Welcome Luke Winston-Almanzar, Co-Founder & CEO at Reservoir on this episode of 🔥 The Lantern 🔥
Reservoir is building the world’s smartest electric water heater.
You use more energy to heat your water at home than it takes to drive an electric car. And yet your air fryer is smarter than your water heater? That’s not right!
🚀 What is Reservoir building? 🚀
Reservoir has equipped its water heater with real intelligence, delivering premium features that raise comfort while saving serious money.
Their “no-wait” shower learns your behavior, so if you shower at 6 AM every morning, it warms up using the most efficient method possible.
Their system can also predict if your pipes are on the verge of freezing and stop it before it happens.
A quarter of home insurance claims come from water damage, so this isn’t just convenience, it’s protection. Homeowners in the Boston area can save up to $1,000 a year!
🔍 How fast is Reservoir moving? 🔎
The team went from a napkin to a complex, vital piece of home infrastructure “in-market” in about 14 months.
Reservoir raised a Seed round led by Eric Paley at Founder Collective in 2024 (before he took the Secretary of Economic Development role), announced their launch to the Boston Metro in November 2025, and are now in dozens of homes with operations scaling.
Hot water is the fastest way to make a major impact on an individual home, a Reservoir can be installed in a morning or afternoon, and the team is building the muscle so that they can “copy-paste” their experience into new cities fast.
Expansion is imminent!
🤔 What has Luke learned from building startups & hardware companies? 🤔
Luke spent more than a decade at Formlabs, joining as the first business hire and helping scale the Go-To-Market into a global organization.
His advice for startups? Spend your innovation tokens wisely.
If something exists off the shelf and you can’t dramatically improve its performance or cost, buy it and focus your engineering brain power where you can really move the needle.
His advice for startups (particularly in hardware): simplicity. Fewer SKUs means more focus, a smoother operation, and a better product.
🤝 How can we help Reservoir grow? 🤝
If you’re in Boston with an electric resistance water heater, Reservoir can save you money. Reach out at reservoirhome.com.
The team is also hiring across Go-To-Market, engineering, and their own installation operation. They have plumbers on staff and are building the future of the trades.
If you know people who want to get their hands dirty at one of Boston’s most exciting startups, spread the word.
The Lantern is brought to you by MGMT Boston & Invest Northern Ireland – Americas this month