BY STEVE FISHER
NECESSITY IS the mother of invention.
That is not just an old proverb; it’s the motivating force of inventors everywhere. So it
was for Jamie Simino;, the inventor of the
Ring Video Doorbell, whose previous inventions included humane mousetraps, heated
blankets and remote-controlled cars.
“I was working in my garage on a [snap-
together gardening system]. I couldn’t hear
the doorbell and thought ‘Why wouldn’t a
doorbell go to my phone?’ It seemed like an
obvious thing,” he explains to The Connect-
ion in a Skype conversation from Ring
headquarters in Santa Monica, California.
“So I built it, not really thinking of it as an
invention, but more my own solution.”
And often, good solutions are destined
for greatness.
“My wife was the one who said, ‘This
makes me feel safer at home. I love this
thing. This is your best invention ever.’
Which, at the time, I thought was rude, but
now has definitely paid its dividends,”
Simino; says.
Making a Ring
Simino; started developing his inven-
tion in ;;;;, and it hit the market as the
Doorbot in ;;;;. This small doorbell
device, which replaces the front doorbell,
houses a camera, microphone and speaker.
You can install the device yourself, and it
even comes with the tool you need, which
Siminoff also invented. An app on your
phone or online allows you to receive noti-
;cations, see who’s at your door and even
engage in a two-way conversation. If they
don’t ring the bell, motion-detection capa-
bility sends an alert through the app.
To raise money for the nascent company, Simino; went on the ABC television
program Shark Tank. Only one investor
was impressed, and his o;er was not satisfactory to Simino;. Devastated, he walked
away with nothing. But his appearance on
the show attracted other investors, led by
Goldman Sachs, to an initial capitalization
of ;;;; million. The company and the
product were rebranded as Ring in ;;;;,
and those early ;nancial challenges are a
thing of the past. Simino; says Ring is no w
a “billion-dollar company.”
Selling piece of mind
For Siminoff, it was never about
selling products. “The company is actually
[developed] around reducing crime in
neighborhoods,” he explains. “We build
SIMON CASSELS
A company ensures you’re ‘always home’
SPECIAL SECTION
HARDWARE
Ring around the block
products that deliver what we call ‘always
home,’ which is the emotional connection
between you and your home.”
With Ring, regardless of where you
are, you can always see what’s happening
around your house. The Ring Video Door-
bell has been joined by newer creations,
such as the Floodlight Cam and the Ring
Pro. Not all of the devices are directly
related to doorbells. Siminoff says the
company started at the front door and is
working its way around the house.
A larger Ring
What began in a garage with a crowd-sourcing campaign is now housed in four
buildings with more than ;,;;; employees
on a large campus in Santa Monica. Ring
also has a call center in Arizona; an o;ce
in Malvern, Pennsylvania; and o;ces in
six other countries. But you won’t ;nd the
typical corporate culture there.
“There’s very little politics,” Simino;
says. “There’s very little understanding
of who is in charge of what, because everything is pretty ;at, and that’s on purpose.
You can succeed and become and do what
you want at Ring in your job area by just
executing and being a great team member.”
Jamie Siminoff
