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“There’s a missing piece in how the grid interacts with smart devices, that’s where WattShift comes in.”
In the moments between classes at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, Will Blanchard wasn’t just thinking about exams or assignments.
He was thinking about energy and the power grid.
It wasn’t a new obsession; it had been building for nearly a decade, sparked during his undergraduate years when he founded his first startup in the residential energy sector, and then reinforced with eight years of experience working in the industry.
In fact, it was that obsession that brought him to Booth in the first place.
“I was working at a public company on smart thermostats and energy, and then later at a startup in residential energy data, but during the entire time I had an itch to build something that never left,” said Blanchard. “I looked at business schools and Booth stood out as a great option to help me do that.”
The Spark
Will Blanchard, founder of WattShift
Once at Booth, it didn’t take long for Blanchard to get started. During his first spring semester, he formed WattShift and entered the 2023 New Venture Challenge (NVC). An evolution of his first startup, WattShift’s mission was simple yet unique: to make home smart devices—like HVAC systems and water heaters—automatically shift their electricity usage to times when power is cheaper and cleaner. With this, not only do homeowners save money, but they also make a positive impact on the environment.
And the best part – from the homeowner’s perspective the entire experience is free.
The NVC proved to be instrumental, as the WattShift that started the program looked completely different from the one that finished it.
“I went into NVC with just an idea, and got a team, customers, and a working product,” Blanchard said. “The deadlines, the mentorship, the feedback—all of it forced us to move fast and really refine WattShift. In a matter of weeks, it went from being an idea to something tangible.”
Through the process, the WattShift team was able to secure letters of intent from potential partners, fine-tune their pitch, and map out the early stages of their product.
“The experience was invaluable because it wasn’t just about getting funding—it was about getting real-world validation that this could work,” Blanchard said.
After the NVC, Blanchard joined the Polsky Center’s Launch accelerator, a program designed to help investment-ready startups with fundraising, selling, and gaining momentum. It was during that time that WattShift truly began to take off.
With a team of developers, advisors, and mentors, the team built out the product and started forming partnerships with major players in the energy space.
“Launch was our jumping-off point,” said Blanchard. “We had the plan, we had the product, and Launch gave us the resources and the network to turn it into a business. We started making connections with big-name companies in the industry and began talking about how we could integrate WattShift’s technology directly into their systems.”
Powering Up
WattShift’s Logo
While Blanchard is still finishing up his MBA, WattShift continues to evolve. Initially focused on HVAC systems, the company has expanded to include water heaters and is eyeing other energy-intensive appliances like batteries and electric vehicles.
The company is also gaining customers, led by what Blanchard sees as one of WattShift’s competitive advantages – the user experience.
Simply download the app and provide your information, then WattShift takes care of the rest by connecting automatically to your smart devices. With savings starting the same day.
Common practice within this space uses a shared savings model – which involves a company telling a homeowner that they will save a certain percentage from their bill, and the company takes a percentage of that savings.
The issue here is often that initial saving percentage isn’t reached – meaning the homeowner ends up getting less money than they were initially told.
WattShift instead uses a unique approach that takes a set, agreed-upon percentage of all savings earned, no matter the total amount earned.
“If we tell the customer they will get all the savings on their bill – they will get that no matter what. We don’t touch that,” said Blanchard. “We never take money from the homeowner. We’re tapping into grid revenue that would otherwise go to fossil fuel companies. The consumer keeps their savings—it’s all free for them.”
Full Power
With the app available for download, a growing team, and early partnerships in place, WattShift has a solid base.
For Blanchard, however, the vision for the future goes beyond just thermostats, water heaters, and batteries.
“I aim for WattShift to be the default layer that connects all electric devices to the grid,” Blanchard said. “Right now, there’s a missing piece in how the grid interacts with smart devices, and we want to be that piece. Every device—whether it’s an electric car, a battery, or a generator—should be able to communicate with the grid in a way that maximizes efficiency and savings for the consumer. That’s where WattShift comes in.”
According to Blanchard, reaching that vision will require not just technical innovation, but strategic partnerships with major OEMs. WattShift is already in discussions with these companies, which could help bring their technology to millions of homes, and Blanchard is confident that the company is on the cusp of something big.
“We’re proving that we can generate real savings for homeowners and pull revenue from the grid that typically wouldn’t go to homeowners,” Blanchard said. “Now it’s about scaling that impact.”
The long-term vision for WattShift is bold, but it’s rooted in a simple truth: energy management doesn’t have to be complicated. By simplifying how people interact with their energy usage, WattShift is making it possible for homeowners to save money and help the environment—all with the tap of a button.
And Blanchard, who started this journey nearly a decade ago, is ready to lead the charge.
“We’ve come a long way,” he says, “but we’re just getting started.”
Visit WattShift’s website to learn more.
Article by Darwin Minnis, associate director of media relations and external communications at the Polsky Center. Darwin has a passion for telling the stories of the people, products, and companies that are making a positive impact on their communities. Reach Darwin via email.
