Dip and I recently read this post by Rob Day, who goes by the handle @cleantechvc on Twitter. We think that Rob really nailed it when it comes to the next phase of cleantech. Here are a few of his points that really resonate with us at EcoVent.

Customer experience: Simpler. Easier. Better. This is our mantra. We’re always thinking about the customer experience. There’s technology out there that can fix every HVAC problem under the sun, but it isn’t easy. It’s like you need a dozen advanced degrees to just set the temperature you want and keep it consistent from room to room. It shouldn’t be that way. We wanted to design something so simple you install it yourself in a single afternoon.

Execution: You can make a product with all the features in the world, but it doesn’t matter if no one wants to buy it. And that comes down to execution. Nothing could be more critical. We’ve got beta testers knocking down our door to try out our system, and we want to make sure we deliver the very best possible product at the end of the day.

Start Small, Think Big: Couldn’t agree with this one more. We’re starting with an unloved, overlooked piece of home hardware that hasn’t changed in decades. The vent. But if we make one homeowner more comfortable, we’ve achieved our goal. When we’re thinking small, that’s our mission. But when you start to consider about the levels of energy savings, peace of mind, and fine-grained control we can offer, it’s easy to see the big picture.

Our bags were packed and we were psyched four our trip to Las Vegas to attend the Consumer Electronics Show. Dip, Bucky (our CIO) and I have all never been and were looking forward to attending the largest electronics conference in the world. Unfortunately, that didn’t come to be.

JetBlue cancelled our flight due to weather and other operational issues. The next available flight they could get us out on was Thursday (we were supposed to leave Saturday night), at which point the trip became pointless. Needless to say, we were disappointed by the cancellation. I’m hopeful that JetBlue will cover our lost travel costs, which resulted from our missed flight. Thankfully we’ve been able to reschedule the meetings we had set for CES, and have had some great conversations as a result.

JetBlue Cancellations … The Worst

The disappointment hit Dip and I at different times, and in different ways. At different times, we each reassured the other that missing the trip was not a huge loss. We were right. Staying in Boston gave us extra productive work time and kept us on focus. Dip attended an event where he met Julia Austin, an awesome startup mentor and investor, who has since met with us and offered great support and help. I also got to go home to Baltimore for a rare full Kelman family reunion. It was a great weekend.

Every missed opportunity presents others. I’m happy to have a great co-founder that has the ability to make the best of every situation. See you next year CES.

We are excited to share our latest ecoVent updates with you. A lot’s been going on. We are making great progress, and having a blast making our company come to life. To update you on all the happenings ,we are delivering a week of ecoVent updates – some update you on our progress (orange), others illustrate how we are having a blast (blue).

We Now Have Control

We are excited to report that as of the end of October, we’ve been controlling the HVAC in Nick, our CTO’s, home through our sensors. Although the system isn’t yet re-directing air through actuating vents (soon enough), Nick’s sensor-thermostat system can turn on and off the HVAC to make a specific room comfortable. This is great for Nick since his home often has an 8 degree temperature difference between the hottest and coolest rooms.

Once we have our vents up and running, each room will be set to the ideal temperature. In the meantime, Nick can let the system learn which rooms he uses and when, or he can manually set the system to make a specific room a specific temperature.

ecoVent Weekend

In the last week of October, all but one of the team (we missed you Deuce) came together to spend a weekend bonding together. Team ecoVent took Fairhaven, MA by storm. Correction – Fairhaven was hit by a storm the same weekend. Despite the gusting 30+ MPH winds, we had a great weekend of hanging with our awesome MIT interns and advisor, barbequing, playing games. We also did work of course. And despite the weather, what would a corporate retread weekend be without a midnight swim in the freezing cold water?

Vent Prototype

B-Dawk, our prototype vent, has arrived. He’s the first of many to come. B-Dawk was born just last week, and we are pumped to have him on the team. Though he isn’t ready to go to market just yet, we are thrilled that he is 10 decibels quieter than the everyday vent that noisily whistles when closed in 70% of US homes. He diffuses air like no other and runs for years without changing his batteries. We look forward to introducing you to him and his decedents soon. A special thanks to Jim, a fellow entrepreneur at MIT and founder of AvaTech, who helped bring B-Dawk to life.

MIT 100K Pitch Contest

MIT’s 100K startup contest has 3 components – Pitch, Accelerate and Launch. The Pitch event encourages all of MIT to bring their ideas to the table and consider how to take an idea and make it a business. Dip represented ecoVent in this year’s competition and brought home 1^st prize, a cool $5,000 and a whole lot of facebook likes. Way to go Dip!

Patent Fun

This was a tough call – is filling out provisional patent that outlines our many protectable ideas progress or having a blast? We think it’s both, but went with progress to keep the pattern going. Basically, we filled our provisional patent - full patents coming soon. Way to go Dip leading this effort. Special thanks to David Martin for your awesome help.

This is the third part of my series on the benefits of discussing our idea with anyone I can, and some of the characters that emerge from these discussions. At times, suggestions come from left field. I’ll tell someone our idea, and they will ask whether ecoVent can regulate heat between apartments in a building, or something that doesn’t really relate to the system.

In these case, I know I’ve done something wrong. The more pointed the questions posed after a brief explanation of our system, the better the job I know I’ve done at explaining our vision. I use those immediate questions as communication feedback. Sometimes the questions I am asked tell me I knocked it out of the park – the person I’m speaking to understands the value proposition of our system. Occasionally, I miss the boat. This feedback helps me work on figuring out what’s working and what parts of my message need to be refined. If for instance, I’m frequently asked about mobile control of the system, I look to find a point in which I can reiterate that our system can be controlled by a mobile device or over a PC.

When I get asked a question out of left field, I try to backtrack through my explanation to understand where I led the questioner astray and said something that begot this misunderstanding. Sometimes, the misunderstanding is due to the questioner’s background or unfamiliarity with home heating and cooling systems. Other times it’s my bad, and understanding where things went wrong helps me clarify the message going forward. There are three primary benefits that I’ve come to appreciate from speaking to just about everyone I can about ecoVent: (a) free advice, (b) encouraging excitement and the Circle of Pumped and (c) help in polishing my explanation of the ecoVent future. If you have any ideas/advice, want to get on the pre-launch order list (no deposit required at this time) or have ideas on how I can explain the ecoVent system in a more punchy way, please drop me a line at [email protected].

This is my second post in a 3 part series on why I enjoy speaking to people about ecoVent. In Part I, I discussed the value of hearing people’s initial responses and using their insights to continue hashing out our idea. Sometimes, the reaction is too preachy for anyone’s good, as is the case with the the “I Know Your Idea (IKYI: Ick · yee)” guy. In this post, I will describe the Circle of Pumped – the excitement and sensation I get when people who hear about ecoVent get excited and in turn get me even more pumped up.

A great benefit of talking to people about our system is the affirmation and enthusiasm I receive. The first time I heard Dip pitch ecoVent, I was fired up. My excitement continually increases as we keep making strides to putting the ecoVent system in your home. One of the most encouraging forms of feedback we have received are from the folks I call our ‘Future Customers’.

The Future Customer is the person who cuts me off while I’m describing our system’s benefits and says “YES! I can’t stand that my _____ room is always so cold or hot! I need your system.” These folks are so enthused about our idea that they don’t need to hear the whole of it to understand what we are doing. They get excited and in turn add fuel to the flames that get me fired up… It’s the Circle of Pumped – when I tell people about our idea, and they are excited, and I get even more excited. What an awesome perk of sharing our idea.

A few weeks back, I was catching up with my friend Jaron, who I’ve been friends with since high school. We’ve gone longer than we should have since catching up (MBA life will do that to you). I started telling Jaron about our system and he immediately turned into a Future Customer. Jaron has always been a very deliberate consumer who has a strong knack for DIY projects and only buys high-quality stuff. He bought his house 1.5 years ago right before he got married. Once Jaron was “on board,” I shot him my favorite Future Customer question: “how much would you pay for it?”

This answer to this question is very telling. It helps gauge (a) the extent of the pain point – how much they value comfort, (b) the Future Customer’s understanding of the system complexity and (c) their confidence in ecoVent’s ability to make their home more comfortable and save them a boat load on their heating and cooling costs.

Usually, the first number I get is way low – a few hundred dollars. I then explain just how pervasive the ecoVent hardware is and tell them our target price range. Some people suddenly shirk their excitement. Jaron didn’t. He said very levelheadedly that home upgrades cost money. He recently carpeted a room, which cost upwards of $1,000. Jaron gets it.

The more Future Customers I speak to, the more I want to go out and tell people about our system. It’s great encouragement and fuels our drive. It’s the Circle of Pumped.

Over the spring semester, Team ecoVent took Bill Aulet and Howard Anderson’s New Enterprises course 15.390. The course is a fast paced course that presents a step-by-step guide to founding a company and writing a business plan. The course was very valuable to our team, as it systematically led us through the many questions we need to consider and challenges we will face going forward. At the end, we were forced to condense our ideas into a 20 page business plan and were selected as one 12 teams in the class to pitch before the class and a panel of visiting judges.

In the final lecture before two class meetings of 6 pitches each, Bill Aulet gave a lecture on how to make a winning pitch. This class was one of the most valuable lectures I’ve heard while at Sloan. Dip and I have toyed with our pitch and are continually iterating on what we include and the order of our deck. Bill walked through what he has found to be the most successful. In addition to the guidance on the content of the pitch, Bill’s emphasized the importance of intangibles – it’s not what you say but how you say it.

Bill cited “Calla’s Law” as the key to success. Maria Calla was a famous opera singer who is quoted having said that “There are only two things that matter: how you enter the room and how you leave it.” Judges, audiences and VCs form their first opinions far before you open your mouth. Bill emphasized the importance of looking and speaking confidently. You have to know your business and act that way.

Bill had many other tips. Here’s a few:

• Know your audience – understand who you are presenting to and present to them… the message should change by the audience.
• Keep it short and on point – don’t try to put too much into your allotted time. A pitch should lead to a meeting or another pitch. You need to sell your idea, not divulge every thought.
• Start with a story that explains your idea and its use/importance/problem – not all VCs and “pitch masters” agree on this point… see the first bullet point.
• Focus on the ask – follow the adage “tell the audience what you are going to say, say it and tell them what you told them. Bill’s structure: start with a story, give a brief summary of your idea, tell the audience what you want them to take away from the pitch – the key ideas – and then tell them what you will ask of them at the end. This last part is crucial, and we have never done it in the past. This method is direct, targeted and frames the audience for what they are about to hear and what they will be asked to do in the next steps.

There were many more takeaways from the lecture, but I’m going to cut it there. Armed with these insights, Dip and I rejiggered our pitch and put on an audience choice award for best pitch of the first 6 team pitches (there was no vote between the two days). We received great feedback from Bill after the class, and one of the visiting judges has asked to purchase a beta system.

While it was nice to win the vote for best pitch, it was better to get great advice on how to structure our presentation and make the highest impact on our audience.

I love it. Everyone I speak to about ecoVent has something to say. I imagine that this finding is not only true to ecoVent, but true for all startups. When I tell someone our idea, they become interested and often question further. The more clearly they understand our vision, the deeper they probe and suggest ideas to consider. The feedback, enthusiasm, understanding and insights offered by each person I speak to varies widely; however, I have found it universally valuable to listen to everyone.

In this 3 part blog post series, I highlight some of the benefits I’ve found from listening to everyone’s feedback and responses to the ecoVent system. I also define a few common “characters” that occasionally emerges when we discuss ecoVent with people for the first time.

Free Advice is Worth the Price

Nearly everyone Dip and I speak to asks us if we’ve thought of some angle or heard of the leading Wi-Fi thermostat. Generally, the answer is yes. We have spent a long time trying to consider all the angles and features for our system. That said, we definitely do not have all the answers, and being open to other people’s thoughts is crucial for keeping the innovative juices flowing. No matter a person’s background or familiarity with tech, HVAC or entrepreneurship, their ideas can make yours better. If people want to share their insights, hear them out. You can learn from everyone.

Occasionally, Dip and I come across a character I like to call the “I Know Your Idea (IKYI: Ick · yee).” This special breed are the folks who hear your idea and immediately start “telling you” about your idea as if you just thought it up in a bar and threw it out there to get your friends’ thoughts. A few weeks back, Dip and I had a jarring run in with an IKYI.

We were chatting over lunch in MIT Beehive with some other aspiring entrepreneurs. The conversation turned to ecoVent, and a guy I’d never spoken with began telling Dip and I about our market – who we are selling to, how we should sell to them and how to look at the landscape. Thanks guy – all of your research and consideration has really made you the oracle here… The IKYI meant well; they generally do. However, his authoritative opinion on a subject he had only considered for a few minutes was uncalled for.

Everyone has their own way of dealing with a know-it-all. Dip just dismissed the guy immediately. I took a different approach. Although I didn’t appreciate his demeanor, I was moved by his conviction. The IKYI’s idea was strongly leaning to one of the go-to-market approaches we had been considering. His certainty swayed me… for a few days.

As Dip and I discussed our go to market strategy, something kept holding me back from fully buying in to the IKYI’s idea. Then I figured it out – he was confident, but wrong. At least I think he is wrong. His approach would put us in a box and make ecoVent less than it can be. Once I concluded that we should pursue the opposite strategy, I talked it over with Dip and we decided to move forward in that direction. So far, the results have been great. We have received very positive feedback from potential partners, and look forward to moving forward on our chosen path.

We all know how important the team is to a successful venture. I want to focus a bit on the power of a great mentor, with three reasons (of thousands) why they are so valuable.

I also want to highlight the fact that having a good mentor is just about YOU as it is them. You need to truly put in work to make sure you aren’t wasting their time. It is up to YOU to keep them informed, and maintain a relationship. It’s up to YOU to drive the meetings and request things. Remember, they are doing this out of the kindness of their hearts, it’s up to you to recognize that and show them value for their time. Also, THANK THEM!!!

Objective Advice:

Yes, we all know you have an amazing idea. It’s the best thing in the world! Everyone will want it! Honestly, it’s likely not that amazing. Your friends and family are supportive - as are your fellow entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship is hard, you need the support!

A great mentor, will ask good questions - and challenge you in everything. They are the ones who will ultimately poke holes in your idea, your business plan, your team, your assumptions - hell, even your scuffy beard. They will look at everything from an entirely objective standpoint, because while they want to help you, they have ZERO reason to make you feel warm and cozy.

A weaker mentor will answer questions, give you some insights but ultimately offer no real nuggets of information. This mentor is not truly engaged.

Seek a mentor who challenges you. One who is engaged and believes in you and your idea. Remember, it’s up to you to keep them informed!

Motivation:

You’re motivated, your team is motivated, your dog is probably motivated. But sometimes you get kicked in the teeth. Sometimes you get what is seemingly CATASTROPHIC news and feel like you’re completely hosed. You call your friends, post on facebook or call mom. You seek guidance and support, and you get some, and you feel a little better.

Then you call your mentor, who has been through this dozens of time. And he/she says a few simple words:

Stop worrying about it, and keep going. Your plan makes sense!

Boom, motivation. You realize that while that VC just made you feel like a jackass, or your beta test is as buggy as Charlie Sheen, or you just got rejected from a competition you felt you could win, IT DOESN’T MATTER! You keep going, chugging along and work to your plan. Your mentor may even say some other soothing words:

This is valuable, now you van consider pivoting x,y and/or z and strengthen your offering.

Just like that, you’re re-energized and ready to conquer.

Find a mentor who will take the time to understand what you’re doing, and will help you keep your eye on the prize.

Connections:

When I worked at Lockheed Martin, one of my stupid human tricks was being able to find people who could answer my questions. If I had a question about radome design, I knew a radome guy, and would call and in seconds he would answer my question and save me hours of research.

A great mentor helps you because he/she knows people who can help you. Do you need incorporation advice? How about IP Strategy advice? Do you need help with marketing?

A good mentor will try and help you find the support you need. Some mentors may connect you to people. Others will describe characteristics of people they’ve worked it, for better or for worse. Either way you will get great advice and avoid pitfalls!

A good mentor will help you with people in their network, or knowledge they’ve gained. Remember, if you’re lucky enough that your mentor connects you with people, be respectful and responsive with the people you were connected to - your mentor’s relationship with that person may be negatively impacted if you aren’t awesome.

Thank YOU

We want to thank our mentors, who have been incredible so far:

Mike Cassidy: The Gold-Standard of amazing mentors. Mike has asked us very pointed questions, provided sage advice, and helped us keep our eye on the prize. Also, his motto of “speed as a primary business strategy” has re-defined our idea of how fast we can develop this system. Mike, thank you for everything!

Joe Hadzima: Joe is a treasure trove of great advice. He is an Intellectual Property mastermind, and has helped us understand not only IP Law, but IP Strategy. He has also taught some amazing courses on business plans and IP at MIT. Thank you Joe!

Sunil Rekhi: Sunil is a serial entrepreneur who has lived through the tech boom and bust. He helped us with setting up initial financial models, strategies on how/where/when to incorporate and technology we should be looking at from a software perspective. Thank you Sunil!

I am lucky enough to be one of 413 students in the 2014 MBA Class at MIT Sloan. I remember coming to visit prior to making my final selection, and being blown away by the entrepreneurial community here.

It is very evident, that entrepreneurship is not just an offering at Sloan - it is engrained in its culture. It’s as much a part of Sloan, as eating delicious food is to me. I was so pumped to come to this school and get started.

When I arrived, I knew I made the right decision, there were so many offerings for courses, talks, events and team formation that I finally believed, for the first time in my life, that I truly could start a company and have it succeed. Something that had felt like a fairytale - was now within reach.

Then I hit a roadblock. No, roadblocks are common. I met a 20 lb. sledgehammer. I learned a hard and fast truth – people are scared of hardware startups.

Startups are hard enough, and the barrier to entry for software products is so minimal, and the cycle so fast, that ideas can form and fail in very rapid succession with minimal capital investment. This is not true with hardware, where development requires long churn, lab equipment and investment for usually (expensive) components. While things like the Arduino, have made hardware prototyping a lot easier, we’re a long way to comparing with the speed of a software startup.

Software is so blazingly fast, and can blow up so quickly (look at instagram); but if we don’t continue to build awesome hardware, then the system will fall apart. Good software needs hardware, and good hardware needs software!! Take a look at Raspberry Pi, a $25 dollar linux computer. Imagine the amazing products that will come out of this! Already people are using it to create amazing smart tv’s, music and media servers, computers for cars to analyze performance. Think of a possibilities for a $25 dollar computer, then buy a raspberry pi and make it happen. One incredible startup is using it to analyze temperatures in a home to optimize home comfort! (hint hint!)

So, what does the hardware entrepreneur do? I’ll tell you what, because I am one, PROVE EVERYONE WRONG. When I started here at Sloan, people thought we were crazy to pursue our idea. Two months later, when we had a real prototype people took notice.

This means, that while it’s much harder to get started as a hardware entrepreneur – one you do get started you get noticed. People don’t go to the zoo to look at the deer or antelopes. Yes, those animals are cool and awesome to look at – but the Cheetahs or Pandas are what draw people in.