In this month’s Founder Spotlight, we sit down with Coperniq cofounders Abdullah Al-Zandani and Max Kazakov in their San Francisco office. Coperniq is building workflow software for solar and energy contractors to build and maintain solar and energy assets.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Q:  How did your early experiences shape the way you think about solving problems in renewable energy today?

Abdullah: When I was 13 or 14 years old, back in Yemen, a civil war broke out, and our electric infrastructure went down—it got bombarded. Overnight, my family and I had no access to electricity. I took it upon myself to solve that issue. I got some panels, batteries, and an inverter, put together a system, and it worked.

And as I was building the system, I got electrocuted twice. But at the end of the day, once I finished this mini project, we were able to supply around one kilowatt, 1.5 kilowatts, which was enough to power our TV, our Wi-Fi, our heat pump, and our water pump. That was very magical to me, especially as a 13-year-old.

After that, I knew I wanted to learn this space and build in it. 

Fast-forward: I moved to America and decided to study energy engineering at Berkeley. On the first day of transfer orientation, I met my cofounder, Max Kazakov. We shared a very similar experience. That same summer, I was interning at a solar and energy company, and Max’s grandfather went solar. We both noticed how disorganized solar and energy companies are—how much of a wait it takes to actually get your system and how bad the maintenance is after the system is built. With his background in software and mine in energy engineering, we decided to take on this problem, and that’s how Coperniq started.

Max: On a personal level, my family was on the receiving end of a pretty atrocious homeowner experience going solar. They were lied to by their solar provider, and their project took over a year to get done. So for me, it’s deeply personal. I’ve seen what that experience looks like on the homeowner side—how full of friction it is. The solar panels themselves were great, and saving on your utility bill sounded great on paper, but the process behind it was just so hard.

On a bigger scale, the renewable energy transition is inevitable. But here’s the reality: it’s happening on the backs of these hardworking solar installers—most of whom are just everyday blue-collar workers, mom-and-pop shops. And they have next to zero purpose-built tools. They’re running their businesses on spreadsheets, Google Drive, pencil and paper.

Meanwhile, world leaders are at these economic forums talking about hitting 30% renewable energy by 2030 or 50% by 2050. But on the ground, it’s a very different story. These folks aren’t technologically empowered and need a lot of help. They should be able to focus on selling and building solar, not struggling with software tools just to make it happen.

Q: What are the most significant obstacles to innovating in the solar and renewable energy space, and how has your team tackled them?

Abdullah: What’s challenging about the solar and renewable energy industry is that it’s growing and changing fast, right? Since 2002, it’s been growing 40% year over year—that doesn’t happen. But with that growth and changes in energy policies, customer needs are changing too.

As a startup, you’re building in a market that’s evolving alongside you, which makes things extra challenging. It requires patience and being ready to adapt. What you build today might not even be relevant in three months. But this is such an important industry to build in and be part of. Like Elon Musk famously says, “If something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are against you.”

Q: How is Coperniq transforming the way solar and energy contractors operate, and what long-term impact do you envision for the industry?


Abdullah: Coperniq is an operations-first platform for solar and energy companies. Once the homeowner signs a contract with a solar company, Coperniq steps in to manage everything from notice to proceed to permission to operate. We cover the whole construction phase and the 25 years of service and maintenance.

We offer five main products:

  1. Project and workflow management: This helps contractors streamline their processes, which vary by state.
  2. Homeowner or business owner portal: This portal, which contractors can embed on their website, lets homeowners check project status and monitor their system.
  3. Dispatching technology: This optimizes field technicians’ work and connects the field and office.
  4. Universal hardware API: We integrate with multiple batteries and inverters. For example, if a squirrel chews your wiring, the contractor knows before you do. Or, if you get an EV and need more batteries, the contractor can upsell you.
  5. Sales process tools: We also help contractors with some of their sales processes.

Q: What advice would you offer to founders aiming to build solutions in the renewable energy industry?

Abdullah: If you want to build in this space, understand that it’s an industry that’s supposed to replace 70% of our current energy mix, which is oil and gas. That means policies will change, financing models will change, and the companies providing services will change too.

You need to be comfortable changing what you’re building, who you’re serving, and who you’re selling to every three to six months. This is a 10- to 20-year mission, not a quick growth-and-exit plan. You have to be okay with that.

Q: What is your vision for Coperniq over the next five to 10 years?

Abdullah: Every great company has a contrarian truth they believe in. For example, Airbnb’s was that people are okay living with strangers. At Coperniq, we believe the next generation of utility companies will be solar and energy contractors.

Our goal is to build 10,000 new utility companies from the 1,500 that exist today. We want to provide them with the technology they need to deploy, maintain, and stabilize the grid.

Max: When we look back five, 10, or 25 years from now, I hope we can say Coperniq was part of building the critical infrastructure needed for the energy transition. We want to help contractors put “glass on roof,” harness clean electrons, and give homeowners and businesses energy independence—not just at the kilowatt scale, but at the terawatt scale globally.