Firstly it's just great to see someone from YC targeting anyone over 24 :) Ok, snarky joke is over.
I think this is a great idea. I see 3 challenges. i) Seniors tend to be more frugal than the younger generation so $30 per month might be a dealbreaker. Having said that children would probably pay that to know their parent is safe so maybe that's the better angle. ii) Superseded by a smart phone based app. No need for $99 for the device and $30 in a subscription. Will someone do 85% of this for an iPhone/Android device at $5 per month?
Great points, both of which we have put much thought into:
i) our target customer is actually the daughter or daughter-in-law of the device user. They are almost always the ones who make decisions to get a system similar to Amulyte, and they are the ones that typically end up covering the cost for their elder relative.
ii) we considered coming out with an app, but after talking to a lot of industry experts we verified what we had suspected - seniors simply don't use smartphones. There definitely are some that do, but the majority of them do not. Even those who have one rarely use it (it isn't uncommon for them to turn it off when they aren't using it or leave it somewhere, unused, for extended periods of time). Getting the right form factor is an important implementation consideration, and a cell phone isn't suited for this user.
Got it. I figured you guys would have done deeper research. the flip side of your wireless device research is there might be a partnership opportunity with wireless manufacturers or networks as I agree you'd drive more adoption and usage of their devices.
I think this is a great idea. I see 3 challenges. i) Seniors tend to be more frugal than the younger generation so $30 per month might be a dealbreaker. Having said that children would probably pay that to know their parent is safe so maybe that's the better angle. ii) Superseded by a smart phone based app. No need for $99 for the device and $30 in a subscription. Will someone do 85% of this for an iPhone/Android device at $5 per month?