Sep 25, 2026 · 36 min · 11 segments
Silent, discreet and something his nieces would actually wear. That was Stephen Larmour's brief to himself when he set out to design Bestie Button, a Bluetooth safety button that, he says, sends your…
Stephen LarmourGuestSarahHost
Abby LyleGuest
So short version, I think, I mean, um, I w- I actually wanted to get so- I've got three... well, five nieces where I've got three teenage nieces, um, and I wanted to get something for them.
I was looking on Amazon at the current devices, essentially, and what I d- you know, I- I'm not saying don't buy these products that, that are currently existing, but I didn't like the current products.
They want something that looks stylish, cool, something that their friends are not gonna make fun of.
So it did make me think, right, what would they actually want? And I thought, "You know what? Let's get s- make it something, um, that looks stylish, it's on a string, and it's silent, discreet, um, and something that they'll actually wear." And I think the thing as well with the Bestie Button, it's got two, uh, features essentially.
So with the I'm Safe feature, that makes it more like about a community of women who sort of check in with each other, rather than just simply saying like, "Buy this because you're scared.
Buy this because you'll get attacked." Because n- you know, for me, no woman wants to carry around something that want, that will make them want to think, "Oh, I might get, get attacked.
I want, I might buy, buy, I need to buy this or carry this around." So I wa- I thought like, why not have something that enables them to check in, has lots of check in with each other, just even check in that you're home safe, okay? But also equally it has that option as well to say, "I need help." And, um, the, the thing is as well, I think that a lot of people, they don't want to create a lot of noise as well.
Maybe there's certain situations where they don't want to raise the alarm, they don't want a big loud noise.
So I thought, right, you know, I was sort of thinking, what will my nieces want? Something like this, something stylish, um, something that's more discreet, and that's sort of where I came up with.
Go for it.
[laughs]
Go for it
I'd say for me that the longer answer would be, um, okay, so I was living out in Gibraltar for like three years or so, and to be honest, whenever I was living out there, I literally did not look at the news.
So short version, I think, I mean, um, I w- I actually wanted to get so- I've got three... well, five nieces where I've got three teenage nieces, um, and I wanted to get something for them.
I was looking on Amazon at the current devices, essentially, and what I d- you know, I- I'm not saying don't buy these products that, that are currently existing, but I didn't like the current products.
They want something that looks stylish, cool, something that their friends are not gonna make fun of.
So it did make me think, right, what would they actually want? And I thought, "You know what? Let's get s- make it something, um, that looks stylish, it's on a string, and it's silent, discreet, um, and something that they'll actually wear." And I think the thing as well with the Bestie Button, it's got two, uh, features essentially.
So with the I'm Safe feature, that makes it more like about a community of women who sort of check in with each other, rather than just simply saying like, "Buy this because you're scared.
Buy this because you'll get attacked." Because n- you know, for me, no woman wants to carry around something that want, that will make them want to think, "Oh, I might get, get attacked.
I want, I might buy, buy, I need to buy this or carry this around." So I wa- I thought like, why not have something that enables them to check in, has lots of check in with each other, just even check in that you're home safe, okay? But also equally it has that option as well to say, "I need help." And, um, the, the thing is as well, I think that a lot of people, they don't want to create a lot of noise as well.
Maybe there's certain situations where they don't want to raise the alarm, they don't want a big loud noise.
So I thought, right, you know, I was sort of thinking, what will my nieces want? Something like this, something stylish, um, something that's more discreet, and that's sort of where I came up with.
Go for it.
[laughs]
Go for it
I'd say for me that the longer answer would be, um, okay, so I was living out in Gibraltar for like three years or so, and to be honest, whenever I was living out there, I literally did not look at the news.
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