Dec 5, 2013 · 38m · mad
Panel Discussion // NYC Data Business Meetup // May 2013
Alex Hawkinson · 11m spoken Peter Semmelhack · 6m spoken Steve Schlaffman · 3m spoken Phin Barnes · 2m spoken Matt Turck · 2m spoken Carter Schoenwald · 51s spoken Robert Kowski · 47s spoken Leonora Bredo-Fandino · 17s spoken
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
Hosted at a Bloomberg facility by Matt Turck, this panel discussion featuring venture capitalists and tech founders explores the technological drivers, business models, security considerations, and engineering challenges shaping the Internet of Things ecosystem.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Matt holds 6.9% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Matt as informed peer 1.6 Guest teaching 2.7 Guest disagreement 1.2 Matt pushing back 0.7
speaking balance: gold is Matt, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 20:57 Commoditization of hardware hardware warning
Peter Semmelhack strongly rejects the premise that hardware offers lasting competitive advantage, asserting that overseas competitors will rapidly knock off any physical product regardless of patents.
Hardest push from Matt ▶ 1:22 Host pushes on IoT tipping point premiseMatt Turck challenges the panel to explain why IoT is accelerating today given the concept was introduced over a decade prior in 1999.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 14:35 Stuxnet breach corrects air-gap security assumptionsThe panelist reframes the security conversation by explaining how Iranian centrifuges were infected despite an air gap, illustrating that assuming a system is offline is the worst security mistake.
Matt holds his own ▶ 11:09 Host demonstrates book knowledgeMatt Turck demonstrates domain expertise by citing Peter Semmelhack's book and specific framework regarding the seven design principles of connected devices.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Matt as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Matt pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Panelist Introductions and Venture Capital Backgrounds | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Matt Turck opens the panel and asks why IoT is reaching a tipping point now given the concept dates back to 1999. The panelists collaboratively outline drivers such as cheap chips, cloud computing, smartphone proliferation, and democratization of design tools. | |
| Identifying IoT Opportunities for Startups Versus Legacy Corporations | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | Matt prompts the panel on whether IoT opportunities lie in platforms vs applications and if incumbents or startups will win. Peter Semmelhack and Alex Hawkinson explain why breakthrough killer apps emerge from startups while incumbents focus on heavy infrastructure. | |
| Core Design Principles for Physical and Digital Connected Devices | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | Matt demonstrates familiarity with Peter Semmelhack's book and its seven design principles, asking what makes IoT design distinct. Peter details the dual physical and network personalities of connected devices, while Alex emphasizes segment-dependent design principles. | |
| Addressing Privacy, Security, and Risk Management in IoT Ecosystems | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | Matt asks about privacy and security risks in IoT. A panelist educates the audience on security misimpressions by detailing how Stuxnet breached air-gapped nuclear facilities, while Alex discusses machine learning pattern recognition for safety. | |
| Monetization Strategies and the Shifting Economics of IoT Services | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | Matt asks how IoT companies will monetize. Peter Semmelhack reframes the thesis by arguing hardware sales won't make money due to commoditization, forcing value creation into software services, leading to a discussion on IP and defensibility. | |
| Audience Q&A: Identifying IoT Opportunities Specific to New York City | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | Matt opens audience Q&A, and a software engineer asks about IoT opportunities specific to NYC. Alex Hawkinson and Steve Schlaffman highlight building automation, security, and risk management. | |
| Audience Q&A: Assessing Software Quality Standards in Physical-Digital Systems | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | An audience member asks whether physical-digital interactions drive higher software quality standards. Panelists describe both critical life-safety engineering and playful hacks like linking Minecraft levers to physical real-world devices. | |
| Audience Q&A: Networking Protocols, Device Addressing, and IPv6 Adoption | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | Audience questions cover IPv6 adoption and buggy consumer software. Panelists discuss permissioned APIs and debate open versus closed systems, referencing Nest's choice to remain closed to control user experience. | |
| Audience Q&A: Edge Computing during Connectivity Loss and Panel Conclusion | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | The panel answers a question regarding edge behavior when cloud connectivity drops, explaining fog computing and local hub execution. Matt Turck concludes the session and invites attendees for drinks. |
Statements from this episode (15)
Phin Barnes: Hardware startup costs are dropping dramatically, mirroring software trends
“We were inspired to start the fund based on the cost of starting a software company dropping. Dramatically. And now we're starting to see that in, in the hardware space and sort of in the services layer that, that sits on top of what, you know, what cheaper ha…”
Hawkinson: IoT devices cost $2-$5 to connect with 1,000-foot range
“Lots of standards so that you can now connect the device for two to five bucks and have a range of a thousand feet and battery life of two years, checking in every five seconds.”
Schlaffman: Crowdfunding lets hardware startups prove concepts to early buyers
“Historically, getting hardware companies funded was very difficult, and this allows companies to essentially prove their concept with an initial audience, which is really key.”
Semmelhack: IoT killer apps will come from startups, not GE or IBM
“My feeling is that the cool new killer apps are not gonna come from GE or Cisco or IBM. They're gonna come from, like, folks who are in this room, and, ah, I just think historically it's been proven.”
Semmelhack: Enterprise IoT startups can generate revenue without early venture funding
“Going after the enterprise, the benefit is you can actually sell things for real dollars, and maybe not have to go and raise a lot of money off the gate”
Hawkinson: Open IoT platforms will succeed and force closed systems open
“There's enough reasons to sort of have an open, connected platform, in our view, that it will drive to be commercially successful. So it'll sort of Certainly be there alongside some of these closed efforts, and I think ultimately it'll sort of force a lot of p…”
Semmelhack: Hardware price advantages are temporary due to low-cost overseas competition
“If you make a thing, any price advantage you have is temporary because somebody will make it faster and cheaper, usually coming from overseas.”
Hawkinson: 5-to-10-year opportunity for hardware differentiated by connected services
“There's an enormous opportunity for the next five to 10 years to sort of build new types of connected objects that are differentiated through the, what they, what you can do with the connected apps and services.”
Hawkinson: Average consumer spends $5,000 yearly on home and auto insurance
“The average consumer spends five grand a year on home and auto insurance.”
Schlafman: Manipulating virtual environments will directly affect the physical world
“We're gonna live in a world where you can manipulate virtual environments, and there's implications on the real world, and, like, take a step back and really think about that. That was done with, like, a non-serious hack, but it's actually changing the way tha…”
Barnes: Touchscreens made internet engagement significantly more personal than keyboards
“Your engagement with the Internet has become much more sort of personal and intimate based on touchscreens rather than keyboards and mice.”
Hawkinson: Virtual reality won't be plugged into, but will merge around us
“Virtual reality won't be something you plug into. It's sort of more like it's just going to merge around us”
Semmelhack: Bypassing NAT firewalls is a major benefit of IPv6 for IoT
“Getting around that problem would be a huge benefit for using IPv-Six.”
Semmelhack: Nest operates as a closed system to control customer experience
“Nest and Tony Fidel, you know, that's a totally closed system right now. And the reason that they did that is because they said we need to a hundred percent own the customer experience so that stuff like that doesn't happen.”
Hawkinson: SmartThings built hub technology allowing home automation to run offline
“So we've, Created a technology we call wiring internally. It's actually one of our patent claims, but the, ah, you know, it's a lot of thought to how you create an abstracted app in the cloud, but that the hub, it knows what portions can be executed locally, a…”