What I learned as Head of Product Design at Solatube International — and how rethinking the customer can redefine an entire industry.


Most people don’t know this, but back in 2010, I was briefly the Head of Product Design at Solatube International — a company that pioneered daylight tubular skylights.

If you’re not familiar with Solatube, here’s the short version: they put a plastic dome on your roof that captures natural sunlight, then channel it through a highly reflective aluminum tube into your home.

It’s a beautifully simple and environmentally elegant concept — a way to bring natural daylight into dark spaces, using mirrors instead of electricity.

The entire daylighting industry, for decades, has been built around one singular obsession:
Capture as much daylight as possible, from sunup to sundown, and deliver it efficiently into the room.

That obsession came with a long-held belief — one so deep that nobody dared question it:
“Never put anything in front of the ceiling lens. It might reduce light output.”


To the engineers and physicists in the field, that made perfect sense. To me, it didn’t.


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The Industry’s Blind Spot

When I arrived at Solatube, I came from a completely different world — custom lighting design for hotels and casinos.

My focus had always been on how people feel in a space, not just how light measures.

And that gave me a different lens — quite literally — for looking at the problem.

Here’s what I noticed:
1. The product was brilliant, but limited.
2. The industry belief (“don’t block the light”) was unquestioned.
3. Customers were only using daylight tubulars in three areas of their homes — hallways, bathrooms, and kitchens.
4. And the average home’s interior wasn’t “contemporary.” It was traditional, Spanish, or Mediterranean.

Yet all the ceiling lenses in the industry were designed in one style: contemporary

So, while engineers were focused on optimizing reflectivity and lumen efficiency, customers were struggling to find a product that actually fit their homes.

That’s when it hit me:
The problem wasn’t the technology. The problem was understanding what the customer needed.


The entire category was solving for physics — not for people.


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Looking Through the Customer’s Eyes

I didn’t call it “Customer-Centric Marketing” back then. But that’s exactly what I was practicing.

I stopped looking at the product from an engineering standpoint and started looking at it from the customer’s point of view.

What did they want?
What did their homes look like?
What did designers specify?

They didn’t want a tube of daylight.
They wanted beauty, balance, and consistency with their home’s style.

So I decided to experiment.

I tested what would happen if we introduced a decorative diffuser — essentially a plastic or glass element suspended 1.5 inches to 18 inches below the ceiling.

According to “industry logic,” that should have reduced the visible light.
But when we measured, the light output on the work surface didn’t drop in any meaningful way.

In fact, the light quality improved.

By reflecting off the decorative element, the light spread across the entire room — creating a 360-degree glow instead of a narrow spotlight.

In other words, I had just discovered a way to make daylight behave like traditional lighting.


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How I Accidentally Changed an Industry

In 2011, Seth from the ENEREF Institute credited me with:
“Changing the daylight tubular skylight industry.”


And he was right — because once that discovery hit the market, every competitor began introducing their own versions of decorative diffusers.

But the journey wasn’t exactly smooth.

The founder of Solatube — a brilliant inventor — was so opposed to the concept that when the company finally launched it, they didn’t even try to hide their disdain.

They called it: “Decorative Distractions.”

That’s not a joke. That was the official product name.

In their minds, anything that wasn’t maximizing light transmission was a distraction.

But in the customer’s mind, it was the first time the product actually fit their home.

That was the moment I learned something that has shaped every business I’ve built since:
The customer doesn’t care about your engineering. They care about their experience.


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What Customer-Centric Marketing Really Means

Customer-Centric Marketing isn’t about slogans or campaigns.
It’s a way of thinking — one that can transform not only how you market your product, but how you design it in the first place.

It starts with a simple shift:
Stop asking, “How do we make this better?”

Start asking, “Who are we making this for?”

Because when you understand the why behind customer behavior, you’ll see gaps that engineers and executives can’t.

In the case of Solatube, that gap was aesthetic and emotional, not technical.

Customers didn’t just want a more efficient skylight. They wanted something that looked beautiful in their living room, not just functional in their hallway.

By designing for that reality, I didn’t just create a new product — I opened up an entirely new category.


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The Cost of Challenging an Industry

Now, let me be transparent:
Taking a stand against “industry standards” doesn’t always make you popular.

Three months after introducing the idea, I was let go.

No hard feelings — but it was clear my approach didn’t fit the company culture at the time.

Still, the ripple effect was undeniable.

Every major brand — Velux, ODL, Sun-Tek, Solatube itself — eventually followed suit.

And yet, none have truly expanded on it.

Even today, over a decade later, the daylighting industry still treats decorative fixtures as an afterthought, rather than as an opportunity for growth.

That’s what happens when innovation is driven by engineers, not customers.


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How Customer-Centric Thinking Could Still Transform the Category

If any brand in the daylighting space truly embraced a Customer-Centric Marketing mindset, the potential is massive.

They could:
- Expand decorative lighting options across design styles (modern, rustic, coastal, Spanish, farmhouse).

- Offer custom diffusers for designers and architects.

- Create hybrid fixtures that blend daylight and LED for consistent light levels at night.

- Launch a consumer design platform, letting customers visualize daylight styles in their home.


None of these ideas require new patents or technology. They just require empathy — the willingness to see the product the way the customer does.


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The Bigger Lesson

The biggest lesson I took from my short time at Solatube is this:
Innovation doesn’t always come from invention. It comes from perspective.


Every industry has its sacred cows — beliefs that seem unshakable until someone asks, “But what if we’re wrong?”

Customer-Centric Marketing gives you permission to ask that question.

It’s not about breaking the rules for the sake of rebellion. It’s about listening — truly listening — to what your customers want, even when it contradicts what your industry believes.


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Looking back, I realize that what I did wasn’t just product design — it was an act of empathy.

By understanding how real homeowners lived, decorated, and thought about light, I helped an industry see its product in a new way.

And that’s what Customer-Centric Marketing really is.

It’s not a campaign. It’s a mindset.
It’s not about telling your story louder. It’s about understanding your customer’s story deeper.

If you run a daylighting company, lighting manufacturer, or any business bound by “industry standards,” I’d love to talk.

Let’s challenge assumptions. Let’s look at your customers differently. And maybe — just maybe — let’s change another industry.

📩 Visit my contact page to set up a call.