@Eric_Inovelli true leadership! I’m just migrating to the Z-Wave world and now I’ve found my vendor of choice! Definitely good to do business with someone you can trust and get the true story…especially when it comes to things like electricity and keeping the family safe!
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Lol I got sidetracked
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Trust me, it’ll be worth the wait!
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Not enough smashing. I can still read F5.
I only have one unit on pre-order, and am content to wait as long as it takes for it to ship.
The last thing that I want to see is someone becoming homeless trying to make good on someone else’s bad judgement…
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Did I miss something, or was the “tell all” added to @Eric_Inovelli’s big project update several posts up?
Please tell me that the “tell all” juicy details aren’t being withheld on the advice of counsel, because I can’t imagine what was done that would be more shocking than the former employee’s deeds above???
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Yeah… So… It kinda is. Things should be worked out this week.
Former employee stalks this sub like a bad ex-gf… Like daily.
This is honestly pretty tame compared to what’s come to surface and what’s transpired. And I say that sincerely.
Hang tight, I jumped the gun a bit. If it doesn’t come out now, it will come out in the Inovelli book in the future lol.
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Hey guys, bit of an outsider here (Australia) so as yet the Inovelli range is no good to me unfortunately but damn, that doesn’t stop it being impressive. Their red series, to me is hands down the most functional and aesthetically pleasing switch out there.
As yet, I haven’t found any other 5 button, no neutral switch…period.
From what I can gather, our multi gang switching is done a bit differently to in the US. Rather than have a number of switches in a row we tend to group them within a 11cm x 7cm face plate and can have up to 5 or 6 switches on that.
A 240v 50hz version of your 5 button switch would be ideal for keeping that switch appearance and feel (as opposed to a touchscreen which typically need neutral wires anyway) and keeping up to 3 switches plus brightness control condensed at the same time.
I’ve got smart lights throughout (more in the process of really) so I’m trying to find the solution that replaces the existing wall switch, is mains powered (no batteries), works with wired connection to smart lights as well as via hub control (SmartThings and/or Hubitat), allows multi-way setup, supports no-neutral wire to the switch, has multiple switches (one could but doesn’t have to be for the load circuit, the others are assignable to smart lights/devices/scenes) and takes up minimal wall space for maximum functionality.
The 5 button red series is the closest I’ve come.
Another idea is a dedicated, fully assignable controller/switch irrespective of the load circuit it’s connected to, i.e in a dedicated smart light environment or circuit, the power is constant through the switch (noting smart lights need the permanent power) and every switch is fully assignable to a smart light/scene/device. It’s probably already been done here but without the benefit of using the Inovelli range I’m a touch unfamiliar. It’d make it a bit less of a switch and more of a localised wall control hub that’s just powered through the light switch circuit while allowing permanent power to the smart lights on that circuit.
Most people tend to choose smart lights or smart switches. There isn’t much out there for those who want the functionality of having both.
Summary is, I think there is a massive market in Australia for a 240v 50hz version of the red series and I’d love to see it. The design of and innovation behind it are nothing short of incredible. I’d have these throughout my home tomorrow if I could. The 5 button, no-neutral in particular stands completely on its own.
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When will pre-orders for the book start??? 
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Honestly lets open pre-orders now, and maybe the book will be done in 2027. But probably delayed until Q3 2028.
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Will the book also be available in a 10-pack???
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@Eric_Inovelli, this is the kind of honesty that builds trust and loyalty. Thank you! Anyone who has spent more than five minutes in business knows that these things unfortunately happen all too often. Where they go really wrong is when leadership tries to cover them up out of some misguided need to manage perceptions.
That you have chosen transparency instead makes me want to be a customer more and more. Please know your honesty drives business, certainly from me.
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And will require at least 30 (firmware) revisions to make everyone happy. Otherwise the pages will be two thick or print too large.
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Hopefully the book cover comes in Aurora.
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This is all very shocking (pun intended). I was really looking forward to installing next month the dozen that i had pre ordered. But I’m all in … Willing to wait it out. Hoping you can sort it all out and pull off a Q2 delivery.
I’m a little surprised to learn that you were partnering with another company. Who was/is the company? Was it going to be dual branded (a la GE/Jasco)? Or was it going to be an identical product but sold as two different items with two different company names? Or were you just going to manufacture and someone else was going to sell under their name?
Its a little alarming that the relationship and quantity of units the other company was committing to wasnt spelled out in a contract that was reviewed by you @EricM_Inovelli and your legal counsel. Something more than just a verbal commitment or buried in an email between the company and your rogue employee. Live and learn i suppose, right? Hopefully this will only be a bump in the road in your journey to building an IoT empire. One that you can look back on and laugh at one day.
I wanted to say thanks to everyone – it was really humbling to read everyone’s reactions and again, I have each and everyone of your back’s.
You guys got me fired up to tell the complete story with evidence presented in case there are any doubts or wondering how this could’ve happened. I’ve run it by legal and he said as long as I’m not slandering, I’m fine to release whatever I want so long as it can be backed up (it can), so here we go. I’ll still be somewhat conservative and redact the third party entity.
One of the things I do want to get across is that the other company has been amazing to work with through this entire thing. They have shown tremendous empathy and really want to help in any way they can.
What I’m going to outline below is how everything has transpired – I have a call with everyone today at 3pm EST to discuss further.
TLDR:
- I trusted an owner of the company (not just a former employee) to run a project as I was busy trying to raise funding and this person had been around for two years and was my, “right hand man”
- All emails, teams messages, and conversations with all parties indicated his story checked out (ie: this was a project for someone else, MOQ’s are 10-50k, and they are paying all fees – they just want to use us bc we’re great at lighting and they want to develop a switch together)
- When the bill came due (April), the story fell apart and I had to terminate the employee/owner
- Upon seeing the agreement/contract, it spelled out something completely different then I, as well as others, were led on to believe
- Upon talking on the phone with the third party (and recording the entire conversation), everything the employee/owner said was fabricated as it was pitched to them as an Inovelli switch
Great question, can’t reveal the company (although, who knows, it may come out after our convo today) but they are a mid-9 figure IoT company that specializes in health and wellness. They are working on some projects with circadian lighting and wanted a scene controller.
What was pitched to me was that this was going to allow us (Inovelli) to sell our own product through our own channels (ie: inovelli.com, Amazon, etc) and this other company would be able to sell to their channels (Multi-Dwelling-Units). The project would be for this company and since the MOQ was between 10-50k, we’d be able to use the profits to purchase our own.
Since the other company wanted this and it wasn’t on our roadmap, they agreed to pay the NRE Fees, UL, etc. (seemed weird that they’d allow us to sell in our own channels if they’re paying for everything and in hindsight, I should’ve gotten more involved, but the employee was convincing and being he was/is also an owner, I wouldn’t think he’d lie to me about it).
So, I went with it and told him to run it.
Yeah, it’s very alarming actually – I couldn’t agree more. Some additional context I’d like to provide is that this employee wasn’t just an employee, this was/is an owner (very small percentage, but still someone who should be vested in the companies success).
So, looking back, yeah, I probably should’ve made sure the t’s were crossed and i’s dotted regarding contracts and the story checked out (which I will for sure do now regardless), but man did he burn me bad with his trust.
Here’s how everything transpired – hopefully everyone can see the sheer manipulation (looking back, it’s somewhat impressive, but as always, lies unravel themselves):
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Manufacturer asks employee to justify the market demand for this switch and what the third party is going to do from a yearly volume:
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Manufacturer (“Arthur”) talks to employee to inform them that unless all NRE fees are paid for up front and the MOQ is what he’s saying it is, there will be no project. Employee assures them MOQ will be met and NRE fees will be paid by third party.
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NRE fees are sent via email and project is approved by employee:
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April comes around and manufacturer is asking to be paid (see email above)
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This is a Monday – I remember because on Tuesday employee came in this was the exact conversation:
- Former employee: Did you see that email from Jason asking for NRE payment?
- Me: Yes, when is (third party) going to pay it?
- Former employee: They never agreed to pay that, what are you talking about?
- Me: I know for a fact you said they’d pay it bc it’s the entire reason (manufacturer) agreed to do this
- Former employee: No, you must be mistaken, they’ve never said that
- Me: …
- Former employee: I thought we’d have an investor by now and we could get this all sorted out (something like that, I don’t remember word for word)
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Wednesday I go to our lawyers office to discuss termination as this is quite frankly the last straw and I’m not sure what to do as this employee is also an owner and I’m also thinking about how absolutely “f’d” we are as we’re already in the dog-house with our manufacturer and we’ve opened up pre-orders
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Friday, April 23, employee was terminated
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April 30th (week later) – I talk to the third party VP and recorded the entire conversation – to which I explain everything and I’ll never forget the look on the guys face (it was the same as mine when I realized what had happened). I ask him to send over any sort of agreement they had so I could look at it.
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Sure enough, it was exactly as the third party said (not what was told to the manufacturer), which was:
- No initial MOQ’s
- Inovelli pays all fees
This is the gist of the scenario.
What have I learned?
“Trust but verify”
Sucks that this is the world we live in, but I’m seeing first hand how by missing the, “verify” portion really screwed a lot of people here.
Now the good news is when I talked to these guys (I don’t think I can disclose the company legally, but they are a huge company in the Multi-Dwelling-Unit health and wellness space) the VP had sympathy and realized what had happened and we’re working together on a better deal.
They are actually huge fans of Inovelli and their VP of Innovation used to work with Eric M in the SmartThings forum lol.
At the end of the day, they want this to work, so we’re pushing forward with their help and we have a call today between us, our manufacturer and them to sort everything out and hopefully get out of this mess.
Thanks, I really appreciate it! I couldn’t agree more with covering up things. Eventually things come to the surface (case and point here) and maybe it was my mom that scared me enough when she said, “if you lie to me, it’s going to be 10x worse”.
Thanks for the kind words, it really means a lot 
Thanks so much – I (and the rest of us) sincerely appreciate it!
Thanks – glad to hear everyone likes the transparency, it makes our legal team sweat lol.
I’m definitely comfortable opening up pre-orders again once we have everything locked down and beta testers are actively testing. The very thought of the word, “pre-order” gives me the chills right now lol.
Thank you so much!
That’s a good point. Thank you so much for putting the positive spin on it, that means a lot!
Man, I couldn’t agree more – this has been the premise since day one – treat people the way you want to be treated. I don’t understand why this is so hard to understand. Sure, one could argue everyone would take advantage of you, and of course we have been taken advantage of, but at the end of the day, I’m a firm believer that there are more good people than bad and most people genuinely want similar things in life. I’d rather plant positive seeds and reap a good harvest, than sew crappy seeds.
Thanks – I remember that pre-order and I thought it would be the worst execution of pre-orders (set to production in April 2019 and didn’t hit shelves until November 2019). In fact, it’s a chart in our pitch deck lol
Here’s to hoping this one isn’t as bad – the one thing I did learn from the prior pre-order was that transparency is key and that people typically understand setbacks happen.
Hey thanks Blake! That really means a lot – welcome to Z-Wave!
Sorry man, had to – still stuck in 10th grade.
Thanks for the support as always!
Good news is Kalamazoo has some pretty good homeless shelters or at the very least, I can hang out in the office which is in-between Popeye’s Chicken and a bar lol.
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As a way of saying “thank you”, I’d love to pre-order some of these units, but I can’t find the pre-order link. Have you taken it down? I’m prepared to purchase some just on principle.
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