00:00I'm Scott Weis General Partner here at
00:01Andreessen Horowitz and I'm here with
00:03Ben Kaufman the CEO of quirky topic
00:06today is the connected home and Internet
00:08of Things and just wanted to kick that
00:10off a little bit with you know that I
00:13think Chris Anderson had this great
00:14quote of the who left his job at had
00:18wired to go chase a drone company and
00:22the quote was hey you know I'm taking
00:24advantage of the peace dividend from the
00:25cellphone Wars you know I think drones
00:28toys and many of the connected home
00:32products have benefited from these you
00:35know the the preponderance of sensors
00:37and you know cheap batteries and cheap
00:40processors and so now we're sticking
00:42them into just about everything in fact
00:44you know I saw a moisture sensor on a
00:47dog bowl the other day and I wondered
00:49you know kind of have we gone too far
00:52and so been you you know your company
00:54has you know developed a number of
00:56connected home products and I wonder if
00:58you could just kind of you know kind of
01:00lay out the landscape a little bit as
01:02you see it and although we can go back
01:03and forth from their story yeah we
01:06jumped into this about 18 months not
01:12necessarily sir well we were jumping
01:14into but what we saw our community
01:17invention side so we saw about 24
01:18percent of community ideas being
01:21products that have radios built inside
01:23them we knew we needed something about
01:26it kicked off a partnership with GE and
01:30into both build products in the space
01:34but also start thinking about a platform
01:35that was truly you know friendly I think
01:39one of the problems is that everybody
01:41had their own app and it's not like
01:43you're gonna have a kind of a separate
01:44garage door app or a separate you know
01:46kind of of an app it would be great if
01:48these things kind of worked in concert
01:50have you found that there's kind of you
01:52know natural product families when you
01:55think about the connected home like the
01:57security app that does four or five
01:59things or the you know the lighting app
02:01like how do you how do you think about
02:03how to group the various products and
02:05and you know like maybe give you some
02:07indication of which ones you think are
02:09you know kind of slam dunks and which
02:12no we're still in and you know debating
02:15about another ones that are you know
02:16kind of have failed and why just want to
02:18kind of get talking about it yeah I mean
02:21it's actually a really hard retail and
02:23merchandising problem because I'm one
02:24hand no one walks into a retail store
02:26and says I want to buy a connected home
02:29instead they go in and they say I want
02:31to service that or I want a light bulb
02:33and they buy you know they wind up with
02:36the connector you know one product at a
02:37time so on that side of the coin it does
02:40make sense to have a lot of disparate
02:42apps because it's just a much easier
02:43story to tell on the flip side though
02:46it's due to someone accumulates we think
02:48around three of these products they're
02:50going to be looking for these products
02:51to talk to each other to work together
02:53and to be a bit more harmonious and you
02:56know if we if we look at the the data
02:58we're getting through our platform wink
03:00really what you're seeing is the gateway
03:02that connected home is like volt it
03:05seems like the first thing everyone's
03:07buying is bulbs either light bulbs and
03:11fixtures or actual light switches but
03:13the thing that people most want to do I
03:15think is take control of their lighting
03:18from there they might go into HVAC and
03:22thermostats and stuff like that but
03:24lighting feels like the easiest thing
03:26for people to understand hey you don't
03:27have to get up off your couch internal
03:29light box so so there's a you know it's
03:32interesting that you say lighting I I
03:33sat down at dinner with somebody who is
03:35like has the Kinect at home of the
03:37future it lived like really like in fact
03:39they had a wink hub and they had
03:41connected at least like I think he
03:43connected at least 10 products to the
03:45wink hub is like a definitely like into
03:47the Jetsons type of type of use case and
03:50some of the use cases were these recipes
03:53or I think you guys call them robots
03:54where you know like maybe his his up
03:58bracelet can tell when he goes to sleep
04:01and he wait when he wakes up and that
04:03was kind of a recipe for you know when
04:06he goes to sleep make sure the garage
04:07door closes make sure the ovens off make
04:10sure all the lights are off and when he
04:12wakes up like the downstairs lighting
04:13automatically goes on do you think that
04:16that kind of use case is going to be you
04:18know kind of a normal like for normals
04:20where they're actually going to set up
04:22recipes and robots to do all these crazy
04:26you know how do you how do you envision
04:27the people interfacing with the Kinect
04:30at home I think you have dirty Fred I
04:34think that the reality of it is you know
04:38I don't think the average user in the
04:41middle of the country is going to be
04:42setting up robots or recipes or whatever
04:44techie word we put on it what's gonna
04:47happen though is you know we can get we
04:49can start to get really smart right so
04:51if we see that you have motion sensors
04:54we know that by chance what you would
04:56probably want to do is when you walk
04:58into a room has a lights go on when you
04:59walk off have have them off you know you
05:02are more than 100 feet away from your
05:05house and you want your garage door
05:07closed so I think what you're going to
05:09see is things that we are right now
05:11setting up ourselves and calling recipes
05:13or calling robots are going to become
05:16things that are programmatically sort of
05:18learned with you know the human behavior
05:21that normally goes along with
05:23collections of product got it so the
05:26like the motion detector for being in
05:27the room seems like an easy one you know
05:31the garage door opener we talked a lot
05:32about because it you know like it's one
05:34of those niggling things of I've left
05:36the house and did I open it was it
05:38closed what have you but I you know like
05:40I what about the unintended consequences
05:42of some of these things like you know
05:44what I don't know that I always when I
05:46walk into a room I want the light to go
05:48on like what if my wife's sleeping there
05:49and you know certainly like the garage
05:52door is one of those things that you
05:54know people are now using it like did my
05:56spouse leave the leave the house yet you
05:58know like there's this this this data
06:01could have both the functionality and
06:04the data could have some unintended
06:05consequences both positive and negative
06:07right yeah I mean it all comes down to
06:09how much you believe in the future I
06:11you know like there are technological
06:13solutions to every single problem you
06:15brought up right with everyone's phone
06:17being a beacon and everyone's phone
06:19having activity trackers you will know
06:21whether or not someone is sleeping or
06:22someone's awake when you can start to
06:24imagine a future where all this stuff
06:26actually takes care of itself or you
06:28could just say hey these solutions have
06:31worked forever let's not over let's not
06:34sort of complicate our home I think I
06:37think the answer of where we wind up is
06:39somewhere in the middle and you know 70%
06:43of people enter their homes their garage
06:45chances are they're going to want some
06:47assurances around whether or not their
06:48garage is open or closed and then want
06:51to be able to provide temporary keys to
06:52you know caregivers or service providers
06:56so you know again I I don't necessarily
06:59personally believe in the far extreme
07:01but I also don't think that the current
07:04solutions of you know life switches that
07:06were invented in 1908 or you know
07:09state-of-the-art and are incapable of
07:12being better but let's talk about
07:15lighting just for a second I mean if you
07:17were to think about the two or three use
07:19cases for lighting one is you know come
07:20obviously you know turning the lights
07:23off on a more consistent basis you think
07:25about just like in Europe where
07:27everybody is much more energy conscience
07:28conscious and you know you have to
07:31physically leave a key in the light at
07:34most hotel rooms in the end the switch
07:36so that the power just immediately shuts
07:38off to everything when you're not in the
07:39room you know forces me to occasionally
07:42get two keys so I'm not inconvenienced
07:44by my heater going off but but I I just
07:48I one of the things that I think people
07:51miss in the lighting and and kind of the
07:53sensing is just how much energy is going
07:55to be saved and I know that you have an
07:57air conditioner that's that's quote
07:59smart and one of the key features is
08:01this issue of saving you know saving the
08:03time that it's on for only when you're
08:05actually physically either there or on
08:07your way there to cool down the to cool
08:11down the place so you know I guess how
08:13much of this is convenience versus how
08:14much is you know kind of we need to
08:16start saving electricity and others and
08:18you know like how would you how would
08:19you parse that yeah it's really mean I
08:21think I think a small part of it is the
08:24Lazy factor of just you know not having
08:26to get up off the couch but I think
08:28people are actually starting to really
08:29see you know the benefits of the
08:32energy-saving parts of ecosystems like
08:35this I mean when your light bulbs last
08:36twenty two point three years you're a
08:38lot less worried about you know how
08:42often you have to change the bulbs and a
08:43lot more worried about where these bulbs
08:45look like and will they you know
08:48the changes in decor I have you know
08:50plans for my home and so on and so forth
08:52I think you know I think California is
08:54leading the way in a lot of this we we
08:56we're building a small office out there
08:58and there's a new California law that
09:00says all offices that are being built
09:03need to have light sensors and motion
09:06sensors in every single room and if a
09:08rooms not being used the lights need to
09:09be off or at least dimmed to a certain
09:11level and there's all sorts of energy
09:13usage guidelines we actually used it for
09:16a test bed for our products to see if
09:18you know our products which were
09:20designed for the residential world can
09:21sort of live up to the commercial code
09:26and and actually you know meet all of
09:29these energy requirements turns out they
09:30do and so you start to only have you
09:34know energy savings on the product level
09:37but but in in places like offices and
09:40commercial uses where you would normally
09:42have to buy a expensive system like a
09:44Crestron or a Lutron if you can if you
09:46can implement residential systems like a
09:48wink you're also going to save money on
09:50the hardware as well so I think all
09:52these things are starting to really
09:53click in people's minds it's going to
09:55take a while though and I've said we
09:59need to be very patient with category
10:01right so what is the if some people are
10:05out there listening and wondering you
10:06know kind of what's the closest thing to
10:08the Jetsons as far as the products that
10:10you're seeing coming down the pipeline
10:12you know when I think about the Jetsons
10:14and the robots and the you know like I
10:16push a button and out comes my scrambled
10:18eggs and bacon and some coffee like I
10:21have a coffee machine at home you know I
10:23have to clean the damn the milk thing
10:24out twice a day but like how far how
10:27close to the Jetsons are we and like
10:29what do you see products around the
10:31corner that would give me kind of a
10:32Jetson ESCA feel yeah I think we have a
10:35little ways to go in the appliance world
10:37there isn't there aren't self-cleaning
10:40appliances outside of it obviously the
10:42self-cleaning oven that exists there are
10:45there's no laundry folding robot or
10:46anything like that but there are some
10:49really cool solutions coming out there
10:51on countertop appliances you know we
10:54actually a quirky Oregon a really cool
10:56product called so it's an infant formula
10:58machine so if you have a young young
11:01baby and baby starts crying in the
11:04middle of the night you hit a button and
11:05it actually takes the powder to infant
11:07formula it mixes it with pasteurized
11:10water it spins the bottle mixes it all
11:13up and then brings it down to perfect
11:15drinking temperature that seems just the
11:17next to me and I think it'll help it'll
11:19help mom absolutely just do you put it
11:23in the crib and they they drink it like
11:24a gerbil or how does it actually work it
11:31should be a little aftermarket item
11:32right like you can put it right in the
11:34crib and it'll mix it up and stuffs it
11:36right in their mouth you don't even have
11:37to wake up listen I the jury for me is
11:40still out a little bit on exactly how
11:42everything's going to be applied but but
11:45you know I I see the cost savings I see
11:48the convenience savings you know one of
11:51the things that I've been continually
11:53intrigued by is the locks like I think
11:56locks and the fact that we're still
11:57carrying around Keys seems to be very a
12:00very antiquated you know way of doing
12:04things and I think about sheriff pocket
12:06if my my phone which is you know kind of
12:08has my fingerprint can let me in to any
12:11door that I have access you also have
12:13kind of a cloud access control
12:14associated with locks so when I think
12:16about like the the the place of the
12:20future you know like let's say the house
12:22of the future locks to me seem to be
12:24like a pretty seminal thing like I know
12:26you mentioned lighting but just the fact
12:28that everybody has you know certain
12:29access control nobody has to carry
12:31around keys they just carry their cell
12:32phone and they kind of walk in and out
12:34of the doors by putting their finger on
12:36the you know kind of the fingerprint
12:38and then of course you have this cloud
12:40for service where you can go and see all
12:42the comings and goings of you know a
12:44nanny a house cleaner a babysitter a
12:47repair person if I were if I were to
12:50handicap like what I would like to see
12:52in the next five years on internet of
12:54things I think locks would be my number
12:56one yeah lock the Luxor are gonna be a
12:59big one and what you
13:01think about it are we going to see sort
13:04of same lock-and-key type type things
13:07with radios inside of them and then the
13:10cloud software that goes along with it
13:11or is it going to be sort of one step
13:13ahead of that where there is no actual
13:15physical lock on the door all the
13:17hardware's built into the door itself
13:19and instead you just have you know your
13:22decor handles and things like this I
13:24think you're gonna wind up with locks
13:26that are invisible and that's where it
13:28gets interesting for me yeah you know
13:32it's funny when I think about retail
13:35technologies that have been
13:36transformative like you know the ATM was
13:40one that just kind of saved so much
13:42money on both sides and time for people
13:45going to bank tellers or the pay at the
13:46pump was another thing that was you know
13:48just a transformative retail technology
13:50you know being able to just kind of walk
13:53into a hotel and write to my room in the
13:56same way that I claim my car over at you
14:00know kind of like at the at Hertz gold
14:03feels like something that could you know
14:05kind of be a transformative retail
14:07technology for for hotels you know just
14:10being able to kind of send me my key and
14:12pre-ordained my my hotel room so when I
14:15get there there's no standing in line I
14:16just walked right to the room and you
14:18know either my I have a coat or what
14:20have you just lets me right in the door
14:21yeah I think I mean the problem with all
14:25these technologies the technology exists
14:27and really the period we're in right now
14:29is a period of waiting for everyone to
14:32adopt the technology and and go through
14:35these cycles of building new hotels or
14:36changing out the doors and in the five
14:39hundred thousand hotel rooms that
14:41Marriott manages in the United States
14:43all these different things are you know
14:45we're ready for it it's just a matter of
14:47letting it absorb and happen right well
14:50hey Ben I don't take any more time
14:51thanks so much for for joining us today
14:53and take care thank you mr. white
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