The energy industry is entering a new phase, one defined by load growth, grid constraints, fragmented market structures, and a growing need for smarter coordination across the system. 

Jake Varsano, the newest addition to the 53 Stations Wayfinder network, knows that terrain well.

He has spent his career working across the energy sector, from early experience in the energy practice at Charles River Associates to time at Enel X in grid resilience. Now at Kraken, Jake is a Customer Growth Lead, focusing on commercializing software platforms for utilities with an emphasis on distributed energy resources.

Here are five pieces of advice for founders building in the energy space.

1. Start with a real grid constraint

When I think about whether a value stream is durable enough to build a business around, the first thing I look for is a real bottleneck or constraint in the grid system.

A lot of attention right now is going to interconnection, load growth, and the broad challenge of getting supply and demand onto the grid. But there is just as much opportunity in what sits between them. Say everyone does get interconnected. All the supply comes on, all the demand comes on. There are still a lot of poles, wires, and software in between that have to manage all of that change. That’s where I see a lot of opportunity: better monitoring, new types of hardware, and the systems that help the grid manage more complexity.

2. Build from an incentive framework

Energy deals often require utilities. Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), platforms, regulators, and customers to all be aligned. Once the problem is real, the next question is how each of these stakeholders defines value.

This means developing an incentive framework. What is the regulator looking for from the utility and on behalf of the customer? What is the utility trying to optimize for? What matters to the OEM? What does the end customer actually care about? In many cases, the customer standard is straightforward: They want power to be reliable and affordable.

A founder needs to understand what each party is trying to accomplish before figuring out how to add value. Without doing this groundwork, it becomes much harder to position your product in a way that works in the real market.

3. Design for a more proactive, coordinated grid

One of the biggest shifts I see is from reactive emergency response to proactive coordination of distributed energy resources.

Historically, many programs have been built around emergency conditions. The old model looked like this: The grid is about to go into blackout. Everyone shut down their power.

The newer model is more precise. Our focus at Kraken has been on proactivity. Instead of waiting for an emergency, the question becomes: How can different forms of energy use be shifted in advance to improve affordability and reliability over time? In the example of a blackout, rather than asking the whole grid to react, operators identify the specific section of the grid under strain and shift nearby Distributed Energy Resource (DER) behavior, like electric vehicle (EV) charging, to relieve the issue without interrupting everyone.

4. Navigate the space with experienced operators

An added complexity to building in the U.S. energy market is that the rules and market structures look very different from one region to another.

Experienced personnel are your best bet at understanding the market. Especially for companies entering the US market, one of the first things I would do is bring in seasoned people who understand the players, the history, and how the incentives work in practice.

Before seeking risk capital, founders should make full use of the ecosystem already around them. There are a lot of different utility teams focused on innovation. Regulators sometimes set up programs for innovation. You also see hyperscalers partnering with energy tech startups, along with nonprofits ranging from community advocacy groups to larger organizations like the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). Those groups can help founders get a better lay of the land before they are even thinking about capital.

That matters even more because the policy environment keeps moving. What the federal government was worried about in 2023 is very different from today, and those shifts trickle down to states, utilities, and where capital gets deployed. Founders need people around them who can interpret that change and adapt quickly.

5. Anchor on the end customer

The everyday utility customer is the constant underlying signal. They are the ratepayer, the voter, and the person experiencing the system directly. This is who founders should be building for.

The companies best positioned to win will be led by founders that understand incentives deeply, hire people who know how the market works, and solve real constraints in ways that create value for that end customer.

The opportunity is not just to build more energy technology, but to build companies that can operate inside a complex, changing system without losing sight of the problem they were designed to solve in the first place. The founders who can pair technical ambition with market fluency, strong operators, and a clear view of the customer will be the ones best positioned to shape the next era of the grid.

To learn more about Wayfinders and the other advisors in the program, check out the 53 Stations website.