Last November 12, WTIA held its 2015 Fall First Look Forum at Whatcom Community College in Bellingham, Washington. Ten finalists participated in the event and made their pitches to an audience of investors. I got the opportunity to talk to Andrea Palmer, CEO and founder of Awake Labs. She and her team won first place in the competition and they took home the grand prize of $10,000.

Awake Labs aim to improve the quality of life for children living with autism by reducing anxiety before it causes meltdowns. The company started as a school project for an Entrepreneurship class at the University of British Columbia. Palmer and her team, composed of engineering and business students, wanted to incorporate social impact into their project and upon research, they saw an opportunity to help. They learned that people who are nonverbal tend to be more anxious.

This led to the development of Reveal, a wearable device that “predicts anxiety with children to prevent meltdowns.”  It senses heightened anxiety levels using state of the art sensors, notifies the parent, teacher, caregiver or therapist of the situation, and prevents meltdowns because notified parents or caregivers can apply the necessary calm-down routine to reduce anxiety.

FIRST LOOK FORUM

Palmer and her team learned about First Look Forum when a colleague at  entrepreneurship@UBC, a co-working space where they work at, informed them of the event. Their team saw this as an opportunity to pitch their idea and raise funding. When I asked Andrea how her experience was, she said, “It was great!”

She further added, “[t]he whole structure of the competition was good in preparing us for the final day on the 12th and beyond.” Coaches, like Chris Jacobs, and advisors asked them “the toughest questions” to help them solidify their assumptions and respond with valid counter-arguments. They also helped them develop their presentations and pitches.

Aside from the tangible gains, Palmer shared her key learnings from the competition. First, there will be people that are willing to help you and share your ideas to their network. In Awake Labs’ case, people might not even have the ties to autism and yet, are willing to share this within their circles and advocate for the company’s progress. Second, the companies that participated were so diverse, well-structured and made impressive pitches. These companies are helping to develop an entrepreneurial ecosystem and because of this, the state of technology entrepreneurship in the future is promising.

BEYOND FIRST LOOK FORUM

With the prize money, Awake Labs will invest in hardware to develop their prototype. Palmer will be working remotely from Santiago, Chile for 3 months where she will take part at The S Factory, a pre-accelerator program for female-led startups. Their long-term goal is to develop similar products to provide quantified care to other vulnerable populations such as improving dementia care and reducing clinical stress anxiety in school-aged children.

When asked her for an advice for future entrepreneurs and for those who seeks to participate at WTIA’s First Look Forum, she said, “do it!” It might be a scary experience but do it nonetheless. Also, take advantage of the mentors and coaches’ support and networks, as they can be your greatest advocates. I personally look forward learning how Awake Labs will make an impact in improving medical care in the future and eventually, help the people that seek care the most.