IoT & Smart Home · Startup · International
Building a smart services business around a connected light.
Every smart home device wants to be a platform. Very few earn the right to be.
VREEDA was an early-stage hardware company with a bigger ambition – to be not just a smart light, but an ecosystem of smart services. Post-seed, with a platform built by a third party and a bare bones internal team, everything was still to prove.
The reframe that changed everything was deceptively simple: the light wasn't the product – it was a channel. The product is the ecosystem of services delivered through it.
That positioning – the world's first smart light with smart services — shaped every decision that followed. It drove what we built: a 'football mode' that brought match day excitement into fans' living rooms. And it drove how we showed up: a rebrand to match the expectations of our ecosystem partners.
'An early-stage hardware company has a narrow window: prove the product works, then prove it's more than a product.'
Strong product differentiation opened doors that a generic smart-light pitch never would have.
A collaboration with the German Bundesliga proved the model – and secured distribution with international retailers, insurer partnerships, and ecosystem growth online and offline.
My role was CPO, but in an early-stage start-up everyone works closely together, so I was involved in many areas (including financial modelling and investor decks) – and many people helped to make the product successful.
None of this would have been possible without the incredible energy and vision of CEO Olaf Schindler, and very broad support from CFO Mario Göbel.
