Watch and Learn Building a business on fulfilling every parent's wish: cameras in day-care centers
By Devlin Smith
Opinions expressed by BIZ Experiences contributors are their own.
Christopher C. Seminatore knows a good idea when he hears one.After a divorced friend commented on how much he missed hisdaughter and wished he could watch her at day care from his homecomputer, the 33-year-old BIZ Experiences got to work, drafting abusiness plan and raising funds.
In 1999, Seminatore, friend Jeff Etheridge (the company'sidea man), Randy Etheridge and Daniel Carr founded GuardianCam Inc., a San Diegocompany that installs cameras in day-care centers that streamimages across the Internet. Family members are given a user nameand password that they use to log on to GuardianCam's Web siteand watch their child learning and playing.
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Reaction to the service has been overwhelming. According toSeminatore, centers that offer the service have seen enrollmentjump between 40 and 150 percent. In addition to bringing morechildren into the centers' doors, GuardianCam is alsobenefiting the families who use the service. "We've gothundreds of stories," Seminatore says. Recently, agrandfather's dying wish to see his granddaughter was grantedwhen a computer set to GuardianCam's site was brought to hishospital room. "Little stories like that, they come in everysingle day," says Seminatore. "It keeps the staffdedicated, devoted to what we're trying to do."
