Heading into CES I’ve been thinking about all of the connected consumer devices flooding the market, some of them from established manufacturers like Whirlpool, many more crowd funded experiments in hardware design. It’s that second group—the droves of folks with bright ideas, like connected bike locks and smart water heaters, that could improve our lives, but which essentially exist outside of standard retail channels. One of the core issues with all of these products that are effectively being developed by small businesses is that there’s no way to get the products into the hands of customers.