What Can’t Bulogics Make?

Q: What’s BuLogics do?

A: If you have a light switch or door lock or safe or smoke alarm, and you want to make it connect to the Internet in a way it never has before, we make the stuff that does that. You want a door lock to talk to your smartphone? We put software inside the lock’s hardware that allows you to do that. We’ll help you as a project manager determine the answers to those questions.

Q: The biz model?

A: You bring a project idea to us, you have part of it done or you want to do it from scratch, and we write a complete design plan from A to Z. Does this product need to be Wi-Fi or does it need to be Bluetooth? If it needs to talk to a phone, does it need to be in a big commercial building? Projects like that, depending on technology and scope, could cost between $100,000 and $250,000.

Q: Your customers?

A: Most clients are big companies that do electronics and make innovative products. We had 32 customers in 2014.

Q: How big a biz is this?

A: We were just under $5 million in revenue in 2014. I’d like to double it this year. We have 12 employees, and we’re hiring four more.

Q: Biggest challenge?

A: Hiring the right people, given the skill sets we need, but then to actually compete with what’s happening in China and India is doubly challenging. A lot of what we do will be commoditized overseas. It takes a differentiator to compete in our space. So we need unique innovations that can’t be duplicated overseas. Our product is a secure smart-home system that allows you to easily control lights, locks, electronics, appliances and other connected devices.

Q: What is Hive?

A: Hive is the world’s first smart-speaker system for the home. It gives your home a voice, but most of the time you’ll use it to jam to music, which you can control via an app.

Q: You’ve raised almost $90,000 of your $100,000 goal for Hive on Kickstarter and still have 25 days left. What’s up?

A: Music is a huge piece, but that piece gets overlooked because we’re preoccupied with security and energy. When you add music to a system, it speaks to a part of us that’s more carefree. When the campaign is over, we’ll do preorders on Hive’s website for people who backed the Kickstarter.

Q: What will Hive cost?

A: Initially, I think $149 for the brain and $99 for a speaker. I’d like to keep the speakers under $100.

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