Lighting for Profits - Episode 225

In this episode, we sit down with Swapnil, Founder & CEO of MeshTek Labs and BlueHopper Lighting, to talk about innovation, leadership, and the future of AI. With 40+ patents, 10+ international awards, and experience with Deloitte, Honeywell, and Siemens, Swapnil shares how smart lighting, long-range mesh networking, and purpose-driven technology can naturally connect people to their environment.

Listen to Episode Here

Watch the episode

Episode Transcript

Ryan Lee wishes everyone a happy New Year on Lighting for Profits

Welcome to Lighting for Profits. All Light. All Light, All Light powered by EmeryAllen.

Here is your host, Ryan Lee.

Oh, light, all light. Ally, let's go. Excited to be back. Happy New Year. Can you say happy new year? Six days past the new year. I don't know, January 6th might be a little late, but still, like, I want everyone to have a happy New Year. Not just one day of the year. You have a happy new Year. excited to be back. Took a couple weeks break, gave the team off, or, gave the team time off. And, excited to be back though.

Ryan Lee welcomes Swapnil Bora to Lighting for Profits

So it's Lighting for Profits powered by Emory Allen and I'm your host, Ryan Lee. So, as, as the new year kicks off, I don't know if you guys know this, but, we're the number one landscape lighting show in Dallas, Texas. My old stomping grounds, Dallas, Texas. Really excited for today's, guest, we got Mr. Swapnil Bora, the, the inventor, the founder, the starter, the CEO of Blue, Hopper and Mesh Tech. Guys, you know, the technology you get. A lot of you are installing these lights on houses now, the color changing, permanent lights. We've got the inventor. This guy is kind of a big deal and I'm excited to have him on the show. if there's any fans of Shark Tank, you're probably going to recognize him because he was on Shark Tank. I think it was like 10 years ago, 11 years ago now. But introducing this technology and now a lot of you guys are using it on your project. So excited to have Swap Nilbora on in just a couple minutes. as a reminder, if you're looking to start or grow a landscape lighting business, you're definitely in the right place. Because we're here to educate, we're here to motivate, to help you dominate. And, today is going to be an awesome episode. Not just inspirational, but, educational as well. So excited to have Swapnil on in just a few minutes.

Most business owners have it backwards when it comes to investment and expense

Before we have him on, I've got kind of a rant, I've got kind of a complaint, and I, get frustrated, you know, and sometimes the frustration comes out on the podcast. And, lately I've been thinking, most business owners have it backwards. In fact, I remember when I started my lighting business, I did too. most don't really understand the difference between an investment and an expense. And, I used to think things like, well, I can't afford an admin, I can't afford to hire an admin, I can't Afford to advertise or. I can only afford so much. I can't afford to wrap my truck. there was a time where I thought, I can't afford a truck. I can't afford to pay that person what they want. I can't afford to pay a lead technician. I can only afford a helper. Right.

Our decisions dictate our result, and therefore dictate the circumstance that we are in

And so I want to ask you a question. Is it fair, can we agree on something? is it fair to say that our circumstance, the circumstances that we're in right now, they're a result of the decisions that we've made up until now? Could we agree that, you know, our decisions dictate our result, you know, and therefore dictate the circumstance that we are in? You know, so if you're not happy with where you're at, you don't like the circumstance that you're in, you know, and that could be you're not making enough money or you don't have enough time, or your business isn't where it should be, you're doing too much in your business. Whatever your circumstance is, if you're frustrated with it, could we agree that it's based on the decisions that you've made that have led you to this point? And some people might not agree with that. They might go, well, no, it's because of the economy and it's because of this person. And they might blame it on external factors. But if you're really being honest and you're, you know, assuming accountability, I think the truth is that our circumstance is based on. Is basically a result of all the decisions that we've made have led us to where we're at. Right? And if you do this, if you take accountability, well, then that's what's nice, is you can take control and you can do something about it. Right? And so you have to change the decisions or the process in which you make decisions if you want to get different results. Right. I'm hoping that I'm coming through. I'm hoping we can agree on that.

Right.

You have to start making decisions differently, right? So if you're constantly

And so I want to ask you, you know, we all have, like, different, a better version of our ourself or our business. We're trying to better ourselves here on this earth. We're trying to get smarter. If we're trying to get education, we're trying to be more patient. If we're trying to be a better person, whatever it is, right? Trying to build our business up and hire our replacement, do these things. So what would the future version imagine yourself like three, four, five years down the road? Or the future version of yourself where you're like, I know I'm going to be more successful, but I just need this and this and this. And I just. If these things would happen, right? So imagine your future version, the successful version, the one who has the money, the one who has their time, right? What would they say? Like, what advice would they give to you? Would they say, yeah, you're right. Would they just agree with you and be like yeah, you're right, you can't afford to hire an admin, you can't afford to do that advertising, you don't have the time to do these things. Or would they prompt you to like maybe troubleshoot and problem solve? Would they say something like, you can't afford not to invest in something, you can't afford not to hire an admin, you can't afford not to pay this person more, right? Because that's the truth. Like you can't afford not to do some of these things. And I see so many entrepreneurs in the lighting industry specifically that are stuck because they're so stubborn with their decision making process and they keep making decisions the exact same way, but somehow expecting a different result. And unless you're like perfectly fine with your circumstance, your existing circumstance with where you're at today, then it's a fact that you have to start making decisions differently, right? So if you're constantly, you know, thinking about putting something off, delaying the decision making, kicking the ball down the field, I'll do that tomorrow, maybe next year. All these types of things you got to ask yourself if you're being honest with yourself is like, how has that worked out for you? And yes, you should be grateful, you should be have gratitude that it's gotten to where you're at, but what got you here will not get you there. And that's why you're so struck, that's why you feel stuck, that's why you feel frustrated because you, you're thinking that the decision making process that got you here is going to be the same that's going to get you to where you want to be and it's just not happening. And that's why you're stuck spinning your wheels. And so you have to learn to make decisions differently. You have to learn to make decisions a lot of times faster. You have to be willing to take on more risk than the average person. Okay? If you're just an employee, you don't have to take risks. But as an entrepreneur, as a founder, as a CEO, you have to be willing to take risks if you want to get to these next levels, everybody I know that's more successful than me has taken more risks than me, Right? And there's a difference between a calculated risk and just, you know, gambling, right? But it does mean that you have to make decisions differently. So the cool thing is, here we are six days into the new year, which means you get to start over. You get to become someone else. You get to let go of your bad habits and start new ones. You get to let go of your bad decision making and start making better decisions. And again, like, not every decision was bad. It got you here. So that's awesome, right? But it's time to, mature. It's time to elevate. It's time to go to the next level. I don't remember when this was. Years ago. I learned this, that successful people, they don't care what something cost. In fact, they don't usually ask, how much is it? They ask, what is it worth? Because the moment something is worth more than the actual cost or expense, they pull the trigger every single time, because that's called an investment. And they get a return on their investment. Right?

Light It Up Expo is a networking event that focuses on digital transformation

And so lately I've had a lot of people asking me about Light It Up Expo and they got questions on what's happening this day and what's happening this day and what am I going to get out of it and how much is it? And all these different questions. And so what I want to do is just give you a quick rundown of the agenda and let you decide, what is it worth? Okay. Because I already know some of you are making excuses as to why you can't come. Well, I can't afford it. I don't have time. Maybe next year. Okay? You're stuck in the old you. You're stuck in the existing you, that framework that doesn't make the right decisions. And you need to ask your future version of, like, what decision should I make? What would the future version of yourself encourage you to be around others at a networking event, to learn from these vendors, to learn from these speakers and learn from people that are further along the path than you are. Because the type of decision making that has led you here, has led you here. You're stuck, you're frustrated, you're wanting more. So why not change your behavior? Why not try something new? Why not make different decisions than you have in the past and see if you get different results? Yes, it's risky. It might not work. You might not like it. Right? That's. That's called risk. Right. But you're not going to get anywhere further than you are by not investigating, by not taking some of these risks. So here's a quick rundown and I'll let you decide if it's valuable and how. How valuable it is to you.

Light It Up Expo is March 3 through 6, Orlando, Florida

So it's March 3 through 6, Orlando, Florida. Tuesday, March 3 is a hands on training. So if you're wanting hands on training for landscape lighting or permanent lighting or holiday lighting, this is the room to be in. We decided actually this was actually not part of the original itinerary we bolted this day on. It was. But it's included in your ticket, it's free. I used to charge eighteen hundred dollars to train people how to do landscape lighting live. And we had a room of 50 people who sold out, waiting list and everything. 1800 bucks, you're getting it for free, included with your ticket to Light It Up Expo. So what is it worth? What is just this one day worth? Well, you could go, I don't know, you learn some design stuff, install stuff, pricing, sales, marketing. Yeah, whatever. Or you could be like, wow, this could, this could be the thing. This could change the entire trajectory of my business, my family, my legacy. Literally. If you learn to bolt on landscape lighting or you learn to bolt on permanent lighting as an additional service, and now all of a sudden you generate millions and millions of dollars of revenue and that changes your trajectory. Like I'm not going to put a value on it because it could be $0 to you and it could be millions of dollars by just learning with this one new skill, getting in the room with others and fast tracking your success. Okay, so Tuesday, March 3rd, hands on training. Some of the trainings will bleed into March 4, Wednesday, because we have that morning. so some of them will be one day on Tuesday. Some of them will actually complete that Wednesday morning. Wednesday, March 4th is the expo. Okay, two to seven, we have happy hour at like 5:00'. Clock. This allows you to come in early that morning and then vendors, networking. many manufacturers are bringing brand new products and releasing them at Light It Up Expo. Like that's freaking awesome. Right? Released at the show. And so what's that day worth? You know, building relationships with some of your suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, networking with your peers. I mean honestly, like one hallway discussion that's not even on the agenda. You just talking to someone, randomly saying, so tell me about you. How'd you get your business to the size it is? Oh, you have other businesses. Wow. How do you run multiple businesses? One conversation could change everything. Thursday, March 5th, in the morning, we got keynote speakers, and then we have some breakout sessions. Okay? So some of it's like, all together with keynotes, and then we have breakouts where you can go and choose the topic that you want to hear about. But we got Jimmy Tompkins, which he came and spoke for us at Secret Summit. I'm telling you guys, people were blown. Just his talk, they were like, hey, I'm done. I could. I could leave now, right? So, so good. Brandon Vaughn. Brandon Vaughn is a keynote that day. He's amazing. He's built so many businesses. He just turned a concrete floor coating business from zero. He founded the thing, like, on YouTube, like, four years ago to now doing $2 million a month. Right. So I kind of want to ask him some questions. I kind of want to learn from him because he kind of knows what he's doing. Dan Plata, Megan likes Mike Marlo. I mean, these are all, like, titans of their industries. Okay? And we got a lot more speakers, too, but those are the ones that I just wrote down real quick. What is that worth? What is that worth? You know, at least a couple bucks. Like, so much value in this room, and you get to go network and rub shoulders with these people. And then finally, Friday, March 6th, and we have, like, VIP dinners on, like, Thursday and Friday, and lunch is included on Thursday and Friday, even a general admission ticket. So we got some other cool stuff, but this is just like, the general outline. Then Friday, March 6, more keynote speakers, expert roundtable. So you can go to, like, the table of some of these speakers and some of these keynotes and literally just go up to them and ask questions like, hey, if you were me, in my business, and this is my circumstance, what would you do? And earlier you talked about this, but can you give me more details? Right, so this is like, exclusive access. Kenny Kaufman, he's going to be one of our speakers. He. He just sold his. I don't want to say how much, but multi, Multi million dollar lighting business. He'll be there. the authors of Go for no. Have you guys read the book Go for no? The authors are going to be there. They're a keynote for us on Friday. So super excited to have them. I've gotten to know them over the last, few weeks. What is that worth? What is that worth? So I'll let you guys decide what it's worth, but I m just. I can't let this go by without pleading and begging you to look at this opportunity, look at the value that's going to be provided for this week and I want to invite you.

This event will sell out so don't procrastinate

So go to Light it up Expo, lightitup expo. com get your ticket. You, you will regret if you don't go. And that's just how it is. And if you go, yeah, maybe there is a chance, if I'm being honest, that you're like, I don't know, should I have gone? But we put together an awesome lineup. I, I highly doubt that's going to happen. So super excited for this event. Don't procrastinate. This event will sell out. I just want you in the room. So we only have so many seats and I don't think people want standing room. So I want to see you guys there. Get your ticket. Lightitup expo. com if you're on the fence, hit me up. I'll get you a promo code. It's even at the price it's at now. It's should be easy. But hit me up and I'll I'll hook you up.

Just because something looks good on m the outside doesn't mean it delivers

All right, so hey, real quick before we have Swapnil on, where's my music? There it is. I need a drink. So, hey, you know what? It's a new year, New goals, new standards. And we've all learned this lesson the hard way. Just because something looks good on m the outside doesn't mean it delivers where it matters. In fact, this applies to relationships, it applies to business, and it definitely applies to lighting. So, you know, you can install a great looking fixture, but if what's inside is low quality, low cri, inconsistent, and you're starting the year off wrong, right? So this year it's time to upgrade what matters. Emory Allen's products are built with high quality components, exceptional color accuracy, and the kind of consistency your projects and your reputation depend on. So because we're in the new year, we're not cutting corners, we're raising the bar. Emery Allen, New Year. New products. Still, what's on the inside that counts? Listen, if you haven't taken advantage of this hookup, reach out to Tom gmaryln. com learn more about their products. Get the contractor pricing if you want the best pricing. Just mentioned that you heard about them here on Lighting for profits. Just email tomgaryallen. com thanks, Tom G. all right. And you can come learn about their products at Light, it Up Expo too. They're our platinum sponsor, so I think it's time.

Ryan: Welcome to the show Mr. Swapnil Gura

Guys, I'm stoked for this interview. let's get the music going and get the man in the room. He looks ready. Welcome to the show Mr. Swapnil Gura. What's up Swapnil?

Nothing much, Ryan. That is really light it up music, isn't it?

I try to keep it fun, you know, like business sometimes can get boring. So we got, we gotta have some fun. Yeah.

Light and music go hand in hand.

I love it man. Well dude, thanks so much for joining me here. Really looking forward to our conversation. I've enjoyed getting to know you the past few weeks here and yeah, just looking forward to it. Thanks for taking the time.

Likewise. Absolutely. Thanks for having me.

Absolutely.

Switchnil Bora is founder and CEO of MeshTech Labs and Blue Hopper Lighting

So I guess you want to just do a quick introduction to who you are and what your background is.

Absolutely. So I'm Swapnil Bora, ah, founder and CEO of MeshTech Labs and Blue Hopper Lighting. MeshTech Labs is the platform company, It's Iot platform, which is more about connected devices with long range solutions covering hundreds of thousands of feet area. And now it's getting into horticultural markets, smart cities, commercial industrial solutions, next gen exit science, you name it. And then Blue Hopper Solutions is the subsidiary of meshtech Labs which focuses on outdoor lighting and control solutions. And we have 40 plus issued patents today, all US based technology which I'm very proud of. and we are here to solve the connectivity problems which is one of the biggest industry issues, especially as things are going outside of the house, outside you know, of any commercial property where you want that ease, that simplicity, that convenience and that's what we are focusing on. and that's what I'm here to talk about today.

I love it man.

Blue Hopper is solving these investment issues in the landscape lighting industry

Thanks for the intro. And you mentioned connectivity. I mean it's a huge thing because you, you know, you can sell someone the dream. It's like oh man, look, we got these awesome products and blah, blah, blah and it's going to look amazing. And then then all of a sudden you hear people say, oh, I lost connection, it's not working. And then all of a sudden like you, you sold this dream that's now a nightmare and a bad customer experience, you know?

Yeah, exactly. And then Ryan, you heard, you nailed it, you talked about roi, right? And try that change, right, try that investment and you may have different like amazing returns possibly. So that, that is the crux of all the landscape lighting business is how we have been seeing. And if you see taking that decision, that change, ROI is two variables. One is returns and one is investment. If the investment is low, taking that Decision is much easier. And that is where I am seeing. There's a big gap in the landscape lighting industry where the technology can solve that investment part drastically down. especially now with AI, right. You probably are now forefront of AI as well yourself when it comes to lighting, landscape lighting, you're probably seeing ton of applications. But that is where Blue Hopper is solving these investment issues. Where how easy I can get into this business, right? How, how I can provide that premium value. And then what are the technology aspects that ensures not just very efficient installations, but to maintenance, to control. And on top of that, scaling that business, which is all about, you know, lifetime value of that specific customer, adding more and more value to that customer, that customer is happy. And on top because of that, you are building that $10,000 project into $100,000 project over next four years, five years, and then word of mouth and you know, all other aspects automatically come together to make that business a million dollar business in short time. So that's how we are looking at it.

How, how like, how will someone leverage that? Give us an example of how like they get their foot in the door with one product. But now all of a sudden this technology opens up more opportunity for revenue down the road.

First of all, entry level needs to be super easy. So we start there, keeping it very simple

Yeah. So let me start with some of the tech aspect and, and how we are solving and how it is really helping to get there, get that business growth. Right. So first of all, entry level needs to be super easy. If you're gonna need training for a few days, right? And you're gonna spend a lot of money and your crew members are not there automating that entire solution, right? Especially crew members like they are the field guys, making it very easy for them. that, that has been, that has been one of the number one problems that I have seen. Managers would come, get trained and great, amazing, right? But you get calls from that field guy, hey, how do I do this, how do I reset, how do I add lights or whatever it is. But starting there, if it is automated and if the system is very simple, you are saving five to $10,000 just like that in terms of time value and how much investment you're putting in actual products. So we start there, keeping it very simple, training, readily available support system. And with AI solutions now you can literally talk to our app, ah, asking any question related to the product, related to technology. Hey, how do I reset, how do I schedule and so on, right? And then at the product level itself.

Will it do that? So you can ask it a question, will it program like if you say hey, program it for this time, will the AI do that?

Exactly, exactly. And I have specific video to play for that.

Oh, that's the video I'm gonna play.

There you go. Okay, you want to move m forward with that? Let's do that.

First aspect is how this solution can be cost effective with different take

And then I will jump into the, those technology aspects.

Should we play it now or should we please? Yeah, I mean we could tease it.

Okay, then let's tease it. I like that. Right. So those are the take aspects and then the other parts are like in the outer world, the connectivity is important and as soon as the wiring is there, it becomes nightmare. the cost is prohibitive of any good sized projects and then only strong property owners, premium customers who can afford it. If you solve that with simple takes such as long range wireless machine that understands Bluetooth and that is where many of our patents are. if you have something like that in the products all over in Mr. 16 pipings, G4, roofline lighting, fans, bistro, you name it, right. Complete product portfolio solution. It becomes as easy as pairing your AirPods, like commissioning your AirPods within 5 seconds, 10 seconds and just expand scale as customer wants, ensuring that you take 10 to 30% of time to do that specific job. If you have to do against any other standard system you're doing today, that's one aspect. Second aspect is how this solution can be cost effective with different take and cost effective means. This product should provide benefit of multiple products together.

Right.

And the maintenance should be super easy that I'm not spending time in replacing it. The technology should be reliable enough that it sustains long time and it just works.

Right.

And then scalability comes with that. So one of the take we also have is Hyperlux take, if you see what's that called, hyperlux. The way it works is you have the technology, where you have colorful lighting, RGBW lights, and the way those light bulbs or lighting systems are designed is based on specific power. If you buy 10 watt bulb, it is 10 watt. When red, white, green, blue, everything is on at 2.5 watts. And that's why you'll see red is very dim and my white is very bright and my green is brighter than blue or orange like that. Right. So it kind of kills the consistency, it kind of kills the elegance that people really look for. And that is something we developed with all our products, where the color consistency in terms of brightness, color accuracy is maintained very well. And when I say it's 5 watt Mr. 16 bulbs or 14 watt par 36 bulbs. It is 5 watt across all, all the colors from millions of colors to choose from. It's up to 14 watt across millions of colors to choose from in part 36 bulb, right? So that automatically reduces a number of bulbs and installation ease. Right? And then, and then other aspect is scheduling. Now as soon as you go outside, think about right now the landscape, industry or people are catered more towards is residential units, right? That's where it's easier because WI fi can go around. As soon as you start getting into bigger properties, especially commercial properties, big restaurants, hotels, five star hotels, waiting venues, parks, municipalities, those projects, you need that long range solution. But on top of that scheduling aspect where I these devices are not connected to the Internet all the time, right? you cannot rely on WI FI or cellular or anything else. So having that scheduling feature right at the edge computing is it what we call so each device know what day and time it is. And because of that whether there is power for some time or no, whenever power comes back, whether there is any connection or no, these schedules just work, right? It is independent of network and that solves the world's like this lighting industry's biggest problem. Where my scheduling down to the scheduling throughout the year just works. We made it very simple. The program is like programming is like within 30 seconds you can program even if you are on the other side of the world. If there's a gateway, right? So can you.

There's, there's like do other people have access to this technology? Because if they already have stuff at their house, like how can, how can we integrate that into it, right?

So today it is within Blue Hopper and MeshTech ecosystem and we are adding more partners. for example we have other partners for decorative lighting, right? Where those lighting products such as Minlion or so those are part of our ecosystem enabled with our technology and our controllers. And the technology goes not just outside now, but it's also going inside the house, especially those BR30 wall lights, etc. And it is expanding in multiple verticals as we speak. We are working on a lot of new products, new take that is going to integrate all together. and to answer your question, yes, it is possible. It is only integration at our controller or all our software level and then that's possible then.

You went on Shark Tank 10 years ago and got a deal

Okay, all right, so I got to ask you something because I'm like okay, I got to make sure I ask this question because I've already got like 26 more questions for you. But I know you were on Shark Tank. And I went and looked back at the episode. I'm like, no, I, I didn't know it was you. I didn't know you. But I remember that episode because I was like, oh, like I was thinking he, he was on there for the color change. It was just it was the light bulb at the time.

Exactly.

But I totally remember that. What, what was that experience like you, you just invented this awesome technology and go, hey, let's go to Shark Tank.

Yeah. to be honest, I did not know that time what Shark Tank is. You didn't? And this product, this technology, we had conceived, during our MBA program business IDA competition. And it was really launch pad ut Dallas gave us the launchpad, to take this product and solutions compete in various venture challenges across U.S. canada. And that's how we also raise our first funding, to go file patterns. You build prototypes and you know, everything then followed. And suddenly we got requests like, hey, you should now, go for Shark Tank. They are going to have auditions here in Dallas.

And you never even watched it. You didn't know what it was.

And I had no idea then, right? I just knew, like it's some business show, some entrepreneurs too. And I had a, our partner, our team co founders. So one of them presented, they loved it. And then we ended up doing that a lot of rehearsal. We had amazing team of advisors and free investors who helped us put it together. And it ended really well. We got Mark, who is still an investor and we are building now, this mesh tech and lighting platform in multiple ways in various industries.

So Mark Cuban invested in the, what was the company name at the time?

The. It was Ilumi.

That's right. Okay, so he invested then and he's still involved, he's still an equity partner.

Yes.

Okay, sweet. That's awesome. Congrats man. That's so, it's just so cool. I haven't watched that show for a long time, but that was in like the time where I was just like glued to every episode and I just thought it was the coolest thing ever. And like I know right there and do that. So that's, that's cool.

I have 7 year old and now he loves that show.

Dude, you're like a superhero. to him, man. You went on Shark Tank and got a deal.

You know, I heard until he becomes teenager, I'm gonna be superhero. And after that turned up, then he's.

Like, wants nothing to do with you unless it's a sweet family vacation. Well, that's cool, man. Congrats. And I think it's cool to see how you've, like, evolved, you know, I think that's also just a good lesson in business. Like, yeah, it's an awesome idea, but if you would have just stayed with that, I mean, you probably gotten passed by, you know, all your competition and stuff like that. So you just keep expanding and, and your door and see what else is out there and how else could we make this work? And I think that just goes to show. I mean, here's that, what year was that that you were on the show?

I think 2015.

Yeah, so 10. Yeah. 10 years ago or whatever.

Yeah.

I mean, you gotta innovate. You got to keep, you know, reinventing yourself and coming up with new things. So congrats to you for being where you're at. That's cool.

Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Talk to your lights from Blue Hopper. Transforming your home with just a few words

All right. Should we watch this video?

Yeah. And that is the third aspect. AI, now.

Okay. that looks weird. Okay, that looks better. Okay, so here we go. I'm going to play this video. change my screen here. Can everyone see that? Does that look good?

Yeah.

Maybe. I got to make it bigger. Is that better?

It is.

What if you could speak to your lights the way you talk to your best friend? What if your home could feel your emotions and light up your life naturally. Introducing Talk to your lights from Blue Hopper. A new era of automation powered by your voice.

Hey.

Schedule my lights for the big game tonight.

Celebrate your team with lights that cheer as loud as you do.

Schedule my Christmas lights for the whole month of December.

In an instant, your home becomes a winter wonderland with dazzling Christmas colors and effects.

Put my lights are bluey.

Even kids can join the fun. Transforming your home with just a few words.

Make my house spooky for Halloween. Make the house romantic. I've got a surprise planned.

Turn an ordinary evening into an unforgettable romance.

Make my house more patriotic.

Express gratitude and honor with patriotic lighting scenes that shine with pride.

Schedule my lights pink for my daughter's birthday on May 7.

The lights will turn on at sunset with a joyful pink glow, making every birthday magical.

Turn on my security lights.

Feel safe knowing your lights have got you covered. Whether it's Christmas, Halloween, or the Fourth of July. Blue Hopper makes your celebrations unforgettable. From global celebrations to personal moments, Blue Hopper connects us all. Blue Hopper connecting to the environment naturally. Say it, see it, love it.

All right. That's pretty, Pretty dang cool. Yeah.

And it and this video is not made by AI. Let me clarify.

are you sure?

See?

Oh, that's definitely a Dallas house. yeah, I recognize those houses.

And but this is what I'm talking about, right? There are AI applications and then there is AI models. Building your own AI models, to do various things. Right. And this is where now they're putting lot of talent, building web apps to communication, how it understands the command, how people expect it to work as which groups eventually. I see personally, as our vision at meshtech is we're going to connect people to their environment naturally. Right. I'm going to have my house as my buddy. Right. it's my family member where if I go to House and say, hey House, I am tired, I had too much work today. And House understands that as your buddy. And it turns that temperature, light, everything at that perfect.

Yeah, I could see that the music, you're like soft music that you like that calms you, turns on exactly down.

Yeah. And this is possible today, but with pre scenes and pre programming and all that stuff. Here it's automated learning, that your house is learning. Like you meet friends, friends learn about you and they act accordingly. Right. So this is where the future is and the connectivity. Right. And the AI IoT is what we call it as like in Internet of things. But with AI, anything outdoor is what going to make it happen. And that's where our focus at Blue Hopper and meshtech is going to be. Bring a lot of partners, a lot of integrations. Just make it happen.

That's so cool. I remember hearing about the Internet of things years ago and in some of these examples, just like you just don't think of what's possible and then all of a sudden you see it and then it just opens up the next realm of what's possible and just keeps growing and it's gonna be, it's gonna be crazy to see what this AI does.

Covid has developed a long range mesh network that works outdoors

yeah, what, can you talk about the difference? Like when, when you. That the first company that you pitched on Shark Tank was it, was it Bluetooth at the time, what technology was it?

Correct. So, and that, that is the thing. So we, we were in dilemma that time. It was 2010, 11, right, where we were choosing what to go for Bluetooth, Zigbee, WI Fi, any other protocol, what to choose. An iPhone 4S had just came and they launched Bluetooth low energy protocol in their phones that was going to enable such meshing solutions in the future. And we put all the bits there, like, okay, no WI fi, because of you need router, gateway and everything. And we build that and we started solving all these problems. Where it is you need to have long range. Due to this limited range you have to have self feeling mesh network where if some lights are off they are not nodes. You have to automatically connect other lights together in that network. Right. And it should be all automatic. And that is where we realize we have actually not developed a smart bulb, but we have developed this platform that has lot of applications across the board and especially where you're not going to have Internet connectivity or wi fi or cellular. right. Anything outdoor especially. That is where then we started translating in 2017, 18 we put that under Meshtech protocol and Covid actually catapulted because people started spending a lot more time outdoors. Right. 20, 21, 22. We started seeing a lot of demand towards such solutions. anything outdoor and the demand is skyrocketing now. But that was the difference. It was Bluetooth, but it's really MeshTech long range protocol that understands Bluetooth simultaneously.

So it's not Bluetooth, it's not WI fi, it's meshtech. I mean is that, that's what the technology is called?

Yeah, I would say dual meshtech and Bluetooth together simultaneously.

So does that mean that like if I, if I've got I'm doing lights for my neighbor here and then if I do a few houses down, like the more projects we have, the stronger the connection, the stronger the network is.

Exactly. So there's security layer built in but the connectivity range is just going to expand. so you won't be able to control of course lights of other houses, but your houses. But the in between houses would enable you to extend the range. So that is absolutely there.

How long is the range? if there's not, how, how far how close do you have to be to like the, the next nearest? Right.

So that range depends on the phone. But generally we have seen no issues for any iPhone 200ft from first device. And because it is self healing all the devices automatically connect to each other and you can control and you can even schedule everything right from there.

Yeah, that's cool. I like it.

Yeah. And then node to node, like device to device open. A range goes up to 1500ft. So we can do municipality projects. We have like you know some devices on water tower and some devices on fire station nearby, some on you know, rec center, library parks and everything works under mesh.

What was that second technology that's got 1500ft.

That's the long range solution. So from one device to other device, the range is up to 1500ft, open air. Oh, okay. Yeah. Six football fields you can travel.

And that's all available with the Blue Hopper system.

Correct.

Blue Hopper is a lighting company that specializes in commercial residential lighting

So let's talk about Blue Hopper because I, I'm legitimately taking notes and learning about this stuff. Right. You've got meshtech, which is the technology kind of, you know, behind the scenes powering all this. But now you guys have this brand Blue Hopper, which is commercial residential. It's the color, changing, you know, permanent lights. But it's also. Do you have landscape lights and other fixtures as well?

Yes. So all this tech is built in at the light bulb level. So we have, when it comes to landscape lighting, we have three bulbs, G4, BI Pin, Mr. 16 and Par 36 which enables entire all this tech. We have roofline lighting system, we have fence lighting. Roofline lighting can be under soffit front facing like traditional C9 looks. We have bistro lights and then we have you know, floods and washers which go from 20 watts to 300 watts. lighting up, up to you know, big water towers. We have that and on top of that we have partnerships with decorative lighting companies. So it's controller, but now tree wraps, like bullet wraps, the strip lights, the neons which are also part and aesthetically elegant. Adding values for any property. Those also come as part of that ecosystem and we are continuously adding more and more solutions, more products and integrations.

Blue Hopper is a lighting company that specializes in landscape lighting

Sweet. Now you guys are a sponsor and a vendor at Light it Up Expo. So please tell me you're bringing some of this with so we can get our hands on it and play with it.

Absolutely. And I'm very excited. Ryan, I think you are doing fantastic job of bringing that or reducing that gap from the business, like starting that business to actually making it successful. And then I watched a couple of your videos too before coming here and I can see that you talk about all lifetime values and ROI and how it works. That is exactly what we want. We are trying to make that efficient in terms of all the tech, in the end what's going to happen is less time people spend in installation. Right. More money they can make by selling it. Right. And then that is exactly what we'll be focusing on. But I am excited and I'm bringing ton of goodies.

Okay. Sweet. I love it. I mean honestly that's what it's about. Like I, I think it's because I struggled for so long, like you need the support of manufacturers, you need the support of vendors and stuff like that to help you be more efficient because it's hard to make money. You know, you get in front of a cheap homeowner and they're like, well, how much is it? And it's like, man, you have no idea what's going into this. And then we have to stand behind it. We have to stand behind the warranty and like, just all this stuff. So, yeah, it's really important. And I don't know why, but I'm just. I just love this industry. I think we're so blessed to be in it. There's, there's other things that you could do, I think, that make you more money. But this one's so rewarding because you get to make. You can make a lot of money. And it's rewarding because you flip those lights on and everyone knows what I'm talking about. The first night that the homeowner sees that, they're like, holy cow, I did not think this was possible. I, can't believe this is our house. And it's so fast. You can get most of these installs done in a day. And they're like, they're used to, like, working with a pool company that took nine months to build their pool, a home builder that took two years. You know, there's all these projects that just go on and on and on. And you go there, start one morning, the next that night they flip on the switch and their lights just transform their space. So it's such a cool business. And yeah, not a lot of people know about it. I know people that have been in the industry a long time are like, it's getting crowded. I'm like, you got. You haven't seen anything. Because how many people have these awesome lights on their house? There's just not that many. There's so many more homes that still, deserve to be lit.

Yeah. This industry, what I see is landscape lighting or an overall outdoor lighting with color changing and, you know, decorative kind of aspects is booming rapidly at highest rate possible in combined in any lighting industry. Right. It's 30% plus. Why? Right. And the best thing I love about Blue Hopper business is we literally put smile on customers faces.

Right.

it's that feeling itself pays for itself many times.

So, yeah, it's so true. Like, some people would prefer being an industry where you sell things that people need, like H Vac, I need a garage door repair. Like, I need some of these things. But I think this is that's why this is so fun. Like, this is sexy. This is something that, like, puts a smile on their face. No one really, like, gets a new, like, H vac system. And they're like, man, this is just awesome. Kids, come m. Gather around, kids. Let's just turn this on together. You know, like, we sell something that people want and like, it's like, they don't have to go on a trip to Europe, but they do. They want to. And it's freaking awesome for them. They don't have to go to the beach, but they do. They want to. So we're giving them that same emotion and they don't have to go anywhere. They just go home at night.

Exactly. Right. Celebrate any season. Any reason.

Any season. Any reason. I like it.

Talk to me about the, the, uh, the technology. Can you put them in any fixture or is there certain limitations

Talk to me about the, the, the technology. There was one question I wrote down. Does. So you have these Mr. 16s by pins, part 36. Can you put them in any fixture or is there certain fixtures where, like, you know, the. There's connectivity issues.

Great question. So it is all retrofit solution. So you take out old standard bulb and just put this one new in. Pairing is 5 seconds max for each. Each light and they automatically form the network. And, about fixtures, I would say there are certain limitations because in the end, this is tech that is, a lot of tech put into sizes. But they meet the ANSI specs. Par 36. They fit in all standard par 36 fixtures. Mr. 16s, there will be some fixtures it won't fit, but most of the fixtures, which we also carry and carrying a list now, varied fit and same thing for bi pins. So, yes, most of the cases you would be able to retrofit, those bulbs.

Okay, sweet. another problem that I see some people run into not, not often, but I remember the first time I ran into this. I had no idea what was happening. The customer called and they said, hey, our garage door won't close. I'm like, okay, well, do you need a number to a garage door guy? And they're like, well, that's the thing. It works during the day, but at night it doesn't. We think it has something to do with the lights. I'm like, you're crazy. but then I found out about emi.

Yeah.

Electromagnetic interference. And I learned that like, that that can be an issue. So is there any of that with this type? The type of technology? Yes.

So. So we ensure the way we take care of that is having those correct certifications, including FCC IC in certain cases. ULCE Right. That that is what makes that ensures that we are not like the lighting. Lighting products that we have. They don't affect any other devices and any other devices also cannot have any effect on these lighting. So they have both ways to pass this certification standards. So we have all these. Right. Standards in place.

Very cool.

Yeah.

So you guys have now quite a list of you know, I mean how many products are out there from Mesh Tech and Blue Hopper? I mean do you have any idea.

Like Blue Hopper category? With our own and partners we have like 40 plus products now people can look@dhopper. com and and see all the products. It's readily available. com bluehopper. com and it is very easy. We don't charge much. The training is like three hours. Get it done because it is simple and that is the idea. If it is simple then you don't need to spend too much time. You focus more on sales, you focus more on getting revenue. That is our focus. And with Meshtech it is 60 plus 50 to 60 I would say product portfolio. Different types of products enabled with this technology in various verticals and they're all coming together. right. For example we are also working on mosquito misting system that is going to work together with landscape lighting solutions. Because in the end more devices better, it is stronger, the network is stronger, the communication is. We will have certain additional partners who will be bringing with our tech some other aspects of outdoor Solutions. We have AstroTimers that controls fans. Any outdoor equipment today which is IP rated and today those are used with I would say the standard transformers. The entire transformers becomes now Blue Hopper intelligent. And then we have Astro Timers as well which you can connect, plug and plates 110v ac so works on high voltage but it can now make all these standard Christmas lights or any other things which cannot be colored or intelligent right away those things become part of one app.

Cool. And that's just an external timer that you can plug the lights into.

exactly.

Make sure to bring one of those to light it up.

Absolutely. Yeah.

I love that.

Absolutely.

So you mentioned the training about three hours. Is that just online then?

It is online, yeah. And then we also help with respect to hey if the project is big we have our own free design team especially municipalities and bigger projects, commercial projects where we see it's important for our brand as well. Right. We want to ensure that this is successful project. So we have design team in house that we work Just recently we did, rendering and complete design for a bridge. And that project is going to start in say, February. March is expected.

Okay.

Yeah.

So I can be like, oh, crap, I got a lead, but I have no idea what I'm doing.

Yes.

And do the pictures and you guys got my, you got my back.

Exactly, exactly. And we can discuss and then, and the design doesn't take long because again the system, we try to keep it simple. And the product portfolio is amazing. So people can choose what they like, from multiple options they have.

Communication affected when lamps are installed in enclosed solid brass fixtures

Hey, we had a follow up question to what I was talking about earlier. What's up, Brian Groat? communication affected when the lamps are installed in enclosed solid brass fixtures.

Great question. Brian, so consider this. When outside the fixture and open air that ranges up to 1500ft. And when it is inside the brass fixture. We have seen from one brass fixture to other brass fixture, the range is still up to 20ft. So generally they work and they form a mesh network. So it will work. However, if there are any dead zones, right. At some places you just don't have anything. And there's big brick wall or stone, something. We have repeaters, which you can put. And it will kind of COVID dead zone and repeaters. Literally line of sight spherical. It will give you Almost up to 500ft range right there. connecting all the devices together. So that's how it would work. And then this is also part of the training that you go through. there are specific tools, specific troubleshooting tools right in the app that will say putting device here is all good in simple green, yellow and red markings on the app.

Okay, cool. So is that like repeater, is that you install that on the same like low voltage line or.

Yes, same low voltage line. It's all AC or DC, doesn't matter. It's up to 12 volt. I mean standard transformer, even DC, it works up to 18 volt DC anything.

Okay, very cool.

Gainsa focuses on municipalities, projects and large commercial projects

So you've got quite a, you know, you guys are building your dealer network and stuff like that. What, what are some of your most successful dealers doing right now that others are not, that they could benefit from?

Yeah, I, I think we, we have municipalities, projects and large commercial projects. that's where the focus is growing because again it's all about lifetime value. Right. And roi. So we are encouraging our dealers like, hey, we can help. we just recently, last quarter we helped an installer in California sell a job in a municipality job which has $100,000 budget each year for five years.

Nice.

Yeah. And then these, these are the kind of jobs we are focusing on. We have a team, as well as partners who are assisting in getting such jobs and we are enabling that also with the marketing aspect. So we also provide free marketing assets, up to 100 plus marketing assets with installers, branding readily available from the app and it's all automated. They can take post it on Facebook, WhatsApp it, email it m whichever way for all types of industries and all types of customers readily available including social media assets, videos with their branding. And that kind of also adds value to gainsa jobs.

Absolutely. Yeah.

What's the hardest part about being a founder of the business

Very cool. Well that's awesome man. I can't thank you enough for coming on here. I'm really looking forward to have you guys at Light Up Expo. I got a couple personal questions. Can I ask you those?

Absolutely, please.

It doesn't have to do with necessarily Blue Hopper, but you know like you've, you've started this business, you're a founder. What like what's the hardest part about being a founder of the business?

I wore almost all hats and I still sometimes do. Right. It's tenacity has been the most important thing that has been helping. but yeah, I mean I would say sometimes you have to pivot. Sometimes you know, you have to change that directions. you always have limited money and trying ensuring it works. It stakes creating value but not losing sight from the core value. In our case which is technology like build it, patent it, build that intellectual property to such a large extent that it is going to create a lot of value down the line. And it's also something you know, you're pushing across the verticals creating lot of I would say cash flow, potential multiple ways, and potential acquisitions of each of those verticals as well. So having such business model itself and coming up with this was very difficult. It has been a lot of learning. fortunately blessed to have good advisors, good investors, good partners who always are there to help and kind of open up the vision, whenever required or be. Yeah, yeah.

I mean a solid team is it'd be hard to do it without. Right. So yeah. What do you do on those bad days? Any tips or tricks? Like on those days where you're just like oh my gosh, I don't want tenacity, I don't know if I could do this. You know there's this is those times where you're like man, you're you've got this vision and then someone throws a curveball or something like that. Any tips there?

Oh yeah. Personally I have some mentors and advisors. M, sometimes even family couldn't help but having that right mentor advisor who understands and can see the bigger picture and help you see that path or come up with solutions, work together. I think that has been really helpful in my case. So I always suggest like fellow entrepreneurs or so hey, have that one or two advisors where you can go and talk it out. Like hey, this thing is wrong or is this issue and whatever. Right. I think that has been personally, has been great for me.

Yeah, thanks for sharing that. I appreciate that. Yeah, I've only seen the benefit of that in like the last six years of my life. I never knew the value of it. You know, I just thought you were supposed to figure this stuff out on your own.

Exactly right. That's how you do it initially. But that advisors also tell like have trained me to delegate as much as possible.

Right.

And then on top of that, share and understand where your bottlenecks are because they see a hundred other companies and as you said when you started, like you're going to meet people when they come to expo, they're going to meet many other people and people can share their problems and they probably have already solved such problems in their experiences. So that talk and having that you know, and there's rule, unsaved rule that you know, entrepreneurs always help entrepreneurs no matter what. So I think that is it. Right. And then, I look forward to continuing this way.

Yeah, no, thanks for sharing. And you're right. Like, I think, I think I realized why the entrepreneurs are so willing to share. Even when I had my lighting business, I didn't know what a mentor was or anything like that. But my customers, these are wealthy, successful CEOs, business owners, whatever. And they would, we would talk business all the time and it was awesome. But I think it's because now that I've reached a, certain level and I got a million levels to go, but it's easy for me to look back and go, man, I wish someone would have just said this, you know. So it actually feels so good to help because you feel like, you know, you're, you're doing what you wish someone would have done for you. So that's the thing, that's what we're trying to create at Light Up Expo is like just this atmosphere of helping and relationships and you know, you guys are going to have competition in the room, all the vendors are, you know, but everyone there has the same mentality, is like, listen, they're. Everyone can win. Everyone can win. And we're just trying to elevate the industry, elevate these struggling business owners that know that there's more out there. So, appreciate you guys being a part of it. if people want to get ahold of you in Blue Hopper, what's the best way to do that?

The best way to do that is connectlwhopper. com and we have phone numbers, and forms readily available on our website, bluehopper. com but connectwhopper. com would be the perfect, and we are fairly quick to get back, and ensure any queries are solved, whether it is potential installer or existing customers, no matter what.

Love it.

Switchnil says Light it Up Expo is coming up soon

All right, guys, well, you heard it. Go to bluehopper. com connect with their team, and, of course come check them out at Light it Up Expo. So appreciate you taking time to be on here, swapnil.

Absolutely. Thank you, Ryan, so much. And I look forward to see you in person.

I know, I'm excited. It's actually coming up quick, so we have like a to do list a thousand things long, so, it's going to be here too soon.

There you go. All the m. Way best. And let us know if we can be of any help.

All right, we might. We might take you up on that. Yeah. All right, swap now. Have a great day. Thanks so much for being on here. Likewise. Hopefully you got inspired. Hopefully you got educated, got some ideas and, reach out to Swapnil and his team@bluehopper. com.