Built in Bellevue, by a parent who couldn't find the right tool.
Sage Haven For Kids was founded in 2024 by Kate Doerksen. After spending months testing every parental control app on the market and finding them either too invasive or too weak, she decided to build what was missing.
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The problem that started it all
When Kate's daughter was 8, she got her first tablet. The apps available for parental control at the time were either designed for IT administrators (complex, expensive, overkill for a family) or felt more like surveillance tools than thoughtful parenting aids.
Kate wanted something different: a tool that helped her set reasonable limits, see what mattered, and — most importantly — help her daughter actually understand why some content was off-limits, not just blocked from accessing it.
She spent evenings and weekends in 2023 sketching the product she wanted. In 2024, after months of development and testing with families in the Seattle area, Sage Haven launched on the App Store and Google Play.
The company is independently built and founder-funded, which means our only goal is building something genuinely useful for families — not chasing venture metrics.
Kate spent nearly a decade in product and consumer experience roles before founding Sage Haven. She holds a B.S. in Computer Science and has two children, ages 9 and 12, who were the original test users (and toughest critics) for every feature. Kate lives and works in Bellevue, WA, where Sage Haven For Kids is headquartered.
The philosophy behind the product
Parental controls work best when they're not adversarial. The goal isn't to win a battle with your kid over screen time — the goal is to raise a person who makes thoughtful choices with technology. Every design decision in Sage Haven flows from that principle.
"Most apps block. We teach why."
The Digital Literacy Curriculum is the feature we're most proud of. Not because it's technically impressive, but because it puts something competitors never thought to include: the reasoning behind the rules.
What guides every decision
Family-first design
Every feature is evaluated against one question: does this help families? Not "does this impress investors" or "does this grow our data pool."
Privacy by default
We don't collect data unless we need it. We don't retain data longer than necessary. Children's data is treated with extra care — always.
Transparency
Our safety page exists because parents deserve straight answers. Our pricing page exists because hidden fees are disrespectful. No tricks.
Small team. Focused mission.
Sage Haven is a small, independently built company. We don't have a floor of engineers — we have a focused team who cares deeply about getting this right.
Questions about our mission or the company?
We'd love to hear from you. We're a small team and we read every message.