Hayes Barnard

Founder of GoodLeap and the GivePower foundation, specializing in clean energy finance and technology.

Claims

As speaker

Mentioned in

Key positions and views

Adversity, such as the 2008 financial crisis, can be a powerful catalyst for positive change and new business ideas, including philanthropic endeavors.

Bootstrapping a business to profitability before seeking outside capital is a viable path to building a multi-billion dollar company, prioritizing sustainable growth over venture-fueled expansion.

For-profit business and non-profit philanthropy can be strategically integrated, with the success of the former directly funding and enabling the mission of the latter.

Technology, specifically solar power, can be leveraged to solve fundamental humanitarian challenges like clean water scarcity at a dramatically lower cost than traditional methods.

Large-scale impact in the clean energy sector requires sophisticated financial partnerships with major institutions to fund assets worth billions of dollars annually.

Podcast consensus on Barnard

Points of consensus

▶Hayes Barnard experienced a significant corporate crisis during the 2008 financial downturn, where a company he led laid off approximately 400 employees from a workforce of around 2,000. This event is mentioned consistently across different podcast appearances.Apr 2026

▶He founded the GivePower foundation over a decade ago, an initiative he states was inspired by his experiences following corporate hardship.Apr 2026

▶Barnard had a long tenure at SolarCity, where he served as Chief Revenue Officer, after his own residential solar company was acquired by them.Apr 2026

▶Prior to his work in the solar industry, Barnard worked at Oracle for approximately eight years under the leadership of Larry Ellison.Apr 2026

Points of debate

▶The narrative linking the 2008 corporate layoffs directly to the founding of GivePower is presented by Barnard as a clear cause-and-effect, but the nuanced motivations and timeline could be interpreted differently by external analysis.Apr 2026

▶Barnard's characterization of Oracle's performance management policy as 'cutting the bottom 20%' annually is his personal recollection and may not reflect the official or universally experienced policy of the company.Apr 2026

▶The claim that GoodLeap was 'bootstrapped' for nearly a decade before a secondary-only transaction is a specific framing of its capital history that might be contrasted with a more detailed financial analysis of the company's early funding and credit facilities.Apr 2026

▶The stated cost of GivePower's water production (0.25 cents per liter) is a powerful claim that would likely be subject to debate and verification by independent auditors regarding its scalability, maintenance costs, and applicability across different environments.Apr 2026

Key themes

▶Entrepreneurial Resilience and GrowthApr 2026

Barnard's career is marked by navigating significant challenges, such as the 2008 financial crisis where he laid off 400 employees, and building multiple successful ventures. He bootstrapped his current company, GoodLeap, for nearly a decade before achieving a multi-billion dollar valuation and a claimed 85% annual growth rate.

This narrative of resilience and bootstrapping followed by hyper-growth suggests a focus on sustainable business models over venture-backed blitzscaling, which could indicate a more durable, albeit slower-to-start, enterprise for investors to analyze.

▶Philanthropy as a Business CatalystApr 2026

The founding of the GivePower foundation was presented as a direct result of a period of corporate hardship. This philanthropic initiative, which now has approximately 160 employees, is financially intertwined with his for-profit business, GoodLeap, which contributes funding through its partner transactions.

The symbiotic relationship between GoodLeap and GivePower creates a powerful brand halo and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) appeal, suggesting that his philanthropic work is also a strategic business asset that attracts partners and talent.

▶Leadership Forged in High-Performance CulturesApr 2026

Barnard's leadership approach was shaped by long tenures at demanding companies like Oracle under Larry Ellison and SolarCity, which was associated with Elon Musk. He managed a team of 10,000-12,000 at SolarCity and observed Oracle's policy of annually cutting low performers.

His experience in these environments likely informs his approach to scaling GoodLeap, emphasizing high performance and large-scale management, which could be a key driver of its claimed 85% annual growth rate but may also pose cultural challenges.

▶Scaling Clean Energy and Water TechnologyApr 2026

Barnard's work focuses on deploying clean energy solutions at scale, both through financing home upgrades via GoodLeap and Goodfinch, and through GivePower's solar water farms. He provides specific metrics, such as financing billions in assets and producing 75,000 liters of clean water per day per farm at a fraction of the typical cost.

The emphasis on quantifiable impact (cost per liter, liters per day, dollars financed) demonstrates a data-driven approach to solving environmental and humanitarian problems, making his ventures potentially attractive to impact investors who require measurable returns.

Source episodes

Sentiment over time

Not enough data for timeline

Changes over time

Pre-2008

Worked for approximately eight years at Oracle under the leadership of Larry Ellison.

2008

As a leader of a company with roughly 2,000 employees, he oversaw the layoff of approximately 400 people during the financial crisis. He identifies this as a pivotal moment that inspired his philanthropic work.

Circa 2009-2013

Founded the GivePower foundation. During this period, his residential solar company was acquired by SolarCity, where he began a nine-year tenure as Chief Revenue Officer.

Circa 2012-2022

Bootstrapped his current company, GoodLeap, for nearly a decade without raising primary capital.

Recent Past

Raised approximately $30 million in a secondary-only transaction for GoodLeap, providing liquidity for himself and his partners rather than funding the business directly.

Present

Leads GoodLeap as a profitable, high-growth company with a multi-billion dollar valuation, alongside the asset management firm Goodfinch and the GivePower foundation.

Suggested prompts

How does the integrated funding model between GoodLeap and GivePower influence the strategic decisions and growth trajectory of both organizations? &nearr;To what extent did Barnard's experiences at Oracle and SolarCity, particularly under leaders like Larry Ellison and Elon Musk, shape the corporate culture and performance metrics at GoodLeap? &nearr;What are the key financial and operational risks associated with GoodLeap's claimed 85% annual growth rate, especially given its reliance on partnerships with 37 major financial institutions? &nearr;How does the claimed cost-efficiency of GivePower's solar water farms (0.25 cents/liter) compare to other desalination and water purification technologies when analyzed for total cost of ownership and scalability? &nearr;

Key concepts

GivePower foundation 2 ep Leadership 2 ep Entrepreneurship 2 ep Solar Energy 2 ep Philanthropy 2 ep GoodLeap 1 ep SolarCity 1 ep Oracle 1 ep Clean Water Technology 1 ep Corporate Finance 1 ep

Notable quotes

“i own about 40 of the company okay and you know the company has a multi-billion dollar valuation”

Hayes Bernard · The Underdog Mindset That Can Drive You to Massive Success

“we have the ability to produce this water for half of a half of a cent. And a liter of water in Africa is a dollar.”

Hayes Bernard · The Underdog Mindset That Can Drive You to Massive Success

“I never raised any money for this company until the business was like almost 10 years old. And then we only raised about $30 million, which created secondary for myself and my two partners. It was not money that went into the business.”

Hayes Bernard · The Underdog Mindset That Can Drive You to Massive Success

“in 2008... we had a couple thousand employees. We probably had to lay off 400 of them which you know at that time I thought was the end of the world”

Hayes Barnard · Reframe Your Relationship with Hardship: Adversity is a GIFT | Leadership

Report last updated: Apr 21, 2026

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