Watching Heat Seek NYC go from Flatiron School project to awesome side project to NYC Big Apps winner has been really exciting from where we’re sitting.
Here’s their deal: New York City law says apartment temperatures must be kept at or above a certain level between October and May. Unfortunately, this law is really difficult to enforce. Tenants’ handwritten temperature logs are the only evidence that there was ever a violation, but they don’t exactly hold up in court.
To provide people with a better alternative, Heat Seek NYC takes temperature readings every hour and records them online. Tenants, advocates, and lawyers can log in to check the temperature at any time, set alerts for when it gets below the legal minimum, and easily generate temperature logs based on real data.
Started by Flatiron alums Tristan Siegel, William Jeffries, and Daniel Kronovet, Heat Seek NYC isn’t just a great product. They’re a great team that’s made a lot of smart decisions. From the beginning, they put a huge focus on making their hardware as affordable as possible for the people who need it most. They’ve also worked really hard to recruit smart, passionate people capable of making this happen.
Once the word got out that the team was building something that could actually make a huge difference for New York City, things picked up really quickly. They started prepping for NYC Big Apps, spoke at two New York Tech Meetups, got a shoutout from Mayor de Blasio, received a whole bunch of press, and launched a Kickstarter campaign.
Best of all, Heat Seek NYC is really happening. Their Kickstarter was funded faster than you can say “algorithmic advocacy”. And now that they’ve won the Big Apps Live category, they are totally ready to help keep New Yorkers warm this winter. We can’t wait to see what’s in store!
Press and stuff
So far, they’ve been in Fast Company, Betabeat, The Verge, and NY Observer. They also once gave an interview for our Flatiron School Blog.
