First came the fun and often custom designed smart phone cases. Then came the extended battery life cases. Now, Baton-Rouge based Yellow Jacket has upped the ante again with their iPhone 4/4S case that doubles as a stun gun, while boosting the battery life of your phone, of course.
The Yellow Jacket Case safely holds more than 650,000 volts, capable of halting an adult male. The case is equipped with a protective cover to prevent any negligent discharge of the stun gun. It also gives phones up to 20 hours of additional battery life, equivalent to one full charge.
Co-founders Seth Froom and Sean Simone met six years ago as freshman at LSU. After a run in with an intruder, Froom came up with the idea for the Yellow Jacket Case and approached Simone with the idea first. Once the two did research and found no other product on the market like their concept, they pushed forward. Froom said it took a little over a year from the initial “spark” to when he held the finished product in his hand.
Froom explained what his year has been like. He said it was a roller coaster of emotions. “There was an immense amount of dedication, persistence and faith that we would succeed from both Sean and me. We had our share of setbacks and obstacles to overcome, just like all tech startups, but when we crowd funded $100,000 from Indiegogo last summer on a grassroots marketing campaign we realized we were onto something. Since then, its been one successful milestone after another, and we attribute that to the efforts of our team and so many people we have met that are so passionate about Yellow Jacket.”
In addition to the $100,000 funding from Indiegogo, Yellow Jacket has closed a seed round of funding for an undisclosed amount. Froom and Simone now work with two other full-time employees who work with sales, management, and operations along with dozens of others talented freelancers. They are looking to expand the team once again this summer.
It is apparent the most challenging hurdle Yellow Jacket faced thus far is inventing a consumer electronic product in Louisiana. “Early in ideation, it was next to impossible to find a facility capable of producing this device anywhere in the state,” said Froom. “We found manufacturers, but none that were capable of producing a high-quality consumer electronic product at a reasonable price. In fact, we couldn’t even find a manufacturer capable of producing a high-quality consumer electronic product period.” Yellow Jacket eventually found an industry veteran in Arkansas who was able to do the manufacturing.
Froom and Simone have received coverage from Cosmo, MSN, Today Show, AOL, CNN, and more. The consensus is that the two created a case that everyone needs.
As of last week, the case was on the shelves at Academy Sports but had already sold out of black cases. More are coming in April after a trip the team will take to China to look at factories next week. The duo also expects to release a version of the Yellow Jacket Case for Samsung G3 and iPhone 5/5S and have all three models on the market in six months.
Froom and Simone agree the future looks bright for Yellow Jacket. Although they have an exit strategy a few years down the line, for now they plan on continued growth with expansion into different models and legal territories. Froom said, “ Yellow Jacket is a triumph born out of tragedy, and we want to empower every good hearted man and woman we can to protect themselves against the dangers of this world. By the time we are finished, Yellow Jacket will be known as the standard of mobile, non-lethal personal protection.”
To order a case today, visit yellowjacketcase.com!
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