What inspired you to develop kWh and how has your experience at Illinois influenced the inception of your startup?

kWh combines various experiences and interests, but it really started with wanting to develop a venture for myself that helped the community I grew up in on my terms. kWh is helping India integrate and monetize energy assets, which will help eliminate blackouts at scale. The very first day this started was when we received an email that the deadline for the Mottier Innovation Challenge was extended by a week. On the last day of the extended deadline, I still had no business idea in mind; however, I knew the problem at hand: energy mismanagement along with the ability of smart devices to support the grid at large. That was barely an idea. After 8 months of product-market fit iterations, we changed the idea, which started in the US, to disaster-stricken regions like Puerto Rico and Ukraine, and realized that India is truly the best place to implement a solution because of the incredible and untapped opportunity. At this point, our solution was still undefined.

How does kWh distinguish itself from existing solutions in the energy management sector, and what unique value does it offer to its users?

Energy aggregation is not a new idea. It has been done at scale; it has been done in various countries with various technologies. The challenge with India is vastly different consumer behavior as well as a lack of regulations. kWh is the first aggregator of decentralized energy resources in India, enabling the grid-edge devices to support the grid at large and get paid for doing so. We are working directly with the government authorities to help craft the business model, as well as providing an aggregation SaaS model that complies with India-specific cybersecurity and privacy laws.

Can you share how participating in the Cozad New Venture Challenge has impacted your startup's development and your team's entrepreneurial growth?

Cozad has been instrumental to our growth in two ways: access to the Technology Entrepreneurial Center (TEC) faculty and helping shape my vision. I have been attending Social Fuse events for 4 years now to see other people develop their ideas and this has helped create my entrepreneurial drive. This happened before I decided to enter the competition myself during senior year this year. The TEC faculty, especially John Thode, have been instrumental to our growth and will continue to help shape our vision as we grow further.

What are your short-term and long-term goals for KwH and how do you envision scaling your solution to reach a broader market?

I have turned down internship offers and will be moving to India to launch the product this summer. We are not waiting around since this needs to happen now. The resources will enable us to hire SWE talent as well as expand our sales efforts to various product lines. Our immediate goal is to launch pilot projects to prove the technology to businesses as well as regulators. Energy is heavily regulated and we need to prove the technology to the regulators to enable monetization.

Our long-term goals are to integrate product offerings through vertical integration of our services in India. Automated Demand Response and Behavioral Demand Response are at the forefront, followed by ambitious new technology I have worked on in the past and will keep as a stealth product that will unlock the largest source of unrealized energy. This requires a few other steps, devices, and regulations before we can tap into it, which is why we will work on it in the background for now.

Based on your journey so far, what advice would you offer to fellow students and aspiring entrepreneurs looking to launch their own ventures?

Manifest. Look for opportunities. Follow through.

Work on something that is impactful, something you know a lot about to give you the advantage. Another ride share service won't help anyone. Go grab that opportunity you are thinking about, schedule a coffee chat, approach the person you can learn from, send out cold LinkedIn messages, rad that research paper that piqued your interest, schedule a 1-on-1 with your professor, schedule that visit you think might be helpful, and grow your network. Don't be afraid to embarrass yourself. In fact, consider that a certainty if you choose this path. With enough practice, you will embarrass yourself less and less until you become the subject matter expert.