connected-home
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The Tiny Firm Behind the Big Technology Story
JLM Partners built a communications business by staying small, learning the plumbing of broadband and showing up wherever complicated technology needs a plain-English story.
How Chamberlain Turned the Garage Door Into a Software Business - and What Builders Can Copy
The 72-year-old hardware maker found a software business hiding in the most anxious sentence in suburbia: ‘Did I close the garage?’ Now it is taking the same access layer from driveways to front doors, apartment gates and loading docks.
The $3.7 Million Smart-Home Shop That Wins by Making Expensive Technology Disappear
Advanced Integrated Controls puts theaters in attics, televisions in ceilings and dozens of systems behind one button. Its real product is not hardware - it is the absence of technological fuss.
The Doorbell That Rang Before Ring
It crowdfunded $600K, out-patented its rivals, and put two million cameras on America's doorframes - then Amazon bought Ring and everything about the doorbell wars got louder.
The Basement Startup That Quietly Owns Your Air and Your Air Fryer
You have probably bought one of their products without ever hearing their name. Inside VeSync, the quiet operator behind Levoit, Cosori and Etekcity - and how a basement Amazon seller became a household fixture.
The Standards Group That Made 4,500 Smart-Home Gadgets Actually Talk to Each Other
It doesn't sell a single gadget. It sells a promise - that the smart lock, the motion sensor and the hub in your hallway will all speak the same language, no matter whose name is on the box.
The Robot Bassinet That Talked Its Way Into the FDA
A pediatrician wrote the book on calming babies. Then he built the machine - and spent seven years convincing regulators it belonged in the medicine cabinet, not just the nursery.
The Company That Sells You Peace of Mind, One Thermostat at a Time
Honeywell spun it off in 2018 as an afterthought. Six years and three acquisitions later, Resideo is a $6.76 billion home-safety business splitting itself in two - and betting the boring stuff on your wall is worth more apart than together.
Sleep Number Put Software in the Mattress. Then the Business Lost Its Balance.
Sleep Number spent four decades turning a squishy air chamber into a connected health platform. Its technology found millions of sleepers; its expensive retail machine found a harder morning.
ADT
The blue yard sign is only the visible edge of ADT. Behind it sits a six-center monitoring network, 6.1 million subscribers and a bet that the next security system will understand a home without constantly filming it.
Jim Johnson
Jim Johnson is the CEO of Gembah, an Austin-based product development and manufacturing platform that helps brands and entrepreneurs design, prototype, and source physical products from a vetted global network of factories and experts. A veteran hardware and technology operator, he earlier founded and ran uControl, a pioneer of interactive home security and smart-home platforms, then became a leader at iControl Networks after the two companies merged - scaling the business to more than 300 employees and deployments in over 3 million homes before its 2017 acquisition by Comcast and Alarm.com. An electrical engineer by training, Johnson pairs deep technical fluency with a track record of building, merging, and exiting technology companies.
Brilliant Smart Home
Brilliant Smart Home (Brilliant NextGen, Inc.) makes smart home control simple by replacing a wall of light switches with an in-wall touchscreen that runs lighting, climate, music, intercom, cameras, and smart devices from one panel and one app. Founded in 2015 in San Mateo, California, the company sells control panels, smart dimmer switches, and smart plugs to homeowners, home builders, and multifamily property managers. After a 2024 bankruptcy and acquisition by Almeida Strategic Investments, it relaunched as Brilliant NextGen with a builder-and-integrator focus and a second-generation Power over Ethernet platform.