The post Healthcare Wearable Technology Solutions Asthma Management Nick Delmonico Strados Labs Show 031 was first published on mitchellchadrow.com
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0:06Mitchell shadow your host when today
0:08shows were speaking with Nick Delmonico
0:10he’s a CPA CEO of Stratus labs a smart
0:15asthma management company and he’s also
0:17an mba candidate at the Fox Business
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i will provide you with full
1:01transcripts for each interview my ebook
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1:15Chad row.com / sign what we discuss on
1:21today’s show
1:22Nick’s company is actually developing a
1:24provisional patent for wearable
1:25technology and manage asthma will talk
1:28to Nick about his own personal story his
1:30background and what he’s actually doing
1:32to help people
1:33why he actually got into the business of
1:35asthma management and it really is all
1:38about solving problems not just coming
1:40up with Rockstar ideas and now on to our
1:44show
1:44Nicholas’s it’s great to have you on the
1:47show today
1:47can it can you tell us a little bit
1:49about your personal story tell us a
1:51little bit about you know your your
1:52background and how it actually ties into
1:55what you’re doing with the business
1:57today to help people
2:00sure thing and thanks for having me on
2:02the show so is to start off really why I
2:06got into this space i myself am an
2:09asthmatic and I’ve had asthma really my
2:11entire life
2:12I’m so she went to make it was something
2:15that really impacted me it was hard for
2:17me to manage i ended up at the nurse’s
2:19office
2:20dozens of times and and even in the
2:22hospital on one occasion so with only
2:25always dealt with i was fortunate enough
2:27actually as I got older to be able to
2:29manage it a little bit better played
2:30sports throughout high school and still
2:32and pretty active today but when I you
2:36know when i started my my grad school at
2:40my MBA and healthcare I started thinking
2:42about healthcare problems and how to
2:44solve them with these new technologies
2:46that come out and wearable devices and
2:49drones and all these things and so so I
2:52thought of you know how do you help
2:53people who have asthma better better
2:55manage themselves through through
2:58wearable technology so that’s sort of
3:00where that the idea stemmed from so the
3:03the idea that you actually came up with
3:05was ok how can I actually solve this
3:09particular problem that’s out there and
3:12it obviously hit close to home because
3:14you obviously grew up with asthma and
3:18that’s how you said gee this might be
3:20something that I want to kind of look
3:22into correct
3:24exactly exactly so yes to tell us a
3:26little bit about you know that the
3:27people that surround your team because i
3:30know that you have a CPA background
3:32you’re currently getting an MBA at the
3:35Fox Business School here locally here at
3:37Temple University which is where i went
3:39to undergraduate so can you can you tell
3:41me a little bit about your team and and
3:43how you sort of came together
3:45yes so are our team now is consistent of
3:48myself and i am the CEO and I run the
3:51business operations but we have a
3:54biomedical engineer he added as an
3:57undergrad but now he’s actually a
3:59neurologist at Jefferson Hospital and so
4:03he is the lead technologist on our team
4:05today we also have a md PhD student who
4:09did biomedical engineering at Johns
4:10Hopkins she’s helping with a lot of our
4:13software development
4:14well and are our engineering from a
4:16hardware side and the way we actually
4:18met was through a health hackathon that
4:21Jefferson University Hospital put
4:23together last year they do it every year
4:25called the health hack and essentially
4:28it’s it’s co-sponsored by independence
4:30Blue Cross and some other health
4:31technology companies in the silly region
4:34and it’s a way for people who are
4:37interested in solving healthcare
4:38problems to use technology to do that so
4:40it’s much like any other hackathon but
4:42the premises really all around
4:44healthcare i was fortunate enough to go
4:47there and pitch my problem and you know
4:50I was an asthmatic and I said well how
4:53do we help people you know better
4:55understand their signs and symptoms
4:56using using technologies and wearable
4:59technology and i was fortunate to meet
5:01that a few other people learning
5:02including my two co-founders now who
5:05said hey you know what we’ve got some
5:07ideas let’s throw it around and we spent
5:09the weekend doing some you know real
5:12rough hacking type of work on trying to
5:14make prototypes and then pitch that
5:16prototype 2 to some of the investors and
5:18enter the judges to tell us a little bit
5:20about the actual prototype itself i mean
5:23obviously when you start out you might
5:25have one thing in mind and then you
5:27pivot or you change as you kind of go
5:29along can you talk to us a little bit
5:31about those changes you’ve made and talk
5:33to us a little bit about who those end
5:35users are or who you’re targeting is
5:38where this particular product or
5:39solution or service that you have sure
5:41and yeah i would say iteration has been
5:43really the key thing for us and and
5:46learning how to pivot quickly our first
5:49iteration actually we were trying to do
5:51it in the form of a necklace and we
5:52wanted to be this little piece of
5:54jewelry that somebody would wear and
5:56then it would be pretty in conspicuous
5:58that it was also helping you manage
5:59monitor and manage thousands of your
6:02lungs for the purposes of improving
6:04asthma management and through some
6:06surveys that we did with potential
6:08end-users we actually did some online
6:10surveys of asthma communities and we did
6:12some in-person interviews with folks I’m
6:15people like the idea but we’re kind of
6:18nervous about whether or not it would
6:19actually work because you know you have
6:21to keep the jewelry clean and how does
6:24it actually adhere to your your chest
6:27skin enough to really get the data that
6:29you needed we did some testing realize
6:31that probably wasn’t the best route for
6:33us to go so then we iterated into
6:35looking at more about integrated into a
6:39essentially a sports bra our chest strap
6:42that was now iterated into more of a
6:44patch like form so the process of
6:47iteration has has been interesting
6:50because we’ve been trying to leverage
6:52our end users are potential and users as
6:54much as possible as we’re coming up with
6:57our rapid prototyping the show has three
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7:51snap now you know when the team comes
7:54together you know everybody has their
7:57strengths and and obviously with your
7:59CPA background with a finance background
8:01accounting background business
8:03background it sounds as if you obviously
8:05have other people on the team that have
8:07medical backgrounds as far as that goes
8:10but as far as the actual patent or
8:12technology
8:14have you looked into you know how you’re
8:18actually you know going to either patent
8:20this technology or the cost that’s
8:22involved and and and and sort of raising
8:25money or funds and what what is your
8:27what is your goal in that regard
8:29yeah and we were actually fortunate
8:31enough to win as part of one of our
8:34business competitions that we competed
8:36in spring the ability to work with a
8:39pass
8:40attorney in philadelphia area and really
8:42as a pro bono service they helped us
8:44develop a provisional patent application
8:45now is that through the the temple
8:48university resources or is that through
8:50continued can you talk to us a little
8:53bit about the resources because there’s
8:55a lot of people in the audience who
8:57either have a prototype they want to
9:00start up they don’t exactly know how the
9:02patent technology works in terms of what
9:05you can actually say about it and and
9:08and having those resources i think that
9:10that would be very helpful for other
9:12people to you know to learn a little bit
9:14about what you’re doing to sort of
9:17leverage the resources that are
9:18available to you sure and yes i’ll see
9:22to a few of the avenues that we tried
9:24and where we ended up actually getting
9:26resources from so we we knew very early
9:30on that we would need to start thinking
9:31about intellectual property and and how
9:33to patent potentially this technology
9:36both the hardware and even the software
9:38and we actually tried to leverage the
9:42Drexel University Law club essentially
9:45they do have to have this
9:46entrepreneurial bit law club where
9:49they’ll actually take on early-stage
9:50startups and if they like the ideas and
9:53they’re there in areas that are
9:54interested in learning more about from a
9:56legal perspective will take them on as a
9:58you know quote-unquote client although
10:00it’s really pro bono work unfortunately
10:03we weren’t able to pair with some
10:05lawyers who are interested in the stuff
10:07we really need most help with which were
10:09kind of the FDA federal Food and Drug
10:12administrative focused that technology
10:15though we didn’t end up using those
10:16resources but we were fortunate enough
10:18as part of the temple Institute of
10:20entrepreneurship and innovation we won a
10:23business competition that they do every
10:25spring are actually what were finalists
10:27and as part of that they got in touch
10:30with a local patent attorney who does
10:32pro bono work and and it’s sponsored by
10:34the innovation center temple
10:37yes so so i wanna i want to be able to
10:40link up with all the resources that we
10:42talked about on the show today as far as
10:45then the the law club / address Olga
10:47what was the exact name of that club and
10:50and who were you in contact with and
10:51then also as it relates the innovation
10:54club here at Temple University who did
10:56you work with so that we can link up to
10:58that
10:59so let me get the director wanted to the
11:02drexel law clinic now is that through is
11:04that through the the clothes school with
11:06entrepreneurship or is that through the
11:08law school it’s through the law school
11:11okay yeah sure okay and I can link up
11:13back i can certainly link up to that as
11:15well as far as the the innovation center
11:17at Temple University what is that
11:19exactly called and who were you in
11:21contact with their in the law firm sure
11:23so it’s the the innovation space is that
11:26temple Institute of entrepreneurship and
11:29innovation to the temple III as it’s
11:31called and that space actually sits in
11:34the in the strategy and entrepreneurship
11:37department at Temple University and they
11:41are the sponsor for what’s called the be
11:43your own boss bowl competition and
11:45they’ve been doing that competition for
11:46about 10 years now maybe a little bit
11:48longer and as part of that major
11:50competition whether providing cash
11:52prizes two finalists
11:54they also have the in-kind prizes and
11:57their relationships with several of the
11:58entrepreneurial networks in the area so
12:01they do some work with ben franklin
12:03technology partners as it relates to you
12:06know prototype development work and
12:07getting in touch with potential device
12:09to developers next fab isn’t as a
12:12manufacturer and co-working space in
12:15philly and then the the the law firm
12:18that we work with the sievert Caesar
12:19revised and they are an intellectual
12:21property law firm in Philadelphia they
12:23they are essentially one of the partner
12:27law firms that works with with the
12:29temple be your own boss ball so as part
12:31of the finalists people who are you know
12:34really folks who need that intellectual
12:36property help they’ll do it for your mom
12:38for free or as a pro bono service and
12:41then so it instead of having a cash gift
12:45or a cash prize for this bowl that you
12:47were in that you obviously came in
12:49second because i actually was actually
12:52went on to the the temple university
12:53website i actually saw that there’s no
12:55cash prize but what sounds as if what
12:57they do is they package all of these
12:59resources together for
13:01you basically and in one bucket so that
13:03you can utilize them in leverage
13:05leverage all of that that those
13:08resources for you right there at Temple
13:09University correct exactly exactly and
13:12so they do actually as part of the
13:13finalists and you’ll see that the three
13:15track
13:16I’m they have undergrad they have
13:17graduate and faculty and then they have
13:20this social impact if you become a
13:22finalist in any of those tracks you
13:24receive some level cache I think it’s
13:26anywhere between five and twenty
13:28thousand and then you can win the grand
13:31prize throughout all the tracks and
13:33actually the the company that beat us in
13:37our track 1 the entire thing and it was
13:39interesting enough one of my professors
13:41at the university so i couldn’t beat the
13:44the student could not be the teacher
13:46unfortunately but yea right is not
13:48something that that’s that’s quite
13:50interesting so I’m who is your contact
13:53then at Temple University who actually
13:55runs this particular program because it
13:57sounds like as an mba student that that
14:00there’s a lot of resources for you right
14:02there on the campus
14:03oh absolutely it so our that the
14:05director of the program is Alan Webber
14:06and says she runs the temple III and
14:09she’s affiliated with some of the other
14:11venture capital firms in the
14:14Philadelphia region as well so she
14:16doesn’t work for Robin Hood ventures and
14:18mid-atlantic diamond ventures as well so
14:20she does a good job of really trying to
14:22integrate especially temple university’s
14:25innovations and and startups with the
14:28big the growth the the broader
14:30philadelphia area as relates to getting
14:33venture capital which is really nice
14:34yeah so we we talked a little bit about
14:36your personal story talked about how you
14:39actually got interested in this
14:41particular idea i do want to do a little
14:43bit more of a of a deeper dive into the
14:46the prototype in the patent I’m so have
14:49you actually filed a patent and and can
14:51you talk to us a little bit more
14:53specifically about these end-users and
14:56how you’re actually going to get this
14:58technology it you know distributed into
15:01their uh you know to them how do you how
15:04do you plan on selling this how do you
15:06plan on distributing it
15:07maybe maybe tell us a little bit more
15:09about about that and and maybe we can go
15:12a little bit deeper
15:13sure thing yeah so we actually have we
15:16will have a provisional patent filed by
15:19the end of this year I’m so we are we’ve
15:21been in the process now for the last few
15:23weeks and months iterating are
15:24provisional patent application and 44
15:27people who aren’t really aware of how it
15:29works and I certainly wasn’t before i
15:31started i’m typically you’ll reveal
15:34submit what’s called a provisional
15:36patent to the Patent Office and that
15:38allows you to have 12 months after your
15:41provisional patents filed to attach the
15:44end claims to your patent so it’s it’s a
15:47document that really gives you that
15:49first to file right in the United States
15:52as far as innovations are concerned and
15:56and it essentially just says it will you
15:58know even if if somebody else came up
16:00with a similar technology you filed it
16:02first and therefore you have you know
16:05you own those rights so we’ll have that
16:08done hopefully by the end of this year
16:10which is the end goal and then we’ll
16:12spend the next 12 months really
16:14finalizing and iterating our final
16:17hardware and software algorithms and our
16:19device and after that we will file what
16:22will be our final patent application now
16:25has the has the law firm told you
16:27exactly how you can sort of discuss the
16:31the provisional patent so for example we
16:34have this interview today in terms of
16:35just making sure that you’re not
16:38disclosing too much information yet
16:40obviously you can you can talk generally
16:42about what the company’s doing and have
16:45a sort of skilled you on that of what
16:47what can and cannot be said or
16:49disseminated yeah they’ve given us a
16:51little bit of information about what we
16:52can and cannot say and they get a lot of
16:54that also comes to what it is that we
16:56believe is proprietary to us that we’re
16:59trying to keep up
17:00no internal versus what we do want the
17:03public to know at this point I’m still
17:05very happy if you want the public to
17:06know that we are developing a wearable
17:08technology and software connected device
17:11for the purposes of asset management now
17:13as far as the specifics of how we define
17:16our sound capture anything like that we
17:19know we try and keep that
17:21as private as possible at this point as
17:23far as management goes I mean obviously
17:25that’s a fairly broad subject matter
17:28that relates to as you know what aspect
17:30of the management because you know we
17:32talked to our entrepreneurs are startups
17:34about having focused not taking on more
17:37than they can do and so what is your
17:39your specialized niche within the asthma
17:42management that could be a very
17:43undauntingly never terms of it being
17:46very broad so have you narrowed your
17:48focus and in terms of what that is and
17:50if so what have you decided to to sort
17:53of focus on and maybe let us know a
17:55little bit about that
17:57sure yeah so and you’re absolutely right
18:00and we’ve gone through that process
18:02I’m and it is still a challenge for us
18:04to make sure they were always really
18:06focus on what what’s the most key value
18:09for us today that will help those end
18:12users better manage their asthma and
18:16what is it that we will provide them
18:17that’s something that they don’t already
18:18have from other means so for us we were
18:22really focused on you know how is it
18:24that I wearing the device you get
18:27information that you otherwise would not
18:28have had that helps improve the way that
18:31you manage Erasmus so for example a
18:33survey was done by the CDC the Center
18:35for Disease Control few years ago
18:38that’s essentially evidence to that
18:40fifty percent of pediatric and adult
18:42asthmatics have a hard time identifying
18:44the signs and symptoms of an asthma
18:48attack and the most prevalent a sign of
18:50an asthma attack is the weaving and it’s
18:53almost counterintuitive to think about
18:55what you would say to yourself well if
18:56I’m wheezing you know I know there’s a
18:58problem but a lot of people those
19:00wheezing sounds they come on really
19:02really slowly and they start in your
19:04lungs before they’re even auditory and
19:06also you know you try as a as an
19:10individual to to get over those signs
19:12and symptoms through your own fruit
19:15really your own will and so a lot of
19:18times although people are in fact
19:20wheezing or coughing they’re not doing
19:21anything about it so our focus is well
19:25let’s help identify those signs the
19:27signs that sound wheezing and coughing
19:30and alert people that it’s happening now
19:33we won’t were not diagnostic
19:35so we’re not trying to explain that it’s
19:37you know a specific type of weezer call
19:39for that it’s typically asthma but we’re
19:42trying to alert somebody that something
19:43is happening in their body so that sends
19:46a message directly to the phone and the
19:48phone will give a message either to the
19:50individual or also to a caregiver or
19:52parent of an asthmatic so it’s 22 trying
19:56to alert people more quickly of what’s
19:57happening so that they can manage and do
20:00with the physician says which is
20:01typically you know taking inhaler stop
20:04and you know stop exercising breathe
20:06deeply and calmly and things like that
20:09so that’s really our key focus is making
20:12sure that we have this alerting and
20:13monitoring system and then giving
20:15individuals the ability to track and
20:18monitor on the back end but our primary
20:20focus now is really that fun and
20:21alerting system reason why I actually
20:23chose hostgator to sponsor my startup
20:27around was because students business
20:29owners those individuals out there who
20:32want to start of something new they need
20:34a presence online and they need a web
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20:39they can count on and that’s reliable
20:41and helpful so what did i do I teamed up
20:45with the good folks at hostgator where
20:47they offer my podcast audience
20:50twenty-five percent off their web
20:53hosting package check them out at
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20:57that Mitchell Chad row.com / hostgator
21:00start your plan today as far as then
21:04market research because we’ve touched on
21:06that just very briefly how are you
21:09targeting these users how are you sort
21:12of bringing them into sort of do the
21:14research to test what it is i mean right
21:17now I know that that you’re in the
21:18process of filing the provisional patent
21:20and it’s in the infant stages as far as
21:23that goes but have you given some
21:25thought as to how you’re actually going
21:27to test this and continue to iterate you
21:32know from from that perspective
21:34yeah absolutely so we’ve done as far as
21:37market surveys to try and validate that
21:40there is in fact the market you know we
21:42know from secondary research is a lot of
21:44white papers that have come out over the
21:46last few years about how asthma needs to
21:48be better
21:48managed I’m and that actually two-thirds
21:51of asthma attacks can be prevented
21:53through better management so it’s not
21:55even better medications and in fact a
21:58lot of these papers say medications work
22:00we’ve really reached the pinnacle as far
22:02as a lot of these asthma things that is
22:04unless you can find a way to cure it so
22:08it’s really about this management so
22:09what we’ve been focused on as far as
22:11market researches ok you know targeting
22:14asthmatics overall so we’ve actually
22:16gone through online forums as i
22:18mentioned earlier so asthma communities
22:21through read it through the asthma
22:22America Asthma Foundation and then the
22:25aai which is asthma and allergy I’m
22:28institute and essentially just reaching
22:32out and saying hey you know we’re about
22:34for me i was saying have an MBA student
22:36i’m interested in healthcare mathematic
22:38myself looking to get some feedback
22:40about you know your asthma if you have
22:43it and you know take this quick survey
22:44so we did some real quick i’m kind of
22:47dirty online surveys and actually get
22:49give us some pretty good information
22:50that validated a lot of what we had seen
22:53and we got a lot of good qualitative
22:54information where people would write in
22:56and talk a little bit about their their
22:58condition so there was certainly
23:00validation that people had a hard time
23:01managing it and we’re interested in some
23:04sort of technology that would enable
23:05them to better manage their disease
23:07that’s where we started and then we’ve
23:11actually had the opportunity to work
23:14with asthma researcher in New York who’s
23:17been interested in actually
23:19understanding how environment impacts
23:22asthmatics and whether or not a
23:25technology would improve access to care
23:28and also management of asthma and so so
23:31we’re in the process now collaborating
23:33with them and doing focus groups with
23:35some of the patients at hospital up in
23:37Harlem
23:38I’m where again this is pre testing
23:40phase but we’re trying to see you know
23:42what it is that somebody would really
23:44want in the technology starting to give
23:46them photos of what we have is
23:48renderings for the prototype and try to
23:50take that feedback early before we
23:52really developed fully for testing
23:54purposes so the endless to use it for
23:57testing
23:58you know with any with any new startup
24:00especially one where you know you’re
24:02finally a provisional patent and you
24:04have all these other types of challenges
24:06talk to us a little bit about some of
24:09the challenging moments that you’ve been
24:11facing you know as a business leader as
24:14a as a new entrepreneur with this with
24:17this startup so the big thing that comes
24:21to mind for me as far as challenge
24:23aside from entering a high barrier to
24:27entry high capital intensive hi
24:29regulatory type of space which has been
24:32a challenge but more fun challenge of
24:35managing individuals so managing the
24:37team has been a challenge but all but
24:41something that is really validating when
24:44it when it goes well
24:46so our team i have a neurologist he’s a
24:49full-time neurologist so he does a lot
24:51of this kind of as a moonlighter weekend
24:53uh you know work and ever and I was
24:57actually in California for the summer so
24:59we had to do a lot of our our meetings
25:01you know we did we had to find the right
25:04time that would work for both of us but
25:06then we also had to do it who as a
25:08part-time endeavor
25:10so it was challenging to to make sure
25:12that we were on the same page and on and
25:14communicating effectively over the
25:16course of the summer and really getting
25:19things done quickly so that’s been a
25:22major challenge for me is finding the
25:24right people and managing the workstream
25:26so that you know we can get things done
25:29efficiently and effectively but also
25:30still maintain kind of our full-time
25:32other jobs while we’re trying to develop
25:35the product
25:36ya know certainly so what one thing that
25:39contributes most to your success up to
25:41this point i would say at least metal
25:43the relationship that I have with my
25:45co-founders we heat so he’s a
25:47neurologist by trade but he actually did
25:49some work for a pharmaceutical
25:51management consulting company right out
25:53of college so he understand how business
25:56works enough hehe really let me take the
26:00reins as far as like business
26:01development and being the face of the
26:03company but I’m she’s he makes things
26:06really easy for me because he wants to
26:08communicate
26:09he wants me to you know pick up the
26:10phone and call
26:11him and you know just run ideas by him
26:14to make sure that he’s a he’s on the
26:15same page as me he loves to play the
26:18devil’s advocate because I I sort of
26:20have my head in the sand you know in a
26:22klutz sometimes thinking about all the
26:24positive and all the all the great
26:26things that we can do and you know
26:28trying to push things through really
26:30quickly to move forward and he always
26:33make sure that we take a step back and
26:35you really think about all of the the
26:39opportunities and threats that exist in
26:41the decisions something i do as well but
26:44I also i play the side of trying to pull
26:47him up pull him along so it’s a good
26:49push and pull kind of thing that we have
26:51going
26:51yeah one of the most important things is
26:54new business development and how you’re
26:57actually going to sort of bring in sales
26:59your distribution channels and and
27:00obviously we’re extremely early in in
27:04your startup but you obviously would
27:07start to think about some of these
27:09things and how you’re gonna build it out
27:11going into the future so can you can you
27:14talk to us a little bit about your
27:15strategy as far as what you’re going to
27:17be doing in that space and and then
27:19raising that type of money and in order
27:22to achieve that
27:23sure yeah and and so that’s been an
27:25interesting area for us as well as we’ve
27:27not only have we pivoted our design but
27:29we also really pivoted how we want to
27:32approach commercialization and our
27:34go-to-market strategy so we originally
27:36really wanted to focus on insurance
27:39reimbursement for the device as part of
27:41an asthma management program
27:43I’m so you know that’s a long-term goal
27:45now but the vision is if you have
27:48somebody who goes to the hospital for
27:50asthma once a year the average cost of
27:52that just to be in the ER is about
27:55twenty-five hundred dollars and if they
27:57get admitted it can be over 20,000 so
28:00our thought process is well a device
28:02that’s a hundred fifty dollars that
28:04would reduce the risk of hospitalization
28:05by say fifty percent
28:08it’s a pretty good return on investment
28:10right so we wanted to go directly into
28:12kind of insurance process to say for all
28:15your high-risk patients hi utilizing
28:17patients if you give them the the poem
28:20aware device and solution reduce the
28:22risk of asthma attack you’ll actually
28:24save money as well as reduce the risk of
28:27hospitalization and and potential death
28:28so it’s it’s really an economic and also
28:30a social win more you delay that your
28:34end-user ultimately might be the the
28:36insurance companies who are reimbursing
28:38the patients who are obviously using
28:41this particular device were managing
28:43their asthma correct correct so we
28:45wanted to go through the insurance
28:47company and really be something that’s
28:49promoted by the physician so the
28:52position would see an asthmatic they
28:53would say oK you’ve been having a hard
28:55time managing you’ve got to the hospital
28:57as part of your asthma action plan as
28:59part of your management meant plan we
29:02will provide you and it will be in
29:03reimbursed by insurance form aware so
29:06please use the bomb where system and
29:08send me updates about how you know how
29:10your health is improving or how it’s
29:13changing and it will be right and really
29:15a reimbursed process through which the
29:18end user is not necessary the person who
29:20purchases so how are you how are you
29:24going to reach out to whether it be the
29:25doctors the insurance companies i mean
29:27obviously we’re talking about building
29:29out some type of a sales force a new to
29:33new business development force to
29:35obviously get the word out i mean
29:37obviously doing interviews like this is
29:39certainly going to help you’re
29:40developing your social media strategy
29:42which will talk to you about in a minute
29:44but what have you what have you started
29:46doing or thinking about in terms of that
29:49yeah and and that’s that’s a great
29:52question and one of the things that
29:53we’ve been trying to focus on primarily
29:55not always building those relationships
29:57with folks who are in insurance and
30:01insurance area or in areas that also
30:03work in insurance space so we’ve what
30:06we’ve been discussing with a health
30:08technology company that does a lot of
30:10work with Medicaid specifically managing
30:13chronic diseases and Medicaid where
30:15they’re actually pushing pushing
30:16messaging to patients who say for
30:19example are
30:21pregnant and they’re not going and
30:23seeing their prenatal getting prenatal
30:25medications not doing all their
30:27appointment the messaging system was
30:29enabling them to give them reminders
30:32about their prenatal medication for
30:34appointment appointments etc and they
30:36actually improved health by getting
30:39people to be more engaged with their
30:41with the pregnancy process so they
30:43understand kind of where we’re coming
30:45from from a chronic disease perspective
30:47so we’ve been trying to work with them
30:48to see if there’s a way for us to
30:51leverage our device through there a very
30:54similar channel that they have which is
30:56partnering with health systems and
30:58insurance companies to reimburse the
31:01product and then use that for for
31:04improved chronic disease management for
31:06asthmatics so we’ve gone down that route
31:08of trying to figure out how it is that
31:10they got to market how it is that they
31:12put a product out there that insurance
31:13company understands the value of and
31:16also getting in front of insurance
31:18companies as well so that’s one of the
31:19things in Philly that we’ve been trying
31:21to do through some of these innovation
31:23partnerships and programs and i had the
31:26opportunity to speak at a non hackathon
31:29hackathon that was sponsored by
31:30independence Blue Cross and I was sort
31:32of the advocate for asthma management so
31:36getting in touch with those folks
31:37showing them a little bit about how our
31:38product works and then ultimately trying
31:41to build a relationship with them to
31:42figure out even how do we build the
31:45product in a way that benefits them as a
31:47potential purchaser and making sure that
31:49they get the value that they think is
31:53best for for this type of service you
31:55know there’s so many student
31:57entrepreneurs out there people that are
31:59obviously starting up they have an idea
32:01and maybe they haven’t decided to go
32:03forward with it and so one of the other
32:05reasons why I wanted to definitely have
32:07you on is that there are a lot of people
32:09out there who do in fact want to start
32:12off but they don’t know how to begin or
32:15where to begin or sometimes it can be
32:17very overwhelming and so what do you
32:19think are some of the most common
32:20mistakes that other startups or
32:23entrepreneurs or students who are
32:26actually interested in business are
32:28doing that are actually having them
32:31delay or is preventing them from
32:34beginning or two to start on their road
32:37to success
32:38yeah that’s a great question and you
32:41know i’ll admit i’m not one of those
32:43people who was an entrepreneur 15 i was
32:45i was looking at some of the other radio
32:47interviews that you had and you know
32:50there’s a lot of people who some people
32:51have been doing it forever and they’ve
32:53just been entrepreneurial since you know
32:55since birth
32:56I’m I’ve had probably hints of it myself
32:58and I i did tutoring in college I
33:01thought that was really fun i like kind
33:03of be making my own client base and
33:05building my own business they’re always
33:08had it a little bit simmering in the
33:09back of my mind about being an
33:11entrepreneur you know trying to be my
33:13own boss was always a cool idea but I
33:16think the thing that hindered me the
33:17most was traveling something that others
33:20feel the same way about is trying to
33:23come up with a rockstar idea
33:25everybody well you know think about
33:28what’s the best idea and if they don’t
33:30think the idea is great and they stopped
33:32immediately I’m or they just don’t
33:34continue to pursue it and what would I
33:36realized for me is it wasn’t the idea
33:38because the ideas change so much even
33:41over the last year it’s the problem i
33:44think focusing on what the problems are
33:46finding unmet needs and markets taking
33:50things from your own personal
33:51experiences things that you would like
33:52to see improvement upon and starting
33:54there is a really really powerful thing
33:57because i don’t i don’t believe I ever
33:59would have started this endeavor if I
34:01didn’t have a good problem that I really
34:02wanted to face men and and soft so and I
34:06know more about the problem and I still
34:08do about the solution and we’re starting
34:10we’re trying to take all of the inputs
34:12into developing that great idea so I
34:15would say it’s probably that i think
34:17it’s it’s focusing on problems rather
34:19than ideas would be really powerful for
34:21new entrepreneurs that’s that’s terrific
34:23what are some of them that i know we’ve
34:25talked about the idea and how that could
34:27be a challenge but what are some of the
34:29other recurring themes that you can
34:32experience that you can import on other
34:34aspiring entrepreneurs you can actually
34:37summarize for their benefit
34:39because there they are looking for that
34:41help those resources to start up to grow
34:44their business and and you know to get
34:46that experience to take the next step
34:48so can you maybe summarize some of those
34:51recurring themes that you’re seeing and
34:53then and then maybe offer offer some
34:56some help or some resources therefore
34:58for other listeners yeah i think another
35:01recurring theme for me and again i’m
35:04fairly new to to being an entrepreneur i
35:06was impressed and amazed by the amount
35:09of people who are here to help
35:11I’m so if you even if you’re not in
35:14school now i’m fortunate enough to be
35:16part of an MBA program in a in a
35:18university that has a top-ranked
35:21entrepreneurial program so there’s a lot
35:24of resources out there for me but even
35:26if you’re not in school now you know the
35:28Philadelphia region for example has just
35:30an amazing amount of meetups and
35:32networking events where you can just go
35:34meet other people who are in the space
35:36and talk to them about ideas and what
35:39their where do you go where do you go
35:40for that so I go to philly startup
35:44leaders there they’re fairly new there
35:48in the writing center city and philly
35:50startup leaders is really good
35:52new new tech meetup is pretty good
35:54feeling new tech meetup and and I
35:58actually I just leverage a lot through
36:00temple university so I I i do the
36:02Entrepreneurship network there they had
36:04a summer studio which was really kind of
36:06like a mini incubator program that they
36:08did so I’ve been leveraging that as much
36:10as I possibly can and then really just
36:12reaching out to people that you know who
36:14are in entrepreneurship so my roommate
36:16was fortunate enough to get a job at a
36:19new company down in the Navy Yard and
36:21the CEO of that company went to delaware
36:24with me and you know he started an
36:26engineering company so there’s a lot of
36:28intellectual property issues about
36:29hardware and it’s hard to sell the idea
36:31of creating things now versus creating
36:34apps is actually told once you know
36:37people want to invest in and electrons
36:41not atoms that we missed you know it
36:43it’s funny that you should say that
36:45because we we had asked you the question
36:47okay what are some of the challenges
36:49you’re facing and and you know it’s
36:52interesting because we we’ve had a
36:53number of people on who not only are in
36:56the process of and have already
36:57developed apps but actually companies
37:00that actually help entrepreneurs do just
37:03that and so having you on is exciting
37:06because it’s it’s developing things and
37:10and it’s it’s a little bit outside the
37:12the the abnormal if you will and and so
37:15you know this has been this has been
37:17great arm but that that’s an interesting
37:20point that you that you raised
37:22yeah yeah that’s actually probably a
37:24challenge today I didn’t highlight as
37:26much but it’s certainly a challenge for
37:28us is you know we go to investor
37:31meetings and we show them our prototypes
37:33and we show them our development work
37:35but there’s still major technology risk
37:37i’m related to getting it to be fully
37:40functional and you know the amount of
37:41capital needed to really build say ten
37:44test units that we can really you know
37:46start start moving forward to get there
37:49is a challenge that is sort of unique
37:51developing things versus apps
37:54although apps can be expensive it’s
37:56really more about the work that the
37:58engineers put into it
37:59testing and iterating encoding we have
38:02access aspect of that too with with our
38:05app as well but then we have to build
38:06something and then we have to test to
38:09make sure it works so it’s certainly
38:11more difficult for us to get the capital
38:14that we need but some of the ways we’re
38:16trying to solve that we’re actually
38:17applying for a grant federal National
38:20Science Foundation grant hopefully were
38:23able to to be you know to get that those
38:26are pretty challenging to get on and who
38:28is that who is that through because
38:30obviously we’ve talked about IndieGoGo
38:32and Kickstarter and crowdfunding and
38:34crowdsourcing but this is a whole other
38:36area in terms of developing things are
38:39in this particular case medical devices
38:41what what other areas are you looking
38:44into our outside the norm how to to sort
38:47of you know get money i mean obviously
38:50grants can you talk to us a little bit
38:52about specifically those names and who
38:54you’re actually looking at for those
38:56yeah sure so and and again sort of the
38:59growing pains of being an entrepreneur
39:00if I had known about the resources
39:03six months ago I probably would have
39:05been even more helpful but i do know
39:06about them now which is great so and
39:09will be helpful to other people who are
39:11similarly situated who are obviously six
39:14months to nine months to 12 months
39:15behind where you’re at now and so that’s
39:19why you know this is this is this is
39:22very important in one of the other
39:24reasons why I had you want
39:27yeah absolutely and and it’s it’s one of
39:30those things at least for me I always
39:31say like well you know at the very least
39:34i’ll know these things for next time i’m
39:36not saying that I want to fail but it
39:38you know it’s always good to know that I
39:39i know a lot more than I did before I
39:41started so for me
39:43yeah that means there’s these other
39:45opportunities through federal funds so
39:48the the National Science Foundation has
39:51funds through what’s called the Small
39:53Business Innovation research program and
39:55actually there are several agencies that
39:58are part of the SBIR funding process so
40:01if your Department of Agriculture
40:03Department of Engineering Department of
40:07Defense National Institute of Health
40:08national science foundation for example
40:11all of these have funds for small
40:14businesses that want to develop new
40:15technologies
40:17it’s a pretty challenging process
40:19because you have to have a lot of
40:20technical understanding so fortunately
40:23you know my my team i have engineers
40:26chemical engineers who are very tech
40:28savvy and understand that space from a
40:29development perspective and what really
40:31is new about the technology so that have
40:34an engineer read it they would really
40:36understand and in and who would help you
40:40would actually help you then write the
40:42grant themselves because isn’t that a
40:44challenge for you as well
40:46yeah absolutely so we we actually are
40:49trying to leverage in Pennsylvania
40:51there’s this innovation partnership
40:53program and it’s sponsored by the Small
40:55Business Association and what they do is
40:57and what isn’t cold yeah it’s called the
41:00innovation partnership
41:01ok through the Small Business
41:04Association and essentially what they do
41:06is if you’re interested in developing a
41:09technology and using funds through the
41:12National Science Foundation or through a
41:13small business innovation research grant
41:16and they like your idea that will
41:18actually provide you with resources
41:19through which will help you write the
41:23grant will help you actually develop a
41:25pre-proposal so that they really
41:26understand what the key components of
41:28your technology are and how your team
41:30will actually be able to develop it and
41:33what’s the potential commercialization
41:35of it so they actually really they bring
41:37you through a lot of the steps of a
41:38business plan but it’s a little bit more
41:41elaborate a little bit more technology
41:43focused and what they’ll do is they’ll
41:45then put you in touch within an
41:46individual to actually write the grant
41:49if you need that help and actually give
41:52you a voucher you know a little bit of a
41:54stipend to actually write that grant as
41:57well and then you go through the process
41:58of submitting it to submitting it to the
42:01FBI are agencies you know this has been
42:04really thoroughly interesting I i know
42:06that that there’s gonna be a lot of
42:08interest that that other people are
42:10going to have not only in your business
42:11in your technology and what you’re
42:13trying to do and achieve but i know that
42:15there’s a lot of people out there that
42:17are going to get a lot out of learning
42:19from the steps that are needed in order
42:22to you know build up and start off this
42:26type of company the fast
42:32I will be sponsored by audible and we
42:34learn more about our guests favourite
42:36books and my favorite back at my book
42:39club go over to Mitchell
42:40chatroulette.com / audible in the
42:43fastpitch around I cover many fun
42:46questions to help us learn more about
42:49our guests their favorite books they’re
42:51quotes heroes their favorite apps the
42:54resources that they recommend for under
42:57a hundred dollars what contributes most
43:00to their success and some bad advice
43:02that’s actually being given to
43:04entrepreneurs the reason why i chose all
43:07the ball to sponsor my fastpitch around
43:09that’s easy i love books and audible is
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43:46get inspired and listen up going over to
43:49Mitchell chatroulette.com / audible so
43:53you know I read a lot of books i’m sure
43:55you do as well on kid can you tell us a
43:58book that that has really you know
44:01inspired you or motivated you in
44:03business family your life that you think
44:05other people would gain something from
44:07yeah so for me the alchemist by paulo
44:11coelho always comes to mind is one of my
44:14favorite books because it is something
44:16that you can relate to business that
44:18really more so the journey of of life
44:20and you know just as a quick synopsis
44:22the general idea of of the book was you
44:25know this individual he goes on a
44:26journey to try and find a treasure
44:28across across the land right growing
44:30across the desert and that’s his whole
44:33motivation he wants it to change the
44:35life he has a shepherd you know on a
44:38farm to be more of this luxurious life
44:41and become written and
44:42ms and whatnot he goes on this journey
44:44and when he realized that the end of the
44:46journey is it actually bring some
44:47directly back to where he was before and
44:49its really kind of that the sentiment is
44:52it’s not necessary about where you get
44:54it’s about how you get there and the
44:55experience doing that so i was trying to
44:58keep that in mind as far as when I’m
45:00when I’m you know doing the work for
45:02Stratis labs i do certainly want this to
45:06be an innovation that impacts the lives
45:08of millions of people across the world
45:10and helps improve you know the quality
45:12of life for people who have asthma but
45:15it’s really about the journey it’s
45:16really about how you know how I go about
45:18doing this and what I’ve learned from it
45:20and hopefully what I can help people
45:22with even if it doesn’t get to the place
45:24that I wanted to be so yeah that’s
45:26certainly a book that always comes to
45:27mind
45:28water water three things that you want
45:30people to sort of take away from from
45:33today’s show the the interview that
45:35we’re having right now that you know
45:37that will resonate with them when they
45:39when they come out of the show
45:41the first one is is really don’t be
45:47afraid to ask questions um you know it
45:51even if you’re a new entrepreneur even
45:53if you don’t have a great idea
45:55just ask people just just talk to people
45:58about your idea don’t be afraid I think
46:00a lot of times you’ll get caught up in
46:02you know signing NBA’s and you know
46:05being really secretive about what
46:06they’re doing but nobody will ever know
46:08what you’re doing unless you talk to
46:10them about it and and your idea will
46:12probably get better and stronger if you
46:14if you do talk to people who have
46:15experiences that you don’t have
46:18I think that’s one you have a habit
46:20number two number two is focus on who
46:24you’re working with
46:26so a lot of people you know they want to
46:28work with their friends and you know
46:30that I was actually talking to my friend
46:32yesterday he said all i want to do they
46:33may I want to make a lot of money and I
46:35want to work on my friends doing it and
46:37my first thought was you probably don’t
46:39want to do that because you’re probably
46:41never going to be friends that person
46:42again if you start working with them so
46:44be really careful about who you work
46:46with and who you’re forming a team
46:48around and make sure that you have
46:51aligning passions and although they have
46:52they might have to
46:54technology or the technological skill
46:56set that you need
46:58they might not aligned with with how
46:59you’re thinking so really focus on the
47:02person behind the the skill set and your
47:05third i just have fun
47:08I i I’ve had just the most fun doing
47:11this this entire project i still call it
47:14project although it’s now been a company
47:16you got to look back and I realize that
47:18it’s a lot of fun but it’s a really
47:20exciting journey it will be certainly
47:23risky to do it but there are ways to do
47:25it smart so you don’t have to give
47:27everything up to start but definitely
47:29have fun you know it’s interesting and
47:31button by the way very very good advice
47:34and I know that everybody out there is
47:36listening up to what you just said
47:38because there’s a there’s a lot of
47:39wisdom and a lot of value that that was
47:41just provided by you to the audience and
47:44so we want to thank you for that you
47:46know we work with a number of sponsors
47:47that that’s why I asked you know in
47:50terms of have you have you incorporated
47:51so right now you you obviously have
47:54other co-founders have you incorporated
47:56this business is it is a community can
47:58you tell us a little bit about that yet
48:00so we have incorporated we wear a LLC
48:03and in the state of Delaware but we
48:05operate out of Pennsylvania and as we’re
48:07in one of the incubator spaces up a
48:09temple they have a small business
48:10development center so we we do some
48:12co-working space out of temple yet when
48:14LLC and dollar and and so the reason
48:17being is that I know that there’s a lot
48:19of people in the audience who want to
48:21learn more about llc’s as corporation c
48:24corporations nonprofits you know
48:26starting them up what what’s right for
48:28them and you know I went to your website
48:30we’re going to ask how we can obviously
48:31stay in contact with you in terms of you
48:34know what you need to focus on right now
48:36might not be developing a website and
48:39and sort of you know working on a blog
48:42and and articles and newsletters but
48:44there’s a lot of people that obviously
48:46need that type of help have you have you
48:48thought about that
48:49yeah so we have we certainly thought
48:52about it and we have some resources
48:53there so and i’m sure if you’ve seen the
48:56website you certainly see that it’s it’s
48:59simple and it for us it works for now
49:02because we’re not quite selling the
49:04product yet we’re not quite we’re not a
49:06service on
49:07line yet really so for us it works okay
49:11i have you have you ever heard of a
49:12company called snappa so SN Appa I
49:16actually was on the on the radio blog
49:20earlier today and i was listening to
49:22that one so I haven’t looked into them
49:24yet but i did hear about them through
49:25show
49:26yeah we’ll know that that’s great so I i
49:28mean III actually partnered up with snap
49:31with with Christopher gamer who is one
49:33of the cofounders of snap and so the
49:36reason being is that a lot of our
49:39audience members need to not only create
49:42and start a website but they want to
49:45obviously have graphics that are not
49:48only aesthetically pleasing and
49:50beautiful but that are easy so that they
49:52don’t have to basically hire a graphic
49:55designer I mean obviously I’m an
49:57on-ground I’m not a designer and and i
50:01need i need help and I need something
50:04that’s going to allow me to save time
50:06and yes gonna have pre-made templates
50:08for me for my for my blog for my you
50:11know for my ads for my articles so again
50:14it’s it’s napping and so if people go
50:16over to Mitchell chatter dot-com / snap
50:19sna PPA they can for free they can they
50:24can start up and and of course there’s
50:25paid plans there as well but i recommend
50:28that people go check it out and then
50:30also you know the show is on itunes it’s
50:34on google play it’s on stitcher it’s on
50:37tunein radio and if people go over to
50:41Mitchell chatter dot-com / itunes they
50:45can actually leave not only a review but
50:48a written review and it takes about two
50:49minutes it’s very helpful and it allows
50:52people to to basically find us and it
50:55allows other people in the audience to
50:57find us as well I mean you know I i
50:59Nicholas I’d really like to thank you so
51:01very much for being on the show this has
51:03been this has been terrific and we just
51:05want to thank you so much
51:07we look forward to seeing the progress
51:09that you’re going to be making this
51:10important solution for for asthma yeah
51:12thanks again mr. i really appreciate the
51:14time and and always happy to talk about
51:16being an entrepreneur and especially
51:17about
51:18so are our work here Travis left so it’s
51:20really exciting so thanks how are the
51:22opportunity
51:23appreciate ya know most definitely how
51:24can people then keep in touch and look
51:27at the progress that you’re making sure
51:29so if you want to go to ww stratus labs
51:32dotnet that’s our website out right now
51:34we have just a splash page with the
51:37product looks like if you want a little
51:38bit more information about that we also
51:40have information about the team the
51:42other folks that I work with and then we
51:44actually have a block as well so I do
51:46some blood work to where i talk about
51:48topics and healthcare specifically and
51:50also things that are related to asthma
51:52management to help people who also have
51:54asked myself after interested feel free
51:56w stratus lab dotnet so that’s the easy
52:00sweetie and contact Nicholas it’s been a
52:02blast thanks again we really appreciate
52:04it and then until next show
52:06take care everyone in closing let me ask
52:09for my listeners help first please
52:12subscribe to my email list at Mitchell
52:14Chad row.com / sign up you will get all
52:18the full interview transcripts my ebook
52:2130 tools to start up where I talk about
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52:39[Music]
52:46baguette Mitchell chatter dot cotton /
52:53signup help me boost the rankings of the
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53:09on how to do this you can find that back
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53:15thank you so much for subscribing to my
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53:19review on iTunes until next time
The post Healthcare Wearable Technology Solutions Asthma Management Nick Delmonico Strados Labs Show 031 was first published on mitchellchadrow.com
