Who We Are
Here at Zift, we are your screen time parenting ally. We believe that parenting is the most important job in the world, and want to provide you with essential screen time parenting tools, insights and resources to families in a technology-driven world.
The Zift app provides the best protection, the right visibility and the screen time controls that parents need to help raise their kids in the digital world.
With Zift, parents can see their child’s current location, manage settings for content filtering, view and block apps installed on their child’s device, see online searches and screen time usage, create a curfew for apps and Internet, and even pause the Internet.
Our Parent Portal provides parents, grandparents and others entrusted with the care of children a place to learn about and discuss the latest topics related to screen time use, online safety and social media.
The Parent Portal also offers helpful descriptions and reviews of top and trending apps, as well as resources such as parenting guides, how-to videos and infographics.
Zift has acquired Net Nanny®, the popular parental control software brand.
Meet the Team
Joey Thompson – Chief Executive Officer
As the father of six, with kids in 2nd grade through graduate school, Joey and his wife saw first-hand how smart phones and high-speed internet increase the challenges of raising healthy children: when their eldest children were young, smart phones didn’t exist, whereas their younger children are surrounded by them. At Zift, Joey is laser-focused on the details that drive product development to enable Zift to be a great resource for parents to improve day-to-day family life and raise vibrant children. A particle physicist by training, he left academia in 1998 when he and his wife noted that kids like to eat practically every day. Since then, he has been a serial entrepreneur with broad experience in technology, finance, and data analytics. Like many at Zift, Joey came to the company because he saw how its technology could help make a positive change in the world.
Favorite Zift Feature:
“Seeing what my kids search for! Maybe they are trolling me, but I love it when I see they are researching their homework or looking up how to learn a new song for their band.”
David Savage - Co-Founder
As a father of four boys under the age of 12, Dave has spent many years literally wrestling with his kids about screen time requests and devices. It was this challenge that piqued his interest in helping build a company that provides families with solutions for keeping kids safe and healthy, while still providing them the opportunities that technology offers. A co-founder of the company, Dave has more than 20 years of experience in consumer direct marketing, including a few years as a guest and product spokesperson on QVC. He is passionate about reaching as many moms and dads with the story of how Zift can bring them the visibility, knowledge and control of their kids’ digital lives.
Favorite Zift Feature:
“The App Advisor app descriptions - I love being able to access information and insights right from the Zift Family Feed the moment my children download an app.”
Clayton Ostler - Chief Product Officer
While being a father of three can bring you a lot of parenting experience, Clayton has spent much of his professional life analyzing practically every parental control product and feature on the planet. He’s our resident expert on what works, how it works, and what doesn’t work in today’s marketplace. Clayton utilizes his Computer Science background and product centric personality to focus on making sure Zift includes the valuable features that parents need, while keeping it simple and effective. Clayton is passionate about how Zift’s AI-driven filtering solution can help parents protect their kids from inappropriate content, while still letting kids experience the positive benefits of the online world.
Favorite Zift Feature:
“Screen Time Management is the new black.”
Praveen Vangeepuram – VP, Engineering
Praveen may be the most determined member of the Zift team. The magic of Zift is in how our parent and child apps communicate with one another and work together, and Praveen has a relentless focus on developing tech that answers parents needs for visibility into their children’s screen time behavior. Maybe Praveen’s focus comes from the fact that he has a son who loves tech as much as he does. Praveen has led technology development for start-ups for more than ten years, including time at e-commerce start up ShopRunner, and as he’ll attest, his role at Zift is his most exciting to date!
Favorite Zift Feature:
“The content filtering from Net Nanny – because it’s the best in the industry!”
Andrew Maunder – Chief Financial Officer
Andy has two adult daughters, and even if he wanted to curtail their screen time that probably isn’t going to happen soon! However, that doesn’t keep him from loving what Zift can do for families. Andy is Zift’s resident Brit and as such, almost everything he says seems smart and sophisticated. And why shouldn’t it - Andy has had a distinguished career in the C-Suite, having served as the CEO of Telesciences, as well as the CFO for two public companies. Andy has been in the U.S. for more than 20 years, working with many technology companies, help with financing strategies to help companies grow and deliver more services.
Favorite Zift Feature:
“The ability to upgrade to Zift Premium of course!”