OUR STORY
Two years ago when we had our son, I became concerned with how our baby was eating, growing, and developing. He seemed very fussy and did not take to breastfeeding (latching) well. He didn’t sleep well and every week he seemed to either be losing weight or not gaining weight as expected. My wife became more distressed as the weeks wore on and calls to our pediatrician escalated. I scoured Amazon.com (and the Internet) for products that can help track his health vitals (eating, sleeping, growth) and I quickly came to the realization that despite the many thousands of products, there wasn’t a clear solution in the market to help us.
The desperation that parents feel is real. Sometimes that feeling of helplessness drives parents to make snap decisions, and purchase products and services because “something must be done”! The impetus for action was very real and we hired night nannies, ordered a SNOO (a fancy bassinet), purchased night lamps, apps and other gadgets hoping to ease our anxiety with the hope that we’d eventually hit on a solution. But none was forthcoming. The baby and parents continued to struggle.
It was around his 3 month birthday that I began to rethink the process of finding a solution and instead went back to first principles: what problem was I trying to solve? It was clear that the problems we were encountering with a newborn were not isolated to just us. With a 12 point questionnaire, I interviewed 117 other new parents. Many of my assumptions proved right.
Parents were overwhelmingly outlined three unique considerations;
- They were excited about having a child;
- They were concerned for their safety; AND
- They were worried about the growth of their child.
Analyzing the responses, mothers overwhelmingly (89%) wanted to track baby vitals but could barely remember which breast the baby fed from at 2am. All parents (100%) wanted to track weight but did not have space for both a change pad, and a scale. Many families already had white noise machines, night lights, diaper baskets and wipe warmers crowding their babies’ change areas. Surprisingly a majority of parents (74%) were dissatisfied with their existing arrangements but felt “this is what everyone else” had. The interviews highlighted new features such as integrated device to phone applications (iot), ability to easily clean (wipe), automatic vitals tracking and also highlighted the average spend per family on just the baby “station” ($560 median in US).
I began to draft potential solutions; a new type of table, a new app with computer vision, a smart baby bath, leg inserts for the crib and several other options that didn’t make it past the drawing board. Going back to the parents 2 weeks later, it was clear that home real estate was not unlimited, and was in fact further constrained by esthetic detail that every parent had painstakingly decided. One night while changing my son, the change pad belt was stuck in the drawer and in my haste to pull it, I pulled the drawer out and onto my foot with a sleeping baby in my arms. Between groans (and some choice words for the people who had so badly designed the belt feature) the idea of changing the pad itself became crystalized in my mind. What if we removed this “dumb” pad and instead made it a “smart” pad. WHAT IF it had a built in scale? WHAT IF it had night lights? WHAT IF it had a screen to capture vitals? WHAT IF it was made of soft hypoallergenic material that could be wiped? WHAT IF? WHAT IF? The ideas rushed in.
Two more months passed, my son turned 6 months and his sleep was a little better, he looked healthier. But I believed that the product I was designing had merit, and now I needed to build a proof of concept to validate how it would all come together. I learned to design UI using Sketch, built a basic app mockup and bought a 3D printer to print the device. I learned about material infill and brims, nozzle preheating and filament extrusion. Many failures later I was able to print my designs, glue, screw and tape them together to form our new smart change pad - now named ”Woddle” (from the words “womb” and “cuddle”).
Meeting Steve at Google, finding a common thread on our ethics, deviation to family and wanting to make the world a better place through intelligently designed products was a catalyst moment. We expanded on the original idea, with me bringing in more of the AI application while his expertise in hardware engineering was unparalleled. We expanded the team and brought in Ken, a brilliant designer that took the original concept and make it into a beautiful iconic product. We brought in Jose and he immediately dove into the minutia of engineering, looking at everything from the PCP, I/O channels to the updated interface.
We have created Woddle for families like ours, who are trying to create the best possible outcomes for their children. Families who are trying to raise their children and maintain working lives. We created Woddle for all the moms and dads who are up in the middle of the night with a baby and just need a little more help. We created this for you.
Join us on our journey as we improve the way families raise their children.
Thank you,
Shaker Rawan, Woddle CEO