The Jetsons had shown us what a connected home with automated systems and accessories would look like decades ago. Yet not many tech companies were dipping their hands into the issue of manual home settings. The individuals at Keen Home, Ryan Fant, and Nayeem Hussain, have taken it upon themselves to take matters into their own hands and make the projection of smart homes in The Jetsons a reality.
Frustrated by the idea that in this era of smart tech, people are still navigating their heating and cooling systems with a single thermostat. These thermostats were designed more than half a century ago and are used in houses to date, making the temperature of the entire house uniform but not the most comfortable. To fight this issue, Keen Home started with its first patented product, Smart Vents.
Smart Vents is a wireless HVAC device network that sets the temperature of individual rooms and alters it intelligently with the help of its software algorithms and connected hardware. Customers only need to buy a face plate, replace the ones already attached to the ventilation duct and press the button on the Smart Vent to automatically connect the plate to the home’s central heating and air-conditioning.
The Smart Vent analyzes the habits of the home and individuals residing there and the embedded sensors to assess which room requires heating or air-conditioning, then redistributes airflow in the rooms accordingly. An average home may require 4 to 6 of these plates depending upon the rooms in a house to make the heating and cooling systems of the house intelligent and energy-efficient.
Ryan and Naeem had met at NYU while pursuing their MBA, where Ryan came up with the idea while solving his home’s HVAC problems. The two friends were invited to TechCrunch Disrupt, where they first demonstrated the prototype for their product. Soon they started seed funding for their product through powerful tech platforms and competitions.
Before coming to Shark Tank Season 6, the duo had invested $50,000 apiece and had bagged other significant investments through crowdsourcing and tech investors. Keen Home had also pre-sold 35,000 units to Lowe’s, a home improvement company. However, no products were yet sold; hence, the profits weren’t yet showing.
Keen Home has entered Shark Tank to try its luck and get an investment of $750,000 for 10% equity in exchange. While Daymond, Robert, and Kevin showed keen interest in Keen Home, Lori and Mark asked themselves out as neither one believes Smart Vent should be a product or a retail product sold individually. The rest of the three sharks continued asking more questions to understand what the duo needed investment for and then pitched their offers.
Kevin initially asked for 25% equity in exchange for $750K, later changing it to $750K for 10% equity with an additional 8.5% interest. Daymond offered to meet their $750K demand with a 20% stake in the company. Robert came up with the most reasonable, winning an offer of $750K for 13% equity. The duo sealed the deal with Shark Robert.
In the following 12 months since its launch, Keen Home had generated $2.6 million in revenue. The company is still in business and thriving to fulfill its vision of smart homes nationwide.
Our Review of Keen Home
Keen Home Smart Vents are still primarily sold at numerous retail stores, e-commerce platforms, and the business’s website. People love this new technology, especially in times of fluctuating economy and rising inflation, when Smart Vents have proved to save them dollars on power bills. The installation of the device is also simple, making it an efficient process for even people with no technical experience or expertise.
Smart Vents also have a smartphone app making the control of temperature and airflow easier for the users. With an easy user interface, the app also provides a friendly experience to the customers. People are overall quite satisfied with the services of Keen Home in general.
Pros of Keen Home
If you’re contemplating whether you should purchase Keen Home, let us help you out finalize the decision:
- The starter kit comes with Smart Vents, Temp Sensors, and a Smart Bridge, saving you bucks and time than buying individual devices
- The smart and energy-efficient HVAC device offered by Keen Home is easy to install and even easier to use
- Smart Vents also come with a manual for instructing the setup process while also helping with some hardware issues
- Smart Vents are cost-efficient, saving up to 30% of your power bills
- Keen Home Smart Vents also impart a chance to control the HVAC system according to your desire
- Smart Vents face plates are available in several designs to blend in well with the interior of your house
Cons of Keen Home
While making a decision, you must also know some of the things customers aren’t pleased about when it comes to Keen Home
- The instruction manual has limited guidelines for dealing with issues with the device. For numerous software issues, you must ask for additional support
- The Keen Bridge misses the Wi-Fi signals, especially on different floors. Each floor must have a different Wi-Fi set up, which doesn’t make it cost-effective. Besides, the connection between the bridge and the Wi-Fi isn’t wireless. Setting up extra devices all around the house is a messy chore
- The Smart Vents don’t connect with the SmartThings app to which every other IoT tech is connected. This issue limits the use of vents to its custom app only.
Who Is Keen Home For?
Keen Home is for every individual who wants a smart home. The software and hardware of Smart Vents attach to the home’s regular HVAC system but makes it smart by controlling the route, airflow, and temperature of the room’s heating and cooling. If you’re looking to save some dollars on your power bill, Keen Home Smart Vents also contribute to helping you achieve the said goal.
Are There Any Alternatives?
While Keen Home initiated the system of smart HVAC, Flair HVAC seems to have overtaken the smart tech market through its easy-to-use products. The customers much like Flair HVAC compared to Keen Home due to the above-discussed gaps between the promise and the execution of Smart Vents. Flair HVAC provides Smart Vents and Wireless Thermostats at an affordable rate to the same market as Smart Vent and has better customer reviews on social media.
Though the customer base of Keen Home may seem more prominent, people are happier with Flair HVAC.
Our Final Thoughts
Keen Home is still in business as of May 2022, and the promising duo has the vision to make homes smart. Their first patented innovation had taken the tech market and numerous smart tech channels in a whirlwind, but various issues with the functionality of Smart Vents have caused people to look for other solutions.
If you want to make your single-story home smart, you can certainly go with the Keen Home starter kit to save you bucks and make your home’s HVAC system intelligent and energy-efficient. However, for larger homes or double stories, we suggest you look for other solutions such as Flair HVAC in the market to save hardware costs.
