How much did Nanogrid raise with this deck?

According to the catalogue data, Nanogrid raised $150,000 in a Pre-Seed round in 2017. The deck itself does not state the amount raised or the terms of the investment, which is common for decks shared after a round closes or used for initial interest.

What is the primary problem Nanogrid is solving?

The problem is the complexity of residential energy pricing. Slide 3 and Slide 4 show intricate 'Time of Use' rate schedules where prices change based on the hour of the day and season. Nanogrid argues that homeowners cannot optimize their solar, EV, and battery usage against these rates without automated software.

Who are the founders of Nanogrid?

The company was founded by Jon McKay (CEO) and Dan Lopuch (CTO). Their credentials, shown on Slide 9, include education from Olin College of Engineering and MIT, and professional experience at Genability, a company specializing in utility rate data.

What is Nanogrid's business model?

The deck does not explicitly detail the business model (e.g., SaaS fees, percentage of savings, or hardware partnerships). However, the catalogue listing mentions they serve solar installers, EV makers, and storage developers, suggesting a B2B or B2B2C software integration model.

Is there a clear exit strategy or financial projection in the deck?

No. The deck is very lean on financials. It provides a single market size projection for 'Wasted energy spend' ($2B by 2024 on Slide 5) and a single traction point ($250k revenue on Slide 10), but lacks a multi-year P&L or exit analysis.

Nanogrid Pitch Deck (2017): 11-Slide Pre-Seed Deck

See all 11 slides of the Nanogrid pitch deck — a 2017 Pre Seed deck — with a slide-by-slide teardown of what the deck does well and where it falls short.

Nanogrid's 2017 pre-seed deck is a lean, 11-slide presentation that successfully raised $150,000 by targeting the growing complexity of the residential energy market. The deck relies heavily on visual storytelling, using complex utility rate charts to illustrate a problem that is difficult for homeowners to manage manually. By positioning their software as a way to optimize solar, storage, and EV charging, the founders tapped into the 'smart home' trend of the late 2010s. While the deck lacks a formal 'Ask' slide or detailed unit economics, it compensates with a high-pedigree team featuring b…

Key takeaways

The deck uses a visual diagram of a home to identify six key energy components: thermostat, solar panels, inverter, battery storage, electricity meter, and energy consumption (Slide 2).
A complex utility rate chart for the 'Summer Season' illustrates the difficulty of manual energy management, showing rates fluctuating between 21 cents and 42 cents per kWh (Slide 3).
The market opportunity is framed as 'Wasted energy spend,' projected to grow from $500M in 2019 to $2B in 2024 (Slide 5).
The solution is distilled into three core pillars: Rate Optimization, Rate Switching, and Wireless Programming (Slide 6).
The deck uses a comparative visual between a 'typical programmable thermostat' and a Nest thermostat to imply their software will provide a similar UX leap for energy management (Slide 7).
The team slide highlights technical pedigree with logos for MIT, Olin College of Engineering, and Genability, plus a Forbes 30 Under 30 recognition (Slide 9).
Traction is represented by a single figure: '$250k Revenue in ~1 Year' (Slide 10).
The deck completely omits a specific funding request, valuation, or breakdown of how the $150,000 raise would be spent.

Introduction: The Lean Technical Pitch

Nanogrid’s 2017 pitch deck is a classic example of a pre-seed technical pitch. At just 11 slides, it doesn't get bogged down in corporate jargon or over-designed graphics. Instead, it focuses on a singular, growing pain point: the increasing complexity of the electrical grid for the average homeowner. By 2017, the proliferation of residential solar, home batteries (like the Tesla Powerwall), and electric vehicles had created a 'nanogrid' within the home, but the software to manage these assets was lagging. This teardown explores how Nanogrid used visual evidence of market complexity to justify their existence.

The Vision and the Ecosystem (Slides 1-2)

Slide 1 is a standard title slide featuring the logo and the tagline: "Making home energy transparent and clean." It includes an AngelList link and a contact email, signaling this was likely used for early-stage outreach. Slide 2 provides the necessary context for the company name. It shows a cross-section of a modern home, labeling the components that Nanogrid intends to orchestrate: the thermostat, solar panels, inverter, battery storage, electricity meter, and general energy consumption from vehicles and appliances. This slide effectively defines the 'surface area' of their product without needing a wall of text.

The Complexity Problem (Slides 3-4)

Slide 3 is perhaps the most important slide in the deck. It displays a 'Time of Use' (TOU) rate chart for the summer season. It shows that electricity isn't just one price; it fluctuates between 21 cents and 42 cents per kWh depending on the time of day and whether it is a weekday or weekend. Slide 4 repeats this chart six times in a grid. While this might seem like a formatting error, it serves a rhetorical purpose: it visually overwhelms the viewer, reinforcing the idea that managing these rates across different seasons and utilities is impossible for a human to do manually. It sets the stage for an automated software solution.

Market Opportunity and Solution (Slides 5-6)

Slide 5 addresses the 'Why Now?' and 'How Big?' questions. It uses two simple circles to represent 'Wasted energy spend.' It claims the market was $500M in 2019 and would grow to $2B by 2024. Note that since the deck is from 2017, these were forward-looking projections at the time. Slide 6 introduces the Nanogrid solution, described as "The cheapest, easiest way to manage home energy." It breaks the product down into three functional icons: Rate Optimization (calculating the best times to use energy), Rate Switching (moving between utility plans), and Wireless Programming (the actual control of the devices).

The 'Nest' Comparison and Product Scope (Slides 7-8)

Slide 7 uses a powerful visual analogy. On the left, it shows a cluttered, 'Typical Programmable Thermostat Interface' with dozens of tiny buttons and confusing labels. On the right, it shows the sleek, minimalist Nest thermostat. There is no text on this slide, but the message is clear: Nanogrid intends to do for the entire home energy system what Nest did for the thermostat—replace manual complexity with elegant automation. Slide 8 shows various appliances—a dishwasher, an EV charger, a dryer, a home battery, and a water heater—under the Nanogrid logo, indicating the breadth of devices their software can control.

Team, Traction, and Conclusion (Slides 9-11)

Slide 9 presents the team. CEO Jon McKay and CTO Dan Lopuch are positioned as high-pedigree founders. The slide includes logos for Olin College of Engineering, MIT, and Genability. The inclusion of the 'Forbes 30 Under 30' logo adds third-party validation, which is crucial in a pre-seed round where the product may still be in development. Slide 10 provides the only hard financial metric in the deck: "$250k Revenue in ~1 Year." This is a strong traction signal for a pre-seed company, suggesting they already had paying B2B customers or pilot programs. Slide 11 is a repeat of the title slide, serving as a contact page.

What Works in the Nanogrid Deck

The strongest element of this deck is its visual storytelling . Instead of explaining that utility rates are complicated, Slide 3 and 4 show the complication. The comparison to Nest on Slide 7 is a brilliant way to communicate a value proposition (simplicity) by piggybacking on a well-known success story in the same industry. Furthermore, the team slide is exceptionally strong for a $150k raise. Having a founder from Genability—a company that literally maps utility rates—provides immediate founder-market fit. The deck is also refreshingly concise ; it respects the investor's time by focusing only on the problem, the solution, and the proof that the team can build it.

What Is Missing from the Nanogrid Deck

The most glaring omission is the Ask . There is no slide indicating how much money they are looking for, what the milestones are for the next 18 months, or how the funds will be allocated. While this information is often handled in the body of an email or a face-to-face meeting, including it in the deck helps anchor the conversation. Additionally, the deck lacks a Business Model slide. We know they have $250k in revenue, but we don't know if that came from one-off consulting, software licenses, or hardware markups. Finally, there is no Competitive Landscape . In 2017, companies like OhmConnect or various DERMS (Distributed Energy Resource Management Systems) providers were already in the space; failing to acknowledge them can make a founder look uninformed.

What a Founder Should Copy

Founders in technical or 'unsexy' industries (like utilities) should copy Nanogrid's use of raw data as a problem statement . If your industry is governed by complex regulations or spreadsheets, put those spreadsheets on a slide to show how painful they are. Also, the analogy slide (Slide 7) is a masterclass in positioning. If you are building the 'X for Y,' find a visual way to represent that transition from the 'old way' to the 'new way.' Lastly, the minimalist design —using high-quality icons and plenty of white space—ensures that the investor's focus remains on the core message rather than distracting graphics.

Final Thoughts

Nanogrid’s deck is a 'teaser' style presentation. It is designed to get a meeting, not to serve as a comprehensive due diligence document. For a $150,000 pre-seed round, this level of detail is often sufficient, provided the team pedigree and early traction are as strong as they appear here. It successfully identifies a massive shift in the energy landscape and positions the founders as the right people to navigate it.

Frequently asked questions

How much did Nanogrid raise with this deck?: According to the catalogue data, Nanogrid raised $150,000 in a Pre-Seed round in 2017. The deck itself does not state the amount raised or the terms of the investment, which is common for decks shared after a round closes or used for initial interest.
What is the primary problem Nanogrid is solving?: The problem is the complexity of residential energy pricing. Slide 3 and Slide 4 show intricate 'Time of Use' rate schedules where prices change based on the hour of the day and season. Nanogrid argues that homeowners cannot optimize their solar, EV, and battery usage against these rates without automated software.
Who are the founders of Nanogrid?: The company was founded by Jon McKay (CEO) and Dan Lopuch (CTO). Their credentials, shown on Slide 9, include education from Olin College of Engineering and MIT, and professional experience at Genability, a company specializing in utility rate data.
What is Nanogrid's business model?: The deck does not explicitly detail the business model (e.g., SaaS fees, percentage of savings, or hardware partnerships). However, the catalogue listing mentions they serve solar installers, EV makers, and storage developers, suggesting a B2B or B2B2C software integration model.
Is there a clear exit strategy or financial projection in the deck?: No. The deck is very lean on financials. It provides a single market size projection for 'Wasted energy spend' ($2B by 2024 on Slide 5) and a single traction point ($250k revenue on Slide 10), but lacks a multi-year P&L or exit analysis.

Cover slide of the Nanogrid pitch deck — Pre-Seed 2017 — Nanogrid pitch deck, slide 1 (2017)

Nanogrid pitch deck: the facts

Company: Nanogrid
Year: 2017
Stage: Pre-Seed
Slides: 11
Sector: Energy / Smart Home
Deck type: Pitch Deck
Outcome: $150,000 Raised
Headquarters: Oakland, California

Nanogrid pitch deck PDF

The full Nanogrid deck is embedded on this page and can be read slide by slide in the browser — no download or account required. Each slide is covered in the breakdown above.

What the Nanogrid pitch deck was used for

This deck is Nanogrid’s **2017 pre-seed, 11‑slide pitch deck** in the energy / smart home sector, used when the company was building residential energy‑intelligence software to optimize time-of-use electricity rates. The slides emphasize the complexity of residential utility rate structures (including a summer season time‑of‑use chart) and position Nanogrid’s software as a way to automatically optimize device usage for lower bills. At that time Nanogrid was an Oakland‑based startup founded in 2017 by Dan Lopuch, Patrick Sheehan and Jon McKay, targeting consumer home energy management rather than the later commercial/multi‑site focus seen in other companies with similar names.

Business model: Nanogrid provided **energy intelligence solutions for residential customers**, focusing on simulations of real-world device specifications and constraints to evaluate impacts on net electricity load and recommending device-usage combinations to reduce costs and improve lifetime value.

Round: Pre-Seed
Year: 2017
Investors: Arcadia, Plug and Play Tech Center, 500 Global (500 Startups)
Founded: 2017
Founders: Dan Lopuch, Patrick Sheehan, Jon McKay
Headquarters: Oakland, California, United States
Industry: Energy intelligence / residential home energy management
Total funding: $150,000 across 2 funding rounds

Raised: $150,000 total across two early rounds, including the 2017 pre-seed associated with this deck

What happened after the Nanogrid deck

Nanogrid, a residential energy‑intelligence startup founded in 2017 in Oakland, raised $150k in early funding including a 2017 pre‑seed round showcased in this 11‑slide deck, generated early revenue in a growing market, and was ultimately acquired by Arcadia in April 2021.

Founded in 2017 in Oakland, California, to deliver residential energy‑intelligence solutions focused on device‑usage opt
Generated **$250k in revenue in its first year**, according to a demo‑day slide deck, while targeting a market projected
Raised a total of **$150,000 across two early funding rounds**, including a **2017 pre‑seed round** associated with the
Was **acquired by Arcadia in April 2021**, integrating its residential energy‑intelligence capabilities into Arcadia’s b

What the Nanogrid deck got right

Powerful visual illustration of complex utility pricing. The deck’s centerpiece is a **summer season time‑of‑use rate chart** showing electricity prices varying between roughly 21 and 42 cents per kWh across times of day and weekdays vs. weekends. This visual makes the pricing complexity instantly clear and directly supports Nanogrid’s thesis that manual optimization is unrealistic for most households, strengthening the argument for automated software.
Credible, technically focused founding team. External descriptions emphasize that the 11‑slide deck "leverages strong team credentials" to secure pre‑seed funding. Combined with profiles naming **Jon McKay (CEO) and Dan Lopuch (CTO)** and identifying the founders as Jon McKay, Dan Lopuch and Patrick Sheehan, investors could see a technically capable and complementary leadership team in a complex energy domain.
Clear link between consumer problem and technical solution. Nanogrid’s product concept—**simulating real‑world device specifications and constraints to evaluate net load and recommend optimal usage combinations**—connects a clear consumer pain point (high, opaque bills) with a rigorous technical solution. This alignment between problem, analytics and actionable recommendations is well suited to a pre‑seed story about unlocking hidden value in existing home devices and tariffs.
Software-centric approach that leverages existing infrastructure. The deck focuses tightly on **software‑driven optimization of existing time‑of‑use rates**, rather than requiring new hardware or utility‑side infrastructure, which makes the value proposition easier to grasp and potentially faster to test with early adopters. For pre‑seed investors, this focus on software and data modeling in a regulated sector is a compelling angle.
Strong narrative and design around the problem statement. Catalogue commentary notes that despite being "light on financial projections," the deck successfully framed a **clear visual problem statement** around rate complexity and energy management, helping Nanogrid secure pre‑seed capital. This suggests the narrative and slide design were strong enough to overcome the absence of detailed financials, a notable strength for early-stage fundraising.

What could have been stronger

Limited financial projections and unit economics in the deck. External commentary notes that the deck is **light on financial projections**, and the publicly available catalogue excerpt corroborates that the 11 slides focus more on rate complexity and team credentials than on revenue forecasts or detailed unit economics. For a pre‑seed energy startup, this limits an investor’s ability to evaluate upside, scalability, and capital efficiency directly from the deck.
Problem visualization dominates, with less emphasis on competition and go-to-market. The deck centers heavily on a **complex summer season time‑of‑use rate chart** and visual problem framing. While this makes the pain point clear, there is little externally documented evidence that the slides provided equal depth on competitive landscape, regulatory risks, or customer acquisition strategy, leaving potential blind spots for investors assessing market defensibility.
Sparse execution and traction detail in the deck. Available descriptions of the 2017 deck emphasize residential rate optimization but **do not describe clear, quantified milestones for product development, pilots, or user growth**. Without these, investors relying on the deck alone would struggle to gauge execution progress or validate that the solution had moved beyond concept stage at the time of fundraising.

How an investor would read this deck

What draws attention

The **complex summer time-of-use rate chart** (21–42 cents/kWh across times and weekdays/weekends) is a strong visual hook, immediately demonstrating why manual optimization is difficult and why software can add value.
The **founding team** (Jon McKay, Dan Lopuch, and Patrick Sheehan) working in a technically demanding energy‑intelligence domain is notable, and later materials describing CEO/CTO roles reinforce that investors could see a complementary leadership pairing.
The early **acquisition by Arcadia in 2021** suggests that the core technology and data‑intelligence approach had strategic value, which retrospective investors would interpret as positive validation of the 2017 thesis.

Risks that stand out

Residential energy‑intelligence depends on **complex, utility‑specific tariff structures and data access**, so changes in rate design, data‑sharing policies, or smart‑meter penetration could materially affect Nanogrid’s addressable market and operational complexity.
Competition risk: larger platforms (utilities, smart‑home ecosystems, demand‑response aggregators) are well positioned to integrate rate‑optimization features, potentially compressing Nanogrid’s differentiation and bargaining power in partnerships.
Consumer‑behavior risk: even with optimized schedules, household adoption of automated device control or recommended usage patterns may be limited, creating a gap between theoretical savings and realized value that could affect retention and word‑of‑mouth growth.
Acquisition timing risk: while the 2021 acquisition by Arcadia is a positive outcome, it also implies that Nanogrid’s long‑term trajectory as an independent company depended on the strategic priorities of a larger platform, which might constrain product direction or focus away from the original resi

Questions this deck invites

How exactly did Nanogrid’s simulation engine work—what inputs (device specs, user behavior, rate schedules) were required, and how accurate were its net‑load and bill‑impact recommendations in real‑world trials?
What regulatory and utility‑integration hurdles existed for residential time‑of‑use optimization, and how did Nanogrid plan to secure reliable access to tariff data and meter information across different utilities and states?
What were Nanogrid’s early user acquisition channels and economics (CAC, retention, engagement) for residential customers, and did the company test utility partnerships or white‑label models as alternative routes to market?
How did Nanogrid’s residential energy‑intelligence approach compare to contemporaneous solutions offered by smart‑home platforms, utilities, or demand‑response providers in terms of accuracy, UX, and measurable bill savings?
Between the 2017 pre‑seed round and the 2021 acquisition, what key milestones (user numbers, revenue growth, product iterations) did Nanogrid achieve that drove Arcadia’s decision to acquire the company, and how did those milestones compare

What founders can take from the Nanogrid deck

A **single, well‑designed time‑of‑use rate chart** can make an abstract, technical pain point intuitively obvious, showing how prices fluctuate across hours and days and why consumers need algorithmic help; visualizing the problem clearly can substitute for lengthy textual explanation.
Even at pre‑seed, investors respond to **team credibility** in complex domains like energy data and residential load modeling; highlighting founders’ complementary technical and product experience can offset some lack of detailed projections.
A deck that is strong on **problem framing and solution concept but light on financial projections** may still secure pre‑seed capital, yet later outcomes (like acquisition) suggest that having clearer milestones and metrics would make retrospective analysis of the round easier and likely improve in
Positioning a product as **recommendation and optimization software layered on existing devices and tariffs**, rather than requiring hardware overhauls, can be compelling in regulated, infrastructure‑heavy sectors because it leverages existing assets and focuses innovation on data and algorithms.
Early documentation showing **simulations of device constraints and net electricity load impacts** indicates that connecting a clear consumer problem (high, opaque bills) to a rigorous technical approach (load modeling) can be persuasive when presented succinctly in a deck.

Nanogrid pitch deck: common questions

What did Nanogrid do at the time of this 2017 pitch deck?

Nanogrid was a **residential energy‑intelligence startup founded in 2017 in Oakland, California**, delivering software that simulated real‑world device specifications and constraints to evaluate their impact on net electricity load and recommend optimal usage combinations for lower energy costs. The 2017 deck focuses on the problem of complex time‑of‑use utility rates and positions Nanogrid as a way for households to make home energy management transparent and efficient.

How much did Nanogrid raise with this 2017 pre-seed deck and who invested?

According to a company profile and the pitch‑deck catalogue data, Nanogrid **raised $150,000 in pre‑seed funding in 2017**, across **two funding rounds**, from investors including **Arcadia, Plug and Play Tech Center, and 500 Global (formerly 500 Startups)**. These sources treat the $150k total as the amount associated with the early pre‑seed fundraising period in which this 11‑slide deck was used.

Who founded Nanogrid and where was it based when this deck was used?

Nanogrid was **founded in 2017** and **headquartered in Oakland, California, United States**, within the energy sector. The founding team consisted of **Dan Lopuch, Patrick Sheehan, and Jon McKay**, with later materials describing Jon McKay as CEO and Dan Lopuch as CTO.

What traction or financial projections were associated with Nanogrid around this period?

A demo‑day presentation linked to Nanogrid states that by 2019 the company had **generated $250k in revenue in its first year**, was targeting a market projected to grow from **$500 million in 2019 to $2 billion by 2024**, and featured a leadership team of CEO Jon McKay and CTO Dan Lopuch. These figures and titles describe later traction and market framing, not the 2017 pre‑seed round itself, which is light on financial projections according to the pitch‑deck commentary.

What ultimately happened to Nanogrid after this pre-seed round?

According to a company profile, Nanogrid **was acquired by Arcadia in April 2021**. This outcome occurred several years after the 2017 pre‑seed deck and indicates that the company ultimately became part of Arcadia’s broader energy‑data and clean‑energy platform.

Sources

Funding and outcome facts on this page were researched on 2026-08-21 from the pages below.

Nanogrid pitch deck slides

Nanogrid pitch deck slide 1 of 11 — Nanogrid pitch deck — slide 1 of 11

Nanogrid pitch deck slide 2 of 11 — Nanogrid pitch deck — slide 2 of 11

Nanogrid pitch deck slide 3 of 11 — Nanogrid pitch deck — slide 3 of 11

Nanogrid pitch deck slide 4 of 11 — Nanogrid pitch deck — slide 4 of 11

Nanogrid pitch deck slide 5 of 11 — Nanogrid pitch deck — slide 5 of 11

Nanogrid pitch deck slide 6 of 11 — Nanogrid pitch deck — slide 6 of 11

What each slide of the Nanogrid pitch deck says

Slide 1

nanogrid Making home energy transparent and clean. angel.co/nanogrid hello@nanogrid.tech

Slide 2

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