They’re not your typical software moguls.
A middle-aged Bergen Beach couple who can barely afford to fill their gas tank have created new iPhone app based on a idea they had while driving to Florida.
The app — which allows parents to monitor their teenagers’ driving — could become a money-spinner, but bringing the product to market was about more than chasing Internet fortunes.
“This will save lives,” said co-creator Jeffrey Aliotta.
The app, called Driving Awareness Protector, uses the global positioning system and map data to track and monitor teenage drivers and the moment youngsters speed, parents receive a notification on their phones.
“It’s a parent’s dream,” said Aliotta, who came up with the app with his fiancée Karen Kastell. “This is going to be all over the country — worldwide.”
The idea came to the couple nine months ago when the pair, unable to afford airfare for a vacation, decided to drive to Florida. Kastell kept having to tell Aliottato to slow down when he repeatedly exceeded the speed limit as he merged from highways to local roads.
Aliotta said he wished his vehicle could announce when the speed limit changed, and Kastell said a phone should be able to do that. The idea then morphed into a speed-monitoring app.
Then, unlike most people who come up with a great idea for an app, Aliotta and Kastell actually took steps to make it a reality, contacting patent attorney Paul Sabaj, who connected them with Hendrick Strydom, a app developer in South Africa, according to Aliotta.
The four had business meetings via Skype, and Aliotta said the attorney and developer were so excited about the project, they agreed to waive most of their fees in exchange for a stake in the business.
Instead of paying his lawyer $50,000 and his developer $15,000, Aliotta said he paid each just $3,000 and agreed to split any profits from the app with them.
“They saw the potential,” said Aliotta.
Sabaj declined to say whether the technology is patented yet, but said he is very involved in the project.
“I believe in the app to the extent where I partnered with the business,” he said, adding that the app is unlike any product he has seen. “This is something that is not out there on the market — this is going to be a game changer.”
The two-part app, which is currently has about 30 users, requires both parents and teenagers to download the system on their phones. Then parents will be able to monitor their children’s driving on a map. If the child is speeding, parents will receive a notification, and see a red dot on the map that gets longer if the teenager continues speeding.
If parents worry that their children won’t install the app, Kastell said they can threaten to take away the car keys.
“It’s like, ‘You either put this in your phone or you don’t drive the car,’ ” she said.
The duo recently auditioned for “Shark Tank,” a reality television show for entrepreneurs seeking venture capital, but they haven’t received word yet whether they made the cut. With or without the show, they hope their road to success is speedy.
“You’re talking about your dream that you’ve been dreaming for months upon months,” said Aliotta.
The app is currently only available for iPhones. The first month is free if you download it directly from the Driving Awareness Protector website: www.drivingawarenessprotector.com. After the free month, the first year is $10, and then $5-a-year after that.
