Featured Startup Pitch: Kapture lets you record and save conversations that already happened—right from your wrist

By Matthew Dooley, Kapture co-founder and COO

Elevator Pitch: Talk. Tap. Share. Our customizable, audio-recording wristband allows you to easily save and share unexpected moments, after the fact.

Product Description

Currently, there isn’t a good way to capture all of the quotable moments in life, as they happen and in context—those amazing conversations with friends, epiphanies on a long drive, and all of the crazy things kids say. Many are unexpected, you-just-had-to-be-there moments you could never replicate. You can record what is happening or what’s about to happen, but you lose what just happened.

Kapture is an audio-recording wristband that allows you to save and share what was just said. It is always prepared by maintaining the last 60 seconds of audio in a loop. Just tap the device when your conversation turns from mundane to memorable, and Kapture will transfer it to your smartphone in seconds where you can edit the length, name, tag, and even share. If the moment didn’t strike you, that’s OK. Kapture has already moved on to the next 60 seconds.

Founders’ Story

Mike [co-founder and CEO Mike Sarow] and I are a tight unit. What started as a meeting over common desires to push social media in new directions evolved into a strong business partnership and friendship. Mike was a groomsman in my wedding (June, 2012), further acknowledging the trust factor between us. We have worked on Kapture full-time since November, 2012.

Mike spent over 12 years at CPG giant Procter & Gamble building brands like Tide, Pampers, Crest and Oral-B in the areas of marketing/brand management and engineering. He’s a visionary thinker with complex global business experience. I founded and own my own social media agency (dooley media) following a marketing/strategy career at American Modern Insurance Group. I am an adjunct professor of social media for the Xavier University MBA program, and a passionate entrepreneur with proven startup experience.

Marketing/Promotion Strategy

We’re currently using Kickstarter to show traction in a relatively unproven market, and we plan to debut our first working prototype at CES 2014 (January). Web, mobile, and third-party ecommerce will launch in March, 2014, followed by select retail. Pursuit of additional retail will follow this launch. Our sales strategy in the new/emerging wearable device category depends on endorsed support from early adopters. The Word Of Mouth (WOM) buzz staring with Kickstarter will allow for organic growth at low marketing spends. Select retail placement will ensure buzz in buzz-worthy locations like New York City and Los Angeles. Sustained growth via traditional brick-and-mortar retail.

Market Opportunity

Kapture is entering a wearable device market that is estimated to grow by over 700 percent in the next four years. Our ‘first to market’ product provides a unique consumer solution undiscovered in a category dominated by health and fitness monitoring devices (i.e., Nike FuelBand, Fitbit). Straightforward sales of consumer hardware allows for a realistic financial plan with tangible returns at relatively low volumes. Our provocative product will be introduced to a world of consumers already excited for growth in an innovative category.

How We Differentiate From the Competition

We will undoubtedly compete for a share of the fixed ‘wrist real estate’ against multiple products in the wearable tech arena (FuelBand, Fitbit, Up, Shine, Pebble, Meteor, etc.) and the standard wristwatch. We have chosen to differentiate ourselves in two key areas. First, Kapture will be focused on performing a new benefit you can’t get from any other wearable product. Other products will show a laundry list of features—we will keep it delightfully simple. The second point of difference will be style. We have built in the ability to customize your style with interchangeable parts in differing color combinations. As we grow, the options will expand along with new materials choices. There are a few apps that do similar audio-recording, but we do not believe there is a comparison in benefit (e.g. Heard, eevzdrop, Digisocial, Dubbler). We will continue to follow the apps to learn from their messaging and positioning.

Business Model

Our device will retail at $100-to-$150 and provide a two-to-three times margin. Additional revenue is generated from sales of color-coordinated bands and faceplates. Customization is a key selling point.

Current Needs

We’re currently looking for investors to help close out our Seed round of $600K. We’ve raised over half of this amount, and our lead investor is willing to match an investment to complete the round. The Seed round financing will allow for all R&D, design and sourcing.

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Website: www.kaptureaudio.com