Dhaval Patel, CEO of Lotus, is solving the accessibility problem in smart homes. He was born with twisted knees and uses crutches. One night he couldn't turn off hallway lights without exhausting himself, which drove him to build technology that actually works for people with limited mobility.
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Let's talk about the problem that you're solving as it stands today and why it matters to you.
Yeah, so the nutshell version is smart home technology today is neither easy to set up or easy to use. And as much as it affects everyone, it disproportionately affects people like me, people with limited mobility. And so, case in point, I was born with twisted knees, and over the years I've been on and off crutches. And one night, actually in this house, A few years ago, I had gotten into bed at the end of a long day, only to realize that I'd left the hallway lights on. But I was too tired to climb out of my bed, hop onto my crutches, hobble 10 feet, turn off the light, hobble back 10 feet, and get back into bed. So I slept with the lights on the entire night and woke up in the morning thinking, well, if someone like me, an engineer managing a division at Apple with expertise in wall electronics from Lutron and 37 pounds, if someone like me doesn't even have smart home tech, who does?