In high school, he was known for towering over his classmates: literally and figuratively. At over 6’3” tall, he was a dominant student athlete, earning MVP honors in both football and basketball at Acton-Boxborough Regional High School. But for Wes Schroll, class of 2009, it was what happened off the field, on the long bus rides, in casual and serious conversations, and late night brainstorms, that shaped the future founder and CEO of Fetch Rewards. “I was more of a standout athlete than I was a student,” Wes admitted with a smile, remembering how sports came naturally to him. While training and competing occupied much of his time and passion, Wes never lost sight of the bigger picture. “I still knew it wasn’t something I was going to go professional in,” he said. His parents were his biggest supporters, but they also helped keep things in perspective, encouraging balance and pushing him to think about what came next.
What came after was something few could have imagined: a mobile app that would go on to transform how millions of people save money and interact with brands. Fetch Rewards, the app Wes founded, allows users to scan receipts to earn points that can be redeemed for gift cards. But the seeds of that idea were planted long before Wes stepped foot on a college campus.
As early as sixth grade, Wes was a businessman with a car washing service, for example, but by sophomore year, he had filed his first patent and formed two LLCs. “I didn’t have a lot of peers around me that were interested in [entrepreneurship],” he said, “but I was super interested in this idea of creating a company.”
The spirit of initiative led Wes to choose a quote from Thoreau as his senior yearbook quote: “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.” Looking back now, he says his high school self would be proud. “It would very much be within the vision that the high school Wes had.”
His first invention was a phone case that combined a wallet, stemming from a simple annoyance. Wes noticed that he would often find himself forgetting his wallet before driving or his phone when getting picked up. Though it never reached mass production, it introduced Wes to patents, prototyping, and persistence. He talked to local leather workers, asked teachers for connections, and refined the networking skills that would later become essential.
Networking, Wes says, is a skill many overlook. “It’s being comfortable passionately talking about an idea without worrying someone’s going to steal it,” he explained. Teachers at AB, some of whom had run businesses themselves, played a vital role. “One teacher would say, ‘Did you know this other teacher ran a business?’ And I’d go talk to them.”
The habit of reaching out by starting conversations and following up helped Wes overcome one of the biggest challenges when launching Fetch, which was the fact that he was not a developer. He needed a mobile app but didn’t have the coding skills to build one. So, he did what he was good at: he told a compelling story. Wes entered business plan competitions at his university and then recruited friends at other colleges to do the same. He flew around the country and won 85,000 in prize money, which he used to hire a development team. “I didn’t have to give up any equity in the company,” he said proudly.
Fetch Rewards was born from a common student experience of moving from dorm life to an off-campus apartment. Suddenly, Wes was shopping at new stores, buying different brands, and wanting recognition for his purchasing choices. “I signed up for all the loyalty programs I could,” he said, “but I didn’t spend enough at any one place to earn something meaningful.” His solution? One unified platform that rewarded users no matter where they shopped. Long story short, that idea would eventually turn into Fetch.
Over a decade later, Wes remains grounded in values he picked up at Acton-Boxborough. He emphasizes that while he stood out as an athlete, what mattered most were the moments between the games. The leadership lessons from coaches, the friendships formed on bus rides, and the curiosity that drove him to ask questions and build ideas.
To current students with big dreams, Wes offers a reminder: “You don’t have to be exceptional at everything. Just be curious. Be willing to talk to people. And if someone helps you, follow up.”
And to my question about his first patent, Wes smiled as he unfolded an old printout of his phone-wallet case. “It was a simple idea. But simple ideas, done right, can lead to something big.”
