When entrepreneur Alan Brynjolfsson founded VOLT Lighting in 2008, he saw an opportunity to disrupt an industry that seemed woefully out of date, with an inefficient system of manufacturers, distributors, sales reps, showrooms, and supply houses stuck in the past.
“I was dumbfounded at the dysfunction of the industry,” Brynjolfsson recalls. “Back in 2007, contractors were paying $80 wholesale for a basic brass fixture that should have cost less than $39 — and even then, they often had to special order products. Consumers could only buy cheaply made aluminum fixtures from places like Home Depot. Everyone deserved better.”
Brynjolfsson set out to eliminate the rampant waste and shake things up, launching what was then a one-man startup to offer superior, professional-grade landscape lighting and customer service at a much lower price point. By 2021, the Tampa native had grown his company to more than 100 employees with gross revenues in excess of $100 million — and sales on pace to grow by another 40% in 2022.
“My focus has always been on delivering what the customer wants, and if you execute on that, everything else will come,” Brynjolfsson says. “Great products with a great value, service, and availability, with a frictionless transaction. I love the challenge, being competitive and making a real difference.”
And Brynjolfsson is no stranger to high-stakes competition. When he isn’t busy running his hugely successful empire, the son of renowned nuclear physicist Ari Brynjolfsson spends his time on the track as a professional IMSA race car driver, becoming the Pirelli World Challenge’s top rookie in 2018 and winning the Porsche Cup in 2019.
A charge to keep
According to Brynjolfsson, VOLT’s mission is “to deliver outstanding lighting products with such a gratifying experience that our customers become our best advocates.” And the approach appears to be paying off.
You won’t find VOLT in physical stores or showrooms. By designing and manufacturing its own products, offering some of the best warranties in the industry, and selling directly to consumers through its own website at prices that are as much as 75% less than other suppliers, the company has carved out a reputation for excellence among professionals and DIYers alike.
With rigorous standards for construction and performance, a team of in-house engineers, designers, and lighting experts at VOLT’s Innovation and Photometrics Lab works continually to develop new products and improve upon existing ones. They field-test for durability, safety, and ease of installation. And VOLT’s certified lighting experts are on call seven days a week to answer customer questions and offer advice on everything from bulb wattage and lumens to the number of fixtures that can be added to a transformer or the beam spread of a particular path light.
There’s a light for that
For DIY homeowners, the VOLT University learning center is another hugely popular resource. If you’re wondering which outdoor lighting fixtures will work best for your garden, deck, pathway, or yard — or how to install a low-voltage lighting system on your own — VOLT’s how-to videos and tutorials offer comprehensive details to enable you to get the job done.
Whatever your lighting needs, VOLT has a solution.
Designed and optimized for energy-saving LED bulbs, their Fat Boy spotlight is a go-to landscape fixture that also happens to be the industry’s lowest-priced all-brass spotlight by a mile. And with their innovative Adjustable Beam Angle LED MR16 bulbs, you can manually change the light spread from a narrow 20 degrees all the way up to a 60-degree wide flood. Or for an even more eco-friendly option, VOLT’s solid-cast brass Solar Integrated LED Path Light produces 200 lumens of light powered by the sun.
For home security, one of VOLT’s most popular products is the single-fixture 17W Integrated LED Brass Flood Light, which can illuminate an extremely large area. And the bestselling All-Star Brass Downlight can be easily mounted on gutters to light up specific zones of your property or home, including the second floor. But for total security, VOLT recommends their complete kit, which includes six Fat Boy spotlights, four path lights, a timer, and all the components you need for a comprehensive professional landscape lighting system.
If you’re looking to add some stylish glow to your backyard or patio this summer, try VOLT’s durable, weather-resistant Bistro string lights, which plug into any standard outlet. Or bring some warm ambiance to your deck with their solid brass tiki lights, which offer the best of both worlds by combining LED light with real flame.
No matter what you’re looking for, VOLT promises to light up your yard or home with the highest-quality products at the lowest possible prices. And when you shop the VOLT website, you can make the experience even easier by completing your purchase with Amazon Pay, which lets you skip the billing and shipping forms at checkout.