It’s hard to say what the problem is with Ohm. I’ve never messed with the product personally and I’m definitely not an expert on anything related to energy monitoring. I do believe that there is a large market for this type of service, or at least there will be. You hear about cities and businesses all around the world pledging to be carbon neutral by whatever date. Ok, great. How are these buildings going to be able to monitor/report/prove that they really are carbon neutral? Ohm? Some other competitor? My theory is that buildings/companies/governments are sniffing around at their options, but not committing until the deadline nears. If they don’t have to be carbon neutral today, why pay for the service now? That partially explains all the trials BUD do that never get awarded to either Bud or the competition.
I do think Bud is taking the right approach by continuing to refine the product but at the same time taking a step back and not going all in on ohm. Perhaps it’s just a matter of being patient and having the right product ready to go when all these cities are finally required to implement their energy pledge regulations.
I also think the company should explore a basic energy monitoring service for the home consumer (hOhm?). LifX bulbs are already connected, and if BUD added in some smart wall sockets then you could slap those around your home and have a pretty good monitoring setup without getting into the main electrical panel. Would you then pay a small monthly fee for access to an app that gives you information on your energy use? I think there’s potential there. With all the LiFX customers out there already, this may be an easier launch and be adopted quicker than commercial ohm which takes a lot of employee resources to get in place (trade shows, sales calls, trials, installs, continuing support..). But as we heard in the webinar, the focus is on getting the current Bud business to break even, and so I don’t think they will be investing in a new product/service this year, which I understand. So that’s for 2020 and beyond.
Overall I’m cautiously optimistic on the ohm side of the business, and I’ve been buying on the down slope. Most recently at 5.1 and at 8c before that. I’m of course not happy with the performance of ohm to date but I’m continuing to invest in the company because I like how they have responded. They admit when something isn’t working and pivot when necessary. That’s what any good start up does. I’ve spoken to many of the management team at events, meetings, and through emails and any concern I ever had was discussed and put to rest so thoroughly that I was almost embarrassed to have had the concern in the first place.
A bunch of folks on here like to rag on the company because they feel they were mislead, but I don’t agree. Any company with a new gizmo is going to say “we think we can sell a ba-zillion of these!” It would be weird for a CEO to say “yeah we’ve got this thing called a fluggendorm, and I’m pretty sure we can sell three of them, maybe two”. When ohm came out there was a lot of interest in the market (digicel signed up early and took exclusivity in their region). That was real. It wasn’t made up. Unfortunately it didn’t translate to sales. And that sucks, but that’s the way investing in these companies go. To win big you usually invest before the product is proven, or the mine is dug, or the drug is approved. Sometimes the product is a winner, sometimes it’s not. If you invest in a mining company that had successful test drills, but then when they got down there found nothing, would you feel mislead by the test drills? That’s what test drills are. They are not a guarantee. Same thing will these reseller agreements. They are not a guarantee. Digicel and Rizon missed. Big time. But the company did the right thing and has adapted. New mine shaft drilled. Good. Get after it.
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