It was a triumphant moment for Jurich, one of the most high-profile female renewables CEOs in the world. But the honeymoon did not last. Sunrun shares began dropping immediately, and as of mid-November were worth less than half their $14 IPO price.

How Jurich responds in 2016 may well determine the future of the company that she co-founded and built up to become the third-largest residential solar installer in the US (after SolarCity and Vivint Solar).

Jurich and fellow Stanford Business School student Ed Fenster launched Sunrun in 2007 with the idea of paying to put solar panels on residential homes for free, then selling the electricity back to the homeowner under 20-year power-purchase agreements (PPAs).

“I