Three alums are now selling the product they first thought of as undergraduates — the Zeo Personal Sleep Coach, an alarm clock that monitors and analyzes sleep patterns to wake sleepers up when they feel least groggy.
The alarm clock has been available for sale since late 2009. The inventors — Jason Donahue '05, Ben Rubin '05 and Eric Shashoua '05 — formed Zeo, Inc. in 2003 with the idea of creating an alarm clock that would wake users up "at an optimal point in their sleep schedule," Donahue said. Since then, Zeo has grown to offer personalized sleep coaching and sleep advice, according to its Web site.
The process of building the product began in Brown's engineering laboratories, where the founders set up experiments with friends, parents and professors as test subjects, Rubin said. According to Donahue, the three spent countless nights in the lab perfecting the technology, which took two-and-a-half years to develop. Their idea also won the founders second place in the Brown University Entrepreneurship Program Competition, which provides funding for student business plans, Donahue said.
"Being a Brown student has opened up a lot of doors," Donahue said.
Many professors — including some specializing in sleep research and engineering — offered not only scientific instruction, but also business advice, Shashoua said.
After graduating, the founders still faced some years of business development before they launched Zeo, Shashoua said. They formed a board of directors, which today includes the CEO of iRobot Corporation, the former president of Bose Corporation and Zeo's current CEO, Dave Dickinson, according to the company's Web site. In addition to Brown faculty, Zeo's founders have also relied on the expertise of a scientific advisory board, which includes sleep experts from Harvard Medical School and other institutions, according to Zeo's Web site.
Zeo uses SoftWave sensor technology, which the founders created to measure sleep patterns and determine users' sleep phases, according to its Web site. Users wear headbands while they sleep to collect and measure electrical signals from their brains and transmit the data to displays by their beds. Users' sleep information can be uploaded online onto a sleep journal. The Zeo Bedside Display has a SmartWake alarm feature that tries to wake up the user at an optimum time — namely, when the sleeper is transitioning in and out of certain sleep phases, according to its Web site.
Since the product went on sale in 2009, the founders have continued to play integral roles in the company — Donahue as vice president for brand management, Rubin as chief technology officer and Shashoua as vice president for global business development, according to the Zeo Web site. The founders' plans for Zeo include an upcoming MyZeo iPhone application and improved hardware and software, Donahue said.
