The Blaze Story
by Startacus Admin
If you don’t live in a large city, it’s difficult to fully understand the genuine danger that cyclists pose every day. A good friend was crushed against a railing on her bike by a bus that hadn’t seen her, and she was only saved by a passing man who was able to pull her out at the very last second.
It’s a serious subject, and the statistics speak for themselves. 122 cyclists were killed in the UK alone last year. An admittedly, relatively small number however looked proportionately with the number of road users to deaths, far too high. These deaths are even more wasteful when you consider that the majority of accidents happen under the same conditions; a driver failing to spot a cyclist at a junction or crossing.
Emily Brooke however, 
has launched a startup which she hopes will significantly improve cyclist safety by making users of her product more visible to drivers. Whilst there are already plenty of cyclist lights on the market already, Emily’s creation – Blaze – breaks the mould by projecting a green bike symbol onto the ground ahead of the cyclist. Even if the rider is several metres behind the visible spot of the rear view mirrors, the projection won’t be, thus giving motorists prior warning of upcoming bikers.
The way in which Emily’s creation took off should inspire other budding entrepreneurs with a strong physical product idea. The website Kickstarter describes itself simply as a funding platform for creative projects. Not entirely different to the well known Shut up and take my money. Designers pitch their idea on the Kickstarter for potential investors or interested parties to look at. The amount they wish to raise and time within which they hope to do so are displayed beside the idea, and when the time runs out either they will have reached their target funding goal and those who pledged money will be charged – or they won’t have hit it, and nobody will be charged. As the website states, it’s everything or nothing.
Blaze hoped to raise £25,000 and was in the pleasant position of having had 782 “backers” who pledged an impressive £55,000. From there, Emily has been able to design the Blaze website and begin taking pre orders, as the first patches are built and made ready to ship.
If you then, have a good idea for any creative project; whether it’s making a film, designing clothes or, like Emily, releasing a unique piece of technology; then it’s worth giving Kickstarter a try. If you can put together one strong presentation that makes the product attractive to people, you have the opportunity to raise more in a few weeks than you had in the past few months combined. Check out the Blaze promo video below to see Blaze in all it's glory.
Illegibly scrawled by Ethan Loughrey.
blaze components
If you like what you see here on Startacus and want to get involved yourself, why not become a member of our growing community by joining for free here!
Subscribe to our newsletter
If you would like to receive our startup themed newsletter, full of the latest startup opportunities, events, news, stories, tips and advice, then sign up here.
Insurtech startup DeadHappy officially launched this week, bringing the UK’s first fully digital pay-as-you-go life insurance to consumers.
1 in 10 UK kids spending more than 50 hours per week watching TV, playing video games or interacting with a smartphone according to the findings of a report conducted by Care.com
“Free-from” food-to-go startup Pollen + Grace to launch into national supermarkets Tesco and Co-Op, continuing its mission to bring exciting healthy meals to the high street.
Skyports - The drone focused startup that is creating end to end cargo and passenger drone delivery solutions
Bristol and Bath based early-stage startups and entrepreneurs take note - here's the lowdown on key startup support and help available where you are...
Artificial intelligence platform Ricochet is on an AI mission to find new business leads that fit the needs of your company.
From understanding more about how a business can invoice effectively to avoid late payments, to what debt recovery means, to how to take legal action against overdue debt.
For businesses, where getting maximum return on their investment is the name of the game, detecting the next big thing in its infancy is crucial.
If you’re counting on receiving a payment, days or even months after the due date, it’s time to take action. Here's some handy tips for dealing with late payments.
Published on: 20th March 2013
If you would like to enable commenting via your Startacus account, please enable Disqus functionality in your Account Settings.
- 1 in 10 UK kids spend more than 50 hours a week in front of a screen 20th Feb 2019 1 in 10 UK kids spending more than 50 hours per week watching TV, playing video games or interacting with a smartphone according to the findings of a report conducted by Care.com
- Startup Weekend Dublin immigration aims to builds ideas not borders 7th Feb 2019 Migrants are gonna surround us, With ideas! We take a look at Startup Weekend Dublin immigration...
- Sports facility management platform Pitchbooking nets £250k investment 6th Feb 2019 SportTech Belfast startup Pitchbooking, secures £250k investment to help become the market leader in sports facility management.
- Too Good To Go raises further €6m to keep fighting food waste everywhere 6th Feb 2019 Fast growing tech for good app Too Good To Go raises a further €6 million to accelerate its mission to eliminate food waste globally, taking its total investment to €16m.
