23 Year Old Entrepreneur Launches GPS Garage Door Opener App
Grand Rapids, MI (PRWEB) December 19, 2013 -- Justin Menkveld is a self admitted tech geek. Spend more than two minutes with him and you will soon find out he is also a serial entrepreneur who never stops dreaming. His most recent invention is Open-Me, an application he developed out of necessity.
"I race motorcycles, and as you might guess, I’m also a self-confessed techno geek," said Open-Me inventor, Justin Menkveld, a 23 year old software developer at Grand Rapids, MI based Open Systems Technologies.
"Opening garage doors when you’re driving a motorcycle is a pain, so I was determined to find a better way. How to begin? Well, I had an idea in mind that I thought just might work. Okay, it was a bit more involved than that, but by the time I was finished I had developed the working prototype I’m still using today. I considered bringing the product to market by myself without any help, but feared it would max out my time and money. I pursued the TV Series Shark Tank for a time and the producers showed a high level of interest — but in the end, they decided against it. Since my days are spent at a technology company that’s loaded with talent, I ultimately decided to team up with them and bring the product to market via Kickstarter," Menkveld continued.
The Open-Me app allows someone to open and close theirr garage door, from anywhere in the world, with a simple click on a cell phone. It can also open a garage door automatically when the user arrives home and close it when they leave — using GPS technology. Open-Me even allows someone to view the door in real time with its video feature (available in the premium version) and can send out an alert when the garage door is left open, giving peace of mind. The easy-to-use app will be available on Apple iOS and Android smart phones through native apps…as well as any other devices with a web browser.
The price range for the Open-Me Appliance (that attaches to the garage door opener) is $99 for the basic appliance, $139 for the fully featured appliance and $199 for the fully featured appliance plus video. The app is free.
Menkveld needs a minimum of $200,000 in Kickstarter pledges before he can move forward with commercial production of Open-Me. If he achieves his Kickstarter pledge target, Open-Me will be available for shipment in June of 2014.
How to Help
The Kickstarter page will only be live for 31 more days (it launched on December 6) so they are looking to generate as much momentum and enthusiasm as possible during these first several days. Anyone can help by:
• Posting the Open-Me Kickstarter Link on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, etc.
• Send an email to friends and family to encourage them to check it out.
Who knows? This could be the perfect gift for the person on that Christmas list who “has everything!”
Michael Lomonaco, OST, http://ostusa.com, +1 (616) 588-5075, [email protected]
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