IOT is still a young concept - yet to mature into something well-defined and applied. Some define it as a problem of scale; some see it as a problem of speed and yet others view it as a dilemma dealing with the sheer variety of devices. As we trode on uncharted territory to build a device agnostic IOT platform, we fell prey to a few hidden monsters and unseen quagmires. We have emerged bruised, heavily caffeinated and while we are not completely done, we have acquired some pearls of wisdom in the process.