The Innovators Studio with Phil McKinney

Skipping College To Start A Business S13 Ep19


Listen Later

What would you think if your child, grandchild, niece or nephew came to you and said that they were skipping college to start a business?

Almost a year ago, I interviewed Nick Titus who was soon to be a High School Senior about his science fair project that was quickly becoming an innovation that could impact the lives of those who had lost mobility. To get an update, I invited Nick back to the show to share an update.

To start off, Nick and his friends have decided to take a "gap year" and skip college to start a business. That business is Myonic. Myonic is taking what started as Nick's science fair project to hack a TENS device so that people who had suffered a spinal cord injury or stokes could regain movement.

Since we last talked with Nick, he has achieved some major milestones including:

  • Graduated from the Boomtown accelerator
  • Invited to speak at TEDxCU on "How Naive Curiosity Solves Unsolvable Problems"
  • Recognized as top hardware startup at TechCrunch Disrupt NY.

At the same time, Nick and his team has advanced the product to now allow mind control. This allows the user to think what action they want to perform, such as close the hand. By combining that with other motions such as gritting teeth, the device knows that you want to crush a pop can versus wanting to gentle pick up a raw egg.

While we talked about this feature a year ago, Nick and team have not only worked out the technical issues, they have created a working prototype.

So what's next?

They are on track to close a round of pre-A funding while announcing that will be opening up access to their product to beta testers. If you are interested, please check-out their new web site at myonic.tech.

So what lessons did Nick learn trying to finish his Senior year of High School while also being a CEO? Focus. He shared that prioritization and focus became the challenge while trying to juggle all the demands on his time. Welcome to adulthood.

Listen to the full interview below.

More on Nick Titus:

Nick Titus is the CEO and Co-founder of Myonic Technologies Inc. Myonic has created a wearable device that allows paralyzed users to regain control of their muscle. He founded the company after developing the medical device in his high school engineering lab for a science fair project. He saw the good that this device could bring to people's lives first hand and decided to launch a company to get this technology in the hands of more people around the world.

You can follow Nick and Myonic on Facebook, Twitter or on their website.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

The Innovators Studio with Phil McKinneyBy Phil McKinney

  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6

4.6

74 ratings


More shows like The Innovators Studio with Phil McKinney

View all
TED Talks Daily by TED

TED Talks Daily

11,154 Listeners

Motley Fool Money by The Motley Fool

Motley Fool Money

3,241 Listeners

Masters in Business by Bloomberg

Masters in Business

2,171 Listeners

Coaching for Leaders by Dave Stachowiak

Coaching for Leaders

1,469 Listeners

Pivot by New York Magazine

Pivot

9,746 Listeners

WSJ Tech News Briefing by The Wall Street Journal

WSJ Tech News Briefing

1,652 Listeners

The a16z Show by Andreessen Horowitz

The a16z Show

1,106 Listeners

HBR IdeaCast by Harvard Business Review

HBR IdeaCast

149 Listeners

Founders by David Senra

Founders

2,221 Listeners

Azeem Azhar's Exponential View by Azeem Azhar

Azeem Azhar's Exponential View

615 Listeners

Masters of Scale by WaitWhat

Masters of Scale

3,987 Listeners

Y Combinator Startup Podcast by Y Combinator

Y Combinator Startup Podcast

233 Listeners

Guy Kawasaki's Remarkable People by Guy Kawasaki

Guy Kawasaki's Remarkable People

652 Listeners

Think Fast Talk Smart: Communication Techniques by Matt Abrahams, Think Fast Talk Smart

Think Fast Talk Smart: Communication Techniques

820 Listeners

HBR On Leadership by Harvard Business Review

HBR On Leadership

169 Listeners