Oct 12, 2026 · 1h 20m
Offline mesh networks challenge the smartphone’s crowd problem
The Gadget That's Better in Crowds Than Your Phone + Ring’s Founder Before Amazon Bought It | E2349
The episode connects a new kind of event technology to the harder questions of hardware economics, surveillance, privacy, and mission-driven growth.
- 1Totem Compass uses an offline mesh network that becomes more useful as more devices join crowded events.
- 2Jamie Siminoff’s Ring story shows how persistent hardware tinkering can produce both a mission-driven company and an eventual acquisition.
- 3The discussion weighs infrastructure-independent connectivity against the privacy risks of expanding surveillance systems.
Don't miss
Siminoff explains why he wanted Ring to become a public company rather than sell, before Amazon ultimately acquired it.
The brief
Carter Fowler presents Totem Compass, a screen-free device for finding friends at crowded events without cellular service. Its offline mesh network improves as more devices join, but adoption is the central cold-start challenge.
Totem’s positioning system uses GNSS to estimate bearing and distance while avoiding some smartphone limitations. The conversation covers pricing, group bundles, customer-funded growth, and the difficulty of financing non-AI hardware.
The device could support SOS functions, accessibility, children, and event operations through aggregated anonymous crowd data. That promise also raises a broader question: who controls increasingly detailed information about movement?
A 2017 interview with Jamie Siminoff traces Ring from garage tinkering to a mission-driven safety company. Siminoff wanted Ring to go public, making Amazon’s eventual acquisition an especially pointed ending.
The archival discussion closes on automatic license-plate readers and neighborhood surveillance, contrasting protection of private property with systems that expand monitoring into public life.
What was said on this episode
67 statements · 48 positive · 10 negative · 2 mixed · 7 neutral
Totem devices let groups find one another without phones or cellular connectivity.
“you guys have put together a gadget that groups of people can wear at festivals or other high concentrations of humans to essentially find one another without the need of their phone or without the need for a cellular connection”
Listen at 2:00
Totem Compass contains a nine-axis inertial measurement unit.
“It has a nine axis IMU in it.”
Listen at 2:39
Totem Compass points users toward selected friends at events.
“It has a nine axis IMU in it. So the second you pick it up, it automatically, or as I like to say, automatically goes into compass mode, starts pointing you in the direction of your family, friends, wherever you need to find at the event.”
Listen at 2:39
Totem supports offline SOS communication and plans offline texting.
“It's an offline communicator. So it can also communicate like SOS status. If you're in some state of distress, we have offline texting coming out through our offline mobile app as well soon.”
Listen at 2:51
Totem Compass provides bearing and relative distance to other users.
“it tells you the exact position like bearing and then also relative distance”
Listen at 3:40
Conventional connectivity networks fail at major gatherings.
“every major gathering is basically a failure condition for conventional connectivity networks”
Listen at 5:01
Unity Mesh Network maintains connections in crowded environments.
“We built an autonomous mesh network called the Unity Mesh Network that allows you to Stay connected with all of your people, no matter what.”
Listen at 5:07
Totem’s mesh network operates completely offline.
“this mesh network works completely offline”
Listen at 6:03
Unity Mesh autonomously manages usage, battery life, and bandwidth.
“it automatically manages usage across the mesh to maximize utilization while also preserving battery life and bandwidth for everybody”
Listen at 6:07
Cellular networks degrade with crowd density, while Totem networks improve.
“the more cell phones you get in an area the worse they all work the more totems you get in an area the better they all work”
Listen at 7:05
At Lost Lands, Totem connected over 5,000 users and carried 330,000 messages offline.
“We had over 5,000 users on site and that was when we recorded some of our greatest mesh stats of all time. We had... 35 hops across the entire festival. The Mesh Network carried over 330,000 messages in the weekend, and we connected people across over 1.5 kilometers. That's like two miles or so. Purely offline, no towers, no infrastructure needed.”
Listen at 7:54
Totem had over 5,000 users at Lost Lands.
“We had over 5,000 users on site”
Listen at 7:54
Totem’s mesh network carried over 330,000 messages at Lost Lands.
“The Mesh Network carried over 330,000 messages in the weekend”
Listen at 8:02
Totem connected users across more than 1.5 kilometers at Lost Lands.
“we connected people across over 1.5 kilometers”
Listen at 8:07
Mesh networks face cold-start problems but become more valuable with adoption.
“there's an inherent cold start problem to mesh networks where you know they get incredibly valuable as more adoption arrives”
Listen at 8:39
Mesh networks become more valuable as adoption increases.
“they get incredibly valuable as more adoption arrives”
Listen at 8:42
Totem achieves approximately one-meter median positioning accuracy.
“We get it pretty regularly. That's been our median accuracy over the last year.”
Listen at 9:39
Totem positioning is five to fifteen times more accurate than cell-phone positioning.
“we typically get anywhere from five to 15 times the accuracy and precision that any cell phone does”
Listen at 11:19
Phone GPS drift can range from 20 to 150 feet.
“GPS drift with phones can be anywhere from 20 feet to 150 feet”
Listen at 11:27
Large phone companies rarely ship technology that undermines their core business models.
“Large companies like Apple, Samsung, any of these rarely ship products or technology that undercut their core business model”
Listen at 14:12
Totem’s typical purchase group grew from about 2.6 to 3.9 devices.
“our typical group size is has gone up over time significantly during the early days it was around 2.6 2.7 now we're at around 3.8 3.9 so the four bundle is definitely our most popular package”
Listen at 15:13
About 30% of Totem purchases recently came from recommendations or event encounters.
“around 30 of all of our purchases over the last couple of months have at checkout cited them either coming from someone recommending the totem compass or meeting someone in an event who was wearing it”
Listen at 16:21
Totem customers retain ownership for life after one purchase.
“you buy it once, you own it for life”
Listen at 17:28
Totem plans lifetime ownership without subscription-based network access revocation.
“you buy it once, you own it for life. We never plan to revoke access to the network based on any kind of subscription fees.”
Listen at 17:28
Totem does not plan to revoke network access for nonpayment of subscriptions.
“We never plan to revoke access to the network based on any kind of subscription fees.”
Listen at 17:29
Proprietary-data-generating hardware may be among the only remaining defensible moats.
“Hardware and in particular hardware that generates proprietary data is like kind of what some people look as really the only remaining moats in a world where pretty much any SaaS product could be rebuilt overnight.”
Listen at 19:26
Totem recently achieved approximately 58% gross margin.
“over the last month or two, we've been seeing the best margins that we have across the company around 58% gross margin”
Listen at 20:57
Totem’s event-generated network data may have substantial long-term value.
“the optimism around the long-term value of... the data of our network that our network is generating at these events”
Listen at 22:03
Totem collects fully aggregated and anonymous data.
“all the data that we collect is fully aggregated, anonymous data”
Listen at 23:51
Totem does not plan to sell its crowd data directly.
“we aren't planning to sell that data directly”
Listen at 24:30
Totem is building a predictive model for crowd flows.
“what we're building toward is a you know world first predictive model for crowd flows”
Listen at 24:33
Crowd-flow simulation could substantially improve event planning worldwide.
“the ability to incorporate a you know simulation model to actually watch how these people how crowds will move around your event, try changing things, what if we add another exit here, what if we put a stage here, what if we add another kiosk here, is incredibly valuable. valuable and can fundamentally change the event planning process around the world”
Listen at 24:59
Ten percent of Americans reportedly had no close friends last year.
“ten percent of americans said they had no close friends whatsoever”
Listen at 26:20
Totem enables local connection while reducing outside-world digital distraction.
“it keeps you connected within the place you're trying to be while being completely disconnected from the outside world and allowing you to be fully present”
Listen at 26:45
Totem plans to offer offline texting and social networking at events.
“offline texting and offline social networking through our mesh network live on the grounds”
Listen at 27:46
Totem plans to offer on-site rentals at many venues.
“We're also moving toward running on-site rentals at many different venues”
Listen at 28:03
Totem expects to pilot its predictive crowd model within three to four months.
“we're ready to pilot it here in the next three to four months”
Listen at 28:52
Totem was designed to be simple and durable enough for five-year-olds.
“we designed it kind of the principle we had in our mind was asked to be simple enough and durable enough for a five-year-old to use”
Listen at 29:28
Totem Compass is durable enough for children.
“it is durable enough for kids”
Listen at 29:49
A father reported Totem outperformed other trackers he purchased.
“nothing performed better than the totem compasses”
Listen at 32:29
Totem’s visual guidance may be easier for many partially sighted users to follow.
“you can hold a pretty little compass in your hand and see those lights and follow a light far more easily than anything else”
Listen at 34:52
Totem is developing satellite-free positioning within its mesh network.
“we're working on building the world's first dynamic trilateration algorithm to actually position you within a mesh with no satellites”
Listen at 35:30
Totem plans to add solar charging to reduce grid dependence.
“incorporating solar charging technology into it to hopefully get you away from the grid as well itself”
Listen at 35:41
Decentralized networks will become important for civilian and military communications.
“decentralized networks are absolutely the future, whether we're talking about civilian use cases or military use cases like that”
Listen at 36:30
Decentralized networks will become central to future connectivity.
“decentralized networks are absolutely the future”
Listen at 36:30
Connectivity’s major remaining problem is congestion rather than coverage.
“The real last frontier, big unsolved problem with connectivity is not coverage anymore. It is congestion.”
Listen at 37:11
Totem expects to hire for social video and crowd-flow modeling within six months.
“we are probably going to be bringing someone onto our team for social video editing and someone else to help us with building this proprietary data model to predict crowd flows here in the next six months or so”
Listen at 37:39
Nuance acquired Siminoff’s voicemail transcription business.
“Still goes on. It ended up Nuance bought it.”
Listen at 43:03
Nuance acquired Siminoff’s voicemail transcription business.
“It ended up Nuance bought it.”
Listen at 43:04
Siminoff considers Unsubscribe.com’s product exceptionally good.
“the product still to this day one of the best products ever i think”
Listen at 43:57
Users would not pay for Unsubscribe.com.
“people wouldn't pay for it zero ah zero dollars”
Listen at 44:07
Unsubscribe.com was sold while returning investors’ capital.
“We sold it and got the investors their money back.”
Listen at 44:32
Siminoff identifies as an inventor rather than an entrepreneur or businessperson.
“i'm an inventor i'm not an entrepreneur i'm not a business person i'm an inventor”
Listen at 49:09
Siminoff built a Wi-Fi doorbell after finding none available.
“find a wifi doorbell online. Like buy me a wifi doorbell so I can go to my phone. And they're like, it doesn't exist. And I'm like, you guys are idiots. You don't know how to use Google. It doesn't exist. I build it myself.”
Listen at 50:25
Siminoff built a Wi-Fi doorbell because none existed.
“it doesn't exist. I build it myself.”
Listen at 50:36
An early Ring investment could have returned approximately 50–100 times.
“that would be uh i think it's like a 50 or 100x now”
Listen at 54:18
Siminoff says funding constraints forced Ring to rush its hardware launch.
“I would rob a bank. I mean, no one was going to give me money. So I had to rush it. Like survival was rushing it. Like I would have died otherwise.”
Listen at 55:15
Ring rushed its initial hardware launch because survival required it.
“I had to rush it. Like survival was rushing it. Like I would have died otherwise.”
Listen at 55:19
A strong mission makes operating a company substantially easier.
“having a strong mission is cheating. It's just cheating.”
Listen at 1:02:48
A compelling mission helps attract and motivate employees.
“when you have a strong mission, that's actually one that people want to work for”
Listen at 1:03:03
A strong mission aligns employees and maintains organizational focus.
“it keeps everyone on the same page”
Listen at 1:03:15
Siminoff’s stated goal was taking Ring public rather than selling it.
“my goal is to get public, not to sell it”
Listen at 1:08:42
Siminoff believed an acquirer would not preserve Ring’s broader crime-reduction mission.
“a company can't buy a company that reduces crime in neighborhoods”
Listen at 1:08:51
Siminoff believed an acquiring company would eliminate Ring’s mission-driven initiatives.
“any company would kill all the good stuff here immediately”
Listen at 1:09:04
Amazon’s acquisition provided Ring substantial resources and distribution.
“what did Amazon unlock for Rain? an enormous amount of resources and distribution”
Listen at 1:09:49
Community security cameras could reduce neighborhood crime.
“That would help reduce crime in neighborhoods.”
Listen at 1:14:25
Ring’s homeowner-focused cameras are viewed as less problematic than public surveillance cameras.
“Ring, I feel like they're on pretty safe ground because it's just like, well, I can record my stoop. That's my stoop.”
Listen at 1:18:35
Statements are attributed to the speaker as said on the episode and reflect their view at the time, not PodLume's. They are not advice.
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