Everyone wants to protect what’s important to them. While it’s not yet practical to point a camera at everything, simple ideas, combined with high technology, can come close. One such idea is the Stilla Motion, a device that can detect motion and distance and then respond by sending an alert to its owner. Placed in a bag or on a window, the Stilla Motion can provide peace of mind.

To learn more about Stilla Motion, Jeff Frick (@JeffFrick), co-host of theCUBE*, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, visited the Girls in Tech — Amplify Women’s Pitch Night 2016 event in San Francisco, CA. There, he met with Elin Elkehag, founder and CEO of Stilla Inc.

Simple idea, great potential

The conversation started with a look at the Stilla Motion device itself. In form, it resembled a smooth, thin button, small enough to easily fit in one’s palm. Elkehag described it as a pocket-sized security system. She explained how it detects motion and that it can send an alert to the owner’s phone or smart watch.

“Instead of finding your things, it’s about not losing them in the first place,” Elkehag said.

Elkehag mentioned she had the idea for the Stilla Motion while working in a hardware accelerator. She dropped an Arduino board on a bag and then noticed the board was blinking a light. That gave her the inspiration for a motion-based alert system.

From idea to business

Turning a concept into real hardware is not easy. Elkehag didn’t know if she wanted to commit so much time and money toward making a business of her device. As a self-challenge, she decided to give herself 100 days to make the Stilla Motion a reality. She talked to people, got a team together, did patent applications and got an app together. It worked.

Since then, Elkehag has quit her job and gone all-in with the company. She has been growing the company over the past year, and it is now in the last batch of prototyping. She mentioned the next step is to finalize things with the engineers and then finish the last stages of the app. She stated the Stilla Motion should be shipping early next year.

*Disclosure: Girls in Tech and other companies sponsor some Girls in Tech – Amplify segments on SiliconANGLE Media’s theCUBE. Neither Girls in Tech nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of Girls in Tech – Amplify Women’s Pitch Night 2016.

Photo by SiliconANGLE