Sleep.FM – Social Alarm Clock – DreamIT Funding Day

Sleep.FM was one of the companies presenting today at the DreamIT Funding Day in Philadelphia. Sleep.FM says they are the "social alarm clock" and they basically provide a new wakeup call. I’ve had the opportunity to meet founder Ryan Spahn at several events and he really believes in the Sleep.FM concept.

So many of the reviews and comments I read say that Sleep.FM can’t and will never work. Yet in his presentation today, Ryan showed a video of a man serving in the military in Iraq. The alarm clock went off and his daughter sang to him – when you see this use case, it starts to make more sense.

Sleep.FM wakeup calls can be sent through your computer or to your cell phone. Ryan also announced that you can get weather or traffic information as your wakeup message as well. They are working on offering flight information as well which is pretty slick – if your flight is delayed, Sleep.FM tells you.

They are currently seeking $200k for technology development and business development. The Sleep.FM revenue model includes selling 5 second highly targeted ad space, premium application offerings, and banner ads. I’d suggest staying away from the ads in the wake-up calls and looking at sponsored wake-up calls. For example, a Hannah Montana wakeup call that provides a different message each day. These sponsored wake-up calls could help sell Sleep.FM in the general marketplace as well.