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The Nimbus 9 Team
While running a solar company out of Denver, lifelong entrepreneur Lucas Schiff couldn't help but notice the emerging world of LED lighting. Schiff found that while the technology existed to give users more control, too often it was cost-prohibitive or a downright scary proposition to a customer. Never one to shy away from a problem he’s passionate about, Schiff set out to make an easier lighting and control platform for users. His Colorado Springs-based company Nimbus 9 seeks to make that transition easy for customers. A software as a service (SaaS) company at heart, Nimbus 9 combines software with hardware for lighting solutions and ultimately aims to save energy for their customers.
The Spark
With a background in engineering, digital surveillance and product design, his time running a solar company (which he founded with his father), prompted him to start digging into the internet of things (IoT). “When I was thinking about internet of things and wireless technology and LED lighting, it basically culminated on this idea that there’s all this new technology and there’s a far better way to do controls that gives users the ability to actually use the stuff. Because right now it’s incredibly complex to not only commission and build, but also operate on a day to day basis,” said Schiff.
That complexity – both for the set-up and operations – means people and businesses are wasting energy. With better controls, Schiff thinks those same groups could cut their energy costs.
The one-year old company has been in the works for more than three years. Schiff says they started the company from the cloud down. “We focus on the user experience for something that is highly flexible, highly scalable, highly adaptable but incredibly simplistic to use,” said Schiff.
Stripping out costs was also an important part of their model.
As a SaaS company, Nimbus 9 charges a monthly subscription fee, making their target customer a store or company rather than an individual. Still, companies shouldn’t worry about additional costs. “Ultimately the cost of the service is offset by the money we can save by controlling things in a particular way,” said Schiff.
Their goal is quite simple: “Really we are focused on energy reduction as a primary goal for end users. Kind of as a secondary thing or tangential benefit, we offer a lot of insight into how their building is operating,” said Schiff. This could mean preemptive warnings about burned-out lights.
The Adoption
While Nimbus 9 goes after a commercial client, one customer base asked for the product before Schiff even had time to pitch them: quick service restaurants. “We’ve done a handful of McDonalds. We’ve been able to reduce the amount of energy [for lighting] they are using by 85% in their stores,” said Schiff. Nimbus 9 also works with the hospitality sector, commercial clients and office spaces. They are in the works to sign a deal with a large school district.
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The Nimbus 9 Dashboard
For the cubicle-dwelling office worker, Nimbus 9 isn’t a one-fits-all solution. The combination of the software with hardware means that the system ties to each fixture, or light bulb. “We’ve had a lot of interesting stories about commercial office spaces where each user at their desk can actually control their environment a little bit more,” said Schiff.
The 10-person company is poised for growth (they plan to expand their controls to HVAC systems) and finding the right people has been key to their success so far. Nimbus 9 is currently looking for software developers.
“We’ve really tried hard to self-fund this thing rather than go out and get traditional seed capital and ultimately VC funding,” he said.
For Schiff, a tight budget can be good for a startup. He likens funding to a marriage and while Nimbus 9 might not be in bachelor mode, its still learning what it needs before taking on that responsibility. “Everything sounds bright and cheery when you are hatching an idea, but when you get down to the gritty bits, you really want some people you can be straight with and truthful and not worry about where their heads at and visa versa,” Schiff said.
Having limited funds weeds out the employees who are only there to make a paycheck and has built an “amazing culture.”
For budding entrepreneurs, Schiff offers a few words of advice: “No one should expect an idea to hatch without a lot of hard work behind it. As glamorous as the tech media makes it sound, it takes a lot of hard work, a lot of late nights, a lot of beer and a lot of passion for what you are doing.”
