THE CO-FOUNDERS
Lou Childs, Katy Mallory
Katy Mallory is co-founder of SlumberPod®. Professionally, Katy has worked for more than a decade in corporate communications and sales operations. As the oldest of 15 children (a modern family tree with many branches), mom to three children, and with a deep babysitting history — Katy has a great deal of experience with kids and organized chaos. Katy lives with her husband, three young children, and two dogs in Decatur, Georgia (an in-town suburb of Atlanta). Lou Childs, co-founder, is mother to six, bonus mother to three, and grandmother to 16. She has 25+ years of marketing and communications experience with small financial services software and Fortune 500 companies. Lou lives with her husband in Milledgeville, Georgia.
THE PROBLEM
The idea for SlumberPod started in December 2014 when Katy and her husband and baby were visiting Katy’s mother (Lou) for the winter holidays. Because it was a packed house, the three had to share a room. The baby woke up two nights in a row—seeing her parents across the room—and refused to go back to sleep. Sleep-deprived and frustrated, Katy and her family went home a day early. Thing was … their baby was rarely a bad sleeper at home.
THE SOLUTION
Katy scoured the internet for something she could bring on trips to provide her baby a private, dark place to sleep. When she didn’t find anything that fit the bill, she (like many others) resorted to homemade solutions to provide a visual barrier between her and her baby. The homemade solution worked but wasn’t safe, especially private or easy to set up.
While Katy was on maternity leave with twins in the spring of 2016, she and Lou decided it was time to create a safe, easy and portable solution to help make vacations more restful and fun for everyone—and SlumberPod was born!
We’ve had a ton of support and encouragement by way of friends and family, product designers,
fellow entrepreneurs, and advisors.
In January 2020, Katy and Lou were featured on ABC’s Shark Tank (Season 11, Episode 10). The duo’s presentation about SlumberPod impressed and entertained the millionaire and billionaire sharks. After a bidding war, Katy and Lou ultimately received and accepted an offer on-air from real estate tycoon Barbara Corcoran (the exact offer Katy and Lou hoped to get when they appeared on the show!). The SlumberPod team is incredibly grateful for the experiences, exposure and connections Shark Tank created.
