Joel Matlin launches new alarm company: Think Protection

Updated March 2 with Joel Matlin interview

TORONTO—Joel Matlin, founder of AlarmForce, is launching a new alarm company called Think Protection.

Matlin will serve as CEO; his son, Adam Matlin, will serve as COO.

Think Protection "plans to offer the U.S. and Canadian home alarm mass markets the most advanced technology at the absolute lowest cost. We will be very customer centric with good infrastructure and a very well-managed staff," Joel Matlin told Security Systems News.

The startup will make a splash, he vowed. "We're going to be as disruptive as we possibly can. 'Disruptive' is my middle name," he said.

Matlin founded AlarmForce, a public company with a market cap of more than $130 million, which he ran for many years before being ousted  in 2013. Adam Matlin headed up sales and marketing at AlarmForce for seven years. After leaving AlarmForce, Joel Matlin was governed by a one year non-compete that expired July 23, 2014.

Since leaving AlarmForce, the Matlins worked as business and marketing consultants, doing business as Matlin Creative. Joel Matlin said it was rewarding helping various companies grow their businesses "but I eventually realized that my real passion lay in getting back into the home alarm business."

"We're looking for a very quick ramp-up for Think Protection. All of our management is very educated; they've done it before," he said.

Currently in the hiring process, Matlin said he expects the business will have 40 to 50 employees when it opens its doors June 1. The company will be based in Florida and Toronto.

Think Protection will be Joel Matlin's third start-up venture. Before AlarmForce, he founded Frisco Bay Industries, which he ran for 19 years before he sold it to Stanley Black and Decker for $45.3 million.

Matlin said AlarmForce "was the first to make two-way voice technology a standard in every home alarm system."

Think Protection will be introducing new technology, he said, but he declined to go into details because "it's a very competitive situation."