CLEVELAND -- You go to type in a password only to realize you cannot remember it. How often does that happen to you?
A group of Case Western graduates say they took note of this problem and developed a solution.
"This is Everykey,” said Everykey Inc. CEO Chris Wentz. “It replaces all my keys and passwords."
The idea came to Chris Wentz and his friends in an entrepreneurship class at Case Western Reserve University.
"That is what we were really aiming to do, is you know, make people's lives a little easier,” said Wentz.
Wentz says Everykey works on all accounts. You put the device near your laptop, tablet, house or car door, and it unlocks.
“It can work on your bank account, your email, your credit card, everything,” said Wentz.
“When you actually see it really work, it is just really cool,” said Kyle Harrity, Everykey Inc. software developer.
“It automatically filled the password in and logged me in to my Google account,” said Wentz.
You can wear it on your wrist or carry it on your keys.
“This is my dream job,” said Wentz.
Wentz works with about a dozen guys. All of them are in their 20s.
Since the company's start in 2013, they have already had to move into a larger space in University Circle.
“You start it off with you and a couple friends, you never really know if you're going to succeed,” said Wentz. “You never really know if you're going to be in business a year from now."
This group of guys put the doubts aside and went for it. They raised the money to get it going and never looked back.
“Get to innovate,” said Harrity. “You get to think more freely and sort of test out ideas."
Wentz added, “So that was really exciting."
Over the last few years, they have been testing prototypes and are in manufacturing now. Their first orders ship in the next month or two.
If you order an Everykey on their website, it will cost you $128.
As with any new technology, concerns over security arise. Everykey’s software developers say they work to break their own codes, and they say they have a security firm auditing their product to make sure it is almost impossible to hack.