Fundraising Fox
Plus Up
Techstars '23CROWNSVILLE, US · Founded 2017 · 1 employees on LinkedIn · 1 known investors
Find your way into Plus Up
Sign up to see every warm intro you have to Plus Up
- Paths you didn't know you had: your email and LinkedIn already hold routes to the Plus Up team. We find them for you
- 2nd- and 3rd-degree connections: the friend-of-a-friend routes that take hours to manually find through your inbox or LinkedIn
- Answers now, not in days: momentum is everything in a raise. Skip asking around whether someone knows someone
Days of research, done the moment you sign in, with every route ranked by how warm it is.
Goodtimer is an educational platform and smart toy that teaches children healthy habits through positive reinforcement, helping parents establish family routines. The platform includes a physical device that rewards good behavior and a mobile app for parents to monitor progress and access parenting resources.
Also known as Goodtimer · Plus Up, Inc. · Plus Up, LLC
Founders & leadership
Plus Up was founded in 2017 by Adam Ashley and Stephanie Ashley.
Board
Investors · 1
How we know: the Techstars portfolio · open dataset · Top 3000 Accelerator Startups (no YC) 2026-08 · Not right? Tell us
Company profile
researched Sep 2026Plus Up, Inc. is a Crownsville, Maryland consumer product and software company that develops Goodtimer, an educational platform pairing a physical device with a mobile app to encourage healthy habits in children through positive reinforcement. Parents configure "house rules" reflecting their family's values; when a child follows them, the device remains upright and accumulates "Good Time," indicated by a green glow, encouraging audio and twelve illuminated segments. Completing all twelve segments dispenses a physical token that the child can save and exchange for incentives chosen by the family. If a rule is broken, the device is flipped over to pause Good Time, the app notifies the parent and prompts them to log the behavior, and then supplies behavior-specific, age-appropriate coaching resources rather than a punishment.
The companion Goodtimer app, published on Google Play by Plus Up, Inc., supports device setup, rule and incentive customization, difficulty settings, a real-time dashboard of Good Time earned and tokens collected, achievement and milestone tracking, misbehavior notifications, and a resource library. The company positions the product for children roughly ages 2–12, with common use cases including morning and bedtime routines, picky eating, chores, screen time, and tantrums. Plus Up describes the approach as grounded in positive parenting research and neuroscience, and states that 93% of parents saw improved results within 30 days.
Founding story
Founders Adam and Stephanie Ashley, parents of two boys, found mornings and bedtime the hardest parts of family life and built Goodtimer in response, framed around the idea of turning good choices into a family game. Adam Ashley founded Plus Up after co-founding M-Edge Accessories, where as CTO he led product design and development for protective cases and electronic accessories, built a portfolio of 13 US and international patents, grew the business to nearly $40M in annual revenue in five years (ranked #91 on the 2012 Inc. 500), and exited through a strategic sale in 2014. He is a Virginia Tech engineering graduate. Stephanie Ashley is a board-certified genetic counselor with nearly two decades of academic and hospital practice and teaching experience.
Business model
Direct-to-consumer sale of the Goodtimer hardware device through the company's own online store, with a companion mobile app; the company also sells through Amazon, where it was featured by Amazon Launchpad. Each child in a family requires their own device. Offers include free shipping and a 30-day guarantee. Gust lists the company as an educational SaaS platform at the "Product In Market" stage.
Revenue from sales of the Goodtimer hardware device to consumers, with one device recommended per child; the companion app is offered alongside the device.
Traction
The company states Goodtimer is used by tens of thousands of families; its Gust profile cites 10,000 parents, hundreds of 5-star ratings and 9 parenting product awards. The Google Play listing for the Goodtimer app shows 50+ downloads. The company claims 93% of parents saw improved results within 30 days.
Latest developments
Goodtimer 2, with its companion mobile app for remote device control, progress monitoring and behavior resources, launched in 2024. The Google Play listing shows an app update dated June 2026, and the company website was running a holiday promotion offering up to 40% off.
▸Full profile — market position, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
Positions itself within the positive-parenting and educational toy category, citing 9 parenting product awards, over 200 media features and hundreds of verified 5-star reviews. Recognition includes the Academics Choice Brain Toy Award, PAL Award, Hot Diggity Best Product Award, Family Choice Award, Mom's Choice Award, Creative Child Magazine 2020 Product of the Year, and The National Parenting Center Seal of Approval.
Combines a tangible, child-operated device that dispenses physical tokens with parent-side software, rather than an app alone; the flip-to-pause mechanic redirects misbehavior into coaching content instead of punishment. Product development involved clinical child psychologists Dr. Camilo Ortiz and Dr. Ali Kresch Levine and is described as grounded in positive reinforcement research.
Go-to-market
Parents of young children, primarily ages 2 to 12, who are dealing with challenging behaviors such as tantrums, bedtime resistance, picky eating, chore avoidance and screen-time conflicts, and who prefer positive reinforcement over timeouts or punishment.
Geography
Headquartered at 1617 Maud Ln, Crownsville, Maryland, United States; sells online with media coverage in the US and Canada.
History
The company dates the initial Goodtimer concept to 2018 and launched the first product in December 2019 after more than three years of research and development. In 2020 and 2021 the product accumulated parenting product awards and extensive media coverage, was featured by Amazon Launchpad, and named a finalist for Amazon's Innovator of the Year. In August 2021 the company received a $100,000 VOLT Growth Fund loan from the Anne Arundel Economic Development Corporation — the fund's first such award. In 2024, after more than a year of development, the company launched Goodtimer 2, adding a mobile app for remote control of the device, progress monitoring and access to behavior resources.
Compiled by commissioned research from 7 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Related companies · 2
Companies working in the same space as Plus Up.
Timeline · 11
launches, deals, and filingsSecond-generation device with a mobile app letting parents remotely control the device, monitor progress and access behavior resources.
Crownsville startup Goodtimer received $100,000 from the AAEDC's VOLT Growth Fund, the fund's first such loan.
$100K source ↗
Goodtimer listed among 13 brands named finalists for Amazon's Innovator of the Year.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 7
primary sources listed
- Plus Upgogoodtimer.com · web
7 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Plus Up do?
- Plus Up makes Goodtimer, a token-dispensing behavior device and companion app that teaches children habits via positive reinforcement.
- Who founded Plus Up?
- Plus Up was founded by Adam Ashley, Stephanie Ashley in 2017.
- Who are Plus Up's investors?
- Plus Up's investors include Techstars.
- Where is Plus Up headquartered?
- Plus Up is headquartered in CROWNSVILLE, US.