Who will save the aspiring #IoT Maker movement?

The maker movement has gained momentum over the past few years as seen in the rising attendance at maker faires worldwide. A recent forecast boosted the excitement about the potential of makers in relation to the #IoT market.
"Gartner Says By 2017, 50 Percent of Internet of Things Solutions Will Originate in Startups That Are Less Than Three Years Old"
As a result, many companies launched in the pursuit of makers, to the point where one of them even launched a TV program dedicated to makers. May the best maker win!

In a previous post I presented the main challenge, in my opinion, that faces a maker to transition from a successful DIY project to a viable startup. Here, we are not talking about a maker that happens to be an employee within a large enterprise using a DIY off the shelf parts to bypass corporate red tape to reach a proof of concept demonstration. We are talking about a vanilla maker who wants to make it big in #IoT via the startup approach. His or her challenge is securing a route to revenue from data produced by an #IoT node of his own making.

The value chain for #IoT is described in many articles. A good write up is here. I summarise it with the following seven points. A mix of technology and players that must come together before any revenue is created across the chain.

1. Smart module
2. #IoT Node
3. Network Operator 
4. System Integrator
5. Service Provider
6. Reseller 
7. Customer 

In brief, a maker is going to use standard parts to assemble a smart module from which to build an #IoT Node. A certain effort is required to bundle connectivity, web protocols, and provisioning software to transform that module into a node. All with the proper end to end security, of course. That node is to be deployed as part of a network by a system integrator for a service provider that will sell services via a chain of resellers to the final customer. 

How would a maker approach a network operator? How to survive being marginalised by a system integrator? What is the chance to be admitted into a reseller chain to reach the intended customer? For a maker, the probability of success is extremely small.

Now imagine if instead there was a broker in place with a system where an #IoT node could be plugged into on one end that any one can then tap into on the opposite end. Such a broker is the key to enabling all makers and driving exponential growth in #IoT. The broker handles the commercials and the web data exchange. My best analogy is always the Google adWords program that allows any content producer to capture revenue from advertisement by participating in the program. The content creator does not have to develop expertise in selling advertisements, nor do they need to become legal experts in drafting contracts that handle major corporations. They focus on what they do best, content creation. They sign up with the program and if the content is attractive to any audience then revenue will happen.

We have the same exact situation here. A maker maybe an expert in creating an earthquake detection node, a radiation measuring node or a traffic detector node. It is major error to expect them to also be cloud experts and web data exchange experts or to know how to engage and negotiate with network operators, resellers and system integrators. 

The #IoT maker movement needs a broker to step up to the challenge and deploy a platform to enable those millions of makers to realise their dreams.

Vertical #IoT is boring. Just imagine all the horizontal mashup applications that are bound to emerge once those nodes are deployed! 

Anyone up to that challenge?