Sam looked up at his Mom, a blank expression on his face.
For the third time, she said, “How was your day?”
At last she penetrated the consciousness of her young son.
“I invented a business that’s going to make us all rich.”
“You did,” she smiled sweetly. “How nice that will be.”
“Seriously, Mom. It’s called Dogs Unleashed.”
Lisa sat down. Sam was not one to waste words, and he came up with some very creative ideas.
“Tell me how it works,” she said.
“Think of it as a supercharged version of an electric fence, only much, much smarter. The whole thing is based on a smart collar that always knows where it is, that can access online data, and that can communicate with people and other devices.”
Lisa smiled again. “That actually sounds pretty cool. What will it be able to do that a normal electric fence collar can’t?”
Now Sam smiled. “Well, for one thing, it will only open the dog door when it’s not raining outside, so Max won’t get soaking wet. It also has a moisture sensor, so if a sudden rainstorm gets your dog wet, it won’t let him back into the house.”
“So we won’t have another disaster like when Max ran across the sofa with muddy feet,” she prompted.
“Exactly,” said Sam. “Plus, it can open or close virtual roads to other parts of the neighborhood. So if you’re delayed at work and worry that Max is going to get bored, you can use the speaker to tell Max, ‘Go see Romeo’ and you can expand the fence so that it includes Romeo’s yard and the path between our houses.”
Lisa frowned. “But what if Max wanders out into the busy road? I don’t want him to get hurt.”
Sam shook his head. “There are certain places that will always be off limits, like the busy road, or the Huggins property, because they hate dogs so bad.”
“That makes sense,” said Lisa. “What a great idea.”
Sam got a bit agitated. He stood up, and started pacing around.
“What’s the matter?” asked his Mom.
“You don’t get the whole idea. This collar will be really, really smart. It will tell you where Max is, what he’s doing, and even what is around him. It can hear barking, and can tell the difference between two dogs playing and two dogs fighting. It even will let you give Max commands, like ‘Go home’.”
“Wow. That is pretty smart. I wish they had that technology today,” Lisa responded.
“That’s the thing, Mom. We do. It’s all there, but no one has put it together yet. I did research today from the school library, and some companies are close, but they don’t have the whole picture yet.”
Sam raced out of the room, most likely to go online. Lisa started thinking… Sam’s Dad is in the investment business… gotta ask him whether kids can get access these days to venture capital.
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Companies hire Bruce Kasanoff to write stories that help their employees – and sometimes their customers – better understand what it will take to compete successfully. His clients use these customized pieces in many different areas of their business.
