The Premise. Perhaps every parent’s worst nightmare is forgetting that they have their sleeping baby in the backseat and accidentally leaving the child in a sweltering vehicle. What if there were something on the market that would alert a parent’s smartphone if something like that were to happen?
The Product. Starfish is a seat sensor and app. The app uses Bluetooth to pair up with the parent’s iPhone or Android phone, and the two pieces work together to build a geo-fence around a particular area where baby has been placed, such as a car. The geo-fence is approximately 20 feet in diameter, and the app takes about three minutes to set up. The seat sensor portion is weight activated, so if the parent leaves the area without the baby, a notification is sent to their smartphone that the child may be in danger. If the parent doesn’t respond within five minutes, emergency contacts are notified.
The Pitch. The video for the $15,000 campaign lays out some nice detail for how the product works, which seems to be pretty user friendly. The call for assistance to get the device into the hands of parents and caretakers around the world is indeed one that makes sense and seems potentially lifesaving.
The Perks. There are 12 tiers from which backers may choose. Perhaps the most interesting of these comes with a pledge of $40. Backers have the unique opportunity to be a part of a testing group, and will have the opportunity to provide feedback for the testing and design of the product, information that would be put toward the finished product. Anticipated delivery for this tier would be November 2014. A pledge of $50 gets a backer the actual product with an anticipated delivery of December 2014.
The Potential. This product seems like a great idea and would likely be appreciated by any parent, especially new parents. We’ve seen a couple similar products on Backerjack before like the Babeep. Starfish would make a great baby shower gift or perhaps even a Christmas gift. It also has the potential to be of benefit to grandparents who help with care giving, daycare centers and preschools.
With a campaign video straight out of a karaoke soundtrack,