Elmhurst entrepreneur wants smartphone mounts to go upscale
More than a year ago, Elmhurst entrepreneur Jose Sanchez was looking for a good quality mount to attach his smartphone to his car's windshield or dashboard or even elsewhere in the house. But many such mounts were plastic and didn't last long or just didn't stay in place.
He also found that some available mounts were designed for a specific phone, when each person in a family likely will have different phones or tablets. Or some metal devices were too bulky.
“If you have a nice car, you don't want a bulky and ugly device in it,” Sanchez said. “So I wanted something that would be beautiful.”
That's when he decided to create the eleMount, a solid aluminum, sleek stand mount that holds mobile devices to desks, cars, tripods and more. The polyurethane pads stick to any flat surface and can be removed and remounted elsewhere without leaving any sticky residue, he said.
Sanchez is in the process of creating and manufacturing the device, expected to cost $69. It should be ready for shipping later this year.
The 25-year-old proposed his new product called eleMount on Kickstarter.com seeking $10,000 seed money to start the company about 40 days ago. It quickly gained more than $63,000 and fundraising will continue through October.
His company, called Ele, is based on an elephant logo he designed for his company during his University of Illinois-Champaign days. After graduation three years ago, he set out as an entrepreneur.
“I wanted to help others with their start ups or work on my own ideas,” he said.
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