A Milestone Moment for Our Small Kentucky Team
We have some incredible news to share with the Apollo community. Apollo Automation is officially a BBB Accredited Business, and we have also been nominated for the prestigious BBB Torch Award for Ethics. For a small hardware team from Versailles, Kentucky, these recognitions represent something much bigger than a badge on our website. They are independent validation of the values we have held since day one: transparency, honesty, community-first thinking, and doing business the right way.
You can view our official BBB profile here: Apollo Automation on BBB.org
What Does BBB Accreditation Actually Mean?
The Better Business Bureau has been helping consumers identify trustworthy businesses for more than 100 years. BBB Accreditation is not automatic and it is not a pay-to-play program. To earn accreditation, a business must meet and commit to a strict set of standards known as the BBB Standards for Trust.
These standards include:
- Build Trust — Establish and maintain a positive track record in the marketplace.
- Advertise Honestly — Follow established standards of advertising and selling.
- Tell the Truth — Honestly represent products and services in all communications.
- Be Transparent — Openly identify the nature, location, and ownership of the business.
- Honor Promises — Abide by written agreements and verbal representations.
- Be Responsive — Address marketplace disputes quickly, professionally, and in good faith.
- Safeguard Privacy — Protect customer data and respect customer preferences.
- Embody Integrity — Approach all business dealings, marketplace transactions, and commitments with integrity.
If those sound familiar, that is because they are the same principles Apollo Automation has been operating by since Trevor and Justin started assembling sensors on weekends in a Versailles basement. Earning BBB Accreditation simply puts a trusted third-party seal on what our community already knows about how we do business.
Why BBB Accreditation Matters for Our Customers
Smart home hardware is a crowded space. Customers are asked to trust manufacturers with sensors that live in their bedrooms, kitchens, nurseries, and workshops. Trust matters more in this industry than almost any other, and at Apollo Automation, we have built our entire business around three things our customers care about most:
- Privacy-first, local-only operation. No cloud dependencies. No subscriptions. No data sold to third parties.
- Open-source firmware and hardware. Our code, CAD files, and schematics are on GitHub for anyone to inspect, fork, or improve.
- Real human support from a real Kentucky team. Our Discord, email, and wiki are staffed by the same people who design and assemble your sensors.
BBB Accreditation is a public, verifiable way of saying those claims are not just marketing copy. They are backed by an independent organization whose entire mission is to hold businesses accountable.
The BBB Torch Award for Ethics Nomination
Beyond accreditation, we are honored to share that Apollo Automation has been nominated for the BBB Torch Award for Ethics. This is one of the most respected business recognitions in the country, and it has been presented annually since the 1990s to organizations that demonstrate genuine ethical leadership.
What Is the BBB Torch Award for Ethics?
The Torch Award for Ethics honors companies whose leaders demonstrate a high level of personal character, whose organizational practices meet the highest standards of ethics, and who as a result generate trust with their employees, customers, and communities. It embodies the BBB's core mission of advancing marketplace trust.
Unlike many business awards, the Torch Award is not a popularity contest. Nominees are evaluated by an independent panel of judges against four rigorous criteria, often called the 4 Cs:
- Character — How leadership sets the ethical tone for the entire organization and empowers staff to uphold those values.
- Culture — How ethics are reinforced internally through training, policies, and day-to-day behavior.
- Customers — How the business treats its buyers, including advertising, sales practices, and post-sale support.
- Community — How the business engages with and contributes to the community in which it operates.
Being nominated is an honor in itself. It means someone in our community — a customer, a peer, or a community member — believed our team deserved this kind of recognition and took the time to put us forward.
Why These Recognitions Feel So Meaningful
Apollo Automation is not a Silicon Valley startup. We do not have outside investors breathing down our necks. We do not have a marketing department spinning our story. We are six people in Versailles, Kentucky who design, engineer, assemble, and ship every product in-house.
When you are a small team, the way you treat people is the way you are remembered. That is why we:
- Donate 100% of profits from our annual holiday ornament to charities like CASA of Lexington and the Open Home Foundation.
- Publish our firmware and hardware designs openly so our customers are never locked in.
- Run monthly community livestreams where we answer customer questions directly and share what we are working on.
- Hire and grow our team right here in Central Kentucky, creating high-tech jobs in a part of the state that is often overlooked by the broader tech industry.
- Support the open-source ecosystem that made us possible as the second official commercial partner of the Open Home Foundation.
Ethics, for us, are not a compliance exercise. They are the operating system of our business. BBB Accreditation and a Torch Award nomination are external recognitions of something we have been doing internally since day one.
What This Means Going Forward
Earning accreditation is not a finish line. It is a commitment. By becoming BBB Accredited, Apollo Automation has pledged to continue meeting the BBB's Standards for Trust in every customer interaction. If you ever have a concern about a product, a transaction, or an experience with us, you now have an additional, independent channel to hold us accountable through.
We invite you to:
- Read our BBB profile at bbb.org and see our full accreditation details.
- Leave a review if you have experience with Apollo Automation products or support. Your honest feedback helps us grow and helps other customers make informed decisions.
- Follow our journey through the Torch Award process on our blog, YouTube, and monthly livestreams.
Thank You to Our Community
None of this happens without you. Every Discord message, every GitHub issue, every review, every sensor installed in a bedroom or greenhouse or server rack has helped shape the company we are today. BBB Accreditation and a Torch Award for Ethics nomination are, more than anything, reflections of a community that has held us to a high standard and supported us in meeting it.
To our customers, our Home Assistant and ESPHome families, our partners at the Open Home Foundation, and everyone who has championed what we do from a Versailles workshop: thank you. We do not take this recognition for granted, and we are committed to earning it every single day.
Apollo Automation designs, engineers, and manufactures privacy-first, locally-controlled smart home sensors in Versailles, Kentucky. Every product features 100% local control with no cloud dependencies or subscriptions required. Apollo is a Works With Home Assistant partner, Made For ESPHome certified, Works With Homey certified, a BBB Accredited Business, a BBB Torch Award for Ethics nominee, and the second official commercial partner of the Open Home Foundation.
Learn more at apolloautomation.com.
