Dr. Brian Krohn (CEO, Founder), PhD. is a serial entrepreneur with successes ranging from holding patents on a commercialized process for making green fuel, founding a Minnesota hops business with $5 million in financing, and creating a wizard staff that shoots a 3-foot flame that raised $30,000 on Kickstarter.
What does Soundly do?
Soundly is an app that reduces snoring by guiding the user through a gamified therapy to strengthen and tone their upper airway. Reducing snoring without needing bulky devices during sleep is a big need, and we estimate that our target market is worth $86 million. Soundly has received $80,000 in non-dilutive funding from the NSF and NIH and recently completed a beta test of 600 users where 90% of surveyed users reported reductions in snoring.
What difference does this make for patients?
Snoring reduces the quality of the snorer and their bed partner’s sleep and is related to long-term negative health outcomes. Also, snoring is a big social problem that causes stress among friends, family, and spouses.
What motivated you to take on this issue?
As a scientist and entrepreneur, I am always looking for new ways to use science to improve people’s lives. Soundly is based on interesting sleep science and speech therapy and has the potential to positively impact hundreds of millions of people.
Why gBETA?
gBETA is a great community of entrepreneurs and investors. Being part of a community is crucial to staying motivated as an entrepreneur.
gBETA Medtech is a free, seven-week accelerator that works with medical device, healthcare-related software, biotech and diagnostics startups. Part of gener8tor, a nationally ranked accelerator program, gBETA Medtech is in partnership with Boston Scientific and supported by the Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota. For more information visit https://www.gbetamedtech.com/
