WiFi Startups

Jamie Siminoff built Ring, a WiFi-enabled smart doorbell with a camera, starting from a personal problem he couldn't hear his doorbell. The company grew to $480 million in revenue by 2017 with triple-digit growth rates, despite being cash-flow negative due to rapid scaling. After nearly losing the deal to Amazon due to an ADT lawsuit injunction, Siminoff settled the suit, and Amazon acquired Ring for $1.15 billion in December 2017, just weeks after the legal cloud lifted.

Sonos was founded in 2002 by John MacFarlane to create wireless home audio systems at a time when streaming and the iPod were brand new. The team engineered high-quality wireless sound systems and integrated them with mobile technology, eventually adding support for voice assistants like Siri and Alexa. Today, Sonos is an established player in the music hardware market with projected annual sales exceeding $1.5 billion.