How Erik Barnett Turned “Tech Support for Mom” Into a Scalable Business Model

Erik Barnett’s journey from protecting his mom’s hacked computer to launching HomeSirens—an “internet security officer in a box”—is a masterclass in mission-driven innovation. What began as a personal problem quickly evolved into a plug-and-play cybersecurity solution for households and beyond. In this edition of the Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur Spotlight series, Erik shares how facing fear at CES 2020, listening to hard feedback, and harnessing his military grit helped him create a battle-ready device now safeguarding homes and small businesses alike.

Hi, Erik Barnett! Thanks for joining us today. Tell us about your business. Who do you serve, how do you serve them, and what's the impact that your business and work makes?

HomeSirens is a brand-new approach to helping everyday people with home internet security. By providing a "internet security officer in a box" to customers they can protect their whole WiFi router from attacks. A plug an play technology that auto configures, connects to the internet, and protects your home wifi router within 3 minutes. 

Along with the technology is a management service offering where our Security Engineers are monitoring and reacting to any internet threat which is identified by your HomeSirens A.I. 

At HomeSirens, We Do Internet Security For You.

Tell us about the moment you finally felt like you went from wantrepreneur to entrepreneur.

Consumer Electronics Show 2020 when I introduced HomeSirens mvp computer with a touch screen ( yea i was a head of myself ) at a HomeSirens Booth in Eureka Park ( home of innovation tech ). 

I have never showed this product to a soul before this event. I had no idea how people would react, would they hate it, think its stupid. Would they even care about home internet security? What do I do if all the feedback is bad and negative? What if I just suck and this was not a good idea? I was afraid. Afraid that maybe this would be my first and last to show to explain this product and business and why its a good idea.

As the days unfolded during the show the feedback I was given was better than anything I could have thought. It validated my fears are merely self-created and there was indeed a business here that people wanted. That was the start of going from 100 mph to 200 mph the validation to go harder. It is what entrepreneurship is all about; gunning for the space where you have a vision to succeed.

Describe the moment or period in your life/career that motivated you to make the entrepreneurial leap.

My first real problem that lead to this whole adventure was helping my Mom after her computer being hacked. As a cybersecurity professional I know the dangers of the internet but thats not the same for everyone, my parents are kind of easy targets. I have cleaned her computer from virus more than i would like to admit. 

Thus presented the magical question "What in the world can I give to my parents where all they have to do is plug it in and power it up. And somehow I can manage it through the internet no matter what my location is on earth".  This was happening while I was selling high security tech for corporations. I figured something had to be out there. I searched the web for months, nothing existed. 

Hello Rock, Meet Hard Place. What do I do, I do not want to be Security Tech support for my Mom.  I need to do something in a hurry. 

I developed a very low speed security solution to see I could match my requirements. Sent the computer to my Mom and explain how to connect 3 cables and press power. 4 Minutes later I could see the security information from her house in the "cloud" where I can manage it all. 

It was that moment, where my brain went "boom if my mom could have this, why not everyone else. I mean everyone is getting beat up by hackers". The sanity started that day.

Describe a tool, service, or software that has been a game-changer for your business. How does it contribute to your success?

Im gonna have to say Linkedin (Pre videos). It was the one platform which was focused on certain industries. The information being shared was really helpful from engineers working on various projects. I gained alot of good threat intelligence from others situations.

We know that success is very often a non-linear path. Tell us about a failure, pivot point, or lesson that changed your course or direction and helped to get you where you are today.

One pivoting point was thinking a mvp product would be a great design for production. The computer design was a literal house with a 5 inch touch screen, the case was 3D printed. It would display the HomeSirens dashboard on the screen so people never had to use any app or web browser. Again I thought i was on to something.

As I showed this version to many people a common theme started to emerge; it looks like a bird house and way to advance where it could just break if it dropped. Ugh what a chest punch, the form factor was not hitting the mark and instead made it look bad. I had to go back and look at what form factors have been successful for home tech, what can be dropped and still work.

Today HomeSirens A.I. Gen 5 is the outcome from all the feedback and work. Made out of aluminum with a heavy heat sink, you can drop this thing dent your floors and it will still work... apologize for your floors in advance. I say this as a former Marine, its U.US. Marine tough.

What unconventional strategy did you employ that significantly impacted your business?

Under state and over accomplish is my sneaky unconventional strategy that is design to attract additional consumer markets. HomeSirens by the name itself will make people think "Home Only" security technology. However what they will find after becoming a client and witnessing the technology, is that HomeSirens can protect small businesses, corporations, utility controllers, smart vehicles, etc. 

This saves the money it would take to conduct a proper proof of concept for businesses for sales. By using HomeSirens at home and seeing the power, there is no reason why they wouldnt think that this could be used in their business. Organically I am discovering other markets by using one of my primary business models.

The commonality for all owners, executives, and cyber security folks is they have a home.

What’s something you wish you knew sooner that you’d give as advice for aspiring or newer entrepreneurs?

Entrepreneurship has alot of variables that can come out of nowhere. But there is an overall process which lets you know when to spend money and when to hold. Each path holds these basic rules. Spend when necessary and negotiate when you think its worth it, follow lifes rythm for the outcome. Stay on top of your paper we would say in Orlando Florida.

Want to dive deeper into (guest name) work? Check out the links below!

• Visit HomeSiren's website: homesirens.com
• Follow HomeSiren's AI on LinkedIn
• Find HomeSiren's AI on Bluesky App: HomeSirens AI