Folding and unfolding a baby stroller can be quite a hassle. In search of a solution to this challenge, Henry Thorne, the 4Moms co-founder came up with a high-end stroller that only requires you to press a button to fold or unfold it. Because of this kind of thinking, 4Moms Company has become a pioneer where the creation of robotic baby products features.
The Company
4moms is an enterprise that creates robotics technology-based items. The products help mothers look after their prenatal to preschool requirements of their children. The enterprise is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States. Its original registered name is Thorley Industries.
This company is categorized as a for-profit software, hardware, and robotics enterprise. Robert Daley and Henry Thorne founded this company in 2005. Among their more popular products are the Mamaroo, Bounceroo and Rockaroo (click here to read my comparison).
The Founders
In 2005, Henry Thorne and Robert Daley founded Thorley Industries LLC, a company that specializes in making technology enabled baby and toddler gear. Thorley, the company name, is a portmanteau of the two founders’ last names.
Daley had been a longtime private equity investor. Thorne was the founder of a company that made tug robots that delivered supplies within hospitals.
Once they founded the firm, the partners held focus meetings with Daley’s wife, Jenn and three of her friends. The objective of the meeting was to discuss design, colors, and other features. This is where the 4Moms working name came from.
Many people feel that the company’s working name has profoundly assisted 4Moms. This is because had they remained with the registered name or called themselves 2Dads for example, it would not have had the success it enjoys. Moms are more inclined to listen to other moms.
Despite its maternal name, however, 4moms products feature inventions by two dads. Both co-founders have two children each. Their high-tech products have attracted men to a market with overwhelming mom centricity. Dads derive pleasure in showing off the features of an Origami, for example. Headlights opening or closing on their own was a feature of wonder back in 2013. This kind of feature is bound to tap into most dads’ manhood.
Also, while moms make most final decisions that involve baby products, dads have some influence too. Shultz asserts young children mothers are more likely to buy high tech strollers with knowing their husbands would love to try out and show off the smart aspects of the products’ robotics.
Robert Daley, a former venture capitalist, and Henry Thorne initially wanted to create electronics that took advantage dramatically dropping prices in processors. The saturated baby products market was never in their vision. Instead, the duo figured the plumbing industry was ripe for innovation. As such, they created a remote controlled and temperature adjustable shower attachment.
They thought gadget oriented men would love the attachment. To their astonishment, moms and senior citizens loved it during a trade show in Pittsburgh. As a result, the co-founders did away with the shower attachment and instead created a bath spout cover that could read water temperatures and a baby tub to allowed clean water inflow and dirty water outflow.
The Inspiration
At a trade show, Daley had unsettling feelings regarding a salesperson demonstrating how to fold and unfold a stroller. After watching the process repeatedly, he realized the salesperson had to go onto her hands and knees each time she needs to fold or unfold. He could not figure out how a mother would do this on the pavement or a parking lot.
Thorne, a Carnegie Mellon University graduate, had found a project that would allow him to exercise his skills in robotics acquired while working with GM. The creation of a better carriage became a near obsession. It took him five years to come up with an electronic controlled power-folding stroller that would open or collapse when you pressed a button. It came with a generator that charges cell phones and lights. This became the Origami high-end stroller.
This kind of thought process led to the creation of other 4moms products. It involves identifying shortcomings within a popular item parents regularly use as they looked after their toddlers or infants. Next comes a re-think of this device aided by research and item testing. Finally, comes the introduction of an entirely new form of the old product.
The bounceRoo bouncer seat will actually bounce your baby naturally as the baby moves. It has great looks but the real benefit it gives mothers is soothing the infant when they are sleepy or when they are fussy.
Investors
The co-founders started 4moms company with an initial $200,000 of their savings. They proceeded to raise $1 million from Blue Tree Allied Angels and $300,000 from Innovation Works. This was before Bain Capital Ventures proceeded to invest $20 million.
The rockaRoo, for example, will provide your baby with that front to back gliding motion. This motion comes in five speeds and provides your preferred pre-recorded soothing sounds. This is through connecting your preferred MP3 player to the device.
Conclusion: 4moms Company History
What makes the 4moms product different for the others in the market is that they are not your typical infant or toddler products; their products provide practical solutions to mothers
The products are so useful that socialites like Kourtney Kardashian, Jennifer Garner, Natalie Portman and thousands of mothers out there, are not afraid to have their photographs taken as they use them. That is the best reward the co-founders of 4moms can ever receive for their work.
