Print
Email
Print Edition Stories
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
The Pitch
TouchBase connects parents to children's location
By Lynette F. Cornell
MHT's Galen Moore: Mass. companies building to be sold
MHT's Emerging Technologies Forum: Health IT and the Cloud
Conversation Media Inc.
Headquarters: Brighton
Phone: 407-716-6237
Email: robert@conversationmedia.org
URL: www.touchbaseHQ.com
Founded: 2009
Employees: 4
In the company’s own words:
“TouchBase [Conversation Media’s flagship product] is a location service for families that allows parents to get answers to their most commonly asked questions – “Where are my children right now? and “Are they safe?” – without jeopardizing a child’s sense of independence. TouchBase is unique because with TouchBase, it’s all about building trust through better family communication that is powered by active participation on all sides. TouchBase rewards children for their involvement using a game called Brownie Points, which makes TouchBase a fast, secure, reliable and fun tool for the whole family.”
The technology:
TouchBase is a web and mobile location-based social network that allows parents to send an email request to their child to share their location. The child can also voluntarily send their location without a request. The software keeps a log of all of these check-ins so that they can always be referred back to later. It rewards children using game mechanics through a rewards system; every time the child shares their location with their parents, they earn points, which can later be redeemed for rewards chosen by the parent.
People behind the company:
Robert Sanchez, founder and CEO, also works part-time as an executive assistant at the Boston web application development firm thoughtbot Inc. Tim Howe, chief technology officer, previously worked as a consultant for Computer Science Corp. Joshua Stachowski, front-end specialist, was previously a lead interaction designer at Electronic Arts Inc. Howie Hecht, who is in charge of business development, has previously worked at startups, beginning with Cambridge-based Akamai Technologies Inc. and has been involved in three successful exits.
The plan:
The company will be releasing TouchBase Lite out of beta in January and begin development on its TouchBase Basic version, which will include SMS and the capability to work on feature phones. Once the company has acquired 15,000 users, it will begin development on TouchBase Pro, a more feature-enhanced version. The company also plans to develop native applications for different mobile operating systems that will include push notifications of location requests from parents. TouchBase generates revenue through a monthly subscription model which will have different price points for the different versions of TouchBase planned for development. With the implementation of the Pro version, the company will be able to generate advertising revenue with promoted events and cuts of group discounts through business partnerships.
The pitch:
The company is seeking $300,000 for research and development, sales and marketing, system administration costs and administrative and legal expenses. The company is also looking to partner with popular parenting portals, like iVillage, CafeMom and Circle of Moms, to offer discounts and other deals.
The market:
The company is targeting all parents whose children have cell phones. Sanchez estimates the market at $1 billion annually.
The competition:
The company’s competition includes services offered by T1 wireless carriers and mobile family tracking and location sharing applications including Family Tracker, Neer and Glympse.
Comments
If you are commenting using a Facebook account, your profile information may be displayed with your comment depending on your privacy settings. By leaving the 'Post to Facebook' box selected, your comment will be published to your Facebook profile in addition to the space below.
RSS Feeds
