Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Wehenosi, as me hinted that Boston.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
It's so nice to be today here in the studio
with two of my favorite innovators.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
And I have to tell you this story.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Because I think it's going to be very relevant for
everybody that is listening to us right now. So you
have seen that my daughter, seventeen year old, is always
out and about. She is in public schools, so she
takes public transportation and has been in several situations where
it's a little bit challenging as a beautiful woman.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Because I have to say it, my daughter.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Is gorgeous, and she's been chased by homeless and she's
been in situations that she has to defend herself. And
this is one of the reasons why I have my
guests today here.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Raja and Ray welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
I would love to share your story because this can
save lives the way that my daughter has been saved
in the past. So Raja, welcome to keep us at Boston.
It's such a pleasure and an honor to have you
here today.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
For having us, Gabby and sorry to hear about your daughter.
That's so scary, and we're so happy that we're able
to help her feel safe now.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
So, Raja, tell me a little bit about how you
guys met, because I know Ray's story. It has to
do with college, but I want to hear your point
of view.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Of course, Ray and I actually never meant to start
a company, Gabby, nor would we have ever imagined that
we'd have a company together. We actually started off as
friends in college. We would do class projects together. One
time we were in an intro to engineering class. I
was studying electrical engineering and there weren't really many women
in the field. So back then I used to be
(01:42):
super shy and someone sat next to my only friend,
so I got stuck sitting next to Rayan.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
You were shy, I was shy? Can you mind that?
Nobody ever believed.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
Right?
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Tell them I was, wasn't it way back in the day.
This was like a decade ago.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
So Ray, what caught your attention about Raja's you know, personality?
Speaker 1 (02:06):
And also she was so shy? How did you find
out that this was going to work?
Speaker 4 (02:11):
Yeah, so it's so funny like before we met, actually
we were both very shy. And they just told you
that story of how the teaching assistant in the class
we were in wasn't very helpful, and we had bonded
over how he wasn't very helpful. There was a situation
where he didn't answer my question walked away and I
was like.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Oh, I hate thank you, teacher.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
And we bonded over that. That's how we first started
talking together, and we started doing the labs together. We
worked really well. We would always stay late. Sometimes we'd
go in on the weekends to like finish and redo
the labs because we wanted to make sure we were
actually learning everything. So that's kind of how we knew
we worked well together. And we started running some clubs
on campus as well.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
And so are you originally from Boston.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
I'm from Dorica, Yeah, oh okay, and your background your
family just moved here to Boston Bay.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Were also here in my back ground.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
I come from a big Irish family, so my dad
is one of seven, my mom is one of six.
They're both the youngest, and then I'm the youngest of four,
so I have a big Irish family. I grew up
in Baricka and went to high school there, and then
I studied engineering at University of Massachusetts, Lowell and that's
where we met Raja. This actually business started out as
(03:26):
just a class project. It was kind of like an accident.
We just wanted to make it a project for ourselves
to work on. We really love no idea.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
I had no.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
Idea wild it was going to to a multimillion dollar
company one day.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
That's time.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
So you see, college students, you have to actually pay
attention to what you're doing, and even if it's a project,
it just became such a phenomenal business for you guys
and Raja, where are you from?
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Think you?
Speaker 3 (03:54):
I'm originally from Nashville, New Hampshire, so about sixteen minutes
north of Boston in But like Gray was saying, neither
him nor myself ever meant to start a company. Actually
all happened by complete accident after a scary situation I experienced.
I was out at an event one night and I
thought to myself, maybe I should ask someone to walk
(04:17):
with me back to my car. But Gabby, I was
parked literally less than a block away. So I thought
to myself, if I ask someone, they're literally gonna laugh.
They're gonna be like rager, you need to be escorted
a block like you're parked so close. And then I
immediately told myself why am I being paranoid? Like, why
am I worried about walking to my car? I must
be watching too many true crime stories or listening to
(04:39):
the news so much. And I ignored my gut instinct
and started walking back to my car. As I was
halfway between where the car is parked and where the
event was, an suv full of guys drove by. They
rolled down the window and started yelling inappropriate comments. At first, Gabby,
I literally rolled my eyes and continued walking because sadly,
(05:02):
things like this happen all the time in big city
things to college students so wait nightly, definitely, and sadly
to women. Yeah, I rolled my eyes. I continued walking,
and then the car stopped and one of the four
men started to get out. It was by far one
of the scariest moments of my life. I had my phone,
(05:25):
but what do you do in a situation like that.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Nothing. You can't really look at this and be like,
my phone hurt me.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
I'm just going to call the police and tell them
where I am and what that emergency is. Obviously they're
going to knock your phone to the ground. I immediately
started running as quickly as I could, and thankfully I
wasn't hurt, but for the next hour and a half,
all I could do was shake. I was so nervous
and stressed because all I could think about was how
(05:52):
that could have been my face on that next morning's
news story.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
That could have been me?
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Who's that real true crime podcast that we all listened
to so nonchalantly I got home, I immediately started looking for
safety devices to protect myself and my loved ones, but
everything was a big, ugly panic button that not even
my eighty year old grandmother wanted to wear. It made
no sense to me because we all protect our loved
(06:18):
ones with home security. It's a no brainer. Yes, there's
so many names in the home security space, so how
are we doing nothing to protect our loved ones outside
of the home?
Speaker 1 (06:29):
And just blew my mind?
Speaker 2 (06:30):
So did you go and tell Ray right away? Be
guess what happened to me? Is that how you came
about with your idea?
Speaker 5 (06:37):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Ray and I were best friends in college, like they
were mentioning earlier, and I was like, Ray, You'll never
believe what happened to me. This really scary situation made
me feel very uncomfortable, and there's nothing like this on
the market. How is nobody doing anything to innovate the
personal safety space. It's full of loud, screaming alarms that
self defense experts warn aren't ineffective.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
To your point, it's right, because everything that I have
seen is self defense. Like I get a lot of
videos and you get a lot of you know, suggestions
of how to kick somebody on the legs and or
in between the legs, and how do you defend yourself,
But there's not actually at device until you'll learn about it.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
Be so aware, right, We always recommend layered protection. So
for our product, you can easily just double click it
and instantly call for help. It sends your location to
five people as well as the police, and it notifies
everyone where you are and tracks you live as well.
But we also do self defense classes once a quarter
(07:38):
for all of our customers because we know proactive it's
good to be proactive about your safety. We also have
some other additional safety products that like accessories like pepper
spray that a lot of our self defense struct instructs.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
So for our audience, you know, we have two of
the most innovator people that I have met through the
Mass Innovation Network and this was for it to me
because they have a beautiful necklace and they have different
devices that actually work, like you were saying, in a
defensive way or a protecting way for whomever is wearing it, right,
(08:15):
I will be really inclined to hear statistics on how
many people get assaulted or are in these situations, because
I am very sure that our audience is going to
be surprised.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
In the United seats, Gabby, one out of every six
women experiences an attempted or completed rape at some point
in her lifetime.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
That is so sad.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Let me repeat that, one out of every six women.
Think about your sister, your best friend, your daughter, your wife,
your friends. Statistically speaking, one of them will experience an
attempted or completed rape at some point in her lifetime.
That is unacceptable and needs to change. And that's exactly
why Ray and I started this company. Basically, the way
(09:01):
it works is we embed safety technology and everyday accessories.
So this necklace I'm wearing, this bracelet, for example. We
have them even hidden inside keychains, fitness bands, and hair scrunchees.
If you double click this button two times, it will
immediately alert five pre selected emergency contacts to let them
(09:22):
know your requesting help and that you're in a potentially
dangerous situation. And we also have a partnership with ADT,
the most respected name and home security. If you have
the ADT feature enabled, a trained ADT agent will alert
nine to one one to let them know your requesting
help and we'll keep them updated with your live location.
(09:43):
Not only that, but we pride ourselves in being the
most advanced safety device on the market and we have
twenty four to seven virtual bodyguards available at your service
anytime you need, which allows you to be proactive about
your safety.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
So that's a bar broad a bodyguard explain that to me.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Yes, basically, Gabby, you never have to walk home alone again.
If you ever feel uncomfortable or you're in a slightly
dangerous situation, you can take out the Invisior app and
you can quite literally FaceTime a train safety agent who
can help stay with you on the phone while you
get to your destiny.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Scinting.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
So that story I shared with you earlier about how
we came up with the concept behind the company. I
didn't want to inconvenience any of my friends or family,
nor did I want them to judge me and say, oh,
she's being paranoid. Why is she uncomfortable? It's a short distance.
Had Invisiwor's technology existed back then, I would have been
able to call ADT using the invisior app. They would
(10:46):
have been able to see everything going on. They're very
highly trained, so basically the conversation would have went something
along the lines of, Hi, Raja, are you okay. I
would have said, yes, I'm just leaving a networking event.
Is it okay if you stay with me on the
phone until I get to my car safely? They would
have said absolutely, we hope you had a great time
at the event. And then had those men seen me,
(11:09):
they would have been less likely to try and harass
me to begin with, because why would you try and
attack someone that's on FaceTime with someone you don't want
anyone to see that. Of course, you don't want to
risk getting caught. So had they still been stupid enough
to try and harass me, the ADT agents are very
highly trained to intervene. They would have immediately been able
(11:30):
to notify nine one one. They would have been able
to capture live video evidence of who's harassing me, and
I could have potentially used that footage to even go
after those guys.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
So listen, parents, that's a great not only for you know,
young adults that are leaving bars or the night scene,
or even like from school when you're going into you know,
certain projects that are going after hours and whatnot, or
the networking events like you're saying. Also for us, it's
a peace of mind because we can be one of
those five people that can be notified. Right Ray, how
(12:00):
about men? How can men utilize this? Is it also
unsafe for men? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (12:05):
Absolutely, it's definitely. We hear tons of stories. Unfortunately it's
not talked about as much for men, but it can
really happen to anyone. Honestly, we carry peppers Ray. We
have key chains as well so you can carry it
on your keys. We have some fitness bands that are
unisex options for men as well, and you can just
(12:26):
honestly never be too safe. But like Raja said, we
offer that white Glove service. It's truly amazing to have
access to that twenty four to seven with one of
the most trusted names in security.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
So how long have you been in business?
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Literally you started out of college with a project, and
then how do you get funded? Because this is a
whole big company that has to start from a lot
of you know, engineering, Like you were.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Saying, yeah, this is very expensive technology to develop. So
when Ray and myself grad do you eat it?
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Sorry?
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Let me repeat that. When Y and I graduated from
engineering school, we knew we needed millions of dollars to
develop the technology and bring it to market. We actually
raised over three million dollars to develop the technology and
bring it to market. And when we got to market,
we just simply exploded. So many people kept posting about
us on social media. We actually have over three million followers,
(13:23):
which is such an amazing mousetone.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Amazing and said at the same time, because that tells
you how people are feeling.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
Yeah, and so many women would tag their friends in
the comments say you need to buy this immediately. All
of our happy customers are truly the reason we've been
so successful. We've been on every major news channel from ABCCBS, WBZ,
Good Morning America, The Today Show named us is one
of the best. K Pasa Boston Today Show named us
(13:52):
one of the best gifts to get your kid. I
want to say. Kate Pasa Boston named us one of
the best gifts to get your kids at it and
I was on the cover of Forbes thirty Under thirty. Recently,
inc magazine named this as one of the fastest growing
companies in the country, which was such an honor in
a dream come true, because that was never our intention, Gabby.
We were just looking for a way to protect ourselves.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Worked ones worldwide or is it just in the US,
because I would be very surprised look at all the
stories that you hear of people that go overseas and
they can't find them, or they get lost, or there's
something happens.
Speaker 4 (14:26):
Yeah, it does work internationally in over two hundred countries
right now with the nine to one one feature that
is only available in the US and Canada, but we're
looking to expand that in the future. But right now,
it will alert your five emergency contacts, let's them know
you need help and send them your live location, and
then they have the option to call the police on
your behalf. So it's great if you're traveling. You can
(14:49):
buy it here, set it up here. If you're traveling,
we have a lot of parents that buy for their
kids studying abroad or if you just live abroad as well,
work in those countries.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Where can we find all these devices, who can wear them?
Is it a minimum age or I mean you said kids,
so I imagine like my little kids also can wear them.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Definitely. We get so many different age groups buying the product.
Essentially anyone with a smartphone, so if you're in your
early teens, we get a lot of parents buying them
for their kids who are walking from.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
The school bus alone.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
To high school students. One of our most popular demographics
is college age students because sadly, that's when they're the
most vulnerable. One out of every four college age women
experiences a sexual assault that is thickening and needs to change.
It's truly heartbreaking. But we even have young professionals that
are working in big cities, like your daughter when you
(15:47):
were sharing the story if she was chased by homeless man.
I can't even begin to tell you, Gabby, the number
of stories that I've heard on a daily basis that
are identical to that one. Real estate agents showing property
on their own to strangers, nurses and doctors and medical
professionals that are leaving the hospitals late at night, seniors
(16:07):
like my grandmother who don't want to compromise their dignity
by wearing big, ugly panic buttons. Yeah, so truly anyone
of any age. We've got over one hundred different variations,
all disguised as necklaces, bracelets, key chains, fitness vans, and hairscrunchies.
So there's all of this style and they can buy
it online on our website. It's just in visitor dot com.
(16:29):
Or we're also available on Amazon and you.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Can find them on TikTok too, because yeah, everywhere. But
how about the language. So I'm thinking about my mom right,
my mom doesn't speak English. She just has to press
right here and then what happens.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
That's a great thing, Gabby, is a lot of non
English speakers, they wouldn't be able to communicate with a
nine one one agent in an emergency situation. So at
least now nine one one's immediately getting notified that she's
in distress in getting her exact location. On top of that,
in the application, you can add additional information, So if
(17:06):
your mom has a medical condition, she could designate that,
if she has a known stalker or a domestic violence situation,
she can designate that. She can designate that she doesn't
speak proper English and to potentially have nine one one
contact allergy, allergies, known medications, disabilities. You can input all
of that in the application.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
And that app comes in different languages.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
The app is only available in English right now. Okay,
but we have a really friendly customer success team and
if you reach out to them, we can definitely look
into having someone in our network help you with the
set of process excellent. A lot of Spanish speakers is
it will reach out to us and someone on our
team who's fluent in Spanish can assist.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
So this is relevant nowadays, and I'm going to say
that that unspeakable right now, the political and environment is
going through a lot of challenges.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
I can see.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Our community using these and an opportunity if ice or
they get, you know, in an incident where they get arrested,
or in certain circumstances that they don't feel safe.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
I would at least expect that a necklace like.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
This could alert family members if they are caught, you know,
in a very difficult situation. I'm not saying that it's legal, illegal,
whatever they are going through, but at least you have,
you know, something to react to, and you don't have,
like you were saying, to grab a phone or whatnot.
So not just look at this as a saving a
(18:43):
woman or a man that is going to be attacked
in a malicious way, but also if you're going through
an incident such as this, that could be a helpful source.
So there you have a marketing campaign.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
The beauty of our products, Gavius. It can be used
in a lot of different scenarios. Anytime you feel uncomfortable
or just want to alert your loved ones that you
need help. They can utilize it anytime they feel safe.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Think of concerts right I'm mass shooting, or school situations
where there's you know, some mass challenges. I think this
is a wonderful product to have. I would love to
hear more on what's next for Inmbisaware because I see
that you have great products that your company is selling
(19:33):
them so it's hard to keep them in stock.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Now, what's next for Invisaware?
Speaker 4 (19:38):
Great question. There's a lot that are in the works
in our roadmap that are a little confidential, so we
can't really talk about but we're definitely looking to just
expand as much as possible.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
AI part of it.
Speaker 4 (19:51):
At the moment, we have some ideas, but like I mentioned,
we can't talk about it. At this point in time.
But right now there's a voice activation creature that is
we recently launched that's very exciting. So you can set
a secret phrase. So let's say maybe you don't have
your pendent on you that day, or maybe you just
don't even have the ability to press it. You can
(20:11):
set a voice activation phrase. So let's say I'm just uncomfortable.
Maybe I'm on a date and I don't want to
like let them know that I am calling for help.
You can be like, oh, I want to order a
pink pineapple margarita, and then that will instantly activate the
secret phrase and it notifies all of your emergency contacts
as well as ADT to check in with you and
(20:32):
make sure that you're safe.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
That is fantastic.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
How can people communicate because I know you're sharing a
lot of those stories that have happened. How can they
communicate with you if they have ideas? So if they
want to, you know, acquire some of your pieces, who's
designing them too? Like, I would love to see how
the designing process goes, you know through.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Well, you can see it a demo.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
You know it works, It's okay.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
Hello, Your visitor device is everything Okay, yes, everything is fine.
I'm so sorry. I was just testing it. Thank you
for checking in.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
You ever need.
Speaker 4 (21:23):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 5 (21:24):
Have a great day, John, have it on basa.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Molson is actually witnessing what could happen to you and
how you can be saved.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Did you see quickly.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
Gaby in ten seconds? And that was unintentional? I promise
we did not plan for this happened.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
It is fantastic to see the rapidness on how it
was actioned. I mean it took seconds, it was not
even a minute. So I'm very confident that if I
have some you know, some technology like that, that it
could definitely make a difference on saving a life. It
is such a pleasure having you here. Guys, where can
(22:10):
we find you again? In visaware dot com.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
Vizard dot com, Amazon, and if you're listening, please follow
us on social media around TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook.
We'd love to have you. And if you have a
story that's personal to you about a time you worried
about your safety, please share it with us, raise awareness.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
And you have your Christmas gift now you have to
think about in vis Aware. Thank you so much, Raja
and Ray for coming to Kapasa Boston. Yallow Saba Mihinte.
Please download that iHeart app and select Kapasa Boston as
your favorite podcast to hear any of these stories and
share it.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Share this information because this is why we're here.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
We're here to give you a leg up and opportunities
like in vis Aware can save not just your life,
but your friends and loved ones. Thank you so much again,
guys for being here and we'll see you next time.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
We're so honored to have been here. Thank you for
sharing your story.