Wakie App- Get a wake up call from a stranger
by Startacus Admin
I recently saw a little internet image that simply and eloquently partitioned the world into 2 contrasting camps. On the left those who, at the sound of their alarm, awaken and immediately spring from their bed singing ‘Oh what a beautiful morning’. On theright, those who would rather chew their own arm off than face the horrors of verticality and wakefulness.
Over the years all manner of weird and wonderful gadgetry has emerged aimed at the more, shall we say ‘energetically challenged’ amongst us, but the other day I came across an app, which has the potential to trump them all, not only with success rate, but also sheer quirkiness!
Wakie Wakie!
The rather charmingly named ’Wakie’ makes use of these two separate demographics to the greater good of its users, and perhaps even humanity as a whole. It allows you to receive ‘wake up calls’ from total strangers, or if you prefer you can be the one making the calls.
Depending on your particular morning routine you can select to be either a ‘Sleepy-Head’ someone who finds it really hard to get up in the morning, or a Wakie, a person who would delight in sharing their morning enthusiasm for the betterment of their fellow man or woman.
The call you receive will last one minute and can come from anywhere in the world; the only information you receive is the country the person is from, presumably to provide a starting point for the 60 second conversation.
“A lot of people keep snoozing alarm clocks and still can’t wake up. Our research shows that a one-minute talk to a stranger wakes your brain up with a 99% guarantee”.
“When someone asks you questions in the morning your brain has to wake up to answer. Also you try to be kind, you try to turn on your social pattern of behaviour. After the call, you can’t sleep anymore even if you had a short sleep” Hrachik Adjamian, Wakie’s CEO and co-founder told TechCrunch.A Few Thoughts
The whole thing calls to mind the phenomenally popular ‘chatroulette’ a chat website that matches random people from around the world for webcam conversations. Such a comparison is perhaps a mixed blessing for the folks at Wakie, with the other 
‘uses’ people have found for ‘chatroulette’ being well documented in recent times. We shall refrain from any further discussion of such things.
To me, being awaked by a phone call from a random stranger from the other side of the world sounds nothing short of a nightmare, and their friendly attempt to help me get up would be inevitably met with a wall of irritated dismissal.
I can see though, how some less AM adverse folks might find a service like this invaluable, particularly when the fear of being rude or coming across as a total idiot comes into play and forces you to chat with them in an intelligent and alert manner.
Here at Startacus we love it when people find innovative and imaginative new ways to use technology and reckon Wakie is a great example of this!
Hats off to you team Wakie, and much luck in your mission to change the way we wake up forever!
If, like Wakie, you have an innovative and imaginative new app (or any startup or project) then why not showcase it in our collaboration space?
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.
Bring! is a digital grocery tool that simplifies grocery shopping for you and anyone you are shopping for.
In a bid to help brands during the current pandemic, the GreenJinn grocery app makes some rapid changes to its service
Coronavirus & furloughing employees. Nichola Hailes of Payfit looks to answer some of the most frequently asked questions about the job retention scheme.
For startups entering the food industry, here's why accurate labelling on ready-to-eat food products is important.
Whether you’re looking to create a frugal startup, or it’s already up and running, here are 4 tips to reduce costs while keeping the work environment pleasant.
The Belfast-based startup that provides a fully managed 24/7 Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) for securely storing and sharing assets, packages and containers.
The insolvency technology startup secures funding to help support the UK's most vulnerable consumers to avoid bankruptcy
Darren Hockley, MD of Delta International on how millennials may be helping businesses face the current COVID-19 pandemic
The innovative startup that's enabling businesses to connect with their customers via personalised handwritten communication
The lowdown on the Estonian startup that has created a multiplayer game to help kids practice math facts in a fun way...
Published on: 16th December 2014
.png)
If you would like to enable commenting via your Startacus account, please enable Disqus functionality in your Account Settings.
- Cerebreon the Irish deep learning startup raises £1.5m in seed funding 31st Mar 2020 The insolvency technology startup secures funding to help support the UK's most vulnerable consumers to avoid bankruptcy
- Chivas Venture divides this year's $1m Venture Fund between 26 global Startups 23rd Mar 2020 In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Chivas Divides its $1m No-Strings Venture Fund Between 26 Startups
- The open-source design of emergency ventilators for COVID-19 patients 20th Mar 2020 World Wide Community of over 500 designers engineers & medics finalising prototypes for safe scalable manufacture & rapid field deployment..
- Positive-ish reaction from small business and startup community to UK Chancellor’s Corona budget 11th Mar 2020 New UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak just delivered his first UK Budget. We took a look at first reactions from small business and startup leaders.
