MANKATO — When former Mankato resident and Hubbard Milling executive Alan Larson and a business school friend began tossing around ideas for a start-up business a couple of years ago, they decided they wanted to do something with a social good.
"We wanted to do something that would make a difference, that we could really be passionate about. There were three or four abduction-murders of little girls at that time and we thought, there should be something high tech that would help," Larson said.
The idea turned into a company called Push 5, a telephone- based urgent alert system.
"We turn any phone into a personal panic button."
People using the system load the companies' number into their No. 5 speed-dial. The 5 button was chosen because most cell phones have a dimple on the 5 that can be located by a user even if they aren't able to look at the pad. Users then register online and include up to three phone numbers each for up to 12 people.
"If you push 5 and do a speed dial to us and you have to disconnect or can't talk, the system will send a silent alarm to everyone on your contact list. It also sends out text and e-mail messages to everyone that says you're in trouble," Larson said.
If someone can talk, the automated system tells them to say where they are and what kind of trouble they're in, with the messages going to their contact lists. If the person in trouble can stay on the line, it connects them to everyone who picks up their phone and turns it into a conference call.
Larson said the system, which is just ending its beta test mode, has been very popular with college-aged women and with elderly people who could use it in cases of medical emergencies.
Larson said that as more Global Positioning System technology is included in cell phones, the system may be able to be integrated to allow for the location of the person in trouble to be tracked.
The service sells for $24 a year.
The company is working in cooperation with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children on tying the Push 5 system in with their call center.
They're also working on a school-based alert system that could be used in cases of hostile intruders entering a school.
The company also found that its conference calling technology was popular and is selling that service as well. Rather than having several people each call a central number to be connected to a conference call, the company calls a list of people automatically.
"One person calls our system and it automatically calls everyone at once and they're all connected as they pick up. It's good for sports teams when your game is rained out or a business group that wants to have a conference call," Larson said.
Carol Reis of Madison Lake is also a founding management team member of the Push 5 company. Reis — also a MSU grad — and Larson worked together at Hubbard Milling. The Push 5 company has no home base.
"We're virtual based. We have people in nine states, the majority of them in Silicon Valley. Being virtual is challenging in ways but it also saves a lot in office and overhead costs," Larson said.
Larson, who grew up on a dairy farm in Iowa, graduated from Mankato State University in 1978 with accounting and business degrees. He worked for a CPA firm in Fairmont for two years then spent eight years at Hubbard Milling, where he became corporate controller and a member of the senior management committee.
Larson won a Bush Leadership Fellowship. He used the full scholarship to get his MBA at Stanford, where he graduated in 1990.
He worked for healthcare startup company until a couple of years ago when he and his friend, Ken Tam, decided to start a business of their own.
The company's Web site is: www.push5.com
Email this article | Permanent link | Topstories news | Topstories news archives
Minnesota State
University, Mankato
Mankato, MN 56001
1-800-722-0544
© 2005-2013 Minnesota State University, Mankato. Minnesota State University, Mankato is a member of
Minnesota State Colleges & Universities system and an affirmative action/equal opportunity university.
