Episode 463: #369 - The Lighting Industry Deep State

Jake Watters reached out to us after listening to episode #356 with Paolo Cordovado and how difficult it has become, as a building manager, to simply replace light bulbs. Even as Jake’s company attempts to mitigate the waste with their modular system, even he admits that the only path to sustainability is probably form factor standards. Michael gets hotter than usual on this one. Born and raised in the Lighting industry, Jake’s father was a branch and then general manager of a regional ED/showroom in the Detroit area. As a kid, he worked in the warehouse, eventually putting together, hanging, and electrifying light fixtures. While in college, Jake helped his father open up a 10,000 sq foot lighting showroom in Central Florida. A year after finishing college, his father retired and Jake ran the showroom for 7ish years until his father had to sell the business. Jake moved out to California, where his wife was from, and he purposefully turned down opportunities to return to lighting. Fast forward a decade, and after having 3 young kids and being a stay-at-home dad for a little over 3 years, he returned to lighting on the manufacturing side in 2019 working for Auroralight, and then Elco Lighting since May 2023.