Paulius Musteikis
Dominic DiMarco says the company he co-founded is developing devices for "the connected home of the future," although not all of them are "sexy and futuristic."
The smell of freshly brewed coffee wafts through the MobileIgniter offices on a Friday afternoon.
It’s nothing remarkable for a workplace to have a pot of java going in the break room, but at MobileIgniter, this is research — they’re testing a prototype of a high-tech coffee maker that can be controlled remotely via smartphone.
The Madison-based tech startup specializes in early stage research and development of devices for “the connected home of the future,” says Dominic DiMarco, who co-founded the company with Tim Nott four years ago. Known as the Internet of Things (IoT), these connected devices are part of a network of smart objects equipped with technology that allows them to collect and exchange data using wireless systems.
IoT is a new moniker for an old concept, says Nott. Machine-to-machine (M2M) communication has existed in manufacturing and telecommunications for decades, allowing managers to monitor things like supply chains and warehouse logistics. IoT is the next iteration of that technology.
“Internet has gotten so cheap and ubiquitous that we can now remotely do M2M,” Nott says.
Nott and DiMarco met in Madison in 1994 and later worked together on early versions of madison.com for Capital Newspapers. DiMarco’s degree is in computer science, and Nott’s is in creative writing, but Nott caught the tech bug as a student while working at a UW-Madison campus computer center.
Before founding MobileIgniter, both Nott and DiMarco were involved with Techstars — one of the top startup accelerators in the world. The pair had considered launching MobileIgniter through the Techstars program, but instead decided to take a chance on a brand-new accelerator based in Madison and Milwaukee: gener8tor. The startup graduated from the inaugural gener8tor cohort in 2012.
In its first version, MobileIgniter operated as a “build-your-own” mobile app developer for iPhone, Android and other platforms. The company started out strong, but struggled when competitors started to flood the market.
At that point, DiMarco says, the founders told investors there were three options: “Run the company into the ground, stop and return the [seed] money, or go into consultation mode and figure out what comes next.”
The investors chose option three — a move that DiMarco calls “a huge vote of confidence” for the fledgling company. Seeing opportunity in IoT innovation, the founders reinvented MobileIgniter two years ago and have been gaining clients ever since.
“The [IoT] stuff everybody knows about is the Nest,” says DiMarco, referring to a sleek, Internet-connected thermostat recently purchased by Google for $3.2 billion. But not all IoT technology is sexy and futuristic.
“We specialize in the ugly bits,” DiMarco says. “There’s a lot of ‘rusty iron’ companies that have been making the same things forever [that are now] saying ‘Okay, we need to do something differently.’”
The company isn’t able to drop too many client or product names due to nondisclosure agreements, but the technology they retrofit runs the gamut from large-scale agricultural implements to household appliances. With each prototype, MobileIgniter works to make the devices smaller, tighter and more responsive.
“We have a three-step process,” DiMarco says. First they educate clients on the benefits of IoT; next they ideate, talking through how an IoT device can improve customer service and revenue opportunities; then they prototype, determining the appropriate hardware and software configuration to fit a client’s needs and budget.
They’re working on a gun safe that uses a camera and other sensors to send a picture to the owner if someone gets too close.
Other projects include a propane tank that uses a sensor to monitor fuel levels and sends a refill notification and a crawl space dehumidifier that tracks moisture levels and puts out an alert if things need attention.
MobileIgniter is still mainly operating as a consulting firm, but Nott says the eventual goal is to “productize” its own IoT devices. Employees have already built a few, including an Internet doorbell.
MobileIgniter’s success is a combination of hard work and “serendipity,” Nott says, adding that there’s an “ebb and flow” that goes along with any entrepreneurial venture.
To counteract the volatility, he’s focused on reinvesting revenue in the company and building a team of innovators that combines technical skills and creativity. The company, which currently has four full-time employees, is poised to grow and is eagerly anticipating a move into the new StartingBlock Madison entrepreneurial hub when it opens next year.
“Every time I finish something, I’m thinking about what’s next,” Nott says. “But I think this is the happiest I’ve ever been.”