Making Neighborhoods More Secure

Meet Palisadian Jamie Siminoff, Inventor of the Ring Video Doorbell

By TRILBY BERESFORD | Reporter

As one might expect, the Santa Monica office of Ring is appropriately hi-tech.

There are electrical charging sockets installed in armchairs and cameras in ceiling corners to capture unsavory activity. Each door, even those in the interior, is manned with a keypad entry system.

But it’s also very minimal. You have to really look for these things. Most people probably fixate on the fact that the space resembles the exterior of a residential home, complete with a lawn of grass and selection of potted plants. It makes sense: The company sells video doorbells to fight neighborhood crime.

When the Palisadian-Post entered Jamie Siminoff’s lair, what became visible was how relaxed everything was. A tall filing cabinet served as a standing desk, and his laptop was propped up on two wooden handheld fans.

This is the inventor of Ring, the global home security company. During an interview with the Post, Siminoff reinforced his casualness by perching on a fitness ball. It was all rather inspiring.

Before he became a Palisadian, Siminoff grew up in New Jersey with his parents and brother.“My dad was a partner in a lot of stuff, and my mom, she’s tough—a force of nature,” he said cheerfully. He described his brother as “the more intellectual one” who liked to “write books on role-playing games.”

As for Siminoff, the self-proclaimed less intellectual offspring, he spent a lot of time in the basement, playing with remote control cars and airplanes. From time to time he would build stuff, such as a makeshift heating mechanism and mousetrap that was, in his words, “more humane.”

“There were a lot of stupid things,” Siminoff told the Post with a smile. Yet, his projects were beneficial. “I learned about electrical and mechanical engineering from taking apart remote control cars,” Siminoff explained.

After he graduated from Babson College in Massachusetts, Siminoff indulged in his technical interests by developing voiceover IP networks in third world countries.

Then, inspired by the impracticality of listening to voicemail messages, he launched Phonetag—a service that transcribes those messages so that they can be read. “I’ve always hated listening to voicemail messages,” he said in a tone that suitably matched his disdain.

Unsubscribe was another of Siminoff’s companies. As the name suggests, it allowed users to unsubscribe from the hoards of junk mail they received in their email inbox.

After all that, Siminoff and fellow Palisadian Joshua Roth set up shop in a Marquez Knolls garage. “You can’t actually run a business in your garage, so what we did was in fact illegal,” Siminoff said with a laugh. But hey, it yielded results.

“At first we tinkered around with a few things, like a modular gardening system,” Siminoff recalled. He then described how frustrating it was to hear the doorbell ring and have to walk around to the front of the house to see who was there.

“We went online to purchase a Wi-Fi-enabled video doorbell, but there weren’t any available.” The idea for Ring was born then and there.

Its characteristics include motion detection, an indoor alarm system, spotlight and floodlight cameras, and most importantly, a sense of presence, since you can answer the door from anywhere using a smartphone device.

“I knew I was excited about the Ring mission when my wife said, ‘This makes me feel safer,’” Siminoff recalled. And clearly, the message of safety has spread.

The company is huge, with offices interstate and overseas. The team in Santa Monica consists of engineers, marketing experts and operational personnel.

As Siminoff explained how large they are, perhaps he could see that the Post was skeptical (granted, the office seemed limited in space). “Can I show you something?” he asked. And suddenly we were up, walking through a series of never-ending rooms that were filled with desks and workers covering every inch of the floor.

It was like landing in an otherworldly Tim Burton or Christopher Nolan movie, and the return to civilization was jarring. But our conversation continued fiercely.

Siminoff mentioned that many great people have been there to participate in the journey of Ring, including the aforementioned Roth (chief technology officer) and August Cziment (director of operations).

Last but not least, Siminoff’s son, Oliver. “He was 2 years old when we were in the garage,” Siminoff recalled. “He’s 10 now, and he sees everything that goes on.”

As well as video doorbells and related products, Ring runs an app called Neighbors. “With real-time crime and safety alerts from your neighbors, law enforcement, and the Ring team, the Neighbors app proactively keeps you in the know,” the website states.

“We have teams working with police departments, and criminals have been arrested as a result,” Siminoff explained. Mission accomplished, though not without struggle.

Early on, Siminoff went on ABC’s “Shark Tank” to seek an investment of $700,000 in exchange for 10 percent of his company (then called DoorBot). He didn’t receive the right offer from the Sharks—Mark Cuban, Daymond John, Kevin O’Leary, Lori Greiner and Robert Herjavec—and walked away empty handed.

(Though, the subsequent exposure was akin to winning.)

Even now with the international success of Ring, sailing can’t always be smooth. “Ring makes mistakes on a minute by minute basis,” Siminoff admitted. But he has no regrets, as every mistake has led to knowledge.

Every day he said he strives to look at each neighborhood as its own unique customer, and noted that opportunistic crime tends to occur in less inhabited or activity-driven neighborhoods.

“Pacific Palisades was hit hard by crime two years ago,” Siminoff said, adding that it’s tapered off now. He said that about 10 percent of Palisadians have Ring doorbells.

Of course, he’s one of them. Siminoff has lived in the area for 10 years and loves it. “Palisades feels like a small town,” he said. “I go mountain biking and trail running in Temescal three times a week.”

As far as the future of Ring, now owned by Amazon, “We always go back to the core mission,” Siminoff explained. They’re envisioning smart outdoor lighting, and continuing to introduce products that are effective and affordable.

“If you truly figure out what you like, you will be successful,” Siminoff concluded. Easier said than done, however there’s no doubt he is correct.