Optimizing the future of smart buildings

1. Scale 1 mA single device01 / 05
   01 · SmartHome Configurator (Smartivate) · 2018 to present

   A home full of devices that do not talk.

   90+ manufacturers and 6+ conflicting standards. A heat pump or a smart thermostat only saves energy if it works with the rest of the house. I co-founded Smartivate to make sure it does.

   450+

   devices mapped for compatibility

   2,500+

   users since launch in 2020

   €130k

   EXIST funding secured

   ImpactFewer incompatible purchases, so more homes can adopt efficient devices with confidence.

   Read the Configurator case
2. Scale 10 mInside the building02 / 05
   02 · EcoMate (Uponor) · 2021 to 2023

   Closing the loop inside the building.

   Heat is lost where nobody looks. At Uponor I put sensors on the boiler and in the coldest room, so the heating could respond to real conditions, and piloted it in multi-family, mixed and commercial buildings.

   12–15%

   heating energy optimised in pilots

   3

   European markets

   €0

   upfront cost to the customer

   ImpactSavings are measured against a baseline, so the customer pays only from energy actually saved.

   Read the EcoMate case
3. Scale 100 mA whole building03 / 05
   03 · Intelligent Heating Control (E.ON One) · 2023 to 2026

   A building that heats itself smarter.

   Intelligent Heating Control is an IoT heating SaaS. It cuts the energy a building uses without asking tenants to change anything. If the box ever loses its connection, it falls back to bypass mode and the heating keeps running.

   Up to 18%

   less heating energy

   400+

   field installations

   7–10 yr

   recurring SaaS model

   ImpactLess fuel burned in every connected building, every heating season.

   Read the IHC case
4. Scale 10 kmA district04 / 05
   04 · The scale of the problem

   Zoom out, and the waste is a whole system.

   80%+ of heating systems run inefficiently. With Danfoss Leanheat, an AI algorithm optimises district heating, gas and oil boilers, and our joint go-to-market started in Germany and Finland with 5 successful pilot buildings.

   80%+

   of heating systems inefficient

   52 TWh

   annual waste, at most

   €3B+

   wasted a year in Germany

   ImpactProducts that scale through partners, so one good idea reaches many buildings.

   See the partnership
5. Scale GridWhat comes next05 / 05
   05 · Now

   Adding AI to make the system adapt.

   Heat pumps, home energy management and flexible demand all need software that decides well. After the Ironhack AI Consulting and Integration programme (400+ hours), I build agents and copilots for exactly these problems.

   ImpactEnergy products that learn, so efficiency does not stop at installation.

   See the AI projects

The PCMS engine

A B2B2C business model

Funding, testing and growth

• Funding. Awarded €130k EXIST pre-seed funding from the Federal Ministry (BMWi), plus four accelerators including AXEL Energy Accelerator.
• Pre-launch testing. The configurator went through monthly software testing events at CyberForum Karlsruhe, with 5 to 7 testers each month for 7 to 9 months before launch.
• Growth. End-to-end SEO, including configurator links in smart home forums and backlink building. Google Analytics and heatmaps tracked drop-offs, button clicks and regional access across Germany.
• Recognition. hubitation finals winner 2018, 3rd place at the SmartHome Deutschland Award 2019 and Proptech Top 100 2020. See the Credentials tab.

The Danfoss Leanheat partnership

• Split of work. E.ON One supplied the IHC boxes. Danfoss Leanheat's AI algorithm optimised heating energy for district heating, gas and oil boilers in Germany.
• Go-to-market. A joint go-to-market partnership starting in the German and Finnish markets, with 5 pilot buildings in Germany, all successful.
• Business model. Moved from one-time hardware sales to a jointly run offering.
• My ownership. Product planning, technical support, the business model and legal coordination on the E.ON side, with support from sales, marketing and operations.

Four business models I designed

I designed and tested four ways to bring Intelligent Heating Control to market, so the choice of model came from evidence rather than assumption.

1. MODEL 01

   Hardware sale plus multi-year SaaS

   Direct sale of the hardware with a multi-year SaaS contract. The classic model, and the one most customers understood fastest.

   Most easily understood
2. MODEL 02

   Rental

   A monthly fee over a multi-year term, with no upfront hardware cost. We offered it as part of A/B testing and no customer chose it. That is useful evidence in itself about how this customer group budgets.

   A/B tested
3. MODEL 03

   Partner model with O2 Business

   The telecoms provider brought customers to us. This turned their sales channel into our acquisition channel.

   Partner channel
4. MODEL 04

   Shared model with Danfoss Leanheat

   Our hardware and field operations, their optimisation algorithm, in place of a one-time hardware sale.

   Joint offering

Built to fail safely

If the IHC box loses its connection, it switches to bypass mode. The outdoor temperature sensor signal passes straight to the heating system, so tenants keep their heating.

Alongside the Danfoss teams, I worked with E.ON's own engineering team on product development, and navigated EU energy regulation (GEG, EnWG) to launch the enterprise SaaS. The work earned the Best of Technology Award 2024, shown in the Credentials tab.