ScreenCoach app on track for store release after $1 million funding for trials

A Sunshine Coast dad had the perfect solution to make children do chores in exchange for screen time. Now his idea has earned him $1 million in government backing.

Gary Borham, pictured with his family Liz, Hannah, 12 and Lucy, 7, is one of three co-founders of ScreenCoach.

An idea hatched over beers and margaritas at a family barbecue has generated $1 million in funding and looks to change the way children use screens.

Sunshine Coast founded start-up ScreenCoach has received up to $1 million in government backing to accelerate the app that allows children and teens to earn their screen time on devices once they complete preset activities.

Gary Borham, 48, co-founded the business with Melbourne parents Stephanie Kakris and Peter Kakris who each invested $50,000 about two years ago.

After several successful trials and with another underway the business received $1 million in government funding.

The latest grant was worth $671,500 as part of a program aimed to commercialise cutting-edge start-ups.

Mr Borham said his family had experienced the benefits of the tool since using it for his and partner Liz’s two daughters, Hannah 12 and Lucy, 7.

Gary Borham, pictured with his family Liz, Hannah, 12 and Lucy, 7, is one of three co-founders of ScreenCoach.

“My bug bear living in Queensland in summer is having the rotten fruit in the bottom of the school bag,” he said.

“I said to my daughter ‘get your lunch box out of your bag and if you do it without me reminding you I’ll give you one hour screen time, but with a reminder you’ll get five minutes’.”

He said the app can cater for different tasks and chores, including homework, housework and hobbies such as drawing or writing.

It can also be linked to activity trackers to give screen time based on the number of steps done each day.

“We’re different to other screen time solutions because this is driven by the kids,” Mr Borham said.

“We’re turning the conversation on its head and saying ‘kids you can get what you want but you’re going to have to work for it’.”

Ms Kakris, who holds a Masters in Psychology and is a published parenting author, said they wanted to create a product the whole family would love.

Stephanie and Peter Kakris, pictured with their children, helped launch ScreenCoach.

“We’re thrilled with this second round of funding support, which will help us finalise the design of the app and upgrade hardware for cross-device support, so we can get it into the hands of families that need it in Australia and around the world,” she said.

Mr Borham said the idea was hatched by Liz at a family barbecue over a few beers and cocktails.

“There were plenty of parents sitting around complaining about kids and screen time and how hard it was to make kids be active and help out around the house,” Mr Borham said.

“My wife mentioned an activity tracker could be used to turn on and off a device.”

Mr Borham said the funding would be used to start Beta trials and launch nationally on app stores at the end of the year.

Families interested in trialling the app for free can apply for trials here.

He said the funding was based on a dollar-match program and that he would soon begin talks with Sunshine Coast investors.