Meet Jared Steele of Pombox in Far North Dallas

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jared Steele.

Jared, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
It’s funny because Pombox all started as a result of a really bad breakup.

Heartbroken, I was compulsively checking my phone at all hours of the day and night. This habit of constantly looking at my phone wrecked my productivity and sleep cycle and quickly turned into an addiction. It was this really vicious cycle and it was clear that I needed to do whatever to keep my device away and inaccessible.

About a year prior to this breakup, I talked to a good friend from college. He told me about his struggle to stay productive at work; “what I really need at work is a way to stay off my phone. Not just an app or some restriction software, but like a lockbox to keep myself from physically seeing it or accessing it for like 30 minutes at a time”. I thought it was a really good idea, and told him he should just make this product himself. I would definitely buy one if he made it.

Well, fast forward almost a year to that day, we talked and I asked if anything had come of this smartphone lockbox idea – he said it just sat in the back of his mind and nothing happened with it.

Emotionally raw from my breakup, I told him that I need this smartphone lockbox product idea so I could keep myself from checking my phone every 5 minutes. Second, I realized I needed a project or something to keep myself busy so there wasn’t able to fester on my emotions. So, I got to work.

I figured I would make a product that would “scratch my own itch” by helping me stay off my phone. The more I thought about it, I figured maybe even sell a couple of hundred units off amazon or something – kinda just like build a passive income stream. Nothing too ambitious really.

I knew exactly what I wanted – a way to physically lock up my phone in a way that didn’t look like or function like some tacky jail lock gag gift. Something I that was well designed, simple to use, and looked well in the home or office where I would be using it.

When I was considering purchasing other solutions before setting out to make Pombox, every single one was were missing some important features that I felt were absolutely essential (like a lock override setting, in-house device charging, ability hold multiple devices, nice ambient lighting, etc.).

Now knowing what I wanted, the problem then arose – how to build this thing?
Having literally zero background or experience in electrical engineering, prototyping, manufacturing, or product design, I decided that I needed to start pretty basic… like REALLY basic.

During my undergrad years at Texas Tech, I learned some basic prototyping methodologies from the Standford d.school’s (Hasso Plattner Institute of Design) University Innovation Fellows program. While it didn’t give me any hard skills to do the prototyping, it helped me how to think through the design process and follow a very lean-approach.

The first prototype was really ugly cardboard and duct tape model – it was hideous, but a start nonetheless. For the electrical components & circuit diagram, I worked with some guys through Upwork.com that were based out of Pakistan and India. Because of the time difference, I was constantly up late doing Skype calls going over little details. These late nights really took a toll especially when I was already working 40-60 hours per week.

A couple of months in, I threw together a website and would slowly show my progress on social media of this “side project” and it was really interesting to see the response that came as a result.

I decided to name it Pombox after the Pomodoro Technique. This is a well-researched time management method to increase productivity; essentially you are time blocking chunks of time. So, Pomodoro + Box = Pombox.

Nonetheless, it was clear that I was not alone with feeling the need to reduce screentime, this hunch was confirmed as orders from friends, family, and even 2nd and 3rd connections started to pile up. I thought this was people just being nice & being supportive of “local business”, so largely disregarded it.

Dozens of iterations later, I was seeing something come together that I was actually proud of. Things got serious when absolute strangers from the internet starting placing orders. People would literally be googling “smartphone lockbox” and place an order – even though I had nothing to sell at the time (still refining the product). Then as orders came in internationally, that’s when I knew this was definitely a viable business.

More doors opened as time went on; we got accepted into the Texas Tech Accelerator program that gave a $25K grant to further develop and commercialize Pombox and access to some high-level mentorship and guidance from successful entrepreneurs and professionals and even being accepted into the National Science Foundation’s Regional I-Corps program.

Like most opportunities in life, they lead to more opened doors and further opportunities. We’re seeing this is a product that can be used in many other situations than just a productivity tool. Despite being in an age that places a premium on self-reflection, life satisfaction, and health & wellness, the research is pointing in a clear direction – the price of smartphones is greatly affecting our quality of life.

Mental health diagnoses and suicide rates are skyrocketing, loneliness and isolation are at record levels, our cortisol (stress) levels are always jacked up, the length and quality of our sleep is down, ADD/ADHD medication is alarming levels, and US businesses alone are losing $800 billion per year from smartphone use on the job.

Countless thought leaders & visionaries are pointing in the right direction – our addiction to technology & screens is without question the next biggest health epidemic in the US. There’s a reason so many tech executives in Silicon Valley won’t allow their kids to have devices at a young age.

Scrolling is the new smoking and I’m convinced that in the coming decades we will have a very different perspective on our relationship with technology.

So where does that take us now?
Right now, we are slowly fulfilling a backlog of orders one by one, all made and assembled here in Texas. Overseas manufacturing is generally a pretty long process, so we are smoothing out the details before we get larger orders made.

The future looks incredibly bright Pombox and I am proud to be building a business that helps people live a higher quality of life. My goal is to help save 10,000,000 hours of lost productivity by the end of 2021 and help thousands of people see that a life of digital minimalism leads to a life of fulfillment.

Has it been a smooth road?
Pombox had had its fair share of challenges and setbacks.

All struggles are relative. Pombox has been a struggle because I set out to build a physical product with electrical & mechanical components – something I had zero prior knowledge of.

They always say starting a business is kinda like jumping out of an airplane and building your parachute on the way down… except for Pombox, for me, has been like jumping out of an airplane, learning the textbook on how to build the parachute, and then building it. If I had to do this again, I wouldn’t recommend it.

Aside from that, just a lot – materials sourcing, finding the right people to help build and grow the business, marketing, etc. We really feel like we are just at the beginning and know the problems will always be there, they will just a different kind of problem.

I heard once that “as you age, your problems don’t get easier, you get more resilient”. I think this is 100% true, many of the problems I now face would have undoubtedly broken me months ago. I’ve learned to just focus on the present & knock out one problem at a time, one day at a time.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Pombox story. Tell us more about it.
Pombox is a tool that helps people stay off their smartphones.
Specifically, it’s a timed lockbox that the user can set the device timer for a specific time, put their device(s) away, and focus on what’s important.

Smartphones are fundamentally created to be addictive & tech companies pour billions of dollars to design their products and platforms to hook us into hours of use. It’s called the attention economy.

Our goal is to make it easy to stay off your device and reduce the amount of willpower needed to reduce screentime.

We are very proud of our mission and that we’ve built a product that serves a solution to an acute pain point. Everything about Pombox was thoroughly designed and thought out – we’re not in the business to make a quick buck. Knowing that our product can help people in a variety of ways, through different roles and backgrounds, it’s really an awesome feeling.

Fundamentally, most other options just aren’t that good. There’s much to compromise with each device and we’re setting out to bring the best features together so it’s easy, even desirable, to spend less time on devices.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I think massive changes will be made. Individuals will be more outspoken about how tech companies are hacking human biology to make their devices and platforms as addictive as possible. There’s beginning to be a push for responsible & humaine technology products.

It will be entirely understood and accepted that this new research is right about children having massive long-term developmental issues because of early exposure to screens.

I kinda see it like how going organic, gluten-free, vegan, etc. was once a very controversial topic. At the end of the day, the science and research wins and people will generally follow what leads to more health and well being. This trend is only intensifying and becoming greater with time.

We believe that we will look back and see that we were on the right side of history from a very early point.

Pricing:

• $75 for a Pombox + shipping. (we only have a single product right now)

Contact Info:

• Website: getpombox.com
• Phone: 9729710562
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: instagram.com/getpombox/
• Facebook: facebook.com/getpombox
• Twitter: twitter.com/getpombox

Image Credit:
Alvin J Kim, Jared Steele

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