A trio of Mercer Island High School (MIHS) juniors and their friend brainstormed away, but the boys couldn’t initially wrap their heads around an idea to pursue for a young entrepreneurs competition.
As Islander wrestler Jordan Benitez discussed the situation with his mom, she suggested the boys focus on concussions because Jordan was familiar with them through his grappling activities.
Since he had sustained multiple concussions over the years, Benitez was on board with his mom’s advice and brought the proposal back to his group, which also consists of fellow Islanders Rohan Patel and Arman Najafian and Issaquah High School freshman Abhi Kothapalli.
The others also concurred with Benitez’s mom and soon named their startup BIPS (Brain Impact Protection Services) and were off and running with their Smart Mouthguard product to pitch in the TiE Young Entrepreneurs (TYE) Seattle competition. The global initiative aims to “inspire, challenge, and empower high school students to become the next generation of entrepreneurs and business leaders,” reads its website.
They envision their mouthguard featuring a sensor placed in front of an athlete’s teeth that can detect the impact of a concussion without having to get a CT scan, said Najafian, adding that they plan to pair the product with an app.
“What we’re planning to do is have a software that actually in real-time relays the information back to a coach or an athletic director on the sidelines,” he said.
Benitez further explained the benefits that the mouthguard would bring into the athletics safety realm.
“(We) wanted to create something that would be beneficial for all student athletes just so that you can eliminate the human element of concussions,” said Benitez, regarding a player approaching an athletic trainer and informing them of a possible concussion. “We just want to do what we can to protect young athletes and just athletes in general from having to deal with the long-term effects of these concussions.”
Patel and Kothupalli are engaging in some solid behind-the-scenes work with software development, pitches, visuals and compiling data from surveys sent out to student athletes, parents and coaches.
BIPS’s real-world application is one of the startup’s strengths, said Patel, adding that they’ve received a virtual nod of approval from survey participants.
“They all want to see it in their sport, especially those that play contact sports like football, wrestling, even soccer, basketball. So we have a pretty positive reaction from those athletes as well as their parents who just want to see their kid be safe,” said Patel, who plays baseball and football.
On the competition front, BIPS and other startups received $400 to create a pitch, which everyone put forth during a mock presentation on April 26. BIPS garnered positive feedback at that event and advanced to the semifinals on May 21-22 at Microsoft, with the finals awaiting on May 23 at Bellevue City Hall. A local global qualifier will compete for prize money.
Najafian, who’s also a wrestler, feels they have the capabilities to turn BIPS into a business venture.
“We’re still students, but obviously we have the motivation. We’re learning every day about this product, about even the head, the concussions, how they work, every day,” he said.
For more information, visit: https://seattle.tie.org/tye/
Courtesy graphic
