Venture Concept No. 1

The Smart Car Seat

Opportunity
There are a number of children who year after year has passed away due to heat stroke as a result of being left behind in a vehicle. The majority of caregivers admitted that it was because they had simply forgotten about the child in the car. There is a hand full that was as a result of being left playing unattended and unfortunately some that intentionally left their child in the car. Parents and caregivers need a way to ensure the safety of their young.

With the rising temperatures across the globe, this issue will continue to occur. What most people fail to understand is what is called the greenhouse effected. This happens when a vehicle has all their windows and doors shut. The sun can effectively warm the car on a cooler day. The sun's warm energy is trapped in a vehicle. Not only that but with all the technology that is advancing people spend more time looking at their phones then they do pay attention to what is happening around them. The first thing most people do when they wake up in the morning is to check their phones. When a tragedy occurs the first thing people do is pull out a camera. This is something seen globally. People start to forget things because they are too busy focusing on the social media and the phone applications. This happens with both men and women.

Most people don’t really have a set way to satisfy this need. Most just say that they don’t have to be reminded of their child. But if that was the case then there shouldn’t be children who lost their lives so soon. I've heard of others using a method which involves leaving an important item in the back seat and using that as a reason to check their backseat for children. I think that’s a smart idea but what if you forget to place something of importance in the backseat? Does that mean you forget your child too?

I really believe this opportunity would be really big especially now with the demand for everything high tech. People actually go there to make sure that everything they own is "smart" or has some sort of connection to their phone. I think this window of opportunity will be open for as long as people continue to have kids and have the need to ensure that their safety comes first.

Innovation
I believe that everyone should be able to afford any product made for the safety of their child and for that reason I am offering two types of products. The first is a car seat with the ability to notify the child's caregiver if they have forgotten their child in the vehicle or if temperatures are climbing to extreme levels. The way this work is by the use of pressure plates that will sense when a child is seated in the car seat. Sensors will then monitor temperatures changes. There will be a wireless sensor that will connect to any smartphone via an application. This will monitor if someone is seated in the car with the child. Once the person has left the vehicle and the child is seated the application will send phone notifications. The only way to stop the phone notification is to correct the issue. If the issue is not corrected within the allotted amount of time, local authorities will be alerted about the situation. The system will also alert other members of the caregivers choosing. So, at this point, most people are thinking, "well what happens if I forget my phone in the car", well the sensors are monitoring the temperatures at all times regardless if you are near the car or not. So, if you do happen to leave the phone in the car it will still send out the proper notifications and when the issue is not resolved it will contact local authorities. The car seat base will also have a sensor that will notify you if the car seat is not properly latched. And it will let you know if the child is not properly strapped.

Along with the safety features, there will be a standard speaker add-on. The first is going to be speakers near the child so that as an infant you will be able to provide soothing sounds to comfort the child and as the child gets older the speakers will also connect to anything that is Bluetooth enabled and provide sound for their tablets and toys.

There will also be a notification feature that will let you know when the battery in the car seat is running low so that you can charge it. It will also let you know when it has enough charge so that the battery is not accidentally overcharged and cause damage.

This product does have a higher price point because it is a "smart" product. I would say the price range would be around $200-300 a car seat. If more features are added in the future it will determine if the price increases.

We will also be selling car seat bases so that way if you buy just one smart car seat you don’t have to remove the entire base from the car in order to move it to another car. This would allow parents to seamlessly transfer the child's car seat from one car to another without all the hassle of unbuckling everything.

I will also offer an add-on kit for those who may not be able to afford the car seat but still would like some of the features. This add-on will work with any type of car seat. It will feature the sensor plates and temperature gauge. This will essentially work together to notify you if a child is left behind in the vehicle. It will also notify you of extreme temperature changes. The application would be the same for the kit as it is for the car seat. I would say that the kit would be around $75-100. We want to make this an affordable item and encourage parents to keep their young safe.

Venture Concept
Customer desire to have this new product because they are looking for additional ways to ensure the safety of their children. I don’t believe it will be hard for them to switch to my product. The idea of having "smart: products are very popular so I feel that many people will be after it just because it is technologically advanced.

I would say that the baby product manufacturers such as Graco would be a competitor. While they don’t have the technology yet, those brands have been out a lot longer so people tend to trust those companies more for child safety.

Packaging would be very simple. It will have the picture of the product on the outside of the box. I would hope that the stores will have a sample out on the floor so that shopper can physically look at the product before purchasing it. Price points vary in order to make this an affordable product. We want everyone to have the safety feature even if they don’t necessarily purchase our car seat. Customer support will be available for anyone who may be having issues with their product or has questions. We want the customers to ask questions if they have concerns.

We will set up a call center for the customer support hotline or possibly even just have a work from home type of call center. This would cut cost on having to rent or purchase a space for a physical call center. It will also allow us the flexibility to have employees from different time zones.

I would outsource the production. I would need some sort of factory to get things going. I will need to find some experts on that could keep the technology up to date.

I would say that the majority of this venture will be outsourced for the most part. I see probably less than 100 employees in this company.

The three minor elements
I would say my secret sauce is going to be the team that we will put together to get this venture off its feet. We want people who have a passion for child safety.

I think what is next is just to expand the product. Come up with other features that the customer might want to see. We could even look into other children products that could use some more safety features.

Eventually, I want this business to run itself. I want to be able to have the most qualified people continue to grow it. I would be more in the background if anything. I think that if the venture is successful enough then I would be able to achieve just that.