In this episode of The Sunny Ray Show, host Sunny Ray talks with Benton Calder, founder of Mondro Systems, about building a privacy first AI platform for the home. Calder spent close to a decade at Shopify, including leading the Ontario Cannabis Store launch, before spending years in hardware at a company called Quanzer. Inspired by Jarvis from Iron Man, he explains how the recent boom in small, capable open source AI models and improving edge hardware finally made it possible to run a real intelligence layer at home without relying on the cloud. They discuss the Mondro hub, a device combining mesh Wi-Fi, local network storage, and an Nvidia Jetson chip that runs local AI using open source tools like Whisper and Piper, and can tap into other unified memory devices in the house. Calder shares lessons from Shopify about ownership, why he chose hardware despite its difficulty, and his go to market plan that blends direct to consumer sales with home automation installers who are tired of subscription based smart home products. The conversation lands on his core thesis, that your home should not have to rent its intelligence.
Mondro Systems founder Benton Calder explains why real home intelligence should be private, local, and owned, not rented from the cloud.
What's it like being back home after living in Vancouver?
It's beautiful. I actually just moved back after living the last few years in Vancouver, back to my hometown while I'm building. I've lived all around Canada, including Waterloo and Toronto for a bit, so I've been all over.
What are you building at Mondro Systems, and why should someone care?
I'm building a private AI platform for the home. It came from watching Iron Man and wanting a Jarvis like intelligence layer at home. Open source local models finally got good at small sizes and hardware got affordable, so now I'm building a privacy first edge AI device instead of a cloud subscription product.
You spent close to a decade at Shopify. What did building commerce infrastructure teach you about building on rented ground?
The lessons I learned were more about building a business than about cloud providers. People increasingly want to use the computers they already own at home instead of paying subscriptions for cloud inference. I also learned so much watching Tobi Lutke think through problems and build Shopify from the inside.
Was there a particular project at Shopify that changed how you think about ownership?
I was project manager for the Ontario Cannabis Store launch, winning the contract with the LCBO. We stood up their ERP system and built the site. One core tenet at Shopify was to act like an owner, meaning you think beyond your own lane about how your work impacts the whole company.
What made you leave to build hardware, which is the hardest way to express a software idea?
Two things drive me. I've always admired people who build physical products, something I appreciated from watching Shopify empower merchants to sell them. I also believe that as software becomes built on demand for your specific needs, you want to own the hardware layer that delivers it. Plus, I genuinely love building things.
When did you realize the models that needed a data center now essentially fit on a shelf?
About eighty percent of everyday conversational AI tasks can actually be handled by smaller local models, especially with the right file structure and agentic capabilities. Apple's recent marketing around local AI for their new chip line was a huge validating signal. People will start thinking of their home as a pool of unified memory.
Can you explain the Mondro hub to someone who has only ever used a smart speaker?
It's three things in one: a mesh router that extends your Wi-Fi, up to four terabytes of local network storage, and an Nvidia Jetson chip with eight gigabytes of unified memory running local AI with Whisper and Piper. It orchestrates your smart home and can offload bigger jobs to larger devices on your network.
No account, no subscription, nothing leaves your walls. Which of those three is hardest to actually deliver?
You won't need an account, though I'll offer one as an option, but you never have to give up privacy to get features. People are used to being the product to get free features, but we don't have to do that anymore. When I mention privacy to regular people, that's what excites them most.
Building something daring? Sunny talks to founders like this every day. Fifteen minutes to see if your story belongs on the stage.
Claim your pre-interview