This is a guest post from Zach Cochran, CMO Alottazs Labs, LLC. Alottazs Labs created Garageio, a simple and secure way to control and monitor your garage door from anywhere in the world, without replacing your existing garage door opener. He shares his thoughts about the Internet of Things (IoT), why Garageio is possible because of the IoT explosion we’re experiencing, and even offers some advice from one entrepreneur to another on how to get your IoT start-up launched.

Garageio, brought to you by the Internet of Things

 .

Zak Dziczkowski had a problem. His garage door remote was broken and needed to be replaced. So, like a normal consumer, he went to go buy a new one. Astonished with the cost of a replacement, he sought to create a replacement; one that would also work better with newer technology. He called a friend by the name of David Reif. That evening, Zak and Dave created the idea that we today call Garageio, an “Internet of Things” product that upgrades your existing garage door opener to be controlled via your smartphone.

Surprisingly, Internet of Things (IoT) has been around since the 1980’s when a group of college students from Carnegie Mellon University connected a computer to a Coke machine. Today, its growing into a technological norm.

• What is IoT?

So, what is IoT? Well, simply put, it is a collection of devices that are internet-connected which allows them to ‘talk’ to other services or devices, like a smartphone. Many varying companies agree that IoT is the future. I believe IoT is going to drive the next global economy boom during the next few decades.

Products like, Nest, Lockitron, and our product, Garageio, are pushing the envelope of progress too. The growth of IoT is making a lot of writers and economists predict that IoT will help the United States grow economically, as well. In Ohio alone, the state is becoming engulfed with technology firms and is quickly emerging as a technological hub in the United States. Furthermore, small businesses account for 20 percent of all Ohio firms and employ 48 percent of the Ohio workforce.

It is truly exciting to be apart of the economic opportunity of IoT. Startups like ours have a unique position at the intersection of new business and an emerging technology.

“Gartner predicted that by 2020, 30 billion mobile phones, tablets, computers, wearable technology devices and other types of connected devices will be in use,” says Sara Angeles in the article titled, Internet of Things Has Big Startup Potential. I can only imagine all the possibilities and opportunities that present themselves in the coming years here at Alottazs Labs,LLC. The majority of business in the future will be in services and IoT. Angeles continues to state; “the Internet of Things will create tens of millions of new objects and sensors, devices will generate more real-time data than ever before.”

Advice for future startups in IoT

 .

It is not easy to start a company. From a business standpoint, IoT is a hot topic and is flooding news feeds left and right. The hardship is getting exposure and traction. Knowing what gets traction is an on-going lesson I continue to learn. People want to be educated, but without giving away your success and use of the IoT technology your company is using.

We truly have it easier than hardware and software startups of the past. Today, we have the world at our fingertips with social media and the ever expanding internet. Marketing and gaining exposure is slightly easier. However, some techniques are still being used as they were ‘back in the day.’ Report and personal contact is still needed to partner-up with publications and other media outlets. Social Media Marketing is by no means ‘a set it and forget it’ item. Lucky for us, there are tools available to help automate and control our social media. We use an application by the name of Buffer, which allows us to set up times and content days/weeks/months ahead of time. Without the hardware, Alottazs Labs, LLC would be non-existent.

Starting a company has become a non-issue in terms of location, especially in Ohio. There are so many talented and hardworking resources available no matter where they are located. It’s simple to throw together a proof of concept, it’s another to begin to design and manufacture a product. Working off a bootstrapped budget, late nights, and a caffeine IV makes it challenging, but also exciting. For Garageio, there is a project within a project; it is a service, mobile apps, and physical hardware. There truly is much more work in hardware than a software startup. But the actual physical product is only a small portion of what it takes create a startup. Here are a few things we learned (some the hard way) in creating Garageio:

• Do not hold your idea hostage. After establishing a solid branding, start marketing and selling! We believed strongly in the “design, sell, build” mantra.

• Lead times, lead times, lead times. When you start to sell and promise customers a timeframe, understanding your supply chain is critical.

• Hardware products are expensive to develop. Be prepared to either absorb major capital costs when bringing your idea to life, or find others with the necessary talents (product development, graphic design, engineering) who are willing to invest their time and believe in the product.

 Why IoT?

 .

So why buy into IoT? Let’s take my company’s product as an example. Garageio allows a user to open and close their garage door from ANYWHERE in the world. You heard me, anywhere. Ever been on the road, bound for work or that vacation (the one you have been dreaming about for months) and you ask yourself: ‘Did I leave the garage door open?’ With Garageio, all you have to do is check your Garageio app on your Apple or Android phone to check. No more adding time to your trip by having to turn around to check. Kids leave the garage door open coming home? Garageio has your back. It sends an alert to your phone letting you know that the door is still open (and much more).

In marketing, I believe that one must be creative and think-outside-the-norm and challenge themselves on ways to get a message out to the world. I enjoy challenges and overcome them (kicking and screaming at times). Marketing for a startup can be challenging, especially if there is a lack of budget. Being a startup, we really don’t have the multi-million dollar budget to run campaigns to the masses; we started (and still are) local. That is not to say I am an expert at marketing or business development, but just wanted to share my thoughts and advice on my continuing journey with marketing and businesses with Alottazs Labs.

Friends and Family

.

This group can be your best starting point, but be careful! Don’t ‘jam’ your idea or product down their throats or ‘pitch’ to them every time you see them. They will tune you out and stop listening to you if that’s the only thing you talk about (it may sound mean, but it’s true).

Bring it up to them once; say “Hey, I’m getting involved in this project. It’s called_______ and I am really excited about it.” They are your friends and family, they support you and what you do, so they will follow up.

DON’T mention anything about the project unless they ask about it first. If they ask, keep it simple and brief; don’t get too ‘sales-y’. Simply state: “It’s going really great! We have our website up and starting to get some traffic to it.” Give them the URL and that’s it. If something really huge happens with the project, totally blab about it, your family and friends want to share in with your successes! “We got our first pre-sale!” or “we were mentioned in our first article!” Those are always exciting developments and should be shared.

Social Media

.

For me, I started out having my Twitter and Facebook connected, but overtime I realized that this contradicted my previous statement of ‘jamming’ anything down the throats of friends and family. My Twitter account is used for my professional life; Facebook for friends and family, so all of my tweets about business were ending up on my feed in Facebook.

I have since disconnected Twitter and Facebook. We use Buffer to manage our social media accounts. It’s great because we can link our Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Linkedin, etc accounts in one spot and send a post to all accounts at the same time; either on the fly or create scheduled campaigns.

Market Research

.

I use SurveyMonkey to send out a marketing surveys and it is free! Again, I kept it simple. I asked 10 very brief questions. Quick surveys will be more likely to be opened and completed. I sent the link out through my social media as well as the startup social media. If my friends and family asked about progress, I mentioned the survey and asked if they could take it and send it along. There is absolutely nothing wrong with asking people to share information, it’s your bread and butter with zero-to-no budget!

Google Analytics. I use it daily! I am able to track so much data. It can tell city and state or country the user is accessing our website from. What type of device: iPhone, Android, Tablet, etc. Google Analytics tells me how much time they spend and on what pages. It’s my favorite tool at the moment.

MailChimp. We use MailChimp for our email campaigns. We are able to track how many subscribers we have, when they subscribed, and also other subscription trends. We are able to create separate lists of subscribers and mail out to those lists. When I email campaign has been created and sent out, we are able see the open-rate, click-rate, and other trends and analysis.

Community

.

Get involved….as much as you can. At Alottazs Labs, we are gearing up for our convention season to feature our product, Garageio. We are doing local home and garden shows around Columbus, OH. This will give us a chance to get our name into the community and to share Columbus the innovation that is happening in their city.

Don’t be afraid to speak up about your product or company to strangers. I try to find a way to bring it up in conversation, but again not sound like a used-car salesperson. User groups. This is an area that I will be pursuing in the New Year. I have found some user groups that relate to our product and they are always looking for presenters. This is a time to get technical and in-depth because you will be around an audience to receive that message. Talk about the development process or tools that you have used. Everyone likes free education and advice.

Location, Location, Location

.

We as a company felt it important to stay domestic for our parts and services for Garageio. We use this as a selling point and (to be honest) need to use more of this strategy. Consumers are smarter and make more educated buying decisions now. With smartphones and tablets, they can look up any product they want and read specs, reviews, and all other types of information. I feel it important to be transparent about where you are getting your parts and where/how you are conducting other business.

.

About the Author

Zach Cochran – Chief Marketing Officer at Garageio

Zach comes from Kansas City, MO, but now lives in Columbus, OH. He studied and majored in Business from Park University. Zach has a deep passion for technology and how it’s used to solve problems.

Image credit