Akshita Iyer, Founder and CEO of Ome, is a neuroscience graduate from Duke College whose entrepreneurial path was sparked by a private expertise with a kitchen hearth. This pivotal second led to the creation of Ome, an organization centered on reimagining the cooking expertise via good house innovation. Below her management, Ome launched the patented Good Knob, an answer designed to make kitchens safer and extra automated. Iyer additionally serves on the UL 858 Technical Committee, the place she works alongside trade consultants to uphold security requirements for family home equipment.
Ome is the world’s first Good Knob that replaces your range knobs so as to add real-time distant management, automated shut-off, and voice integration—making cooking safer and stress-free. Appropriate with most gasoline and electrical stoves, Ome helps stop kitchen fires and affords hands-free management with out requiring a subscription.
Are you able to inform us a bit about your private journey from neuroscience at Duke to turning into the founding father of a wise house tech firm?
Truthfully, I by no means anticipated to finish up within the kitchen equipment house. I studied neuroscience at Duke with plans to go to med college. After commencement, I labored at a hospital to achieve expertise, however throughout that point, I received hooked on Shark Tank. I used to be fascinated — not simply by the merchandise, however by the folks. So a lot of them weren’t conventional entrepreneurs. They had been simply common folks fixing private issues. That basically caught with me.
Then one thing occurred in my own residence: my mother, who was identified with Parkinson’s, by accident left the range on and began a kitchen hearth. Fortunately nobody was damage, nevertheless it was a wake-up name. I began looking for an answer and assumed one thing easy already existed to resolve this — however I rapidly realized how antiquated and underserved the kitchen house is.
Each different a part of the house had gotten smarter — good thermostats, locks, lights — however the range, arguably probably the most harmful equipment in the home, had been left behind.
That’s when every little thing clicked. If there have been retrofit options for doorbells and thermostats, why not the range? I didn’t have a tech background, however I couldn’t shake the thought and thought, “how laborious might it’s?” (Spoiler: fairly laborious.) However I dove in anyway — and that’s how Ome was born.
What had been the most important challenges you confronted within the early days of constructing Ome, and the way did you overcome them?
Switching from neuroscience and a med college monitor to founding a tech firm was an enormous leap. I used to be a first-time entrepreneur, figuring every little thing out as I went. One of many largest early hurdles was studying find out how to increase capital. I had no expertise within the startup world, and initially I assumed having a powerful thought and a compelling product could be sufficient. I rapidly discovered that wasn’t the case. I needed to discover ways to pitch, who to pitch to, and find out how to tailor the message.
For instance, I keep in mind pitching to an investor whose thesis was to spend money on B2B SaaS startups — retrospectively, utterly the improper match — and his confusion was palpable. That taught me early on that I wanted to do my homework and perceive not simply find out how to inform our story, however who I used to be telling it to. Fundraising grew to become as a lot about psychology and technique because it was in regards to the product.
After which the pandemic hit. Our provide chain got here to a standstill. We couldn’t get elements, manufacturing slowed, and we had early supporters ready for a product we couldn’t ship on time. That was a defining second for us. We received actually trustworthy with our clients — transparency grew to become our north star. Internally, we arrange a conflict room, re-evaluated suppliers, and located various options to get manufacturing again on monitor, even at restricted capability.
Trying again, these challenges formed the resilience of our firm. We discovered to adapt quick, talk clearly, and remedy one downside at a time. And that mindset nonetheless drives how we function at this time.
Are you able to give us a fast breakdown of how the Ome Good Knob works and what makes it distinctive within the good kitchen house?
Ome is the world’s first Good Range Knob designed to make cooking safer, simpler, and extra intuitive. It’s the one retrofit system that replaces your current range knobs and might be put in in simply minutes on nearly all gasoline or electrical stovetops and ranges. As soon as put in, it turns your range into a wise equipment that you may monitor and management in real-time, from wherever.
What units Ome aside is that it tackles one of the crucial neglected issues within the good house: unattended, distracted cooking, which is the main reason behind home fires. Our expertise affords options like automated shut-off in case of absence, security locks, built-in timers, and hands-free voice management by way of Amazon Alexa — giving customers peace of thoughts each time they prepare dinner.
However we’re not simply constructing a safer range. Our imaginative and prescient is to create a completely related kitchen — integrating auxiliary sensors, good recipe content material, and even grocery supply to streamline and simplify your complete cooking expertise.
What additionally makes Ome distinctive is our affect past particular person households. Our platform features a centralized dashboard that permits property managers in multi-unit buildings — like dorms, condos, and senior dwelling communities — to observe range exercise remotely and proactively stop hazards. It’s not nearly shopper comfort; it’s about public security, particularly in environments the place a single incident can have an effect on many lives.
Whereas loads of good kitchen devices add to counter litter or solely provide area of interest options, Ome delivers one thing that’s each important and seamless — a better, safer, and extra intuitive kitchen, beginning with probably the most used cooking equipment.
You’ve described your view of AI within the house as “ambient intelligence” somewhat than app-centric. What does that imply in apply, and why is it essential?
To me, ambient intelligence means tech that blends into your life — quietly working within the background, studying out of your conduct, and stepping in solely when wanted. Most good house merchandise at this time are very app-driven. You must open an app, press a button, alter settings. That’s not likely good — it’s simply distant management with additional steps.
With Ome, we wish to flip that script and pave the trail towards a future the place your house anticipates dangers and takes motion earlier than you even discover an issue. Think about a range that shuts off if left on too lengthy, or detects patterns which may point out an issue, with out you lifting a finger. The most effective expertise doesn’t interrupt your life. It enhances it quietly, and retains you secure with out being intrusive.
The good house market is full of flashy devices — how does Ome push again towards that novelty bias in favor of simplicity and belief?
We deliberately constructed one thing easy. The Ome Good Knob doesn’t attempt to be flashy. It appears to be like and feels just like the factor it replaces and that’s the purpose. It installs simply, works quietly, and provides actual worth.
In security, much less is extra. Individuals don’t need one other app to handle or an advanced interface. They need options that really feel pure, that simply work. They need peace of thoughts. We’ve heard so many customers say, “This simply is sensible.” That’s the sort of suggestions we try for.
In your view, what does the trade get improper about what folks truly need or want from good house expertise?
I believe there’s an inclination to over-engineer — extra options, extra management, extra complexity. However most individuals simply need much less: much less friction, much less threat, much less stuff to handle.
Good properties ought to allow independence, not require fixed consideration. Particularly for older adults or busy households, expertise must be supportive, not traumatic. That’s what we give attention to: constructing tech that serves actual wants in intuitive methods.
You are a part of the UL 858 Technical Committee, serving to outline security requirements. How does that work affect your selections at Ome?
Being on the UL 858 Technical Committee has been extremely eye-opening. It’s one factor to develop new expertise. It’s one other to take a seat on the desk the place security requirements are literally being written. UL 858 focuses on stopping hazards like unintended activation and overheating in electrical ranges, and an enormous a part of that work is determining how security evolves as home equipment get smarter.
That perspective immediately shapes our strategy at Ome. We made a really deliberate determination that our Good Knob requires a handbook push-and-turn to activate — not as a result of it’s stylish, however as a result of it aligns with a core security precept: intentional use. We don’t permit distant begin, as a result of whenever you’re coping with hearth and gasoline, there’s no room for ambiguity about person intent.
Being in these discussions — the place the implications of a design determination are measured in lives and property — reinforces our dedication to real-world security over flashy options. It’s helped us keep clear on our priorities: constructing tech that’s not simply good, however secure by design, reliable by default, and at all times grounded within the realities of the house.
Why was it essential so that you can create a retrofit answer as an alternative of constructing a brand new good equipment from scratch?
From day one, accessibility and sustainability have been core to our mission and that’s precisely why we selected to construct a retrofit product.
Changing a whole range simply to make it good isn’t life like for most individuals. It’s costly, a significant buying determination, and sometimes isn’t obligatory except your equipment breaks otherwise you’re constructing a brand new home. We noticed a chance to do one thing extra considerate: create an answer that works with what folks have already got. With Ome, upgrading your range takes minutes — no reworking, no steep studying curve, and no want to switch one thing that also works.
There’s additionally a deeper sustainability angle right here that’s usually neglected. So many fashionable home equipment are designed to get replaced — brief product cycles, software program that ages out rapidly, elements that fail early. We’re pushing towards that development. By extending the lifetime of current home equipment, we’re decreasing waste and providing a better various.
To us, innovation isn’t about ranging from scratch. It’s about rethinking what’s potential with what’s already in place to make properties safer, smarter, and extra sustainable within the course of.
How do you suppose the broader good house panorama will evolve within the subsequent 5 years, particularly when it comes to AI integration?
Over the following 5 years, I believe we’ll see a basic shift from “good” properties to really clever properties, and AI would be the driver of that change. Nevertheless it gained’t appear like what we see at this time. It gained’t be about extra screens or extra management panels. The longer term is ambient — quiet, contextual, and deeply intuitive.
AI will turn out to be higher at studying how we stay from our routines, preferences, and patterns of conduct. As an alternative of fixed notifications and handbook inputs, we’ll see programs that step in mechanically — adjusting, helping, and defending us in ways in which really feel invisible however significant. Consider a house that senses threat and responds immediately, with out ready for a command.
This shift will even redefine what “good” truly means. Proper now, there’s a flood of related units that don’t add actual worth. Over time, I imagine we’ll see the market appropriate itself, transferring from gimmicks to purpose-driven innovation. Security, getting old in place, accessibility, and sustainability will turn out to be the benchmarks that matter.
The businesses that thrive on this subsequent section gained’t be those chasing tendencies. They’ll be those quietly constructing belief, fixing actual ache factors, and creating tech that blends into the background however makes an actual distinction in on a regular basis life.
Thanks for the good interview, readers who want to be taught extra ought to go to Ome.