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Sales Manager, California Renewable Energy

There are all kinds of reasons students take a gap year in college鈥攖ravel, family commitments, an internship.

Andy Stasch took a year off to sell solar panels.听

鈥淚 don鈥檛 like the idea of the kind of job where you鈥檙e working at a desk and you put in a lot of extra effort, but aren鈥檛 necessarily rewarded for it,鈥� Andy said. 鈥淚n sales, if I want to make more money, I can go make more calls or knock on more doors.鈥�

In fact, while Andy focused on finance as a Leeds student, sales became a major passion. He鈥檚 had multiple sales roles, including an opportunity with California Renewable Energy, a solar startup that gave him management responsibilities; he wound up recruiting about 20 CU students to work there over the summer.听

鈥淚 was in charge of finding housing, providing training, getting uniforms and making sure everyone was happy,鈥� Andy said. 鈥淚鈥檓 proud I was able to do that, but at the time, it was stressful to make sure everyone who came out there had a great experience.鈥�

Taking a year off school allowed him to rack up enough sales to pay his tuition, but Andy clearly saw how his classes鈥攅specially the sales courses with professor Brian Higgins鈥攎ade him better at his craft.

鈥淚 was decent at sales, but didn鈥檛 really understand why I was doing some of the things I was doing,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he sales class made it very clear to me why I was supposed to ask so many questions and try to empathize with buyers.鈥�

During his gap year, in the pandemic, Andy made 30 sales for California Renewable Energy. The following summer, after taking the course, he completed 29 deals in just three months.听

鈥淚 give a lot of credit to professor Higgins,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he sales class taught me a lot not only about sales, but about social skills and my personal life. It鈥檚 the best class I鈥檝e ever taken鈥攁nd I barely got in because of how many kids wanted to take it.鈥�

A native Coloradan, Andy followed his older brother, Nick Stasch, to CU Boulder. The brothers intended to play lacrosse together in Utah, 鈥渂ut he changed his mind and came to Boulder because he thought it was a better fit,鈥� Andy said. 鈥淎nd for me, I had a lot of friends who planned to come here, and I knew Leeds is a top-tier business school, as well.鈥澨�

At CU, Andy was a member of the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity and a serious sports fan鈥攏o surprise, considering he was captain of his high school hockey team and an active lacrosse player, as well. And even though he left the state for his sales role, he鈥檚 interested in staying local after graduation, especially as the costs associated with solar installation have started to tick up.听

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think I鈥檒l get a finance job right out of college鈥擨鈥檓 leaning more toward construction sales right now,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think people are going to stop coming to Colorado for a long time.鈥�

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