Shaun Masavage says that an episode of the reality series Shark Tank gave him his light-bulb moment.
“Someone was pitching a Breathometer, but not going about it the right way,” he recalls.
Masavage wasn’t seeing what he know people would be looking for: a lower price and a convenient size and shape.
“I looked at a Chapstick one day,” he says, “and knew that’s what it needed to be.”
When the DrinkMate breathalyzer app materialized, its final form was indeed smaller than a tube of lip balm.
So Masavage began his journey as a solopreneur. In 2014, his small idea materialized with a big crowdfunding campaign for an app. With more than 1,000 backers, the campaign was fully funded and made the Android app development and launch possible.
But as soon as the Android app went to market, Masavage realized he didn’t have a full product. Without iPhone, he didn’t have anything. This led him to a month in China designing on the fly.
The hardest part? “There’s no one to guide you on the Apple approval process,” says Masavage. “Apple themselves had to override their third party labs because they were wrong.”
From production to Apple approval to the FDA holding shipment, “Nothing could have possibly gone worse,” Masavage admits. But had he embarked on Android and iOS at the same time, he would have failed. “The iPhone is a lot more complicated. I never would’ve been able to make these decisions if I started there.”
After a smooth iOS app launch in February, DrinkMate is officially accessible. And at $30, DrinkMate is the least expensive option in breathalyzer tech. With similar-type products at much higher price points, Masavage doesn’t see any direct competitors.
DrinkMate is spreading across the world, with more than 50 percent of purchases coming from international customers from 65 countries. It appears to be most popular among the post-college crowd, ages 25 through 35, who are working and want to make more responsible decisions about their drinking.
The WeWork Dupont Circle member has a clear vision for his future, and it’s even bigger than DrinkMate. After all, this is the first of many products from his company Edge Tech Labs.
“I want to create a hardware development company with multiple product lines that link to your smartphone,” he says.
His only hint: The next product might not be related to drinking at all.
Photos: Foster K. White