New software eliminates laborious task of individually checking dispensers AUGUST 1, 2023 — AUSTIN, TEXAS — Hand hygiene company Vaask® today introduced a new online dashboard for its touchless hand sanitizing dispenser that tracks sanitizer levels, ensuring units always stay filled and employees and guests stay healthy. The online dashboard, available on Apple and Android devices and computers, allows facilities managers to monitor all their Vaask dispensers and frees maintenance staff from needing to individually check each unit. The technology builds on Vaask’s intuitive design, which uses an array of LED lights to alert staff when sanitizer levels are low or empty.  This exclusive technology solves the most common barrier to hand sanitizer use, despite it being more essential than ever—a lack of availability. A study published earlier this year by the American Journal of Infection Control found 77% of people report dispensers to be empty. “Traditional sanitizer dispensers sit empty or broken because overworked maintenance staff can’t keep up,” Vaask Founder Jon Olsen said. “Being able to manage multiple fixtures through a central dashboard is a game changer for them.” With businesses facing a shortage of maintenance personnel, the need for efficiency is more important than ever. According to an industry survey, 66% of facilities managers and staff left or considered leaving their job in 2022. The online dashboard displays sanitizer fill levels, as well as estimates of how soon each will need to be refilled and whether any units need to be serviced. The display can be sorted according to different criteria on the dashboard, allowing managers to quickly gauge sanitizer supply needs and assign tasks. The amount of sanitizer dispensed for each individual unit can also be adjusted through the online dashboard. This is especially helpful where smaller doses of sanitizer are appropriate, such as in settings where children are frequent users.  “Broken and empty dispensers send the message that you don’t care about the health of your guests and employees,” Olsen said. “We created Vaask to fix this problem. With this technology, you’ll never have an empty sanitizing fixture.” About Vaask Built to last, Vaask offers an effective, money-saving hand sanitizing solution. Features of the dispenser, which has won more than 70 design and technology awards, include: Ready to see Vaask in action? Sign up for a product demo.

How the team behind the world’s largest fans created the most awarded hand sanitizing fixture Jon Olsen | Vaask Founder Every year, American entrepreneurs start more than half a million companies. Only 200 of them will ever reach $100 million in revenue. Carey Smith knows what it takes, having founded and led fan and light maker Big Ass Fans® to $300 million in annual revenue and more than a thousand employees. Under Carey’s guidance, Big Ass Fans grew an average of 40% a year and earned spots on the prestigious Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies for 11 consecutive years — a feat achieved by only 34 others at the time. What’s even more unusual is that he did it without accepting any outside investment, as his many suitors over the years offered only money and not the expertise and growth he sought. The company’s large-diameter ceiling fans became commonplace in factories, airports and commercial spaces, where organizations relied on them to keep people comfortable. By 2017, Carey had grown Big Ass Fans to a pivotal point. The company had grown so large that he could no longer have the personal interaction he craved with his employees. Looking to recreate the smaller atmosphere he valued so much when growing the company, he sold Big Ass Fans for $500 million with employees sharing more than $50 million of the sales price through a stock appreciation rights program that instantly minted 15 millionaires. Joined by myself and several longtime research-and-development employees, Carey moved to Austin and started Unorthodox Ventures, an investment firm that offers everything investors lacked when they approached him near daily at Big Ass Fans. Seeking small companies with big potential Unorthodox Ventures has rapidly scaled since its founding, investing nearly $50 million with companies demonstrating real disruption and discipline and even growing one — Vaask® — from within. During the early days of the pandemic, I recognized the design failure of the hand sanitizer experience. While more crucial than ever before, dispensers pumped too much or too little, created messes or invariably were left empty. My fellow principals and I at Unorthodox Ventures had grown accustomed to listening to founders pitch their ideas to Carey with the goal of receiving the hands-on support that comes with all funding — a novel approach recognized by Fast Company as part of its 2021 World Changing Ideas contest. Now it was my turn to pitch, as I asked Carey if he and our colleagues would help me develop a touchless hand sanitizing fixture. Carey knew the idea for Vaask solved a real problem, so he gave me seed money to develop a design for commercial use and set about having the full Unorthodox Ventures team offer their support. Clean by design Just as our colleagues had done at Big Ass Fans with innovations like the Haiku® residential ceiling fan that has won more than 75 awards, Unorthodox Ventures’ entire staff banded around the effort to develop and launch Vaask. The engineering team iterated prototypes and developed a local and regional supply chain. The head of R&D examined existing hand sanitizer gels to develop a superior hydrating formulation. The head of analytics drafted a marketing analytics plan. And Carey hired a full sales and marketing team to support the product launch. In short, he put all of the company’s collective support behind our innovation. The result has been a rapidly growing hand hygiene company that has already been recognized with more than 65 awards in just over a year since our fixture’s introduction. Just as every Big Ass Fan did, Vaask solves a series of problems common with traditional hand sanitizing dispensers. At Vaask, we’ve rapidly scaled to meet your interest, and in the past year, we’ve nearly doubled our number of employees to around 30. Just like at Big Ass Fans, we sell directly to you, and we manufacture each Vaask unit ourselves here in Austin. It’s more than a sense of local pride. It’s the only way to ensure every product meets our quality standards. From engineering and design to manufacturing and silver-platter customer service, Vaask offers both a touchless hand sanitizing fixture and purchase experience unrivaled by traditional hand sanitizer companies.

Here are 10 reasons why 77% of people report traditional hand sanitizer dispensers to be empty. At Vaask, we’ve solved this problem with our online dashboard that automatically alerts maintenance staff when it’s time to refill. Jon Olsen | Vaask Founder A travel blogger recently addressed the question most of us have asked ourselves at one time or another: Why are hand sanitizer dispensers so often empty? The article was listed under the category “humor,” but it’s no laughing matter. Given the fact that 80% of illnesses are spread by our hands, it does not bode well when a just-published study in the American Journal of Infection Control found 77% of people reported dispensers empty. Why is that? The blogger offered no explanation, instead merely noting the phenomenon: “It’s not just hotels, airports and planes. My grocery store seems to think these hand sanitizing stations are simply decorations. I recently found two of them empty at my church … I hope no one was waiting for a miracle.” Here at Vaask, we’ve solved this problem. Not only do our touchless hand sanitizing dispensers have an LED panel that indicates when sanitizer is low, but we now offer an app and online dashboard that automatically alert maintenance staff when levels are low. Because we sell directly to customers, we learn about their unique spaces and issues.  Here are 10 reasons why sanitizer is frequently hard to find with traditional dispensers. Vaask provides the solutions to all these problems. But the dispenser’s most important feature doesn’t only remedy the perennially empty problem, it also solves the bigger hand hygiene problem. By making hand sanitizing an inviting, pleasant experience, Vaask encourages us all to use it regularly and lead cleaner, healthier lives. Ready to see Vaask in action? Sign up for a product demo.