Welcome back to CES 2020.
I'm Ashley Escapa.
And next to me is Caitlin Batroc.
Hi.
Hi, Caitlin.
How are you?
We are so excited to officially see sex tech on the show floor this year.
Yes, we've seen so many new devices at the stands this week.
Just very exciting and we are thrilled to talk about the future of this very important category.
And with us to talk about it are Laura Haddock with Laura Decarlo Hi.
Hello.
It's actually Laura Haddock Decarlo Geez.
Hi.
I also have a [UNKNOWN] lesson so I feel you on that, and Janet Lieberman Lou with Dame.
Dame Products, hi.
Hi.
Also hyphenated.
[LAUGH]
I'm saying it's like there's a lot of good stuff happening here.
I feel like you guys are kindred spirits.
Okay, so Last year a little bit controversy about sex tech.
We had a panel last year we discussed a lot of the things that were going on in the industry just, you know, not only just here at CES but also just in the larger scope of what was going on with sex tech and It's really exciting to me that this year, there are a lot of different products out there and and and Laura Decarlo is on the show floor this year we are actually, we actually also won two new Innovation Awards after they gave us the one that we won.
And they took it away and then they gave it back again.
So cuz you're second, you're winning.
Yeah.
I mean technically which is awesome.
Two-time champion.
Right.
How has the reception been on the show floor?
It's actually been really amazing.
It's really nice to see sex tech here on the show floor and just the fact that we've been afforded the ability to have that really healthy open dialogue with the CTA Bring sex tech back to the show in a very respectful manner.
As long as something's innovative, and really doesn't objectify human bodies.
And is respectful to women.
We think it belongs here at the show.
So it's it.
We kind of feel like we've been agents of change in this space.
And we really excited to be here.
Absolutely.
Have you had a chance to walk the show floor and see some of the other booths, the other companies that are here?
[LAUGH] Like yes, for a minute.
[LAUGH]
One time.
And, really we've been going nuts, there have been so many interviews.
And just really getting to talk to a lot of the attendees, and people that are really inspired by what we're doing.
Because it's so much bigger than just SexTech It's about sexual health and wellness and making sure that people understand that it is also health and wellness they're the same thing.
To that into that and you also introduced two new products this week.>> Yes, which is very exciting.
Yeah, both got Innovation Awards on both called oanda and Bochy.
They utilized a lot of the same technology that we created with OS.
But what we did was, we went out and we asked and we surveyed over 1.500 people.
And we asked people, what does pleasure look like for them.
What What are the things they like?
What are the things they want to see?
And what does that pleasure profile look like?
And then we took that data and we found that hey, we actually have a lot of the tech that we can actually we can make products with this already so we're actually going to be able to bring those two new products to market just months after all say comes to market.
[UNKNOWN].
Yeah.
We were talking a little bit before about the use of data and how we protect something that is this intimate when we're dealing with such a sensitive topic.
What else did you do with that data?
Is that things that you solicited like, hey, can we get volunteers for this?
So this data, we actually gathered from over 1500 people, we surveyed them and ask them about more than just their, their sexual profile, but we asked them about the communication with their partners and how that attributes to health and wellness, we discovered that it actually attributes to better sleep.
Reduce stress and better mood.
But all that data for us yes we like we can talk about that but that is like this female sexual health and wellness reviewed is completely we feared a sacred are and you may know that we have not saying none of our products yet our app connected they're not Bluetooth connected but when we do get there and the reason they're not is because we don't have expertise in that space yet.
We're experts in robotics, and when we get to that point.
Which we're gonna be doing, actually we're kicking this off this month.
We're gonna start looking into and creating, research and development programs for bluetooth and app connectivity.
We wanted to make sure we have the right expertise and we do it the right way the first time.
Yeah, and that's really in important.
In Germany, you guys at Dame are here at the show, not with your own official booth but you guys are partnering.
I want to hear a little bit more about that as well.
Yeah, we're partnering with form labs and we're in their booth.
We do a lot of ergonomic testing for our products before we come out with them.
Sort of similarly we have we also have a community of about.
10,000 people who volunteered to answer surveys or be beta testers when we need them.
So we use 3D printing to be able to prototype things that we very similar to what we're going to make in production.
So we can have people test it, find the little tweaks that make it so you're making a product where it's not the second or third person in the room.
So you actually brought the prototype of one of those here.
This is not a prototype this is a real product.
I apologize.
Yeah, yeah.
But when you're doing the 3D printing, so go ahead.
We would 3D print a mould for this that would be exactly the same shape we're gonna make in production.
Then we use the same material That we use in production the same medical grade silicone so that we can have people tasks basically exactly the same they would buy because of this product is designed to fit into the labia it talks into the for the labia as it could be worn during penetration without getting in the way.
And you might be able to guess that it's a pretty big engineering [UNKNOWN] to be able to design something that fits the majority of labia, and to be able to say with confidence that I know that it fits the majority of labia.
I've done enough testing to know that.
I think I thought it was a prototype because there's no buttons on that.
There's no place that I'm pressing.
There's no open areas.
It's all connected.
It's one unit right there.
Yeah, well, so it has one button that's on the top.
But then it has no seams because it's a product it shouldn't have a seam, right?
[LAUGH]
And that's an engineering feat in and of itself, how to encapsulate electronics without having any seam or opening or hole.
And you have mentioned backstage here talking about what you're holding your hand right now.
And you're discussing how you're able to use 3D printing as a rapid prototype process to sort of Sort of changed the way that the technology that's housed within is presented to a consumer.
Exactly, so we know what components we need to use.
We know about this capacity battery we need or the size of all of that.
And we can do different layouts before we have anything designed to find out how we take the same volume and make people feel like it's smaller.
What way of arranging it makes people feel like they're less encumbered.
And you can get a reaction to something well before you finished designing it really know where you want to go with ergonomics so that you are making something that integrates into the experience.
So you are making something that feels seamless and simple to the user even though you put a lot of work And in getting there.
And how long do you guys usually spend prototyping a device, before you feel it's ready to go to market?
The question for both of you.
Go ahead Jenna.
I mean before you feel like it's ready to get to market [CROSSTALK].
It's a complicated question.
I would say that we range anywhere from six months to like a year and a couple months, between starting the work on the product and it being released.
Okay
As you know, we're still a brand new company.
I founded the company just over two years ago.
Somebody brought me one of our beta models and it took us-
And this is the OS [INAUDIBLE]
This is OS.
That's OS.
Yeah.
So, this product actually started for me five years ago.
And it started with a lot of data collection.
And it was actually a very much a grassroots movement where I would actually have to go out because the data didn't exist in order.
The data that I needed didn't exist in order to design this product.
I wanted something that could fit multiple bodies that had to be flexible.
It had to be customizable.
And in order to do that I needed numbers.
I needed to know exactly where people's pleasure points were.
And when I started asking people I found out three things.
One people were really shy about it but then they really wanted to talk about it.
[LAUGH]
Two, they didn't really know nearly enough about their own anatomy.
I had to teach a lot of people how to find their grafenberg spot.
Even some that didn't quite know exactly how to locate their colors.
And three, when they understood what I was trying to achieve, they wanted it really bad.
They wanted to buy it right then and I was like, I don't even have a company.
So what we started to do is I ended up with over 200 points of data and then I started designing because I saw a trend in that data.
What I wanted was something that, again could do three things.
I wanted something that could utilize biomimicry or the mimicry of human motion in order to get that real partner feel so people could really understand what they liked the sensation that they liked when they're with a partner, and be able to pinpoint those spots.
Additionally I wanted something that could be truly customizable because I was buying products that said they would fit me and they didn't.
Third, I wanted something that could be hands free.
Because.
Why not?
[LAUGH]
So we ended up with this design and ended up with something that really is customized.
I think I just turn it off on accident.
Nope it didn't.
It is terribly fascinating to me to piggyback.
You just know that The things that you want in a sex toy are very similar to what you would want in a pair of air pods, right?
Yes.
But it's like all tech.
Translates, the translates.
It's very specifically like-
Super personal.
Yeah.
Really important.
Super personal.
You're getting exactly what you desire.
I need exactly what I want, I know what I want.
Yeah.
And I, sometimes that product doesn't exist yet and then an entrepreneur like Dame or Laura Decartes will come out and do something that's like wow this is exactly what I'm looking for.
Yeah.
A really big difference between the air pods And these though, is that I think there is actually data on your anatomy.
Sure.
Yeah.
Whereas we also hit the same issue where there is almost no data about vulva variation.
Yeah.
And even less about viginas.
So you're having to do that work too before you're even able to start with the prototype parties.
Like I started from the ground up.
And you also have the problem that an ear is always the same shape.
But depending on arousal time of the month and other life events,
Changes,
Yeah
all that changes geometry so you have to fit from the start to the finish of the experience.
It actually for us the the big kicker was public angle, understanding that everybody shape when we actually took this in blind tested it, we discovered that everybody's public angle was extremely different
I'm just not to be like TMI but you know I'm actually shapes Connelly.
Like that we found that some people were shaped like.
That they're off kilter are some people worship like that some people their their G. spot was way inside some people it was way outside.
Some people put it in like that.
To male anatomy, everything is different.
But we wanted to make something where you could actually find that G spot, and use biomimicry and something that felt like a human partner, so we wanted that come hither motion.
Over the top of the G spot, and then we made it a little bit more customizable, so it could go faster, or you could pinpoint it.
And you could find smaller spots and we found that everybody that tested this product had an extremely different experience across the board.
Everybody, I have people coming up to me and they're like Three minutes.
But every single person that told me about what happened with the product was completely different.
They enjoyed it a different way.
They tried different things, different ways fit them.
And it took us to finally get to your question took us two years to get this product.
And it took an entire team of engineers that were born out of
Oregon State University that happens to be the top four robotics graduate programme in the country.
And it took that team almost a year to prototype and end up with five different patents that we then took to CES with a prototype in hand.
And that's what wanted an innovation award.
Then you take that prototype And then you have to re engineer it for manufacturability and then you have to test it again.
And then make sure that you're actually going to market with a product that is truly high quality and does exactly what you see that what you say it does.
But then when we took it to market we actually hit our yearly sales goal in five hours.
It's incredible.
Wow.
And we tripled that goal before the end of the year.
I think it's very interesting that a lot of sex type companies now, that we have talked to, have been founded by, run by.
You know.
That we're seeing on the floor.
Just women.
Whose talking to us at those booths.
By the way nice necklace.
Yeah.
So this necklace is actually from a booth here in tech West.
It's a company called Crave.
And this is vest per necklace.
It is actually a necklace that is also a vibrator.
So it does-
I actually have one as well.
The founder's name is Tee Chang and she's-
That is an extremely classy-
Pretty amazing-
Writer.
Right, it's very nondescript, right-
Yeah.
So it's very nice that you can wear this but-
It's classy.
You can also just
Not know what it is, it looks like great jewellery for anybody who knows, you know, [LAUGH]
Yeah.
Which is awesome.
It's awesome that we're out.
And here it's awesome that we see that sex tech, we're seeing the female led companies out and about.
And that is literally coming in all shapes and sizes.
Exactly.
If you look at all the different products, it's really amazing to see a variety.
We have these tiny hand-held units, we have things that have finally made it to market that we're gonna be actually able to hold soon and use.
I got a lot of push back where people think that
Look at what we're making and they say well, there's no app.
It's not connected.
Where's the technology?
But.
It's in there.
It's in here.
Exactly.
It's in new types of wearables coming up.
With different products that haven't existed before.
When we started five years ago, what was said to us was that, there's just not a lot of room for innovation in this space.
And I think what you've seen in the last five years is there's a ton of room.
there's just not a lot of visibility or funding.
Yeah.
Well, and additionally, the way that Janet is the way that we're innovating these products, how we're building them is innovated Innovative in itself.
We do a lot of the same kind of work.
We actually use rapid additive prototyping capabilities in house in our labs.
And we do the same thing.
We actually prototype and print the entire body of our products.
Test them out, rig them up Test them out again, pour our own molds, and then go back recap them fix the little things and I think we've been through thousand iterations on this product alone, and it's absolutely mind blowing and then you still have to go do it all over again when you go to manufacturing So with the ability to rapid prototype and does that bring costs down for the consumer?
Is that, do or does that actually having everything in house does that actually make things a little bit pricier for them?
How does that do you feel like there's a past either cost savings or increased to consumers?
Overall I think it's generally a cost savings and what I think it's more though it's it's better value for your dollar.
I mean, so designing in house you do usually have to have slightly more overhead but iterate over and over again.
Yeah, but you're making people actually want to buy buying habit for honestly, a lot of Vibrator consumers is to buy multiple products and a lot of them just end up getting thrown out.
They don't work.
That's been me for the last ten years, I was like, this one doesn't work, this one doesn't work, this one doesn't work.
Right, I mean, it's really hard.
It's hard to know what you like.
It's hard to know what works, right?
Exactly, so if you are actually able to make a product where most people who buy it are gonna really like it, that That's innovative in and of itself the space which is a sad thing to say, but doesn't make it untrue and doesn't make it something that needs to be pushed forward.
Yeah, devices are on sale.
How much are these different?
What are their names?
And it's seen and this is 135 and it's either too
And then the Ose?
Ose is actually 290, which is actually for a very high quality high tech product is right about in the running for how much tech that's gone into this.
It takes a long time, and actually the amount of parts inside of Ose There are more parts in Ose then there are bones in the human body.
There's over 250 parts in this product alone.
And just to add a little bit to that rapid prototyping ability, what that does also is it actually cuts down your ability to get to market.
So instead of, having to take hey, I think this might work and then sending it to a manufacturer to prototype and then coming back, And taking two weeks are often you know, 10 years ago it took six weeks and it takes you five years to get a product to market that still doesn't exactly fill all needs.
It took us about a year.
And that's also part of what lets you see more innovation in this space that is female need driven that does not have a lot of funding in it.
Yeah
The ability to have People with less funding, get to products that suit their needs faster
Yeah,
With more testing, comes from rapid prototyping and it is what's driving the innovation in this space
So let's say somebody out there watching wants to buy one of your delightful products.
Where do they go?
Who do they talk to on social media?
Where do we find you?
I want to make sure everybody knows.
How to get ahold of these devices if they are so inclined.
We're at Dame products on pretty much all the platforms and www.dameproducts.com.
[LAUGH]
loradicirlo.com.
We're L-O-R-A-D-I-C-I-R-L.
O.com and actually our social media is LoraDicirlos_HQ.
You can also get at it through my personal social media which is just Florida Carlo or Laura Haddock Decarlo.
Great, thank you so much ladies for for talking to us about sex tech are so excited to see you here at the show and and good luck with everything and we hope to see you again next year.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Thank you.
