He Raised Over $100 Million To Build An Intelligent Buildings Systems Platform Later Acquired By Siemens

Tanuj Mohan is no stranger to the world of entrepreneurship. From growing up in India to becoming a successful, repeated founder, his journey is a testament to innovation, perseverance, and a deep understanding of technology.

Tanuj shared insights from his journey across sectors like network management, smart building solutions, and energy efficiency in this interview. He highlighted valuable lessons on building effective boards, scaling companies, fundraising, and navigating corporate acquisitions.

Let’s dive into the fascinating story of how Tanuj got started and what drove his successful ventures.

Listen to the full podcast episode and review the transcript here.

The Beginnings: Engineering over Medicine

Born to a doctor father and an English mother in India, Tanuj grew up in a diverse household. The path for middle-class families in India was often binary—one either became a doctor or an engineer.

Watching his father work long hours, even during vacations, Tanuj realized the medical profession wasn’t for him. Instead, his curiosity for how things worked led him to engineering. His education began at IIT Delhi, which laid the foundation for his technical expertise.

But Tanuj wanted to roam the world more than just seek knowledge. Back then, the key to that was a move to the U.S., and that’s precisely what he did after graduating from IIT.

Navigating the Corporate World: A Big-Picture Thinker

Tanuj began his career at Hughes Software but quickly realized that corporate life wasn’t entirely satisfying. He questioned why certain things were done a certain way, mainly because he saw things at a systems level.

Many of his tasks were minor components of much larger projects, which didn’t align with his big-picture thinking. One notable anecdote from his corporate days was a project optimizing traffic signals for future self-driving cars that could communicate with the signals.

Tanuj stepped back and asked a simple question: “If all cars are self-driving, do we even need traffic signals?” This type of higher-level thinking set him apart early on. In his mind, traffic signals would be eliminated, meaning optimizing them was unnecessary.

Working in the corporate world as an engineer, Tanuj was given tasks without being allowed to understand the context of the task, which was frustrating for him. However, he recalls learning a lot about how large companies were managed and getting extensive exposure.

Tanuj’s career in networking gave him an incredible vantage point. He worked with early protocols like AppleTalk, Frame Relay, and XNS when IP wasn’t dominant, which gave him valuable insights into how people thought and developed their own protocols.

Apple talked from one extreme ease of use, IPX performance, and IP as somewhere between ease of use and performance. Tanuj learned how the different design choices companies make and how slight shifts in what they’re solving for can lead to entirely different solutions.

The Leap into Entrepreneurship

Tanuj’s first step into entrepreneurship was working at Novell in Bangalore. He was part of a team building the next-generation version around fault tolerance high-availability systems for the company.

A couple of years later, three of his colleagues from the U.S. left to start a company called iManage, and they invited Tanuj to join them. He became the first engineer to play a critical role in developing a network management system for Yago, a gigabit operation company.

Eventually, Yago was acquired by Cabletron Systems. As Tanuj recalls, the network management platform was built generically, making it versatile and scalable. Pipelinks adopted it very successfully.

After Yago and Pipelinks were bought by Cisco and Siemens, respectively, they were the network management team for both companies. Ultimately, it became the de facto network management system for Cisco’s optical line of business units.

Tanuj navigated the complexities of acquisitions and saw his early work stand the test of time. His network management platform continued to be used long after the acquisitions, a rare feat in the tech world. His experiences in the corporate world ignited the inspiration to build more.

Enlighted: The Birth of a Smart Building Vision

The idea for his company, Enlighted, struck Tanuj during his corporate days at Cisco. He looks back to the time when he was optimizing small pieces of router code of one packet per second. Optimizing the code, the router throughput could increase by one packet per second.

However, Tanuj saw entire office floors lit and HVAC systems functioning for entire buildings with just five people working where there could have been 1500 people. Outdated sensor technology resulted in inefficient energy use in buildings.

Tanuj’s answer to waste was built-in technology rather than bolt-in technology. Every light fixture should be able to sense its environment and make its own locally optimized decision. That’s the leap they made–combining light sensors with actuation and software.

Tanuj and his team came up with the idea for Enlighted when they decided to install sensors in each light fixture, enabling local optimization of energy use. That’s when Tanuj decided to leave the corporate world and start his own company.

Instead of treating lights, sensors, and actuation as separate systems, Enlighted unified them, enabling each light to sense its environment and make its own decision on when to turn on or off.

Overcoming Market Barriers

Enlighted entered a tough market: construction. Early on, Tanuj faced the realities of the “construction mafia,” a difficult channel to break into which isn’t conducive to startups. Worse, the market had just crashed, and new construction projects had stopped.

The company pivoted to focus on retrofitting buildings with LED lighting combined with their smart sensors, which led to significant energy savings. Tanuj’s unique insight allowed Enlighted to offer these retrofit kits as a no-risk proposition.

These kits could replace existing fluorescent lights with LEDs. The savings from reduced energy use paid for the system itself, making it an attractive deal for companies like Google and AT&T that embraced it directly and instructed the channel and industry to integrate the solution.

The Enlighted product design enabled it to penetrate the market without disrupting the entire chain. Tanuj and his team could come in over the top and sell the proposition directly to the end customers. However, they also realized that most people didn’t understand the impact on savings.

Tanuj had to devise a strategy to make real sales beyond leading tech companies. Then, he realized that the energy savings were significant since around 70% to 80% of the energy spent on lighting was wasted. Enlighted could recover that waste.

To make that happen, Tanuj created a finance model and made it a CFO sale. They approached AT&T and offered to replace all its fixtures with Enlighted technology. Payments would be made over the next three, five, or seven years for the system at a fraction of the savings they’d make.

Eliminating the risk factor would enable Enlighted to scale. However, the true magic lay in the data since Enlighted was not just about lighting control. Its platform collected second-by-second data about building usage.

Enlighted also had a radio that could scan for Bluetooth signals in indoor locations. Although they were adding far more expensive components than regular sensors, they had value from the data, creating the potential for a wide range of SaaS applications.

Tanuj and his team created a global energy optimization program, helping companies analyze energy consumption across entire building portfolios. This program allowed energy rates to normalize in Hawaii versus Texas.

Enlighted also launched a SaaS application because the application could benefit entire corporations, not just local buildings.

Raising Capital: Navigating the Fundraising Landscape

Fundraising wasn’t easy for Enlighted, particularly because they were creating a new market. Tanuj recalls a critical piece of advice from an investor–you can draw all investments in four quadrants. Most investments happen when the investor knows both the people and the industry.

The second type of investments happens when the investor knows the people but not the industry. The third type of investments happens when they know the industry but not the people. And the fourth is when they don’t know the industry or people.

In Enlighted’s case, neither was true—Tanuj was known for networking but not in the relatively new energy efficiency market. Enlighted did not have credibility, which made attracting funding more challenging. It would have to move into one of the four quadrants.

The company’s fundraising journey started with seed investors who believed in Tanuj’s vision–Silver Lake, a PE firm. Eventually, he raised over $100M. One crucial lesson Tanuj learned during fundraising is that if you educate an investor about the market, it’s unlikely they’ll invest in you. After all, once they’ve learned, they may just choose to invest in someone else.

The Siemens Acquisition and Beyond

Enlighted’s success eventually caught Siemens’s attention. The acquisition was a perfect fit, as Siemens had the scale and reach to bring Enlighted’s smart building technology to markets worldwide.

As Tanuj recalls, when building Enlighted, the key focus was on SaaS and market value. However, several other aspects needed to be worked out, such as installation, the construction industry, construction channels, regulations, Title 24, data business, and SAC–that Siemens would do.

Siemens saw the incredible potential of saving carbon and using its data for other purposes, including HVAC optimization, fire alarms, physical security, and, particularly, contact tracing, which was crucial during COVID-19.

The acquisition also brought credibility to the Enlighted brand, reassuring customers that their decision to install the system would stand for 20 to 30 years.

Working at Amazon Sidewalk

After the acquisition, Tanuj returned to the corporate world, joining Amazon’s Sidewalk division—a unique blend of startup culture within a corporate giant.

Tanuj describes it as a well-funded startup with the backing of Amazon’s brand, providing access to resources and networks that typical startups can only dream of. It had product management, business development, and all the functions of a small team.

This allowed Tanuj to continue pursuing innovation in a fast-moving environment while avoiding some of the common pitfalls, such as fundraising, brand recognition, and longevity issues. Tanuj actually joined Amazon Sidewalk because he passionately believed in its vision.

A good example is a smart tap with a Sidewalk chip integrated into it. The chip can communicate directly with the cloud, allowing users to scan the tap and configure it with a scan to send the user a text message if it is leaking.

Once manufacturers install the Sidewalk sensor, they can sell the smart tap through regular distribution channels and in stores like Home Depot or Lowe’s. The smart tap can automatically find a network and connect to the cloud.

Sidewalk has several such opportunities where the IoT could materialize. Tanuj realized that investors and entrepreneurs were approaching the company from every vertical, and it had extensive applications with any device that could be connected to the internet.

Joining AirEye as CEO

Tanuj recognized that Wi-Fi-enabled devices like radios, printers, coffee machines, and TVs can be accessed directly over the air. But, they are also vulnerable to remote hackers and lack a first line of defense.

The only defense is the firewall provided by the network. Since devices are designed for ease of use, they have a very low bar for security and are not patched regularly for security.

Tanuj’s critical, out-of-the-box thought processes triggered the thought that critical devices managing critical things didn’t have a first line of defense on their wireless side. When he raised the question, he was told that managing different verticals came with specific processes.

That’s when AirEye approached Tanuj with the offer to join as CEO and take over the company. Although still in its early stages, the company has already raised $8M.

Storytelling is everything, and Tanuj Mohan was able to master it. The key is being able to capture the essence of what you are doing in 15 to 20 slides. For a winning deck, take a look at the pitch deck template created by Silicon Valley legend Peter Thiel (see it here), where the most critical slides are highlighted.

Remember to unlock the pitch deck template founders worldwide use to raise millions below.

Talking about what AirEye is doing, Tanuj cites the example of the airport attack uncovered when users tried connecting to public Wi-Fi. Since every area provides wireless services, they need specific wireless airspace defense.

This defense system prevents users from connecting to rogue networks, evil twins, and bad actors, as well as prevents bad actors from connecting with user devices. This is the vision behind AirEye, which is installing an overlay network alongside existing hardware.

Tanuj believes that access providers will consume this functionality since they have to run more resources to create a continuous active defense at every node.

Accordingly, defense won’t be an afterthought. It will be integrated with the service provided and consume as many resources as delivering the service. Currently, 15% to 20% of resources are assigned toward defense.

Retrospection and Vision for Tomorrow’s World

Visualizing the world tomorrow, Tanuj envisions integrating Enlighted sensing technology in every commercial light fixture. Because the data stream is consistent worldwide, anybody could write an application for iOS or Android devices.

When Tanuj built Enloghted, they were making money on sensors, but there’s a lot of room and margin for competitors. When lighting companies approached him for licensing opportunities to build their sensors, Tanuj focused on pricing at software margins.

In retrospect, Tanuj would have given away the hardware reference designs and software to enable more data to be collected in the cloud. He would have focused on building a SaaS application, paying a percentage back to the light fixture manufacturer who helped collect the data.

Enlighted was earning great revenues from hardware sales at the time, but licensing the technology to fortify the data platform and applications would have been a strategic move.

Lessons for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

Tanuj Mohan’s journey is filled with lessons for entrepreneurs. He emphasizes the importance of understanding not just your product but the entire ecosystem around it. He advises entrepreneurs to work backward from their vision, know how to achieve it, and not lose sight of it.

Whether it’s fundraising, understanding market channels, or making strategic decisions about scaling, Tanuj’s experience shows that success lies in a blend of technical innovation and business acumen.

From optimizing energy use in buildings to scaling a company for global impact, Tanuj has never lost sight of his mission: solving real-world problems with cutting-edge technology. His story inspires those navigating the complex world of startups, acquisitions, and beyond.

Listen to the full podcast episode to know more, including:

• Tanuj’s career began in engineering. Driven by curiosity and big-picture thinking, he moved away from corporate roles into entrepreneurship.
• His first venture in network management set the foundation for acquisitions by industry giants like Cisco and Siemens.
• Enlighted, Tanuj’s smart building solution, addressed energy inefficiency by integrating sensors into light fixtures, enabling local optimization.
• Enlighted’s pivot to retrofit solutions and data-driven SaaS applications helped overcome market barriers in the construction industry.
• Fundraising was challenging due to a lack of credibility in the energy sector, but Tanuj eventually raised over $100M by aligning with investors who believed in his vision.
• Siemens’ acquisition of Enlighted brought global scale to smart building technology, reinforcing the long-term viability of the system.
• Tanuj’s current role at AirEye continues his mission of solving critical problems, which, this time, focuses on securing Wi-Fi-enabled devices from remote hackers.

 

SUBSCRIBE ON:

For a winning deck, see the commentary on a pitch deck from an Uber competitor that has raised over $400M (see it here). 

Remember to unlock for free the pitch deck template that is being used by founders around the world to raise millions below.