15,000 Families Were Waiting for This App — Meet the Moms Behind Sage Haven

The sister duo behind Sage Haven is helping parents navigate everything from toxic group chats to addictive apps while giving kids the freedom to safely connect.

For parents raising children in an increasingly connected world, the question is no longer simply when to give a child a phone or tablet. It’s how to give them access to technology without opening the door to everything that can come with it; toxic group chats, inappropriate content, addictive apps and communication with strangers.

That dilemma is what inspired sisters and fellow moms to create Sage Haven, a platform designed to turn the devices families already own into safer, more controlled digital environments for kids. Rather than requiring parents to buy a specialized phone, Sage Haven combines simplified device controls, parent-approved calling and messaging, AI-powered content moderation and a centralized Parent Hub that allows families to gradually expand a child’s digital independence as they get older.

The idea has clearly struck a nerve. Prior to its launch, Sage Haven had amassed a waitlist of more than 15,000 families. The company began gradually onboarding users in April and has now expanded to both Apple and Android as it prepares for broader growth.

But Sage Haven’s origins are deeply personal. Founded in 2023 after the sisters witnessed the impact that online bullying and toxic social media could have on young people, the company was shaped by conversations with more than 500 parents and children.

We spoke with the founders about building safer technology for kids, parenting in the digital age, creating a company as sisters and what comes next for Sage Haven.

OK: What is Sage Haven, and what problem were you trying to solve when you created it?

Anne Pizzuti: Sage Haven is an app that transforms your kid’s existing devices into calm, safe havens. It simplifies the experience with just the apps you want with safe calling and messaging backed by cutting-edge safety tech, all managed from one Parent Hub. We built it because we believe technology for kids can be amazing - filled with connection, joy and learning - but we felt so overwhelmed by the set up and the potential for harm. We are truly building what we wanted for our own families.

OK: As moms yourselves, was there a specific moment that made you realize kids needed a safer way to communicate digitally?

Anne Pizzuti: Yes. A teen family member went through a serious mental health crisis brought on by online bullying and toxic social media, and it was a wake-up call for our whole family. At the same time, as moms of elementary school kids ourselves, we were seeing the issues firsthand: group chats that were becoming the origin for bullying, inappropriate content and addiction. That pushed us to spend our first few months interviewing over 500 parents and kids. What we found was that parents felt completely overwhelmed trying to set up parental controls but were left with few good options. It felt like a losing battle inside of what should be a joyful, connected childhood.

OK: What are the biggest challenges children are facing online today that parents may not realize are happening?

Kate Doerksen: The biggest challenges children face online today are unsafe communication and addictive apps. Group chats can turn toxic fast, often starting as early as elementary school with bullying and inappropriate videos and pictures being sent from classmates. Many popular video games, like Roblox, still have unsafe messaging with strangers too. Popular apps, like YouTube and video games, are designed to keep kids doom scrolling and hooked. Parental controls have historically been overwhelming and not that useful.

OK: How does Sage Haven protect kids while still giving them independence?

Kate Doerksen: Sage Haven empowers parents to feel good about giving their kids technology in a moderate, healthy way! Sage Haven works in three ways: Kid Mode, safe calling & messaging, and the Parent Hub. We believe it’s not about the device, it’s about what’s on it. With Kid Mode, the kid’s device becomes simpler with just the apps they need.Parents can approve their kid for voice calling to approved contacts and then expand to one-on-one messaging and group chat when they are ready. This enables families to go nice and slow and grow with the kid.Each kid gets their own Sage Haven number and uses the Sage Haven app to call and message approved contacts. Friends and family keep texting from iMessage, Google Messages, etc — and it all arrives safely inside Sage Haven.Sage Haven is designed to block harmful messages before they are even sent and nudge the kids towards kindness and best practices to keep kids safe and learn how to communicate well.The Parent Hub in the Sage Haven lets parents have one simple place to approve contacts, manage their kid’s device, supervise their kid’s messages in the early years, get alerts on blocked and flagged messages, and get insightful recaps. Parental controls are finally made easy! This combination strikes the right balance for many families who aren’t tech abstinent and also don’t want kids exposed to true harm online.

OK: How many families are currently using Sage Haven, and what does the platform cost?

Kate Doerksen: Sage Haven built a waitlist of over 15,000 families before launch. Since April, we have slowly been letting families off this waitlist and are now ready to start scaling. We just launched the Android app too! Sage Haven starts at $4.99/month for one kid and $7.99/month for the whole family with a 7-day free trial.

OK: How has Sage Haven evolved from the original idea to what it is today, and when did you first start working on it?

Anne Pizzuti: When we founded Sage Haven back in August 2023, our goal was to create a safer technology for kids. We spent the first year interviewing over 500 parents and kids and heard widespread pain around toxic group chats, addictive apps, unsafe internet access, and overwhelming parental controls! To solve safe communications, we needed to build a non-trivial amount of cutting-edge technology including a telecom layer that issues new Sage Haven numbers and works interoperably with other popular apps. We have robust AI moderation to ensure every message, image, video, and link is safe and properly blocked or flagged and kids get dynamic nudges towards kindness and best practices. We also wanted to make the kid’s experience joyful so we added fun AR filters for messaging and more.And we needed to make it easier for parents to “lock down” kid’s devices which involved sophisticaled technology to automate many aspects of parental controls and a single hub for supervision and adjustments.One of the things we're most proud of is that Sage Haven grows with your family at every stage, without needing a new device each time.This is the solution we wanted for our own families!

OK: What is it really like building a company together as sisters?

Anne Pizzuti: It's amazing. We share a passion for making technology safer for kids. We are also best friends which brings a lot of joy to the day-to-day aspects of building a company. We can be completely real and authentically ourselves with each other without having to walk on eggshells. When we fight or disagree, we know we’ll repair it quickly.We started a weekly podcast, Sage Sisters, where we share personal stories from the trenches and have a fun, catch up on parenting and life.

OK: How do you balance motherhood with the demands of building and scaling a startup?

Kate Doerksen: It's not always easy. There are days we feel completely overwhelmed, and those are the days we lean on each other. We make sure to have weekly connections, both with each other and with our team, to keep our own mental health in a good place. That matters as much as anything else we do. Our priorities are aligned: family first, work second. But work is our passion, and when you're this motivated to build something safe for your own kids, you can surprise even yourself with what you're capable of.

10. Are there any celebrity investors, ambassadors or partners involved with Sage Haven, and why do you think the mission is resonating with high-profile parents and supporters?

We're very excited to share that we have two celebrity co-creators who will be announced in the near future! We can't say more just yet, but we can tell you the mission is resonating deeply. We think that's because every parent, no matter who they are, is facing this same challenge of trying to keep their kids safe online without cutting them off from connection. That's a universal worry, and it's exciting to see high-profile parents and supporters lean in to help solve it. https://sagehavenforkids.com/.