Here’s an overview of the company I’m working with over the Summer.
- Name: Vivint
- Size: 8000 employees
- Industry: Smart Home Technology
- Headquarters: Provo, Utah
- # of Customers: 1 million, spread between US and Canada
Story of how it was founded: CEO Todd Peterson, a member of the Latter Day Saints (Mormon church), served two years as a missionary knocking on doors to spread his faith. Returning back to Brigham Young University in Provo, he decided to start a business. Reflecting on the skills he built (knocking on doors) he began selling pest control on a door-to-door basis. He speculated on making $10,000 that Summer but greatly surpassed that, making $80,000. Realizing how effective it was to sell home services direct-to-home, he founded APX Alarm Systems in 1997. In 2001, the company moved into the home automation business and was renamed Vivint. Since then, he has remained Owner/Operator of the company growing it from a $50 million company in 2006 to a $2 billion one in 2012.
Fun facts:
- Acquired by the Blackstone Group in 2012 for $2 billion.
- CEO was featured on Undercover Boss last year – Youtube Link
- Purchased the Kickstarter cloud storage company Space Monkey in 2014.
- Owns the naming rights to the Utah Jazz Stadium (photo below)Photo: March 2016 – as a signing bonus they flew me down to Utah to visit the stadium.
- Is 100% vertically integrated – Products are designed and produced in house at their Innovation Lab. Then, distribution and marketing are handled by their sales teams.
Product Lineup
Their most popular product: The doorbell camera.
Source: www.vivint.com
Source: Forbes Profile on Todd Peterson
Source: Vivint Wikipedia
If that was interesting, click here to read about the awesome training I got prior to my start date.