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Guardian 8 Holdings (GRDH-OTCBB) |
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January 20, 2012 Issue |
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The Most Powerful Name In Corporate News and Information |
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CURRENT ISSUE | COVER ARCHIVES | INDEX | CONTACT | FINANCIALS | SERVICES | HOME PAGE |
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Guardian 8 Holdings Appoints Former Taser President/CFO to Board |
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Guardian 8 Holdings, through
its wholly owned operating subsidiary, Guardian 8 Corporation, is the
developer and manufacturer of the G8 Personal Defense Device, a unique and
innovative product which is anticipated to combine eight non-lethal
technologies designed to help prevent and protect an individual from
aggressors and assailants, while notifying law enforcement or others of the
situation. The small, easy to use hand-held unit will integrate an alerting
siren, LED strobe light, laser spotter, camera, microphone, emergency
notification, and pepper spray. The company plans to initially market their
personal defense solution to professional security organizations, and
eventually to individuals and the retail markets. |
Services |
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Interview conducted by: Lynn Fosse, Senior Editor, CEOCFO Magazine, Published – January 20, 2012
Mr. Cochennet: Guardian 8 (G8) is a personal defense device. One of our patents pending is combining Bluetooth® technology with a personal defense device, by syncing the device with your cell phone. The product is about five inches long with a pistol type grip, trigger and a flat front. It is called Guardian 8 because there are eight functions that can help to deter or avoid altercations or assault confrontations. If you are in a situation by and depressing the trigger, the device activates a very loud and piercing air horn siren similar to what used to be used at football games, which can be heard from a long ways away. It has a state of the art LED light that given the brightness and the frequency of the pulses will temporarily impair vision, disorient whomever your assailant or attacker. In addition, the device will automatically call 911, or any other number you program in it, along with a prerecorded message. Another feature is you can talk real-time with the 911 operator or wherever you direct the call whether it be security dispatch if you are a security guard, or campus police if you have a loved one at college. Through cell phone triangulation, the user can be located. It also takes a time/date stamped picture each second of your assailant and whatever else may be going on around you, so the pictures can be used for prosecution. If all of the above actions have not deterred or mitigated the situation, you can depress the trigger a second time and the device deploys infrared pepper spray.
Mr. Cochennet: The initial primary target market is going to be domestic and international professional security markets. The device provides a multilevel non-lethal alternative that also can document a situation and provide immediate contact and notification in one hand. We will also make the product available to the retail market but the initial primary focus will be professional security. In the retail market we believe there will be interest for women in general, college students, real estate agents, postal workers, UPS or Fed Ex or taxi drivers convenience store workers.
Mr. Cochennet: I mentioned earlier the Bluetooth® technology essentially syncs your phone to the device. We have also designed proprietary electronics circuitry that allows us to combine all these functions into one unit. There is currently no another product like it in the market. You can buy pepper spray, a light, camera, siren, and phone. All of these technologies exist, but there is not a product on the market that combines, configures, sequences them in such a way. Again, the purpose of the unit is to provide a deterrent, document, and communicate simultaneously with others.
Mr. Cochennet: Yes, every function is available for activation once you turn on the unit. However, nothing happens until you actually pull the trigger. When you turn on the device, it automatically syncs to your cell phone. You can carry the device with you or keep it in your car. It has a two-stage trigger; the first stage activates everything but the pepper spray. The second pull of the trigger actually releases the pepper spray if you need it.
Mr. Cochennet: We anticipate having product on the market by the 3rd Quarter of 2012. We have working prototypes, so we have finished the initial research and development stage. However, we have decided to redesign and add some new technologies that have become available in the last 24 months. We have proven that the technologies and the combinations work from an electronic functionality standpoint.
CEOCFO: There is a big potential market for Guardian 8; what is the general strategy for reaching the marketplace? Mr. Cochennet: As mentioned earlier, the first market that we are going to pursue is the professional security market followed by corporate accounts, and in time the general public. If you think about law enforcement, there is about a million officers in the United States, and there are approximately 5 million private security personnel. It will be available to the public, but our initial marketing foray will be for professional security and we have a lot of interest. Once that market has been penetrated, we will start a more active retail focus. Distribution channels will likely include national and international distributors.
Mr. Cochennet: There will be training especially on the professional security level. We are in the process of developing the training program.
Mr. Cochennet: I would say that it is better to have that debate over our product, verses a gun or other lethal device. Again, you will have documentation through the camera, so if someone says “You should not have used this on me” and they were coming at you with a club or a knife or trying to assault you, you have documentation through audio and pictures. One of the benefits of this product is you are going to know a lot more of what transpired versus many other self defense devices.
Mr. Cochennet: We have done the initial research and development, and we are incorporating the new technologies before we take it to market. We intend to manufacture overseas.
Mr. Cochennet: Our burn rate is very low for a publicly traded company. We have sufficient cash at this point to gets us into the next development or enhancement stage. It is likely we will do some type of small secondary offering between now and rolling out product, but again our burn rate is relatively small, and we have cash in the bank, so we are in pretty good shape. We have already paid for the intellectual property, we have already done all the research and development, we have already started some of the marketing and we are pretty far along.
Mr. Cochennet: Yes. I have been the CEO and President since inception in 2009. We recently hired Paul Hughes as COO. Paul was a marketing executive with Taser. In addition, we recently appointed three new board members. Kathy Hanrahan, former President of Taser, Cory Lambrecht former EVP for Smith and Wesson, and Jim Nolton founding member of Mobility Electronics. As we get closer to market in June and July we may add a couple additional personnel, but at this point we are pretty well set.
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There is currently no another product like it in the market. You can buy pepper spray, a light, camera, siren, and phone. All of these technologies exist, but there is not a product on the market that combines, configures, sequences them in such a way. Again, the purpose of the unit is to provide a deterrent, document, and communicate simultaneously with others. - C. Stephen Cochennet |
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