Why Nest co-founder Matt Rogers is still bullish on HVAC

Back in 2010, when Matt Rogers founded Nest with Tony Fadell, home heating and cooling wasn’t exactly an area you’d think two ex-Apple engineers would be obsessing about. That fixation defined a new category of product, the smart thermostat, which is now serving as a beachhead for other companies’ smart home ambitions, even as Google lets Nest whither on the vine, killing products that were once core to the company. “Nest is not necessarily doing everything that I set them out to do years ago,” Rogers told TechCrunch. “It’s one of the things when you sell a company.” But Rogers hasn’t been able to shake his obsession with HVAC. “I’ve been thinking about HVAC for a really long time — longer than most,” Rogers said with a chuckle. “And the opportunity is really great. The opportunity to drive efficiency, comfort, better quality of life — those things are all true.” Rogers’ optimism, coupled with his seemingly inexhaustible energy, are what led him to serve as an informal advisor to ... Read full article.