In this episode: how doubts from investors and peers fueled one entrepreneur to co-found a company that changed the way companies manage their energy use — and landed him in the Supreme Court.

Tim Healy co-founded EnerNOC in 2001. EnerNOC was one of the companies that turned demand response from an obscure, low-tech process into an automated and powerful tool for managing the electric grid.

Tim found his calling as an entrepreneur early on in life. But he’s had plenty of people who told him he wouldn’t be CEO material — including his first business partner in college.

“I would say it’s driven me for the last two and a half decades, to really take that as motivation rather than as some sort of negative criticism,” explains Tim.

He later used that motivation to get him through one of the roughest periods of his professional life: a battle at the Supreme Court that threatened the existence of EnerNOC.

“There were times during that period of time where I did feel more isolated and alone than usual, where I felt like it was unfair that we were having to fight this big of a challenge and that something so good for society, something so good for the energy innovation sector was having such a difficult time making its business work,” he says.

We’ll talk with Tim about his tumultuous journey building one of the most influential companies in clean energy.

Resources:

• Profiles of EnerNOC’s co-founders from the Tuck School of Business
• Greentech Media: Enel Buys EnerNOC for $250 million
• Fortune: Why the Supreme Court’s demand response ruling is important for innovation