Shark Bitten
6 years ago I stood on Sony Studios lot in front of 5 Sharks with a piece of plastic in my hand claiming we needed to save America from webcam hacking. At the time it seemed a bit crazy, though Shark Robert Herjavec confirmed it was a real threat. My webcam cover sold well, but ultimately other plastic sliders and stickers came to dominate the market.The main feedback I got from the Shark’s could be categorized into three buckets:
- Is this a real problem and will there be a market?
- What price can you charge for something that competes with duct tape and post it notes?
- Your idea is not patentable.
My Favorite Webcam Cover for My MacBook
Years later I came across a beautifully designed webcam cover for Macbooks that seems to address the core concerns of the Sharks. In June we had the opportunity to purchase SpiShutter’s assets and patents. We are excited to announce we completed the transaction and are launching the Eyebloc Webcam Cover for Macbook!
So now we have answers for the Shark’s questions
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Is it a real problem? Yes Mark Zuckerberg, the Pope, and James Comey all recommend covering your webcam cover. Go on Amazon and see that this is a real market craving for a premium product for MacBooks. Remote workers need a physical blocker for their webcam not just for hackers, but to make sure they don’t call into that next conference call from their bed not knowing the camera is on
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What price can you charge? Our high quality steel webcam cover is a premium product that customers are looking for to compliment and integrate seemlessly with their MacBook.
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This is a patented product. Karl the genius inventor behind SpiShutter recognized that MacBooks (and some copycats) have built in magnets. These magnets hold the Eyebloc in place and we hold a utility patent on this approach
Controlling your privacy is no longer on the fringes. This is the first of a number of new products we plan to launch over the next few months. We cannot wait to keep proving the Sharks wrong!
Read more in the Washington Business Journal about our journey!