About Matt Volk and Noah’s World

By Angela Arlington

Matt and Kelly Volk were working full-time in sales and marketing when their son was born in May of 2003. From birth, their son Noah did not sleep during the night for his first 5 months, and then he slept a little bit at a time.

“He spent most of his waking hours crying,” Matt said. “We spent a lot of time in the middle of the night circling I-465 because driving was the only way we could get him to sleep!”

Noah faced challenges from birth, but his diagnosis of autism was a bit of a shock. Noah’s sister, Hannah, was 4 years older and reached all her milestones on time. “We knew something was wrong when he was not hitting his benchmarks. After a battery of tests that all came out negative, he was diagnosed with autism at 20 months,” Matt said.

Dealing with Noah’s sleep issues and diagnosis of autism made working full-time difficult for Matt and Kelly. Noah starting crawling out of his crib every night. By age 3, he was running around the house with no fear or concept of danger. Matt’s neighbor, Chris Stupp, became his sounding board for his concerns about Noah’s nighttime habits. Chris made furniture and custom woodwork, so he thought of customizing a bed for Noah. Matt smiles fondly at the memory.

“He drew up the initial design as a solution to our problem for keeping Noah safe at night. The first bed for Noah was made in 2006. Chris made the initial frame and we found a boat cover manufacturer on the east side of Indy to sew the exterior. It literally changed our lives! Noah loved the bed – he felt enclosed and

safe. He did not sleep better but it gave him a safe place to play at night when he was awake. That gave Kelly and me the confidence to get a decent night’s sleep!”

In 2007 a family facing similar sleep issues with their autistic child saw Noah’s bed and wanted one. “Chris and I knew then that we had an opportunity to help other families who had children with special needs,” Matt recalled. “We filed for and received U.S. Patent U.S. D554,871 S and Noah’s World became incorporated as a business on March 8, 2008.”

Chris and Matt officially launched the business at the 2008 Autism Society of America (ASA) Conference where they displayed the bed. One of their first customers was the marketing director of the ASA and the mother of an autistic child.

From the beginning, Matt had tremendous feedback on the bed. “At the time we developed the bed, there was nothing out there like ours. We felt a great sense of satisfaction helping families and children like Noah stay safe. Noah loved his bed and was a great “tester” for our product. We added a top to the bed shortly after he climbed out of it a few years later. Also, we have since

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from the start. I still handle the sales and marketing and families can speak directly to me. Chris continues to custom-make each bed to order.

“Our beds have long been known for their durability and design,” Matt added. “Our thought from the beginning was to create a bed that does NOT look like a hospital bed but a nice custom piece of furniture while providing that safety and peace for your child at night. I feel we accomplished that.”

Matt and Chris Stupp – Co-founders

Noah and sister Hannah

strengthened both the frame and the exterior and added extra padding and access options.”

The biggest challenge was navigating the world of insurance/Medicaid funding for the beds. Chris and Matt started the business out of Chris’s garage and funded it out of our own pockets. It took a few years, but now Matt has figured out all the logistics.

So how is the Noah’s World bed different from other beds? How has Noah’s World evolved over the years? Matt says there are now multiple beds available to families to keep their children safe at night. “We feel proud to be pioneers in this industry and stay focused on our core ideals. While there have been multiple iterations of the bed, we now offer some options that were not available initially. We still make the same high-quality bed we have

Noah’s World continues to grow. Close to a thousand families have bought beds. “We currently partner with dozens of durable medical equipment companies throughout the U.S., including the nation’s largest, NuMotion, to make our beds available to families,” Matt said. “At this point, I cannot imagine Kelly’s, mine, or Noah’s life without our bed. It has kept Noah safe, giving Kelly and me peace of mind that we would have not had without it! Noah is now 17 and just recently transitioned out of his bed. We still thank Chris for that initial design 14 years ago!”

For more information, please visit: Noah’s World LLC – Beds that keep children safe www.noahsworldllc.com 317.409.2566 matt@noahsworldllc.com

If you would like to be a part of this Pioneer Parent section or to nominate someone else to be in an upcoming issue of Special Needs Living, Email us at SpecialNeedsLivingIndy@n2pub.com