About this project
$87,720
596
Over 60% of the world sleeps on their side, yet...
the pillow industry has virtually ignored their need for a more supportive pillow that fits each individual's height needs, but is still comfortable. Side sleepers have largely been conditioned through the years to not expect to find a pillow that feels like it was made for us. We have had to fold our pillow, or stick our arm under it for our entire lives.
Today, common sense and technology have brought us exactly what we've needed. Meet the SleepSmart Pillow for side sleepers.
The SleepSmart pillow can improve your sleep. And your life.
At SleepSmart, our vision is to help people rest better. We aim to be the world’s most trusted source for developing products that improve the quality of your life by improving the quality of your rest.
When we started this journey to build the perfect pillow for side sleepers, we gathered a lot of information from experts around the world, and lots of people just like you. We wanted to fully understand what people needed in order to get a good night's rest.
Over 60% of the population primarily sleep on their side, but we found that the pillows available for side sleepers didn't adequately meet their unique needs. Pillows are fixed and mass produced, so each one is only a solution for some. The fact is, side sleepers have different needs than back sleepers, and those needs vary significantly from person to person.
How are side sleepers and back sleepers different?
The gap between your head and the surface of the mattress is what we refer to as the Support Void. In order to keep your spine in proper alignment, your pillow should perfectly fill this space.
The Support Void also changes depending on the firmness of your mattress.
If you sleep on your side, then you can probably relate to all of these challenges.
Some pillows are designed to provide support, while others are designed to provide comfort. Consumers are generally forced to sacrifice one for the other. Not anymore.
Premium, soft materials that are hypoallergenic and 100% cotton. The stretchable and breathable AirMesh band around the comfort layer promotes airflow as you sleep.
Down-alternative comfort layer that offers low-friction characteristics for a luxurious feel. Including a 3D structured knit acting as a micro-cushion to provide additional comfort.
ADJUSTABLE SUPPORT LAYER - This component enables height adjustment, serving as the proprietary support layer that sits underneath the comfort layer. Air travels in and out of the bladder to increase or decrease the support height into the optimal position. This layer is comprised of soft, stretchable fabric that is airtight and heat sealed at production.
SENSING SYSTEM - We incorporated an air-pressure sensor into the air bladder. This enables us to accurately detect when your head is on the pillow as well as any additional motion associated with your sleep. The information is sent to your SleepSmart mobile app, which analyzes the data and provides valuable insights for improving your rest.
VIBRATION ALARM - The inflation chamber uses vibration waves to create a silent alarm. The SleepSmart app can be used for time setting as well as controlling the intensity of the vibration. When enabled, there’s an additional Smart Wake Time feature that will automatically wake you up while you’re in the lightest phase of your sleep cycle.
More than 2" of height adjustment for personalized support and comfort.
Lower the height by squeezing the valve while your head is on the pillow.
Raise the height by squeezing the valve while your head is off the pillow.
Adjust valve easily to find the perfect position you wish to sleep in.
Vibrating Smart Alarm will help you wake up at the right time without disturbing your partner.
Our mobile app monitors your sleep, then leverages the data to teach you how to improve your rest. Now that's powerful.
Track the metrics that you want to see the most. Then make informed improvements so you can rest better.
Sound Monitoring Stats - shown with a demonstration app, not the app that will ship.
Head Pressure Monitoring Stats - shown with a demonstration app, not the app that will ship.
Meet Chester. He never imagined that a pillow would have functions. Then he was introduced to SleepSmart.
Meet Susan. She often woke up sore and was skeptical that a pillow could meet all of her support needs.
Meet Mike. He thought his mattress was making him uncomfortable, but discovered the solution was actually a pillow.
Meet Ryan and Jenna. They each have their own pillow preferences, but SleepSmart adjusts to make them both happy.
We surveyed over 1,000 people about their sleep habits. Our extensive research revealed that over 60% of the population are side sleepers, while in contrast most pillows are designed for those who sleep on their back. We also discovered a general lack of understanding around the importance of sleep.
We investigated over 100 pillows. Our results proved that out of the pillows that are currently on the market, some are designed to provide support, while others are designed to provide comfort. Consumers are forced to sacrifice one for the other.
After years of market research, we spent 10 months actively developing our product, rapidly iterating through prototypes and incorporating feedback. We tested 8 rounds of prototypes - always with the side sleeper in mind - and landed on a design that offers the ideal head and neck posture for this demographic.
We arrived at the 1 SleepSmart Pillow. A fully-adjustable design that offers both support and comfort. Accompanied with the SleepSmart mobile app, you can make informed improvements to your sleep and start living better.
Dr. Jae Son is the CEO of an innovative technology company and holds a doctorate in Engineering Robotics from Harvard (see LinkedIn profile here). As an engineer and inventor, he’s familiar with successfully bringing ideas to life. SleepSmart is one of those ideas, and was birthed out of a personal search for a solution. For years Jae had neck pains caused by deterioration of the spinal discs C3 and C4. Consequently, he struggled to find a pillow that could meet his comfort and support needs. He tried the typical folding the pillow in half, sleeping with an arm under his pillow, or even stacking two - but nothing was ideal. Then he discovered that by placing an inflatable pillow under his regular one, he could adjust the support height while still remaining comfortable. This was the beginning ideation of a new kind of pillow - and thus the SleepSmart pillow was born.
Brandon Larson is a technologist with Red Bull studying how to improve elite athletes' and executives’ performance. He dedicated 6 months researching the science of sleep and evaluation of apps and trackers to understand what works and more importantly, what doesn’t. He has also been collecting personal sleep data for over 3 years in his quest to better understand the role of sleep in performance. What he discovered was that as a society, we have been focusing on minutia details of sleep enabled by technology. The most important factors of getting a good night’s rest are how long you sleep, how consistent your sleep routine is, and how you feel during the day. Combining this information with his approach to coaching was the inspiration for a more impactful way to track and interpret sleep data.
Risks and challenges
We have been developing technology for over 20 years, and we know what it takes to make a reliable product. This was demonstrated previously with the production of several medical devices, which grew into companies such as SureTouch which won numerous awards.
Our goal is to deliver by December 2017. We’ve done our best to forecast demand, and we have already identified our suppliers and are actively working with a trusted logistics management company to ensure you’ll get your rewards swiftly.
We want to ship as quickly as possible, but we also don’t want to ship products that are not fully tested. We’ll use the money collected through this campaign for testing design verification, environmental standards, and reliability. We’ll also use the support for translating the design from prototype to mass production, tooling for manufacturing, and purchasing materials.
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Funding period
- (30 days)