Last month, smart kitchen startup Ome launched its second generation smart knob, a retrofit device that gives gas or electric stoves the ability to be turned off remotely. The new knob comes three years after the company fulfilled the delivery for its first-generation knob (under the company’s then-name, Inirv), which was the culmination of a crowdfunding journey launched by the company’s founders.
I first connected with company CEO Akshita Iyer back in 2016 when the company, then-named Inirv, was a finalist in the Smart Kitchen Summit Startup Showcase.
“We were just at the idea stage with a 0.5 version of our smart stove knob, which was literally 3D printed at the time,” Iyer told me this week in an interview. “It was an exciting but challenging moment because the concept of retrofitting appliances with smart technology was still so new.”
It was a nascent market back in 2016, with only Inirv and Meld (which Hestan acquired to help build the Hestan Cue platform before the product ever shipped) creating stove smart knobs. At the time it was a side hustle for Iyer and her cofounder, but soon would become her full time focus as she launched a Kickstarter in 2017.
In our conversation, Iyer talked about how the original idea for building a smart stove knob can from personal experience. When her mother, recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s, accidentally started a kitchen fire after leaving the stove on, Iyer realized there wasn’t any smart home technology focused on helping those aging in place. Devices like Nest and Ring were making homes safer, but the kitchen—a critical area where fires often start—had been left out of the equation. Iyer saw an opportunity to create something that could prevent accidents like the one her mother experienced and got to work on building her first MVP.
Like many first-time entrepreneurs, Iyer was soon faced with challenges that can often be insurmountable for those trying to bring a hardware product to market.
“When I started, I thought, ‘How hard could this be?’ It seemed like a straightforward idea—just retrofit a knob to make stoves smarter. But we quickly realized the complexity. It wasn’t just about controlling the burner; we had to create an entire ecosystem with hardware, software, and a seamless customer experience. We had to integrate a motor, sensors, and Wi-Fi, all while ensuring the product was intuitive and safe. Those early days were tough, especially since we bootstrapped the business. It was a side hustle for a long time, and we didn’t fully appreciate how challenging it would be to bring a product like this to market.”
A pivotal moment for the company came in 2018 when Iyer appeared on Shark Tank. She told me that though they received an offer, they ultimately chose not to take the deal, a decision she now views as a blessing in disguise.
“We did get an offer from Robert Herjavec, and to be honest, it wasn’t a bad offer for where we were at the time, having just started with barely a functioning prototype. But we didn’t end up taking it. And I’m glad we didn’t, because at that point, it was still a side hustle. We hadn’t raised any money, didn’t have a team of engineers, and hadn’t figured out how to really build a company.”
It took the company almost four years to finally make good on its award commitments for its Kickstarter, and in 2021, it delivered its first-generation product to backers. Iyer said that first gen product had certain constraints—particularly with compatibility on stoves where the knobs were closer together, which led to some backers not being able to use the product. But the company kept engaged with its backers (as seen on the product’s Kickstarter page), promising to fulfill their needs with the next generation of the product.
And now, with the Ome Smart Knob, the company is both shipping to those backers who couldn’t make the first-gen product work while also selling the product on their website to new customers. Priced at $129, the company is emphasizing its messaging around fire-safety for senior citizens. Iyer sees potential for partnerships with senior living communities and hopes, in the long run, insurance companies could subsidize the purchase of her smart knob through discounts for homeowners who install the device, much like discounts offered for home security systems.
It will be interesting to see how much traction Ome gets now that they’ve been able to deliver on the vision Iyer first had back almost a decade ago. One of the key potential hurdles in broader acceptance by insurance companies and smart home ecosystem players to integrate products like the Ome is safety standards, something Iyer is working on as a Technical Committee member for UL Standard 858. UL 858 is a set of safety standards for electric ranges, and the group is working to update and modernize to factor in smart home technologies like those built into the Ome.
“We’re working to update UL 858 to allow for automation in a safe way. The critical thing is maintaining user consent—meaning the user still has to push and turn to activate the stove, and then our technology takes over. We’re in the process of getting certification to show the industry that we can build this technology without putting anyone at risk. The big concern with UL is ensuring no one can remotely turn on a stove, and we’ve built safeguards to prevent that.”
We’ll keep an eye on the progress around UL 858 and how Ome does with the rollout of its new smart knob. If you want to watch my full interview, just click play below.
