{"id":36,"date":"2020-02-09T17:57:24","date_gmt":"2020-02-09T22:57:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fuelsnap.com\/blog\/?p=36"},"modified":"2021-06-18T11:09:48","modified_gmt":"2021-06-18T15:09:48","slug":"in-world-of-nest-and-ring-danbury-startups-sales-heating-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fuelsnap.com\/blog\/in-world-of-nest-and-ring-danbury-startups-sales-heating-up\/","title":{"rendered":"In The World of Nest and Ring, Danbury Startups Sales Heating Up"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Article by Alexander Soule, Hearst Media, February 5, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Like so many entrepreneurs, Steve Williams launched his startup to solve a need \u2014 his own needs that is, after he bought a Victorian fixer-upper in Ridgefield, only to discover heating bills that were going through the roof.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four years later, the bills are under control \u2014 and Connected Consumer Fuel continues to build a following for its Smart Oil Gauge sensor that feeds oil tank levels to homeowner mobile phones, along with up-to-date prices for those looking to order an on-the-spot delivery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Williams and cofounder Joe Mygatt have developed the Smart Oil Gauge quietly in Danbury, even as Google and Amazon have accelerated consumer acceptance of devices like Nest thermostats, Alexa voice assistants and Ring doorbells with enabling technology for remote control via an \u201cInternet of things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you think about it, the IoT space is growing like mad but there are certain little pockets like heating oil tanks that … have not been addressed,\u201d Williams said. \u201cIf you think about this industry, that (oil) gauge probably hasn\u2019t changed in 50 years. It\u2019s a cork on the end of a little rod and a hinge. … They are so low tech.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Avon is home to an early IoT innovator in iDevices, which a decade ago used its iGrill wireless meat thermometer as a springboard to developing other products like a propane grill tank fuel monitor, before being acquired<\/a> three years ago for $60 million by Shelton-based Hubbell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In setting out to find a way to accurately measure his fast-draining home heating oil tank<\/a>, Williams leveraged technical experience from his days with Branson Ultrasonics, which is based currently in Danbury with plans to move<\/a> into a new headquarters that is under construction a short distance north in Brookfield. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He enlisted his Ridgefield childhood friend Mygatt, a Princeton University graduate who worked previously for a robotics company, with the pair sharing a laugh this week at their early Smart Oil Gauge prototypes that amounted to a pile of wiring and a sensor mounted on a bread board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Smart Oil Gauge is comparatively elegant today, a white cylinder that screws into the top of oil tanks, pinging ultrasound hourly to deduce oil levels. An accompanying FuelSnap app allows homeowners to generate reports of their fuel consumption, as well as check up-to-date prices of local delivery companies<\/a> and place orders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After selling the Smart Oil Gauge initially on Amazon and the company\u2019s own website at www.smartoilgauge.com<\/a> \u2014 it is priced at about $160 today \u2014 Williams and Mygatt expanded into wholesale channels through heating contractors and oil companies, to include Sid Harvey\u2019s, F.W. Webb and Torrco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That led to a derivative product called Droplet for heating oil delivery companies, with Connected Consumer Fuel estimating it can help those companies get a better estimate on tank levels and eliminate one truck run annually for each customer account, a significant savings to their bottom line in an industry with tight profit margins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Williams and Mygatt indicated they expect to find additional applications for the platform they have developed to sense tank levels. One market they have explored \u2014 but elected not to try to crack \u2014 is Canada, due to a wide range of tank designs that would force the company to design any number of iterations in order to fit into tank openings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Williams said the company may in time seek outside venture investment, but for now is plugging along fine funding the business through regular sales revenue since its 2016 launch and early glitches like dropping off home WiFi networks, which the company was able to solve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe built 10 of them and we said, \u2018All right, if we can sell 10 we\u2019ll buy the components to 100 circuit boards,\u2019\u201d Williams said. \u201cWe sold 10 in a few days, and then we sold 100. … I am using the 26th one we ever built, and it\u2019 still kicking.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alex.Soule@scni.com; 203-842-2545; @casoulman<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Article by Alexander Soule, Hearst Media, February 5, 2020 Like so many entrepreneurs, Steve Williams launched his startup to solve a need \u2014 his own needs that is, after he bought a Victorian fixer-upper in Ridgefield, only to discover heating bills that were going through the roof. Four years later, the bills are under control … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “In The World of Nest and Ring, Danbury Startups Sales Heating Up”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":52,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nIn The World of Nest and Ring, Danbury Startups Sales Heating Up<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"FuelSnap received some love from Alexander Soule of Hearst Media recently! 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