Bite by Byte : One founder's quest to reinvent how we eat ft. Vishal Modi from Spoonified | Ep.23

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This is the Startup Still Safe podcast.
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Hope you enjoy this episode.
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Well everyone, thanks for joining us from better where you Are.
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We're back with a brand new episode of Startups Still Say.
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I'm delighted to bring to you Vishall Mody from Spoonify today.
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Mishell and I have been talking for the last few
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weeks about some amazing work he's been doing in trying
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to use AI in the food industry, help kids, help
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everyone with nutrition. I'm sure Mishall is going to talk
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more about it and educate us on what he's doing there.
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But Vishall, thanks so much for taking the time on
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a Saturday and joining us here on Startups Still Say.
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Welcome absolutely, Anthony, thank you very much for having me
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here today.
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Good morning everyone, Vishall Mody. I'm the founder of Sponified,
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and again my journey is like I'm an engine by nature,
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and then I did my schooling here as an immigrant,
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and during that phase I encountered this problem for which
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I was suffered through multiple years before I had the
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courage to even get up and do something about it.
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And here I am today sharing with Anthony that story
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behind what got me started on my startup Sponify. So
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I'm glad, glad to be here today.
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Great, Michelle, So let's go back a little bit, right.
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You said that you're an immigrant much like I am.
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You know, you came here to study, and if I
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know your background, right, you went to B school, you
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obviously did your master's here and then I mean, this
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is your first venture, so to speak. Right, you were
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in big tech or you know, the hardware industry for
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a early long time before you choose to say, okay,
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I have the courage to come do this on my own.
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So I mean, can you walk us through a little
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bit of that journey few will as to you know,
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what actually prompted you to even uh you know, get
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that will power to get started with Quonified.
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Yeah. Absolutely.
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And so this this problem I mean that we were
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talking about today that I went through was a weight right,
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weight gain and the journey through weight management, which was
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just similar to what a lot other people kind of
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go through where and so I always have been on
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the heavier side throughout my childhood and to an extent
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where I have been bullied because of my weight, and
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and those cars were still kind of somewhere within me
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and bothering me. And it was during that phase of
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coming to the States, adapting to this new lifestyle, new
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you know food that that we get here, and and
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the problem seems to kind of have excavated itself to
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a point where in COVID it got to got really worse.
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I mean, I gained a lot of.
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Weight and and that is when I kind of got
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up and said I have to do something about it.
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And like many other people, you know, I joined a
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die program and that is when it struck me. And
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the first thing that I was told is, hey, here's
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your meal plan, you know, and here's what you.
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Should be eating.
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And I said, okay, And I asked the dietition. I'm like,
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how will I be able to manage or how should
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I track it?
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I'm like, given my.
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Engineering background and business background, it's always about KPIs and
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monitoring the progress. And the answer was like, you need
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to monitor your you need to measure your food, then
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cook it and eat it. And that thing did not
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jive with me at all. And I fell off the
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program on the fourth day out of a twelve week program.
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And it was that moment when I realized, you know,
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I worked in tech industry Motorola, seeing the evolution of
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the industry from a technology standpoint, this whole smartphone evolution
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and how smartphone has pendited.
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It lives and life easy.
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So that's when I decided to do something about like
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can can there be smart utensils that can do this
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job for me? Like measure my food and eat and
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track the nutritional intake and imagine that data is available
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to my daddition. And so that's how I got started,
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literally just putting things on a piece of paper, and
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you know, like it took me two years before I
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got the courage to even formed the company, but that's
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how the journey started.
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Yeah, that's fascinating, right, I Mean a lot of founders
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go through this personal pain before it hit hits you
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really hard, and you try to do I'm so glad
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you're doing something about it. But to your point on
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the weight loss programs that are in every nuke and corner,
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to you taking a different approach to this, what made
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you think that you know, you actually needed a different
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perspective and the fact that okay, I mean you start
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with how you actually intake your food, right, I mean,
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so did you when did that kind of hit you
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to say, Okay, I mean it's not about really the
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calories or most of those weight programs say oh, so
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much protein and so much carbohydrates and so much of
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this and so much of that to versus your approach,
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which is different with sponify.
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So that I think started when I joined this diet program, right,
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and I started tracking myself, Like on the second day,
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I measured like I was spending roughly about ten to
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fifteen minutes just like getting the food ready, measuring it
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before cooking it, right, And so I on the first
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day or the second day, I spent literally about thirty
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thirty five minutes just for measuring that food before I
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could coo, get it, eat it.
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I'm not even counting that time.
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And as I noticed this problem, I felt that this
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is like in today's day and age, spending thirty five
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minutes to do something that has already been automated in
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a lot of different ways in other industries, why cannot
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be adopted in the industry. And so that got me started,
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and past that, I started talking to a lot of
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people like you know who I met across in different
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forums who were going through the same weight loss journeys,
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and I realized that this indeed was a common problem.
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You know, the journey itself had so much friction built
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into it from the very beginning that people lose motivation
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to do it. Like imagine spending thirty five minutes every
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single day to keep doing it, and you have to
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do it for six months before you see the result.
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So that is something that struck chord with me and
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and got me started. And the other thing I realized
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I have used multiple apps, and I realized that I
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was always estimating the food and which was tied to
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this original problem of measuring right.
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So that that's how I got started on this contry.
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Got it. So let's talk about the concept itself, right, Michelle,
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So what does you know your device do differently? I mean,
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obviously you mentioned yourself. There are so many apps, you know,
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where do you put it on a plate, you take
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a picture, it gives you the numbers, I mean, but
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most of them are very approximate, right, I mean it's
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not very accurate. I mean it's not very spot on.
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I mean, so with a different approach with spoonified with
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a hardware approach to it, bringing in your engineering background,
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and of course you're the pain point that you face.
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I mean, what did you want to do and have
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you gotten too a point with spoonified to where you
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wanted it to be?
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So where we differentially There are great solutions a little
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bit out there today. But what if you observe there
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are always a degree apart from your food and your mouth.
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Where spoonifyed comes in is we priached that gap between
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your plate and your mouth. So think of it this
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way that you're solving that mild zero problem when it
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comes to the nutrition racking journey. So what we have
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built there is an intelligent and fork that not only
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identifies the food that you eat, but also tracks every
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single bite that goes into your mouth.
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And what that allows us to.
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Do is precisely compute the amount of food that you're
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consuming in a meal, and then we use that data
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to compute precisely your nuditional.
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Intake and we just don't end there.
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And one of the gaps that we see in the industry,
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and it's I think a limitation of existing solutions is
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that they do not provide insights or any interventional guidance
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when it comes to eating a lot of it. When
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it comes to nutation tracking and oral health goes to
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how you eat and are you doing it for the
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right amount of time? Are you eating too much or
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eating too fast? So our utensils allow you to also
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track the speed of eating, how much are you scooping
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and putting in your mouth every single bite, and you
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provide real time alerts, like through haptic feedback. So imagine
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that you are eating and the spoon would know that
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Pashal eats like x.
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Three scoops a minute.
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But obviously, like anybody else, there are stressful situations where
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I end up eating too fast. I'm eating six scoops
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a minute, and that's unhealthy. Yeah, and so that's where
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we Our technology allows us to provide those real time
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interventional alerts to alert the user and say slow down,
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you are.
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Mindlessly eating at this point.
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And so that our overall goal is to help people
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cultivate sustainable and mindful eating habits.
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So and that's what keeps us driving to develop these features.
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Got it, Got it? That's that's a really innovative way
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to look at it. So you said a few things,
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and we'll double click on that. You said, haptic feedback,
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you said, it can measure the speed at which you're eating.
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It can also guess what you're eating, and you know,
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based on that, do the math on the calories and
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the intake as well. So what so, let's maybe go
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under the hood a little bit, right, I mean, sod
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your background in say the Motorolas of the world and
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the other high tech companies kind of help you to
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build it, because there's a lot going on in a
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spoon or a fork itself in terms of technology, right,
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So how did you actually go about innovating or even
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putting that hardware together? Because I mean a spoon's you know,
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form size, and all of that needs to be out
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of certain size, right, I mean, you can't make a
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big spoon. I mean that's not even a starter. So
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you've got to compact everything into that size. Obviously, it
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needs to look like a spoon. At the end of
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the day, there's a lot that need to be put
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in there. So how is that journey to innovate from
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obviously having a vision to putting all that into that
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spoon or fork?
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Yeah, Anthony, I attribute a lot of it to my
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experience in the tech world right from the old Motorola days,
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and you know, there's all always something that I always
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wanted to kind of be the entrepreneurship world, and that
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was always a visions as one of the career goals.
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So that and subconsciously.
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That being the end goal, I navigated my career in
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a way that allowed me to touch all aspects of
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product development and go to market front, right from the
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technical aspect to how the product to launch the product,
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what features to put in the product from a software
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and hardware standpoint, to the program management aspect of the
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tactical aspect of launching the product in the market, do
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the strategic aspect of like what is the market need
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and how do you design a product thats fits those needs?
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So that was my at a high level, my journey
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at Morola, and I complimented that with my journey at Lenovo,
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where I managed the overall business for the tablet business
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unit or indoor tablets, and that kind of allowed me
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to learn the business aspect of from an operational standpoint,
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from a finance standpoint. So over the course of like
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you know, seventeen years that I spent in this secondustry,
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I pretty much touched every aspect of what it takes to.
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Like understand a business need or market need.
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Develop a product, launch the product, and manage the financials
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and the operational aspect of that business. And I think
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when I struck this problem within me, I somewhere knew
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that this is me.
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And one thing that.
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Always struck with me is this quote from this book
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the Monko sold the Ferrari is we are all here
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for a special reason. And to me, Jack was a
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pivoting point. I'm like, this is it this? I need
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to do something about it. And you know, when we
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did market research and realize this is a common problem
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for a lot of people, and that's what I was
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to do it. So my career is what helped me
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see this in real time at Modrol and Lenovo, and
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I applied that what we're.
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Doing today here.
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That is great. So you said we did market research,
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so Michelle is not a one man army here. So
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home have you surrounded yourself with to put all this together?
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At Stone A Side?
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Yeah? So this this journey.
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So I bootstrapped this journey and like many other founders
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do so obviously it comes with its own set of challenges,
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primarily when it comes to budgets, right, so you're you're
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always trying to balance the product development and at the
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same time valid it if there is a market need.
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And that's when I had to kind of be resourceful
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in the sense try to find those resources to validate
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the problem. So I initially started with just you know,
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cold calling whereous dietitians, clinicians, positions, anybody who I could
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find in this field of like nutrition tracking. I talked
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to them, but I quickly realized that, you know, that
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was not going to be sufficient. I need a team,
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and that's when I started like like looking at what
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other resources available out there today. There were definitely survey tools,
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but they were like priced pretty like the fty cost
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that comes along with it, and I needed somebody that
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have more intimate conversations with people to do it. So
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I needed a team, and that's when I started looking at,
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you know, the local universities like students, graduate students, and
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I talked to a few of them, and ultimately that
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led me to finding out a couple of programs at
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the University of Texas at Dallas. So it started with
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working with a professor determining a project for a market
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research course and that's how we started. We had a
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team of six or seven students to our first initial
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survey and we were able to reach out to two
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hundred plus people and our surveys, but again surveys, we
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all know, come take that information with a grain of salt.
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So we connected second surveys and.
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Now I'm also part of this program at Innovation at
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Work at the University of Texas at Dallas, where we
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are actually setting people in the field, Like I have
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a team of around five or six students graduate students
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who are actually working on behalf of Spoonify, talking to
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B to B partners on a daily basis and uncovering
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insights that I alone wouldn't have been able to do.
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Cut it. It's always great to tap into universities in academia, right,
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I mean, the kind of the mindset is totally different
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and the reach that you get is always awesome. So
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so glad that you were able to do it right
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in your backyard as well.
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And so the other thing Anthony in that case was
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also as I engage with these students, I believe that
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there was it was good complimentary like you know, efflings,
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in the sense.
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These students were hungry to learn.
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I mean in the certain times that we are living
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in and a lot of the students that I work
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with international students right who are like trying to build
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their career in the United States, and having myself been
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in their shoes twenty years ago, I understood their struggles
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and so for me, what I advised was this was
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also an opportunity for me to help them work on
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a real world.
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Business problem, gain those skills.
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And one of the things I always tried to do
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is push themselves, show them the vision and give them
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the freedom to do it, which allows them to not
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only be creative, but also experiment with things. And what
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I have learned is once they complete the program, they
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they they come with the whole They have a whole
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different perspective. They have learned a lot of things. They
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have learned what it takes to just you know, cold
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call somebody and talk to them, talk to a business partner,
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see of a small business, which is something that they
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wouldn't have been able to do in a class project.
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So that's where I believe that this is has also
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allowed me to give back, you know, to the community
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and help these students build a robust career in the
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United States.
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And that is always so gratifying, right to give back,
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I mean, especially to your point. I mean, we know
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the struggles. We've been through that struggle, and when we
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see somebody else go through it, it's it's so gratifying.
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Kind of agree. More so, let's moving forward a little
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bit to where you are, right. So, you you shifted careers,
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you became an entrepreneur, you went through the problem yourself,
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you started spoonified, and you've obviously built the spoon, right,
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do you have a name for the spoon we.
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I mean, so again, we realized that Spotify does, in
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some sort and fashion kind of limit the scope because
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we the journey started looking at the ecosystem of utensils.
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We realized that absolutely, you know, spoon and folks are
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the most commonly used utensil in any Gaven culture. So
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that is why we've picked and started with that.
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But that's it.
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We already are working on a plate. We already are
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working on a cup that would complement the existing portfolio
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of spoons and force that we have.
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So that said, where were today is.
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To answer your question, we have not kind of locked
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down our brand name per se, but we have thought
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about a few and are already filing trademarks against those.
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So once the timing is right, we'll obviously launch it
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in the market and announce it perfectly. But yeah, so
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that's the vision to have an ecosystem and utensils that
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can talk to each other and provide holistic nutritional insights
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to not only the user but also to their deinicians
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in world.
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Got it? Got it? Yeah, that makes sense. Let's talk
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a little bit about how things are going right. I mean,
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we obviously got the spoon, you're working with the universities.
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There's a bunch of folks in the ecosystem, which you
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told me in the Dallas area that's kind of trying
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it out as well. So what's the early results been.
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I mean, are you happy with what the spoon itself
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is doing and what's the reaction from those who are
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using stone?
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Yeah, so, the the early reactions and the feedback that
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we have got are super encouraged. We still have a
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little bit of work to do on the technical side,
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but we have shown our initial concept and demos to
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various B two B partners planning from healthcare institutions to clinicians, physicians,
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The chronologists cardiologists, and the feedback that we've got is, yes,
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we are solving a problem that is common across all
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of these you know industries where nutrition tracking is key
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to obtaining the health outcome or directly is correlated to
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the health outcome in a particular scenario.
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So those feedback have been super helpful.
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We have conducted multiple meetings with companies in the cardio
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metabolic space and we continue to solicit their feedback. So
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at this point we are pretty much have locked down
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on our MVP hardware, our MVP firmware, and plan to
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kind of start conducting our clinical trials as well user
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trials in the month of like April is.
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What you're targeting right now.
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But the obviously it's an aggressive goal is to kind
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of do a soft launch around a Q three timeframe
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of twenty twenty five.
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So that's what we're aiming to it.
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Yeah, okay, so let's talk a little bit about yourself
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visual MODI right. I mean, so you were in big tech.
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I'm assuming you know obviously, like people say, it's no
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longer a stable job anymore with all the layoffs and everything,
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But I mean you had people to surround yourself with
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you could have people to lean on, but I was
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often entrepreneurs say, man, it's a lonely, lonely space, right,
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I mean, are there are days where you're figuring out
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everything yourself? You know, you feel like you have absolutely
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no support. You're questioning yourself saying is this the right
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decision to do? So? How has that journey been for
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you from the moment you started this too? And then
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where do you take inspiration from to keep going at this?
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Because I mean, you know the other thing is, like
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you said, I mean you you've bootstrapped it, right, I
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mean you've not taken money from anybody else to invest.
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I mean, obviously that might be part of your roadmap,
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but just talk about vishal Modi as a founder. You know,
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what you've learned through this journey and anything you can share.
399
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Yeah. Absolutely.
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If I look at myself, I mean Anthony, I like,
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I think of myself in this as the version two
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of vishalbody. Right, the version one of vishal Modi was
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somebody who was like completely risk overse you know, not
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willing to take any risk, who had a very defined
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path in which he wants to pursue things, and never
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like had the courage to go outside of those set
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boundaries or challenge himself. And I think my pivoting point
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was again that like all through that journey, like multiple failures,
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you know, and I, in fact I had a startup
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or at least a startup idea, I would say, in
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back in twenty eleven around smartphone addiction because I was
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a victim of it, and you're talking twenty eleven when
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smartphones were not even that prevalent, right, But so again
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developed an app all the good stuff, and then I
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came across somebody who I was wanted to work with,
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and that person was an expert and was writing a
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book on Facebook addiction, and as things progressed, she was
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willing to partner. Where it got stuck was the contract
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negotiations and how to set the financials, etc. And having
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no knowledge at that point of time and how to
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do business.
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Was things just stopped.
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And that thing still haunts me till date, right, And
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so that those failures were a period of time kind
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of gave me a boost or a courage to say,
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do something about this, which led me to my MBA
427
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and obviously the pandemic with my own weight loss journey,
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gave me that courage and you know, to to pursue this,
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and I would say, yes, it's it's been a lonely
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journey in this entrepreneurial world, especially when you're bootstrapping.
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So you but.
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What and one thing I'll tell you, Anthony, is is
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in the last two years, one thing if I have learned, uh,
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is how to better manage my emotions.
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It's a roller coaster ride more values than peaks, to
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be honest. But what keeps me going are those positive conversations.
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A one positive conversation a day, and it need not
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be about the product. It need not be about somebody
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telling me that you have a great idea, a great product.
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It could be just you know, a conversation in the hallway,
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in the off in the in this co working space
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where we are, or it could be a phone call
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with a friend, could be a mentor. But then one
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positive conversation keeps the momentum going. And and that is
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what it all out is, you know, keep going every
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single day no matter what.
447
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Keep swimming.
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As my one of my previous bosses used to call,
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just keep swimming, you know, and there will be and
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make sure that you're in the right swimmling, and and
451
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that is I think the key to just keep moving forward.
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I still have a long way to go. I believe
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I'm still early. But that's one thing I'd like to
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share is just keep plugging in. It's it's not an
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easier out, but if you if you are in it,
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just make sure you keep swimming and you you will
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reach your destination.
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Yeah. Good advice. Keep swimming. I mean that applies not
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just for an entrepreneurial journey. I mean it's it's full
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of just life in general. I guess, so beautiful advice.
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So what's what's next with Spoonified? I mean, I know
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you said you're not gonna limit yourself just with the
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spoons pretty much anything that you can put on the
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table in taking, you know, food and beverages with So
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just talk about your vision for the company and where
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all do you see your range of products if you
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will being you.
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So we are looking at again and kind of building
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this ecosystem which involves not only expanding our portfolio to
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things beyond the org and the spoon, but just plate
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cupped or starting spoon. But one of the feedback or
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insights that we learned during our market research was like moms,
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moms of toddlers are always concerned about if their kids
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are getting enough nutrition, and so that has triggered like
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conversation that kids pickie eaters, you know, they have allergies.
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So is there a segment that we can serve through
477
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this technology that we have built, which has also like
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the team thought that, hey, can we have a smart
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lunch box you know that that we can kind of
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offer it to kids and that complements the utensils that
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are being used at home. So there's also there's this
482
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horizontal expansion of portfolio that we are thinking from a
483
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vertical like you know innovation from a product standpoint, we
484
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are looking at sensors like nir spectroscopy. What that allows
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us to do is provide not only more precision nutritional
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insights into the into the food that you're consuming, but
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also it can be tapped to determine the freshness of
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the food. Like imagine your spoon or fork to tell
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you that this group of Greek yogurt that you're eating
490
00:26:17.960 --> 00:26:22.119
has one point three grams of protein, or you're scooping
491
00:26:22.160 --> 00:26:24.559
something and it gives an indicator that you know the
492
00:26:24.599 --> 00:26:28.480
freshness of this. It's not a fresh food, there could
493
00:26:28.480 --> 00:26:31.000
be a lot of contamination in it, so.
494
00:26:31.319 --> 00:26:33.079
There's lots that we are looking at that.
495
00:26:33.160 --> 00:26:37.119
We also are working with the University of Texas Nanotechnology
496
00:26:37.119 --> 00:26:40.759
Institute to explore that further. So that's that's our vision
497
00:26:40.960 --> 00:26:43.599
is we want to in a way not only vertically
498
00:26:43.720 --> 00:26:46.920
in the existing product, but also expand our product portfolio
499
00:26:47.160 --> 00:26:51.799
and offer these tools, these utensils that people can use
500
00:26:52.599 --> 00:26:54.920
as part of their daily lives. And the beauty is
501
00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:57.200
that you know, it's a spoon and a fork and
502
00:26:57.640 --> 00:27:00.799
humans innately know how to use sput and forth. So
503
00:27:00.920 --> 00:27:03.759
learning curve that we have and what we have when
504
00:27:03.799 --> 00:27:06.319
we did some user trials, we give the products to
505
00:27:06.359 --> 00:27:08.400
be put in hand and people just knew how to
506
00:27:08.480 --> 00:27:08.720
use it.
507
00:27:08.759 --> 00:27:11.039
All that to do was just click the power product.
508
00:27:11.559 --> 00:27:15.039
So that that's hard in our industry, but that's that's
509
00:27:15.079 --> 00:27:17.799
where we want it to be, is have the entire
510
00:27:17.799 --> 00:27:19.680
intensively ecosystem be part of their life.
511
00:27:20.599 --> 00:27:23.240
Got it? Got it? Yeah, that's that makes total sense
512
00:27:23.559 --> 00:27:25.519
in terms of you know, how you're looking at it
513
00:27:25.680 --> 00:27:27.480
as they say, you have to look at this from
514
00:27:27.519 --> 00:27:31.160
their users perspective, which is super important. I mean, you
515
00:27:32.000 --> 00:27:34.640
wish all and your team can come up with whatever
516
00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:36.880
you like the smart box, but I mean, you know,
517
00:27:36.960 --> 00:27:38.960
you've got to take into account how the kids use it,
518
00:27:39.079 --> 00:27:41.400
how they actually use it in school. I mean, how
519
00:27:41.480 --> 00:27:44.680
much space space do they have? All that good stuff? Right?
520
00:27:44.960 --> 00:27:48.039
And and we already have got like ideas from as
521
00:27:48.079 --> 00:27:50.480
we talk to these potential consumers. We've talked about one
522
00:27:50.519 --> 00:27:53.920
hundred and twenty plus customers potential customers, I should say,
523
00:27:54.039 --> 00:27:56.839
and we have got ideas, right, and we have leveraged
524
00:27:56.839 --> 00:27:59.200
it to build our features in our backlog, Like we've
525
00:27:59.200 --> 00:28:03.119
got ideas about, hey, what if I want to carry
526
00:28:03.119 --> 00:28:04.720
this out in a restaurant?
527
00:28:04.839 --> 00:28:06.559
What do you do? Like can you have a case?
528
00:28:06.720 --> 00:28:09.240
And the analogy that was given is like an AirPod case,
529
00:28:09.319 --> 00:28:12.079
like it can not only charge, but I can it
530
00:28:12.119 --> 00:28:14.359
can I can carry it around? So that was one
531
00:28:14.440 --> 00:28:16.559
that we have it in our backlog. We want to
532
00:28:16.559 --> 00:28:18.960
build a case for it. The other one who was
533
00:28:19.000 --> 00:28:22.000
more about like what if I'm eating outside in restaurant,
534
00:28:22.079 --> 00:28:24.440
how can you kind of tell and you know I
535
00:28:24.440 --> 00:28:26.640
would still be able to kind of track my calories?
536
00:28:26.680 --> 00:28:29.880
How would you do it? So we have a feature
537
00:28:29.920 --> 00:28:34.920
associated to that. Obviously, we also have got requests like hey,
538
00:28:35.200 --> 00:28:38.680
what if I want to make the user stop eating
539
00:28:38.759 --> 00:28:44.039
completely and can you give and the user like shock
540
00:28:44.160 --> 00:28:46.119
and the spoon falls off from the ground. I'm like,
541
00:28:46.160 --> 00:28:52.039
that's two extreme. But we had to always think in
542
00:28:52.160 --> 00:28:55.920
terms of what the consumers are asking for, like what
543
00:28:56.000 --> 00:28:59.079
are their needs? How are they using it? That journey
544
00:28:59.119 --> 00:29:01.720
in itself has has given us so much insight that
545
00:29:01.880 --> 00:29:04.400
is driving not only a product roadmap, but a feature
546
00:29:04.480 --> 00:29:05.359
road Yeah.
547
00:29:05.519 --> 00:29:07.880
I mean, imagine something like an alarm in the house
548
00:29:07.920 --> 00:29:11.359
that says, Vishall's eating too much today. The fridge is locked,
549
00:29:11.400 --> 00:29:14.319
the pantry is locked, and everything is shut for the day. Right,
550
00:29:14.400 --> 00:29:15.680
you bad your calories.
551
00:29:16.839 --> 00:29:19.160
And one of the things that we do is we
552
00:29:19.319 --> 00:29:23.000
track like you're eating habits real time. So we have
553
00:29:23.079 --> 00:29:27.240
a user profile that is based on usda IS Dietary
554
00:29:27.279 --> 00:29:31.400
Recommended intake, which says that Vishaal being this demographic, he
555
00:29:31.440 --> 00:29:33.720
needs to have this much amount of carved protein cent
556
00:29:33.759 --> 00:29:38.119
flat and once you hit that, he gives you alert
557
00:29:38.240 --> 00:29:41.519
that hey, you have each a recommended threshold for this nutrition.
558
00:29:41.720 --> 00:29:43.039
Imagine extending that.
559
00:29:43.000 --> 00:29:47.359
To somebody who is on a product condition management plan
560
00:29:47.599 --> 00:29:51.319
for you know, let's say diabetes or weight loss, and
561
00:29:51.359 --> 00:29:56.680
in those scenarios, that profile is adjustable or can be modified,
562
00:29:56.839 --> 00:30:00.720
and once you reach that threshold, you are and that's
563
00:30:00.759 --> 00:30:03.599
a way to intervene and tell the users, like, this
564
00:30:03.839 --> 00:30:06.480
is what you should be eating. If you do, if
565
00:30:06.480 --> 00:30:09.839
you continue eating, yes, it's not going to help you.
566
00:30:09.920 --> 00:30:12.279
And at the same time, we also provide that insight
567
00:30:12.559 --> 00:30:17.000
to the dietition that you know, your patient essentially hit
568
00:30:17.079 --> 00:30:21.599
this threshold and he kept eating. And now it allows
569
00:30:21.640 --> 00:30:25.640
those clinicians to make better It gives them insights to
570
00:30:25.720 --> 00:30:29.200
curate a more personalized plans, if you will, and ultimately
571
00:30:29.640 --> 00:30:33.599
these patients reach their intended health outcome much more quickly
572
00:30:33.599 --> 00:30:36.000
and efficiently. And it goes back to this whole concept
573
00:30:36.039 --> 00:30:39.319
of like value based care, and we are intending to
574
00:30:39.319 --> 00:30:43.200
play a very small role to enable these institutions to
575
00:30:43.319 --> 00:30:44.200
deliver value.
576
00:30:43.960 --> 00:30:47.359
Based care beautiful. So let's speak a little bit about
577
00:30:47.400 --> 00:30:51.720
the technology itself, Michelle. I mean, you mentioned obviously demographic
578
00:30:52.960 --> 00:30:57.319
the database needs to be constantly updated because people are
579
00:30:57.480 --> 00:31:00.480
constantly innovating on what we eat and drink as well.
580
00:31:01.079 --> 00:31:04.839
And then i mean, you know, different types of diets
581
00:31:04.880 --> 00:31:09.599
for different people. I'm assuming there's a very strong AI
582
00:31:09.759 --> 00:31:13.440
layer that you've built into into this as well, or
583
00:31:13.519 --> 00:31:15.880
at least as part of your plan, maybe just give
584
00:31:15.920 --> 00:31:19.359
us a glimpse of you know, where and how you
585
00:31:19.480 --> 00:31:22.880
keep getting this you know, data sets, if you will,
586
00:31:23.279 --> 00:31:27.000
from I mean obviously you need to take different cultures,
587
00:31:27.079 --> 00:31:30.279
different cuisines, so many things to consider, right I mean,
588
00:31:30.279 --> 00:31:34.359
so you've got to constantly keep that updated. Keep in
589
00:31:34.400 --> 00:31:37.240
mind you know what you might like as well, right,
590
00:31:37.279 --> 00:31:40.799
I mean you might like, you know, Chinese food versus
591
00:31:40.839 --> 00:31:44.119
you know, like in something from you know what you're
592
00:31:44.119 --> 00:31:46.599
born and brought up in, so your case change or
593
00:31:46.640 --> 00:31:48.839
your forced to change as well. So there's a lot
594
00:31:48.920 --> 00:31:51.599
that goes in. So maybe talk a little bit about
595
00:31:51.960 --> 00:31:54.960
the technology layer that you've built and how you've kind
596
00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:57.160
of built that future proof as well.
597
00:31:57.240 --> 00:32:01.200
Absolutely, sore are like buse itself. I'll start from the
598
00:32:01.200 --> 00:32:04.720
hardware side. So we have the device itself with multiple
599
00:32:04.720 --> 00:32:09.200
different sensors, including camera that's built into the util soil itself.
600
00:32:09.359 --> 00:32:11.160
What that allows us to do is.
601
00:32:11.240 --> 00:32:14.559
Track plated as well as non plated foods, meaning like
602
00:32:14.640 --> 00:32:17.599
barcoded foods or prepackaged foods, if you will. We use
603
00:32:17.680 --> 00:32:21.480
that image to essentially recognize what food item it is.
604
00:32:21.599 --> 00:32:25.799
And today the database that we have tracks and it's
605
00:32:25.799 --> 00:32:28.640
a third party database that we use to track all
606
00:32:28.640 --> 00:32:31.920
these different food items. We track up to five, like
607
00:32:31.960 --> 00:32:34.440
I think around a million or two different food items,
608
00:32:34.440 --> 00:32:38.440
including prepackaged foods. So once the food is identified, we
609
00:32:39.039 --> 00:32:41.799
are then have various different sensors that allows us to
610
00:32:41.880 --> 00:32:46.039
track your hand movements and then determine precisely if the
611
00:32:46.079 --> 00:32:49.000
food is actually going in your mouth. So that's kind
612
00:32:49.039 --> 00:32:52.920
of the you know, the hardware or secret sauce that
613
00:32:53.079 --> 00:32:56.759
within the hardware on how we like your eating habits
614
00:32:56.759 --> 00:33:00.319
and eating patterns, eating speed, the weight of the scoop
615
00:33:00.359 --> 00:33:01.279
that's going in your mouth.
616
00:33:01.799 --> 00:33:03.920
And then we have a companion app that we are built.
617
00:33:04.680 --> 00:33:07.200
We are using reactnative to allow us to target both
618
00:33:07.319 --> 00:33:10.119
Android and iOS at the same time, and that app
619
00:33:10.400 --> 00:33:13.240
kind of calibrates, it has your profile, It calibrates and
620
00:33:13.279 --> 00:33:18.519
communicates our beautio protocol in real time to determine the
621
00:33:18.880 --> 00:33:22.599
eating you know, patterns, eating speeds and keeps a record
622
00:33:22.599 --> 00:33:25.599
of it. And that we use AWS as our infrastructure
623
00:33:26.480 --> 00:33:30.279
so it can then it's also the reacnative also gives
624
00:33:30.319 --> 00:33:32.799
us the advantage of having a web app which can
625
00:33:32.839 --> 00:33:36.160
then be accepted to like clinicians or additions.
626
00:33:35.680 --> 00:33:38.039
To basically cross platform.
627
00:33:38.000 --> 00:33:41.599
Platform Sadly, one of the things that we also are
628
00:33:41.640 --> 00:33:44.720
looking at and realize as part of this journey is
629
00:33:44.759 --> 00:33:49.160
that this nutrition tracking being such an intimate journey, people
630
00:33:49.279 --> 00:33:53.400
always like, you know, patients perspective is to be handholded
631
00:33:53.440 --> 00:33:56.640
in this journey. They like to the dieticians all the
632
00:33:56.680 --> 00:34:00.599
time or get their feedback, get that assertation from that
633
00:34:00.759 --> 00:34:03.640
what I'm eating is correct, And that's that's a gap
634
00:34:03.680 --> 00:34:06.480
in the industry because post COVID, what we have seen
635
00:34:06.720 --> 00:34:09.440
is rise in number of people asking for that tition
636
00:34:09.559 --> 00:34:12.800
intuition services and there's only a handful of them today.
637
00:34:12.920 --> 00:34:15.440
In US, the ratio of a patient to adaptition is
638
00:34:15.480 --> 00:34:19.400
one to seventy five and that's that's not a healthy ratio.
639
00:34:20.199 --> 00:34:22.239
So what we are trying to or one of the
640
00:34:22.280 --> 00:34:23.039
features in our.
641
00:34:22.920 --> 00:34:27.400
App is an on demand nutritional advisor that is your companion.
642
00:34:28.159 --> 00:34:29.800
You can ask any questions.
643
00:34:29.920 --> 00:34:34.440
And what makes it different is we utilize your personalized
644
00:34:34.480 --> 00:34:38.719
eating insights, your nutrition intakes for the past however months
645
00:34:38.719 --> 00:34:41.960
that you've been using it to give you recommendations on
646
00:34:42.000 --> 00:34:44.159
what type of food that you should eat. So think
647
00:34:44.199 --> 00:34:46.360
of it this way. If I'm asking for a recipe
648
00:34:46.760 --> 00:34:52.719
that involves you know, something carb related then, but because
649
00:34:52.840 --> 00:34:55.280
I know that in the last six months have not
650
00:34:55.480 --> 00:34:58.480
been getting enough amount of calcium, the recipe that it
651
00:34:58.480 --> 00:35:02.840
would recommend would obviously be something that has a potato
652
00:35:03.239 --> 00:35:06.239
or some sort of carbonate, but it also will include
653
00:35:06.239 --> 00:35:10.119
a component of high calcium. So that's where we personalize
654
00:35:10.199 --> 00:35:14.519
those outputs. So that's that's that's where we that's what
655
00:35:14.559 --> 00:35:17.960
we're working on right now to build that model and
656
00:35:18.039 --> 00:35:22.400
offer that personalized services and the app. So that that's
657
00:35:22.480 --> 00:35:22.960
kind of the heart.
658
00:35:23.039 --> 00:35:25.840
That is very nicely thought up. Yeah, that's very nicely
659
00:35:25.880 --> 00:35:28.639
thought out. I mean, you know, you're obviously taking into
660
00:35:28.719 --> 00:35:31.960
account what goes in the nutritional aspects of it. I mean,
661
00:35:32.000 --> 00:35:34.480
at the same time, you know, if you're a patient
662
00:35:34.679 --> 00:35:37.320
with something and your doctor needs to stay okay, I
663
00:35:37.320 --> 00:35:39.480
mean here are x y z things that you need
664
00:35:39.519 --> 00:35:43.239
more of that technology can come to the eat of
665
00:35:43.920 --> 00:35:47.159
in this case a patient or somebody who actually needs
666
00:35:47.199 --> 00:35:49.599
more of it or less of it. That's very nicely
667
00:35:49.639 --> 00:35:51.000
thought and.
668
00:35:51.000 --> 00:35:54.760
At the same time, our device is also auto learned,
669
00:35:54.800 --> 00:35:58.920
so it justs itself, you know, the eating speed, the
670
00:35:58.960 --> 00:36:02.079
eating habits, and one of the things that we again
671
00:36:02.320 --> 00:36:04.559
this was came from one of the interviews that we
672
00:36:04.639 --> 00:36:07.760
conducted was like, can there be a setting to make
673
00:36:08.039 --> 00:36:11.440
those limits more aggressive or fine tune if you want
674
00:36:11.480 --> 00:36:13.800
to be really hard and you know, make sure that
675
00:36:13.880 --> 00:36:17.320
you eat slowly, you can adjust your settings or configure
676
00:36:17.360 --> 00:36:19.440
it in the app so that the device alerts you
677
00:36:19.480 --> 00:36:22.679
if you're even going slightly beyond your eating speed.
678
00:36:23.039 --> 00:36:24.760
So those are the things that you know.
679
00:36:24.800 --> 00:36:27.239
Again goes back to the comment that it's all about
680
00:36:27.280 --> 00:36:30.679
the users. Build a product that you know your users
681
00:36:30.719 --> 00:36:33.119
are going to use and how are they going to
682
00:36:33.199 --> 00:36:35.760
use and and that's what we are doing as part
683
00:36:35.760 --> 00:36:36.360
of this journey.
684
00:36:36.440 --> 00:36:40.000
Yeah, so I'm sure you'll get this question ten out
685
00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:42.639
of ten ten times you speak to people, can you
686
00:36:42.719 --> 00:36:44.679
can you wash the spoons? Can you put it in
687
00:36:44.679 --> 00:36:45.360
a dish washer?
688
00:36:45.480 --> 00:36:47.519
So the way we have designed the spoon and yes,
689
00:36:47.559 --> 00:36:50.920
you're absolutely right, we get this question all the times
690
00:36:51.239 --> 00:36:54.079
I talk about the product. The way you have designed
691
00:36:54.079 --> 00:36:56.719
the product in our first generation is the spoon head
692
00:36:56.719 --> 00:36:59.239
and the forehead are detachable. So think of it as
693
00:36:59.320 --> 00:37:03.159
your electric toothbrush, right. The electric circuitry are built into
694
00:37:03.199 --> 00:37:06.880
the handle. You just detach the you know, the spoon head,
695
00:37:07.159 --> 00:37:09.840
the forkhead, which does not have any electrical components. You
696
00:37:09.920 --> 00:37:12.360
just wash it and the rest of the device has
697
00:37:12.599 --> 00:37:16.400
a mechanism built into it to make it like splash proof. Eventually,
698
00:37:16.440 --> 00:37:19.000
what we want to do is we're looking at materials
699
00:37:19.480 --> 00:37:23.119
to make it I p. Sixty seven, and also we
700
00:37:23.559 --> 00:37:26.599
once we reach that right stage, also look at potentially
701
00:37:26.639 --> 00:37:30.119
using materials that can be dishwasher safe. So again that's
702
00:37:30.159 --> 00:37:32.519
part of the evolution of the product. But we have
703
00:37:32.679 --> 00:37:36.679
kept that thing in mind, and our existing product would
704
00:37:36.679 --> 00:37:39.679
allow the users to wash the spoon head and then
705
00:37:39.719 --> 00:37:41.960
insert it and that should still protect the circuitry and
706
00:37:42.000 --> 00:37:42.800
everything within the hand.
707
00:37:42.840 --> 00:37:47.000
Yeah, the smart toothbrush analogy is pretty pretty good, right.
708
00:37:47.039 --> 00:37:50.519
I mean, that's a nice way to look at it,
709
00:37:50.559 --> 00:37:54.400
and I mean, you know, keep it clean as well, right, So,
710
00:37:54.440 --> 00:37:56.039
which is what everybody will want.
711
00:37:55.880 --> 00:37:58.320
To as part of this journey.
712
00:37:58.480 --> 00:38:01.920
I can tell you, Anthony, how many electric toothbrushes I
713
00:38:02.119 --> 00:38:07.320
have disassembled at home, different brands to look at like,
714
00:38:07.679 --> 00:38:11.559
how is such a technology built into such a small
715
00:38:11.639 --> 00:38:14.800
font factor, you know? And so that in fact was
716
00:38:14.840 --> 00:38:16.960
the first step. After that drawing that I mentioned to
717
00:38:17.000 --> 00:38:19.719
you on the piece of paper, that was the next step,
718
00:38:19.840 --> 00:38:23.480
and since then it has been generation after generation to
719
00:38:23.599 --> 00:38:27.079
getting to this point where you know, we have something tangible,
720
00:38:27.800 --> 00:38:31.480
functional that we are showing to partners across the industry.
721
00:38:31.559 --> 00:38:34.440
Got it. Yeah, I mean it all starts something in
722
00:38:34.480 --> 00:38:37.480
our house, something right in front of us, and you know,
723
00:38:37.599 --> 00:38:40.400
you never know where that inspiration comes from. So, Michelle,
724
00:38:40.400 --> 00:38:42.800
thanks so much for taking the time. It's been a
725
00:38:43.119 --> 00:38:45.639
it's been a blast speaking to you about Sponifide. I mean,
726
00:38:45.679 --> 00:38:50.039
you got something awesome going and I wish you guys
727
00:38:50.079 --> 00:38:52.840
the very best. I look forward to using your product
728
00:38:52.880 --> 00:38:56.920
one day, and so let's stay in touch and keep
729
00:38:57.000 --> 00:39:00.400
us updated on your journey at sponifide all the bestial.
730
00:39:00.159 --> 00:39:02.360
Absolutely, thank you Anthony for having me here. It was
731
00:39:02.400 --> 00:39:06.239
a pleasure sharing the journey. And yeah, definitely will add
732
00:39:06.239 --> 00:39:09.599
you to our like user trial list and we'll we'll
733
00:39:09.639 --> 00:39:12.000
reach out once we start.
734
00:39:11.760 --> 00:39:14.360
That in April. Awesome, take care of michelf sounds good.
735
00:39:14.440 --> 00:39:14.719
Thank you,