At 2:46 a.m. on Sept. 14, 2015, Tim Causa had a revelation that would change his life. He was bottle-feeding his son Jack, who suffered from acid reflux, during his hourly rotation (he was on the nighttime shift) when he made a note on his smartphone. He mentioned his idea to his wife, followed by a tinfoil mockup for explanation. Today that concept has turned into his first foray into entrepreneurship with Swipe and Feed, an accessory that allows you to attach a baby bottle to your smartphone for those middle-of-the-night feedings when your child needs to not be distracted by anything (it’s a tricky game of feeding and getting them back to bed) while the parent wants to do something other than sit in the dark.
Swipe and Feed is a BPA-free accessory made from polypropylene material that fits most baby bottles and smartphones (minus the plus-size phone models) and adjusts to transition with bottle size as the child grows. Swipe and Feed retails for $24.99.
Not knowing of anything like this concept on the market, Causa moved forward with this idea, turning his tinfoil template into one made out of polypropylene. He reached out to a patent attorney, then an engineering firm. He ran a successful Kickstarter campaign in the fall of 2016, raising close to $13,000 from 122 backers in less than a month.
The first shipment went out in January, and Causa just started selling directly to consumers through his website, which he says is bringing in an international market—he has customers in Ireland, Canada and Australia. He says if sales continue at the current rate, the business will be profitable within the first year.
Currently, Causa works with a manufacturer to produce Swipe and Feed, but he assembles and ships them from his assembly plant in his basement. His next move is to focus on marketing and eventually work on designing a base that is more adaptable to more phones and bringing in more color options.
