co-op would help to secure mem-bership by leveraging its brand and member relationships. The structure resonated with members and quickly reached critical mass.

Today AGRIS Solar Co-operative remains the largest co-operative in renewable energy in North America. This structure was chosen given its familiarity to the membership base, and for its ability to allow members to pool unit ownership and create economies of scale in; risk mitigation, procurement, management, � nancing, and others. Spark fought tenaciously with the O� ce of the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO), which was the agency charged with overseeing co-operative organizations. FSCO was extremely sensitive to structures that saw co-operatives being used as investment vehicles and encouraged AGRIS Co-op to pursue a fund structure. How-ever, after much discussion and debate, the co-operative structure was approved.

Spark was retained by AGRIS Solar Co-operative to oversee development and long-term management of the as-sets and Spark quickly began building out its engineering, construction, operations, and management team.

There was much “heavy lifting” for Spark, the government, international � nanciers, renewable energy developers, landowners, construction � rms, global energy stakeholders, and communities to help bring the MicroFIT project to life in Ontario. Spark was instrumental in shaping the Province’s renewable industry. Through those early days, there were many more bumps, hurdles, and changes as the highly political program moved from planning to exe-cution, within several di� erent departments and agencies.

Constrained Solar Units:One of the major challenges that would consume nearly all of Management’s time and energy in those � rst years began to emerge shortly after approval was granted for the construction of several hundred ground mounted solar units on AGRIS Solar Co-operative members’ farms.

While the units were approved by one government agency, another agency (Hydro One) began to assess connec-tivity of members’ solar generation projects on their farms and it was determined that the grid could not support connectivity. Spark learned that over 500 of its solar projects, previously approved, could not be connected to the grid for capacity and safety concerns. This was a major challenge amongst both AGRIS Solar Co-operative members and several thousand other contract holders across Ontario (who in some cases had even completed construction). This highly political problem got worse when the Provincial (minority) government was forced to call an election.

3

“Suddenly, this incredibly forward thinking program the Province had put together became a giant liability,” said Sparaga. “The government was very vulnerable and forced to ‘duck-and-cover’ on this platform piece as they head-ed into a close election. The bureaucracy was stuck in a holding pattern, it was nerve-racking,” he added.

“We had made a signi� cant investment by that point and our world seemed to be coming apart every day. We had a ‘war room’ in our o� ce to do what we could to help support the program without being drawn into the politics. Our team kept our ‘eyes on the road’ staying laser-focused on executing day-to-day, driving forward toward a suc-cessful outcome. We came together and our corporate character was bolstered,” he added.

The Spark team positioned themselves as leaders and problem solvers (given the strength of their membership base) and decided to create and pro-pose a variety of solutions that they could lead and implement. While some partners discussed pursuit of a legal action or lobbying on signi� cant govern-ment investment; estimated in hundreds of millions or billions of dollars, in the Province’s grid, Spark’s view is that these strategies are risky, polarizing and distracting.

While the election played out and the incumbent Wynne government emerged victorious with a new mandate and a majority position, Spark and their partners were able to turn their entire focus on bringing their projects online.

Spark Power’s Solar Gardens:One of the � xes that Spark had envisioned post-elec-tion was the concept of a Solar Garden - a term coined by Spark, which involved physical relocation of approved MicroFIT projects situated in areas unable to con-nect to the grid (known as “constrained units”) to a more connection-suitable area. Under their proposal, Spark and its partners would work with the government to plan, develop, and manage the relocation and construction of the new site. Although this solution would solve a serious problem for AGRIS Solar Co-op members and a number of Provincial agencies involved as stakeholders, the challenge in such a plan was that there were numerous agencies whose approvals, input, and permission were required.

Spark Power was instrumental in building an industry coalition that included the AGRIS Solar Co-op members, � nanciers, other constrained property owners, other solar developers, suppliers, and vendors. This group worked with both the political and bureaucratic arms of the Provincial government. In Summer 2013, the Solar Garden concept was approved.

Spark’s persistence and e� orts to be part of the solution were critical pieces of their success. Some key innovation milestones achieved by Spark during those times included: • Creating an innovative � nancing structure through the co-op that o� ered members an ROI signi� cantly higher than could be attained individually, with reduced risk in a managed structure;• Realizing membership of 1,000 agricultural and rural landowners in the AGRIS Solar Co-op through an aggressive community relations campaign;• Working closely with forward thinking regional managers at Canadian agricultural lender Farm Credit Canada (“FCC”) based on the lender’s mandate to support non-traditional farm income programs. This was extremely tough given the government’s e� orts to prevent aggregating contracts;• Creating an aggressive “carrot and stick” government relations campaign in the face of major price adjustments to the MicroFIT program that signi� cantly changed project economics. Spark worked with the Provincial Government, while holding them accountable to the AGRIS Solar Co-op membership base, leading up to a Provincial election.

4

Our team kept our ‘eyes on the road’

staying laser-focused on executing

day-to-day, driving forward

toward a successful outcome. We

came together and our corporate

character was bolstered.”

Jason Sparaga | Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Spark Power Corp

Green Energy Co-operative of Ontario (“GECO”):As the renewable energy sector emerged in Ontario, the government moved its support away from both large-scale and individual property owners, toward community owned projects and once again Spark saw an opportu-nity to lead.

Spark was quickly gaining a reputation as a leader in community power projects, based on the success of the AGRIS Solar Co-operative structure and Spark’s model to develop, � nance, operate, and manage projects on behalf of community and co-operative members.

On this basis, Spark established the Green Energy Co-operative of Ontario (“GECO”) as a “for pro� t” renewable energy co-op to provide an opportunity for Ontario residents to own and generate returns from green energy projects in their community and other communities across Ontario, creating clean local power while supporting local employment and community development.

The concept quickly gained traction and support and today GECO has a growing membership base in excess of 1000 in more than 20 communities across the Province. GECO has a portfolio of 14 Solar Projects in progress with a total of 6.2 MW of capacity. Spark recently announced the closing of a $39M debt facility with Rabobank to lever-age this project portfolio.

Strategic Innovation and GrowthAs the Spark team evolved and gained experience, Management’s vision also broadened. The original goal of pursuing development and asset management opportunities in renewable energy expanded. Along with Spara-ga’s investment banking roots, an unusual asset in Spark’s playbook, for a company at this size and stage, was an expertise in strategic growth as well as acquisitions, mergers, and business combinations.

This allowed Management to leverage its success in early projects into other technical and professional service niches, creating synergies and diversi� cation. Through its acquired entities, today Spark provides round-the-clock service and manages critical infrastructure for some of the world’s largest renewable energy and power compa-nies, as well as several of the world’s largest utilities.

A strategic game-changer for the Company was the development of a partnership in a unique structure with Oakville Hydro; Spark lead the development, construction and divestiture of Sunny Shores, a 100-acre, 14 MW utility-scale solar project. Before Spark’s involvement, the Sunny Shores project was by all accounts a broken deal. The agreement between the Ontario Power Authority and the landowner had signi� cant issues in its original form and the project itself needed to be relocated due to grid connectivity issues. Further compounding the issue was the fact that the buyer was a municipally-owned Ontario utility creating exceptional levels of diligence, attention and numerous issues on both sides. The Spark team worked tirelessly to drive the project forward and pressed all parties to work together to complete the deal. The project itself was massively-innovative with all stakeholders working outside of their comfort zones. Spark’s work was unprecedented and led to a exceedingly strong outcome that set a high standard for other utilities.

Other innovative actions that have helped Spark realize rapid growth include:• The multi-stage acquisition of large renewable energy services company (and at the time a Spark supplier) called Northwind Solutions from White Construction. Northwind is an experienced operations and maintenance (“O&M”) and systems monitoring business focused on the renewable energy sector. Under Spark’s leadership, Northwind’s service business has grown to more than 400MW of assets under management in Ontario – making Northwind the leading independent renewable energy O&M service provider in Canada. • Acquisition of a leading high voltage service company called Rondar Inc., with operations in Hamilton and Toronto. The acquisition of Rondar allowed Spark to diversify and move outside the renewable energy business.• Establishment of an innovative lease pre-payment program for agricultural and rural landowners in Ontario who receive long-term annual lease payments from renewable energy generation assets located on their property. Spark provides these groups with a lump sum payment in exchange for their future lease payments.

5

Team, Community, and Social InnovationManagement knows that the Company’s core strength lies in its highly trained, competent and motivated work-force. Spark has had to take extra care to ensure that all employees are treated well and encouraged to bring their ideas forward. To this end, Spark has developed a number of programs and initiatives they believe are innovative and unique.

Social Responsibility: Spark is aligned with many charitable events and associations, which have positive impacts on people, communities, as well as the environment. Spark supports these groups � nancially and in man hours including: Prostate Cancer Canada, Unity for Autism, Brock University Goodman School of Business, Niagara En-trepreneur of the Year Awards, Safe Communities Canada Foundation, Kidney Foundation of Canada, Smart Risk WiRE, Ottawa Senators Foundation, and Kingsway College Hamilton United Way.

Employee/Donor-Directed Charitable Support: Spark recently announced to its employees, the development of a program to allow each of them to direct a donation of $150 in their name to a recognized Canadian charity or a not for pro� t organization. The program has been well received and team members are appreciative of the oppor-tunity to determine where their Company’s corporate donations are most needed in the community.

Team Donation: Another unique gift donated by the Spark Power and Northwind Solutions corporate team over the past three years, involves an executive volunteer donation; where the entire corporate o� ce closes down to work as volunteers for a charity’s golf tournament. The organization called Unity for Autism, is extremely grateful to the Spark team and identify Spark’s enthusiasm and hard work as a key driver to the success of the tournament which is their key fundraiser.

Industry Leadership: Spark strives to be leaders in social responsibility as well. In addition to being highly involved in a number of committees and associations, Management leverages their networks to raise money and aware-ness amongst their peers. Spark founded and launched a bi-annual industry hockey game known as the “War of Currents” designed to raise funds and awareness within the renewable energy and power community for Prostate Cancer. Conducted in partnership with Prostate Cancer Canada, Spark has raised signi� cant proceeds and helped spread awareness amongst their employees and network on this terrible disease and the importance of early detection.

Innovative WorkspacesSpark has been very focused on building, nurturing and institutionalizing their culture and providing a work envi-ronment that is fun and leading edge for their corporate team. As social events are an important part of marketing for Spark’s internal team and customers alike, Spark facilities are also designed for entertaining.

The Company’s head o� ce is “open format” featuring collaborative and social spaces that facilitate team and client interaction. A (lunch) bar, ping-pong tables, and a full-service kitchen help to create a relaxed, casual atmosphere and welcoming setting facilitating team and networking events.

SummaryThe Founders of Spark Power Corp have been successful in using the Company’s culture of innovation as a stra-tegic cornerstone and they are con� dent it is their most critical competitive advantage. The Company’s business model and market approach are innovative and the Spark Power team have quickly earned a reputation as indus-try-leaders and problem solvers without reliance on technical innovation in their strategy. And their approach seems to be working and proliferating beyond the walls of the team into other project stakeholder such as; clients, vendors, community groups, and its numerous government regulators.

Stay tuned for Part II of this white paper which presents the Spark Power Founders’ approach to innovation through their work to date and a commentary on how they plan to leverage and sustain innovation in the Company’s future.

6

SPARK POWER CORP • FALL 2015

HOW SPARK POWER IS USING ACULTURE OF INNOVATION TO DISRUPT THE

100 YEAR OLD CANADIANPOWER AND ENERGY INDUSTRY

PART 2 OF 2

This white paper, presented in 2 Parts, describes how Jason Sparaga and Andrew Clark, Co-Founders (the “Founders”) of Spark Power Corp (“Spark” or the “Company”), an Ontario leader in the power and energy sector have established a culture of innovation as the Company’s strategic cornerstone and most critical competitive advantage.

Click here to read Part 1: A HISTORY OF INNOVATION AT SPARK POWER CORP which outlines Spark’s history, key innovations and milestones illustrating the Founders’ drive to create and shape a Company from the ground up.

The following is Part 2: CREATING A CULTURE OF INNOVATION which explores and details those factors that the Founders feel have enabled their successes to date, and those innovative and disruptive factors that will guide their success in the future.

INTRODUCTION

SPARK POWER CORP IS A CANADIAN LEADER IN THE POWER AND

ENERGY SECTOR. THE COMPANY WAS LAUNCHED IN 2009 BY CLARK

AND SPARAGA TO CAPITALIZE ON OPPORTUNITIES UNDER THE

PROVINCE OF ONTARIO’S RENEWABLE ENERGY INITIATIVE - THE 2009

GREEN ENERGY AND GREEN ECONOMY ACT (THE “GREEN ENERGY ACT”).

Sparaga and Clark set out to create a culture of innovation at Spark Power because they realize it is one of the hard-est elements for a growing company to institutionalize, particularly with a dispersed team across multiple o� ces and in the face of acquisitions. While culture may feel like a ‘softer’ matter when compared to other management systems, Spark Power knows that it’s the grease that allows their “engine” to run.

“We are constantly taking the Company’s pulse on ‘culture’ and trying to search and destroy barriers and impedi-ments,” said Sparaga. “It is amazing how many dumb things happen in a company because ‘that’s how it has always been done’ or because no one cared or thought to try something di� erent,”

While Spark continues to build their business through both acquisition and organic growth, they o� er several tools which they feel have served them well in their e� orts to institutionalize “innovation”:

1. Make Innovation A Mindset At the TopSpark encourages what the Founders describe as an “innovator’s mindset” amongst their Ex-ecutive Team. They feel that is too easy to pay lip service to innovation and adding it as a meeting point or agenda. Instead, Spark hires, trains, values, incents and rewards across the intangibles of culture – beliefs, expectations, sense of one’s self.

While Management knows that driving this mindset throughout an organization is tricky, they realize it absolutely cannot and will not happen without complete buy-in at the top.

“People treat risk as exclusively negative and innovation as an incremental force,” said Clark. “But our industry is in its infancy and full of very smart people, technology, and capital. We’ve tried to realize that there are good risks too – risks that costs will come down or prices or demand will increase.”

“Innovation doesn’t happen neatly on a white board or on the front side of bidding on a project. Sometimes you need to trust in your team and your partners and know that your people will � nd a way that is cheaper, faster, or better,” he added.

2. Focus on OutcomesOne of the approaches that Management feels has served their team well is to shift their focus in projects to out-comes; away from a focus on ‘how to’ towards ‘what to’ achieve and in what timeframe.

“We try to paint the picture in regard to where we want to end up and hold our teams accountable for achieving this in an agreed timeframe.” said Clark. “We made a conscious decision not to micromanage from day one and it has been a good approach”.

“As Management, our role has become one of enabling and keeping teams resourced, aware-of, and focused on driving toward outcomes and results. It is amazing how much creative energy gets expended in administrating for admin’s sake,” he added.

1

PART 2: CREATING A CULTURE OF INNOVATION

People treat risk as exclusively negative and innovation as an incremental force, but our industry is in its infancy and full of very smart people, technology, and capital. As Management, our role has become one of enabling and keeping teams resourced, aware-of, and focused on driving toward outcomes and results. It is amazing how much creative energy gets expended in administrating.”

Andrew Clark | Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Spark Power Corp

3. Listen Often and ActivelyThe Founders know that in top organizations, insights and ideas come from anywhere; inside the organization or out and that sometimes novices or outsiders provide insights that lead to new approaches. They feel that most employees don’t believe they are looked to for innovation and that organizations are awash with good ideas but they generally aren’t invited or solicited.

“We try to be incredibly open-minded when it comes to new ideas and we actively solicit input from everyone,” said Sparaga. “We also know that we don’t hold all the cards when it comes to ideas, so encourage this same spirit of openness and collaboration with groups one normally wouldn’t go looking for their next insight from; like a competitor or a government policy maker.”

4. Fail Small and Lean to Win BigSparaga and Clark are both fans of building lean and realize that not every initiative is going to succeed, but that customer validation (or the absence thereof ) via small “experiments” provides indication of success or failures.

“We have had a couple of initiatives that aligned with our business and made sense on paper, but never found customer validation in real life, so we shuttered them and moved on,” said Clark, “But we brought customers into the mix early and when we didn’t � nd support for our assumptions, we were quick to declare ‘fail-ure’ and focus our energies on the next project,”

“No one likes to admit they were wrong, but if you can set up small early experiments to assess validation, you can avoid a potential failure. It’s about � nding customers and tweaking a value proposition on the smallest amount of resources, not being right or wrong,” Clark added.

5. Don’t Apologize for Driving a Cultural Vision Clark and Sparaga take an aggressive approach to building, monitoring, and guarding company culture at Spark. They had great con� dence in their ability to in� uence culture amongst their organic business but were sensitive to how this would carry into acquisitions of companies with their own established culture.

They wondered, for example, about potential op-tics and response (amongst new team members) to Spark’s corporate facilities that were fun and contemporary while they planned to keep � eld o� ces modest. They took deliberate strategies to identify and manage these sorts of potential issues as part of their internal communications/integration strategies.

“We invite new � eld guys into the o� ce for social and training events as often as possible. We are proud of our headquarters and make a point to explain how it supports the culture we’re trying to build,” said Clark. “There is this natural tendency among managers to feel like they are playing into that age-old image of corporate excesses at the expense of the worker. But we know that’s not what is going on here and we hide from nothing, and make our facilities a point of pride and a manifestation of our culture,” he added.

“Of course we know having ping-pong tables or a bar makes for some easy fodder for “digs” and “ribbing” but we keep a sense of humor when we’re being teased. In cases where feelings seem more than just good-natured fun we use these as an opportunity to have a conversation about what we’re trying to do and the culture we’re building. Every employee may not agree with what we’re doing but we’re con� dent they respect our passion and conviction,” said Clark

2

We invite new � eld guys into the

o� ce for social and training events

as often as possible. We are proud

of our headquarters and make a

point to explain how it supports the

culture we’re trying to build.”

Andrew Clark | Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Spark Power Corp

Sparaga and Clark both feel that if you are truly trying to build culture you’re going to need to take it to your people’s ‘doorsteps’ to discuss, debate, and defend it. The pair believes that by repeatedly ‘walking the walk’ and staying true to their vision, that employees begin to trust, respect, and adopt the culture.

Spark Power continues to focus on its culture of innovation as a key plank in the company’s growth strategy. Sparaga and Clark know that the Company’s small size allowed them to rapidly develop innovative strategies and tactics and implement them quickly. Spark uses its small size to make and implement decisions quickly; allowing them to be � rst to market and rapidly direct resources and team members toward implementation.

Sparaga and Clark feel that small companies should focus on being innovative. As Richard Branson has said, “Small businesses are nimble and bold and can often teach much larger com-panies a thing or two about innovations that can change entire industries.” But as Spark Power has built a critical mass and is now well into adoles-cence, Sparaga and Clark know that their next challenge is proliferating and institutionalizing this strategic asset into their expanded � eet.

While they are still early in this battle, the Found-ers have no plans to diverge from their core strat-egy; to take on di� cult issues from within a cli-mate of healthy creative tension, inspiration and pride. They believe that no other tools have the same ability to in� uence productivity, engage-ment, and employee satisfaction.

“When people are inspired by their company strategy and leadership, they do better work because they care,” said Sparaga. “It’s not about working harder or longer, it’s about feeling valued and feeling con� dant to contribute towards some bigger goals because you know you’ll be heard. This is when innovation occurs” he added.

Clark suggests that the next chapter in their playbook is about setting goals and sustaining buy-in to these goals as the Company expands.

“With early success, our fear is that we move one step closer to complacency every time things go well,” said Clark. “Start-ups take on a “pirate culture” and can sustain it more easily based on their size and stage. They attract inno-vators and disrupters in and of themselves in many cases.”

“It’s how you sustain that culture of insurgency and tenacity when you’ve come ‘inside the tent’ that matters. If you can bottle that, you are have institutionalized and weaponized sustained innovation in a Company”, said Clark.

So for now ,Sparaga and Clark focus on picking their next set of battles by setting stretch goals for their teams and creating buy-in for these goals.

“We think the secret sauce in creating innovation is to set goals that are very di� cult to achieve but just possible enough that our teams have the con� dence and desire to achieve them,” said Sparaga.

“Stretch goals require new approaches and create commitment. If we can get this right, the future is ours. Innovation can’t be a one-time thing. “

3

SUMMARY: NEXT CHAPTER FOR SPARK POWER

When people are inspired by their com-pany strategy and leadership, they do better work because they care. It’s not about working harder or longer, it’s about feeling valued and feeling con� dant to contribute towards some bigger goals because you know you’ll be heard. This is when innovation occurs.”

Jason Sparaga | Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Spark Power Corp