



When Brett and Jenn Epstein cut the cord and canceled their cable, they realized how frustrating it was to have to turn on the TV with one remote, and control the Roku, Fire TV, and Apple TV with a separate remote. They had to switch back and forth every time they wanted to adjust the volume. So, they worked on a way to control the TV and the Roku with the same remote. What the came up with is a add on that allows you to control your TV with the remote to many popular devices.

They are currently raising funds with Kickstarter.com in hopes of raising $150,000 so they can bring the Sideclick to market. At this time, they have 309 backers and have raised about $12,000 with 42 days left to go.

We had the opportunity to quickly chat with them about the Sideclick and why they cut the cord.

Question: Why did your family decide to cut the cord?

Answer: “Part of the reason was financial. Our DirecTV bill was close to $150.00 a month. We would make little adjustments here and there to lower it, but it was a lot of money each month when we weren’t watching the majority of the programming offered. I’m a mom with 2 young daughters and active on a lot of local Facebook group pages. I started following some posts of other moms who had cut the cord and they outlined a plan how to do it, and what the costs would be, so we followed suit. We got Amazon Basics HD antenna and an amplified splitter so I don’t miss out on the Today Show in the morning, and any must-see live primetime content. We subscribe to Hulu Plus and Netflix, so we have significantly lowered our monthly bill and our only start up cord cutting costs were the antenna and the Roku stick. We already had Amazon Prime Instant Video. You can read in more detail on how Sideclick came to be after we purchased our Roku.”

Question: I see the early backers get a Sideclick for $20 what will the final retail price be?

Answer: “Our early backers have the opportunity to buy in limited quantities at the $20 and $25 mark. After that, the retail price will be $30 with no limitation on quantity.”

Question: Do you plan to expand to other remotes like the Roku 1 and older Roku devices or Android TV boxes?

Answer: “Yes, our ultimate goal, once funded, is to align ourselves with the best manufacturing partners and expand our line of Sideclicks with all of the popular streaming devices to be able to turn them on quickly. The reason we started with the 4 that we chose: Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Amazon Fire TV stick was that, based upon our research, these were the most popular; Roku having sold 10 million units, Apple TV having sold 25 million units, and Amazon simply stating that the Amazon Fire TV and TV Stick is their fastest selling Amazon device EVER.”

Question: Are you working on any improvements from the model shown in the Kickstarter?

Answer: “We are taking into consideration the comments of our backers to make sure we have our design just right. For example, we have heard from some backers that they wish we had 2 more buttons that could be programmed for GUIDE Options and ENTER. We are considering it. We want to work with our backers to come up with the best button configuration and we’re confident we can do so. “

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