So-called “porch pirates” were responsible for about $12 billion worth of stolen goods in 2024, per data from Security.org, and at least one in six U.S. adults (17%) reported having a package stolen last year, according to a survey from CNET.
Serial entrepreneur Melissa Kieling’s son Brennan Naylor was a frequent victim of package theft when he lived in San Francisco. “I couldn’t ship anything to him without having it stolen immediately off of his doorstep,” Kieling tells Entrepreneur.
Image Credit: Courtesy of hyve Security. Melissa Kieling.
Related: Porch Pirates Stole 119 Million Packages From Doorsteps Last Year Alone. Here’s What You Can Do to Make Sure This Doesn’t Happen to Your Customers.
The problem motivated Kieling and Naylor to start a business: hyve Security, maker of the hyve smart home delivery pod. The product, available in slate grey and dove white and priced at $299, is on track to begin shipping this June.
“I definitely have this either blessing or curse of recognizing the things in my life that are a great inconvenience, [and then] I have to find a solution.”
Kieling was no stranger to developing an innovative product and company. In 2009, she founded the $12 million freezable lunch bag and box brand PackIt. “I definitely have this either blessing or curse of recognizing the things in my life that are a great inconvenience, [and then] I have to find a solution,” she says.
This time around, Kieling wasn’t starting from scratch: She had a “Rolodex full of contacts” at design firms she’d worked with to create prototypes in the past. The initial idea was for a soft-sided, collapsible pod that “could expand magically” when a package was put inside. But the vision evolved during a year-long development process with Michigan-based design firm Tekna.
Related: 3 Simple Product Development Lessons All Entrepreneurs Should Remember
Other anti-theft products on the market are “bulky” and “heavy” to prevent packages from being carried away, but hyve’s pod comes with a “universal security tether” that threads through the back of the product so it can clip to an anchor point, such as a door or fence post, Kieling explains.
Image Credit: Courtesy of hyve Security
“Hyve is looking to activate communities in real time to prevent theft.”
The product also pairs with a Bluetooth and WiFi-enabled app. When you set up the app, you’re prompted to invite your neighbors and community to join the “hyve.” An accelerometer within the pod detects if someone is tampering with the device, which sounds an alarm and notifies “hyve” members of the potential theft.
“Unlike a video doorbell that catches the show, and at the end of the day, you can watch the packages be stolen and then tell your neighbors what happened, hyve is looking to activate communities in real time to prevent theft,” Kieling says.
Related: Amazon Will No Longer Allow Law Enforcement to Request Footage on Ring Cameras
Additionally, the app features a vendor page preloaded with some of the most common delivery providers: Amazon, Instacart, Doordash, etc. When you open the vendor page, you can copy and paste the unique code generated for each vendor and add it to the “special delivery instructions” field. Upon arrival, the delivery person inputs the code and places the package inside; then, the user gets a notification that their order was delivered.
Image Credit: Courtesy of hyve Security
“We find it so funny that delivery is still so archaic [compared to] everything in our life.”
As Kieling looks to hyve’s future, she’s not only excited to save homeowners headaches and retailers money but also by the opportunity to support waste-free delivery efforts. If deliveries can be secured at customers’ doorsteps, then it’s easier for Amazon and other companies to pursue sustainable practices such as eliminating outer boxes in favor of brand-only packaging.
Hyve intends to form strategic partnerships with brands that allow customers to opt into waste-free deliveries, Kieling says.
Related: Want to Grow Your Business? Here’s Why You Need Strategic Partnerships to Succeed.
The sustainability piece provides yet another opportunity for Kieling to revamp an industry that hasn’t necessarily kept pace with the innovations transforming so many others.
“We find it so funny that delivery is still so archaic [compared to] everything in our life,” Kieling says. “[You can] wake up in the morning, walk down the stairs and say, ‘Alexa, please start my coffee. Alexa, please turn on my morning music. Alexa, please open my blinds.’ Yet the delivery driver is still chucking a package on [your] doorstep, turning around and being like, ‘Good luck with that.'”
