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'I hate it when people leave the lights on': The future of next-gen smart homes

Teaching parents technology tricks isn't easy, even for Nanoleaf CEO Gimmy Chu. 

"Where smart-lighting is today, I can't convince my mother to use (the app)," Chu admitted. 

"But if I can make it so that every time she walks through a hallway the light will be on just right – the way that she wants it – and turns off as soon as she isn't there any more, then I think I've solved the problem for her."

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That is a glimpse into the future of smart-lighting and Nanoleaf, which turns 10 next week. 

Looking back, Chu said "it's hard to believe we are where we are today".

Chu and his co-founders, Tom Rodinger and Christian Yan, met in college and designed a solar-powered vehicle.

"It actually raced around the world – including in Australia," he said. 

The co-founders parted ways for different jobs before reuniting with the goal of furthering their work on solar, until they started tinkering with lighting tech. 

"We realised we had created the world's most energy efficient light bulb," Chu said. 

"We figured everyone needs a light bulb. Let's just launch that first."

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Nanoleaf – with a headquarters in Toronto and offices in Paris, the Philippines, Hong Kong and Shenzhen – looks vastly different in 2022 compared to the company which posted its first product to Kickstarter in 2013. 

The NanoLight (later renamed Nanoleaf One) raised $250,000, smashing the original $20,000 goal. 

"We got lucky in the sense that we rode that wave on Kickstarter to actually start the company," Chu said.  

"It's much harder to do that today.

"Timing and luck has a lot to do with it, but we also put our hearts and souls into making our products as beautiful as possible."

The company's big break arrived in 2016 with the debut of Nanoleaf's Light Panels. 

Their modular, triangular, wall-mounted design caught the eyes of the world at CES. 

"It really caught the world by surprise," Chu said. 

"That was the product that helped us go mainstream.

"It was the first of its kind and people were really starting to question, why does light need to come from a light bulb?

"It's not about lighting, it's about a passion for developing technology."

Nanoleaf's next surprise will be revealed on July 14, the company's tenth birthday.

But far from resting on their laurels, Chu and his co-founders are looking to a future in automation.

"As long as we continue to outpace (our competitors) with innovation, then we'll let them nip at our heels," Chu joked. 

"If you're like me, I hate it when people leave the lights on when they leave the room.

"How do you remove that from someone's life and make it better?"

That vision needs intelligent algorithms and sensors built around Thread and Apple's new smart-home software standard, Matter. 

But Chu is confident his vision will win over the world and his mum. 

"As much as she is a fan of her products, it needs to benefit her life," Chu said. 

"These (ideas) are all part of the foundation that still needs to be built in order for the future of smart homes to prevail.

"We can do it on our own. We're really excited about it and hopefully we do it right.

"We can dream up ideas and we can actually build them. That's what excites us."

Nanoleaf will celebrate its 10th "Nanoversary" on July 14.