A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending the Open Studio and Startup Awards from Cornell Tech’s Startup Studio program. Obviously, macro trends like #AI were hard to miss, but one thing from the opening remarks stuck out to me as a throughline: the idea of _empath founders_ — leaders who are solving problems they themselves have experienced.
I was inspired by Deanna Oliver, MPH's personal narrative, hearing her tell of struggles accessing mental and social healthcare while overcoming real adversity. Her startup, Mindsight Health, aims to solve that problem by building a unified data platform for healthcare providers, therapists, and social workers to improve holistic mental and social healthcare for patients.
And empathy can apply to smaller-scale problems, too, like PeePass, an app to find available restrooms in New York City, or Pibble, an automatic feeder that allows cat owners to keep feeding fresher, more nutrition wet food while they’re busy or travelling (I’m excited to beta test that myself!).
Among the many brilliant products and visionary founders, I noticed how powerful of a motivator personal experience is — big or small, we all want to alleviate pain that we’ve felt in our own lives.
