Meet the Inventor
We are excited to introduce you to our inventor, Dan Swiss. Dan has always been a problem solver, which is why the creation of The LightCam was such a natural progression in his life. Read on to learn more about what a day in the life as an inventor looks like and how the concept of LightCam began.
A little bit about me
My name is Dan Swiss, I was born and raised in Utah. I attended college at BYU and have my degree in accounting. I decided to go into accounting because I knew that eventually I wanted to go to law school and wanted a major that would challenge me in preparation. After graduating, I worked for a media company before attending law school. While in law school I focused on business and transactional law, because I have always believed that if you can give someone the economic solutions to succeed then they will.
Outside of my professional life I love to ski, snowboard, and play volleyball. Something unique about me is that I make an effort to go on humanitarian trips with my brother. We go overseas and in the U.S. to work on projects building schools, hospitals, or setting up water filtration systems for communities that need them. These experiences have really showed me that if you can create a great solution that empowers someone to take care of themselves, then it is scalable.
A little bit about my family
My story wouldn’t be possible without the support of my family. I have a wife, Rebecca, one son, Aiden, a little girl on the way, and two dogs.
Average day in the life
I start my day at 6 am with a work out. Then I wake up my son, and get him ready for the day. For most of the day I am in and out of meetings and conference calls, and answering the endless amounts of emails. No one day looks exactly the same, but you can usually find me in a meeting in the afternoon and then back at home with my family for dinner around 7 pm. I try to finish answering emails that require a little more attention late at night and work with our manufacturers and distributors that are overseas for a few more hours. And then it’s time for a movie with my wife and off to bed.
What inspired you to create LightCam?
This might sound selfish, but LightCam was created to first and foremost meet my own needs. There is an alleyway in my neighborhood and every garage leads out to the alleyway. I have bushes that fence in my backyard, and I would wake up every night to see what looked like someone running through them. I wanted to know what was going on and needed a solution to help me see!
But I wouldn't be able to put up a camera without having a lot of exposed wiring and my neighborhood has HOA rules. So I thought maybe if I tied a camera into my light that would solve the problem. After scouring the internet for this kind of options I realized that the options that did exist just weren't going to work, I needed something that would fit with my house. And that’s when I just went and tried to build one, and from there I kept creating and trying to solve this problem.
I quickly came to understand that no one else was going to create this product and that there were people who maybe wanted a camera but just didn't want to go through the effort to install a whole system. But I knew they would just screw in a light bulb, if it meant having a better view of what is going on around their homes.
"The one blessing I had was that I had no idea how to make something, but I knew what would work best for most people."
What advice do you have for families that are on the go?
If you are very busy the most important thing you have is your time and your involvement. I wanted help eliminate the time we spend worrying and stressing about stuff and instead be able to spend that time doing the things we need to or want to. If you know what is going, you can have a peace of mind at home or on the go.