Wes Schroll
Wes is a leader who finds ways to get things done that others deem – and often tell him – are impossible. He came to the University of Wisconsin with two startup ventures already under his belt and immediately found inspiration for his third. The idea that launched Fetch came after his first solo grocery trip as a college student – Wes realized that he and others were more loyal to their favorite brands than they were to the stores where they shopped. He also saw a broken system for rewarding customers for their brand loyalty. He talked to anyone and everyone he could with knowledge about the grocery industry, but he kept hearing the same thing: The space was too large to tackle, too slow to innovate and far too complex for a 19-year-old college student to navigate.
Wes had a plan to prove them wrong but needed initial funding to get it off the ground. The
traditional capital funding avenues cited the same skepticisms, so Wes did what Wes does – he
got creative and found a way. He discovered a business plan competition at his college, with a
deadline just 10 days away. Burning the candle at both ends, he made the deadline and won
the $25,000 prize. The spark was lit. Wes started entering his idea in business plan competitions
all over the country. He traveled. Presented. Got feedback. Rewrote parts of the plan.
Submitted. Resubmitted. And he won. In total, he won over $180,000 in cash, office space and
other prizes. And although his winnings came with no strings attached, Wes doubled
down on his idea -- and his belief in himself, despite what others said was possible. Wes
dropped out of school in 2013 to build Fetch Rewards, which has since grown to over 90 employees, brought in over $28,000,000 in funding, impacted millions of users across the country and changed the way companies reward shoppers for their loyalty. To his colleagues and partners, Wes is the walking embodiment of the company’s internal rallying cry: Defeat The Odds.
Today, Fetch has more than 17 million monthly active users and works with global brands like General Mills, PepsiCo, Kimberly-Clark, Unliever, Albertsons Companies, and more. The company is valued at more than $2.5 billion and has raised more than $500 million in funding from investors including SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Hamilton Lane, ICONIQ, and Greycroft.
Through its innovative technology and successful business model, Fetch has become a disruptive force in the CPG, restaurant and retail industries, with more than 600 global brands partnering with Fetch to bring a fun and easy way for consumers to save every time they shop or dine. Fetch has been nationally recognized as a top workplace and holds an A+ score for company culture; Schroll is among the 2022 winners for EY Entrepreneur of the Year and was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list and Crain’s Chicago Business 20 in Their 20s.
