Cabin Fever Toys: Getting kids and technology some fresh air

Usually the companies I talk to have just launched or are ready to ship. Cabin Fever Toys is different—they’re a TechStars Seattle company, and they’re still an early-stage startup. But they’ve mastered their pitch, and they’ve got big plans for the toy world in 2011.

“We’re working on toys and technology to get kids to play more actively outdoors,” explains Adam Tratt, founder and CEO of Cabin Fever Toys. “I’ve been working on a product concept, I’ve got a provisional patent on it, and I’ve been crafting the pitch. I’m talking to anybody who will listen, who cares deeply about the health of kids and getting kids to play in new, better ways.”

Cabin Fever’s first product is a virtual pet that Tratt describes as “the technology of Nike Plus, with the fun gameplay of a Wii, inside a loveable stuffed animal like a Webkinz.” Instead of having all that technology tethering kids to a screen, the toy spurs kids to run around outside.

Since Cabin Fever Toys is more than software, Tratt is in a unique position to pitch investors. “I’m getting a ton of interest from folks that don’t normally invest in a company like mine,” he says. “But they’re parents, and they understand that one in three kids in the U.S. is overweight or obese and somebody needs to do something about it. So I’m getting a good response in spite of the fact that I don’t fit perfectly into the stereotypical tech startup.”

Indeed, Cabin Fever strikes a chord with people who remember simpler times. According to Tratt, “One of the things I hear a lot from parents is, ‘When I was a kid, my parents had to yell to get me to come inside. Now that I’m a parent, I have to yell to get my kids to go outside.’ That’s the toolset I’m trying to provide, and help parents foster that kind of goodness with their kids.”