Mark Janes

Mark Janes co-founded ConnectedYard in 2015. The company developed pHin, a sensor that monitors the water chemistry of your pool or hot tub and sends notifications to your smartphone when your chemicals are out of whack. Coupled with a subscription model that sold pre-packaged pool chemicals and maintenance services, ConnectedYard started to disrupt the pool and hot tub services market. And that’s when Hayward Industries, one of the world’s largest suppliers of swimming pool gear, approached… Show more

Mark Janes co-founded ConnectedYard in 2015. The company developed pHin, a sensor that monitors the water chemistry of your pool or hot tub and sends notifications to your smartphone when your chemicals are out of whack. Coupled with a subscription model that sold pre-packaged pool chemicals and maintenance services, ConnectedYard started to disrupt the pool and hot tub services market. And that’s when Hayward Industries, one of the world’s largest suppliers of swimming pool gear, approached Janes about buying his company. Show less

pHin’s “smart” business model - While the pHin solution is certainly innovative from a sheer technology standpoint, I’m also impressed that ConnectedYard integrated the retail pool channel into its business model. Many smart device makers tend to go down the direct sales channel route and build a direct relationship with consumers. Instead of going this route, ConnectedYard’s business model wisely leverages the famously close relationships pool retailers already have with their customers… Show more

pHin’s “smart” business model - While the pHin solution is certainly innovative from a sheer technology standpoint, I’m also impressed that ConnectedYard integrated the retail pool channel into its business model. Many smart device makers tend to go down the direct sales channel route and build a direct relationship with consumers. Instead of going this route, ConnectedYard’s business model wisely leverages the famously close relationships pool retailers already have with their customers. ConnectedYard chose to actively recruit retailers to sell pHin and participate in the revenue stream for selling chemicals. For that reason, pHin works with all chemicals. Show less

San Jose, Calif. – April 23, 2018 – ConnectedYard, a Hayward Industries company
and maker of the pHin Smart Water Care solution, today announced that pHin has been
named a 2018 Gold Edison Award winner in the Consumer Goods Work & Home
category.

SAN JOSE, Calif., Nov. 2, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- ConnectedYard, maker of the pHin Smart Water Care solution, and ThermoSpas® Hot Tub Products, a leading hot tub brand, are teaming up to make hot tub care and maintenance a cinch. pHin is now available directly from the ThermoSpas online store, offering hot tub owners an intelligent and effortless way to ensure their water stays healthy and perfectly balanced.

When the Uber app went live in San Francisco in 2011, no one knew it would grow into the global powerhouse it is today. Back then, it was just one of thousands of Silicon Valley innovations, each aspiring to offer something new and, to take a phrase from startup parlance, "disrupt" the marketplace.

Some might say pHin, the smart sensor that remotely tracks pool and spa water chemistry, also based out of Silicon Valley, is on a similar track. After two rounds of seed funding, pHin's… Show more

When the Uber app went live in San Francisco in 2011, no one knew it would grow into the global powerhouse it is today. Back then, it was just one of thousands of Silicon Valley innovations, each aspiring to offer something new and, to take a phrase from startup parlance, "disrupt" the marketplace.

Some might say pHin, the smart sensor that remotely tracks pool and spa water chemistry, also based out of Silicon Valley, is on a similar track. After two rounds of seed funding, pHin's parent company, ConnectedYard, announced in December that it closed $7 million in Series A funding, a milestone that merited widespread coverage, even from the Wall Street Journal. (For perspective, Uber raised $11 million in Series A funding.) Show less