You probably think of Ring as this massive, slick Amazon subsidiary that dominates every suburban porch in America. It’s everywhere. But the story of who created Ring doorbell isn't some polished corporate fable cooked up in a Silicon Valley boardroom. It actually started in a drafty garage in Pacific Palisades, California, with a guy named Jamie Siminoff and a bunch of hardware that didn't always work.
Jamie Siminoff is the face of Ring. He’s the guy who famously got rejected on Shark Tank and then turned around and sold his company for a billion dollars. It’s the ultimate "I told you so" story. But if we’re being honest, the journey from a clunky prototype called "DoorBot" to the ubiquitous Ring we know today was kind of a disaster for a long time.
Siminoff didn't set out to reinvent home security. He was just a serial entrepreneur trying to work on other inventions in his garage. The problem? He couldn't hear the doorbell when he was in the back. He looked for a doorbell that synced with his phone, realized it didn't exist, and decided to build it himself so he could stop missing his UPS deliveries. It was a practical solution to a personal annoyance.
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The DoorBot Days: When the Tech Was Actually Pretty Bad
Before the shiny packaging and the blue LED rings, there was DoorBot. This was the original iteration of the vision held by the man who created Ring doorbell. If you saw a DoorBot today, you’d probably laugh. It was bulky, the video quality was grainy at best, and the lag time between someone pressing the button and the notification hitting your phone was often long enough for the person to have already walked away.
Siminoff launched DoorBot through a self-run crowdfunding campaign on his own website back in 2012. He raised about $364,000, which sounds like a lot until you realize how expensive it is to manufacture hardware in China and ship it to thousands of people. He had a small team of engineers—people like Chris Smeder and others who were grinding away in that garage—trying to make the WiFi signal penetrate through thick stucco walls. It was a nightmare.
Most people don't realize how close the company came to failing. They were bleeding cash. They were getting bad reviews because the product was buggy. The audio was scratchy. Sometimes the video didn't load at all. This is the part of the story most "success" articles skip over. The creator of Ring wasn't a genius with a magic wand; he was a guy with a Maxed-out credit card and a product that half-worked.
The Shark Tank Rejection That Changed Everything
In 2013, Jamie Siminoff appeared on Shark Tank. This is the pivot point in the history of who created Ring doorbell. He was looking for a $700,000 investment for a 10% stake in the company.
He pitched the "DoorBot."
The Sharks weren't having it. Mark Cuban didn't see the scalability. Daymond John thought it was too easy for others to copy. Kevin O'Leary offered a predatory loan-style deal that Siminoff ultimately walked away from. He left the tank with nothing. No deal. No money. Just a lot of debt and a garage full of hardware.
But then something weird happened.
Even though the Sharks said no, the episode aired. And millions of people saw this guy talking about a doorbell that let you see who was at the door from your phone. Suddenly, the "rejection" became the best marketing campaign in history. Sales spiked. Siminoff later estimated that the "Shark Tank effect" was worth at least $5 million in free advertising. It gave them the runway to fix the product.
Rebranding to Ring and the Shift to Security
The transition from DoorBot to Ring wasn't just a name change. It was a psychological shift. Siminoff realized that people weren't just buying a convenience tool to see their deliveries; they were buying a security system. They wanted to feel safe.
He hired branding experts and focused on the idea of a "Ring" of security around the home. They improved the camera sensors. They made the design sleeker. They added motion detection that actually worked. By the time 2015 rolled around, Ring was becoming a household name. Richard Branson saw a guy using one on an island and ended up investing, which gave the company the "big league" credibility it needed.
By the time Amazon showed up with a checkbook in 2018, Ring was no longer a struggling startup. It was a titan. Amazon bought the company for somewhere between $1.2 billion and $1.8 billion. Siminoff went from a guy who couldn't get a deal on a reality show to one of the most successful hardware entrepreneurs of the decade.
The Nuance: Was He Really the Only One?
While Jamie Siminoff is the person who created Ring doorbell in the eyes of the public, hardware is never a solo sport. He had a core team of engineers and designers who solved the "impossible" problem of getting a battery-powered device to stay connected to WiFi 24/7 without dying in two days.
- Engineering Hurdles: Managing power consumption was the real "invention."
- The Cloud: Building the backend infrastructure to store video was a massive undertaking that Siminoff’s early team had to build from scratch.
- The App: The software interface had to be simple enough for a grandmother to use but robust enough to handle millions of simultaneous streams.
There’s also the controversial side of the story. Over the years, Ring has faced intense scrutiny over privacy. The partnerships with local police departments—giving them access to a "portal" to request footage from residents—was a strategic move by Siminoff to integrate Ring into the fabric of public safety. Critics argue this created a "surveillance state" in the suburbs. Siminoff has always defended it as a way to make neighborhoods safer. Whether you love or hate the privacy implications, you can't deny that it was a brilliant (and ruthless) business move.
Why the Story Matters for Entrepreneurs Today
The story of the man who created Ring doorbell is essentially a masterclass in persistence and "pivoting." If Siminoff had stayed wedded to the "DoorBot" name or the idea that it was just a "cool gadget," he probably would have gone bust in 2014. He listened to what the customers were actually using it for—catching package thieves—and leaned into that.
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Honestly, the biggest takeaway isn't that he had a great idea. It's that he survived the period where the idea sucked.
How to Check if Your Own Security Setup is Legit
If you’re looking at your own front porch and wondering if you’ve got the right tech, don’t just buy the brand name because of the story. Here’s what actually matters:
- Check your upload speed. If your home internet's upload speed is less than 2 Mbps, your smart doorbell will lag, no matter who made it.
- Look at the field of view. You want at least 160 degrees so people can't hide in the "blind spots" right under the camera.
- Evaluate the subscription. Almost all these doorbells—Ring included—require a monthly fee to actually save video. Factor that into the cost.
- Privacy Settings. Go into the app and turn on End-to-End Encryption. It’s usually off by default, and it’s the only way to ensure only you can see your footage.
The legacy of Jamie Siminoff is basically proof that being "wrong" by the experts (like the Sharks) doesn't mean the market won't love you. He took a basic problem—missing a visitor—and turned it into a billion-dollar security empire.
To get the most out of your current smart home setup, start by auditing your "Shared Users" list in your doorbell app. Many people leave old roommates or ex-partners on there without realizing it. Go to the "Control Center" in your settings right now and revoke any access that shouldn't be there. It's the first step in actually owning your "Ring" of security rather than just being a part of someone else's network.
Next Steps for Your Home Security:
- Check your doorbell's battery health in the app; cold weather can drop performance by 30%.
- Update your firmware to ensure you have the latest patches against "deauthentication" attacks.
- Consider a "Chime Pro" or a WiFi extender if you notice your video is pixelated during high-traffic hours.