Bethanie Couri & Pierre Paul - Bridging the gap of Assisted Tech

Being able to look at success like this continuum that is constantly changing, so that when there are moments where you fall short, it's not a failure. Because if you learn from the situation, you can never really fail.

It's a learning opportunity. I am the founder and CEO of We Hear You, LLC. I was born in South America, grew up in Ohio, and then came to Peoria, Illinois, to go to college. I got a bachelor's in political science, master's in non -profit leadership, and then I created the company We Hear You while in college, and we've been moving ever since. And my name is Bethany Corey. I'm the COO. I joined when I was getting my MBA at Bradley University. I currently work at the University of Illinois getting my EVV and Human Resource Development while I work with We Hear You. That's awesome. I feel like you guys are just ready to go with that.

Would you mind either one or both of you kind of talking about the inspiration behind starting We Hear You? Yeah, so it's actually an interesting story. A couple summers ago, I was up late, I couldn't sleep, so I was doing research. And I was like, you know what, let me try to solve like a major problem in the world. So I started at the top and I'm like world hunger. Let's fix it. Let's solve it. And then I'm like, okay I can't solve world hunger. So I start moving down and looking at different problems and I stumbled across some scholarly articles of deaf individuals Expressing how difficult it is for them to communicate with the human world So I looked into what solutions persisted and then I realized that the solutions that existed were done from a hearing centric perspective So they missed the mark doing this research and I end up falling asleep to like 3 a .m And I have a dream that I'm walking into a McDonald's, but you know, I eat too much McDonald's sometimes.

There's a tablet on the counter. So for some reason, I knew sign language in my dream. So I sign into the tablet, verbalizes my order, and then the associate speaks into the tablet and it signs back to me. So then the next morning I called Bethany and I'm like, hey, I have this crazy idea where the inspiration came from. It literally came in a dream and it was too vivid to ignore. That's a really neat story, and like that you decided, I'm just going to solve a problem, right? And you just went down a list and was like, okay, next one, nope, can't do anything there, next one. And so that's really neat. I love that thought process of like, I'm just going to tackle something, I'm going to find something that speaks to me, I'm just going to go down the list. And I love that it kind of came to you in a dream. That's pretty awesome how that kind of transpires. And so I guess from there, how did you and Anthony get connected to kind of create the team to finally hear you? Yeah, I can take this.

So we actually met when I was getting my MBA and he was finishing his bachelor's about to jump into his master's and we became best friends. And when he called me the next morning, he knew that I had that MBA experience. And so he asked about kind of the business side and we kind of just started developing the team, right? From the start he went and asked a bunch of different people for their expertise and what they thought. And he really put in the legwork to figure out if this was even possible. We started developing a business plan maybe that next week And then the team just kind of fell together with people who were, you know, passionate about the same things and wanting to jump in and join this cause. So it was kind of, I don't know, serendipitous and cool how the team just kind of came together the way it was supposed to. Great.

And of, uh, I feel like a lot of times starters are worried about, how do I get a team around me, but the approach that we took was really go produce the idea, ask them their skills and talents and just willing to lend some of that. So with that being the case, we definitely received a lot of no's when we reached out to scholars to help us create this sign language translator. Even the ones who said no still kind of passed us along to somebody else who had some knowledge. So by the time we finished going down the pipeline of reaching out to all of these talented individuals, the team just got on board because they saw the passion, they saw the vision, they saw a project that they saw themselves becoming a part to help a community. So we were very fortunate to get a talented and compassionate team pretty easily

that a week or two that comprised of data scientists to help us with the coding, business professionals to help us review our business plans as we're competing in all of these different competitions and graphic designers and web designers to help us create the logo and then create the website. It was like Bethany's indifference, but it's kind of mind blowing to think about it and talk about it. Right, and try to summarize it all into a sentence, right? That's amazing. Now I appreciate you kind of sharing how you met, and I was actually wondering, you sort

of hinted at it here, but if you could talk a little bit more technically about how calling it software maybe is shortchanging it a little bit, but how the translation works and then kind of what you see as your competitive edge. So the way that our sign language translator works and kind of what makes us different is how we manage to create it. So when I did the research and then sent the research to my team, I said, hey, people have tried to create sign language gloves and the deaf community says this solution's not for them. People have tried to create special cameras and the deaf community said the solution's not for them. They weren't cost effective and they didn't actually keep the beauty of sign language intact.

So with that being the case, I challenged my team to create the software to work on virtually any device with a camera. So that means that the downside to doing that is that when you have a glove to train the technology, you can do it pretty quickly and just kind of show that glove's motion, and then the glove can kind of be the medium for the sign and then the device that records the sign. When you take away the glove, you now need to train a system for us, a neural network, to see that sign over and over and over again and recognize it with the same accuracy as those who train on a glove. So members of our team created the neural network, and then the rest of the team was doing research to figure out how we could leverage the code that we had already created with something that already existed. it. So Google had some things open source for their holistic model, and our code was able to merge with what Google had created with the neural network that was then created. So then it just came down to collecting data. We started recording ASL finger spelling. So we would put that into the system, and we trained the system to string all of the letters together, added a spell check function, and then it would verbalize the finger spelling once the word was complete. And so that was the version that we launched in the Spot Coffee shop here in Peoria. And then after a couple of months, we got feedback from the deaf community

saying, hey, this is great, but where's sign language capability, the full sign language capability, the difference between coffee or spelling out coffee? So we took the sign language translator out of the coffee shop and then started training it on larger pieces of data with full gesture. And so that entailed me standing with my back to this wall, putting up the camera and And signing, coffee, stop, coffee, stop, over and over and over again. And getting different eclectic hands and different faces and different sizes and different types of people to do the same thing so that the neural network is trained based on a variety of different hands and faces and different people. Because we're all unique, especially those who utilize different forms of sign.

So that was kind of the process. And our competitive edge kind of ended up creating itself once we found a way to do this translation without a special camera and without any gloves. So our translator right now, actually a couple days ago, we went from 97 % accuracy to 99 % accuracy with about five to 10 words, which is just insane to me because the gloves sometimes range from 75 to 95 % accuracy, even though they're training it on like this glove with sensors that sends the signal. We found a way, and it's taken copious amounts of data, but the time that it takes to take that data is so much more valuable when you know that this is something the community would actually utilize as opposed to the technology that has been pushed thus far. That's amazing. I love that use of neural networks, machine learning to kind of create this technology with people from the community, right? To train it to understand communication through sign language. With that being said,

you said you were in one coffee shop in Peoria. Is that where you currently are or how have you expanded since that point? What does the future look like in terms of expansion? So we actually, when we took the sign language translator out of the coffee shop to put in full gesture capability, we also created a second invention, mainly because the sign language translator wasn't bringing in revenue. So we needed a creation that could bring in some form of revenue to help us keep scaling. So, when we get out of the coffee shop, a sect of my team started working on getting the full gesture capability at the accuracy that we need and with the amount of words that we needed to place ourselves in coffee shops throughout the Midwest. And then that's when the second invention, Push, kind of came about. So we still have a great relationship with the spot and then other coffee shops throughout Peoria and surrounding cities.

And within the next couple months, we do hope to place our sign language translator back there. We chose coffee shops because it has a limited vocabulary, but it's still a very large market. While we're kind of training the sign language translator and reaching new feats to ensure that this is actually for the community, created a second invention called Push, which allows individuals to open doors from a safe distance away using a personal button. So it's essentially like a garage door opener, but it's one that attaches to wheelchairs, crutches, mobility devices, can be worn as a wristband. So we've managed to close our first deal with Bradley University, have a couple of pending deals with Butler University and Knox College,

and then we hope to just kind of scaling out that creation, letting it kind of maneuver itself into the academic space as we get those facilities and small businesses to be more accessible in an affordable manner. And then with that, the other side of the team is pushing forward with the sign language translator to ensure that we can release that, not only on the app store, but mainly inside of these coffee shops to keep doing more testing to see it. Full pause and the things that we need to keep in mind before we release this to a group of people. Thanks for going through that for those of us that are less technical too. I actually was wondering why, and you sort of started talking about the push accessibility button. Why was that the next problem to solve, if you will? There was a day when we were sitting in a meeting and the team was like, hey, we need something else. we need something that might be able to actually bring in some revenue because we had been sustaining ourselves just from competitions. So we would win a competition, that money would be funneled into the sign language translator, but we're still doing the beta testing and this technology is so unique and it's so beneficial that we release this early and it goes to a police station or it goes to the choir station or it goes even a coffee shop and it's not accurately translating what we need it to. That just leads to so many different problems and internal feelings from the community. So we're really trying to perfect that. And so when the team needed something else, I went home, I went to sleep and I had a dream, I was walking into my dorm room and I had my hands full and I had a button and I pressed the button and it opened the door from about 15, 20 feet away. So then when I woke up one morning, I started doing research and I realized

that this market, yes, people use radio waves to send signals to doors like garage door openers has been done before, but where they've missed the mark is the functionality of it to make it accessible for those who need it. So an individual who has crutches or who's in a wheelchair making it attachable to that. An individual who doesn't have the same use of their fingers as some other individuals has it as a wristband so they can press it with any part of their face. One of the members of our team only has mobility from the neck up, so creating a version of that can be worn as a headband or on the back of her headrest because her chair moves when she moves her head so then when she pushes her head back it hits the button from push and opens the door.

So it's giving that autonomy and that freedom to these individuals who sometimes feel as though it's been stripped from them. So it's kind of just coincidence that both of these inventions were tailored towards accessibility and both of them came to me in a dream. I'll have you know that we have three, four other inventions down the line once we solidify these two and they didn't come in dreams. So I might be done dreaming.

But that push came from after the translator And we just knew that push was something that we could easily market and utilize to help businesses reach ADA compliance While still not having to break the bank to provide for their patrons. That's awesome. That's super cool Where you may mention some ages missed it Does it work with all doors or is it just current ADA compliant accessible doors? The ones with the push buttons so there's some doors that have motors that aren't necessarily ADA doors But most doors because of the ADA compliance and small businesses and institutions have to have some sort of motor to reach that compliance factor. And with that being the case, our goal is to bring accessibility in an affordable way. So we have some strategic partnerships that we're growing to ensure that if your door does not have that motor, but you want to be more ADA compliant, here's an avenue that saves you money, but also allows you to service the community that you want to. That's excellent. That's very cool. I like that a lot. It's a great way to put that into business owners hands as well, right? And so to get them to be more compliant and building in kind of a full cycle system there. So not only are you providing, you know, the actuator, the push button, but also kind of the motors as well,

eventually to put that in place, it sounds like. I if we could push into a question for the both of you and ask kind of how, you know, how you find balance, what you think makes balance in a good leadership team? Oh, that's a very good question. Pia, would you like to take this or do you want me to take that first? Go first. I won't.

And I think the most important thing is communication. When the leadership team is transparent with one another and communicates well with one another, I think it kind of funnels down to the rest of the team and helps make them comfortable coming to you and communicating with you with various different issues. So I think that having a strong leadership at the top really does help build that foundation for the rest of the team. And I think Pierre and I work very well together being very honest with each other if we need a second or we need time to, you know, take care of our own personal things. I as a business owner, sometimes that line gets blurry of self -care versus work time. So I think being able to be honest with yourself and be honest with your leadership team of, yeah, for my own mental sake, I need a, I need a breakaway for tonight. I think being able to communicate in a way that is beneficial to one another and to the whole team is essential to running a good team. In my opinion. Yeah. Do you have any thoughts? Completely agree. I think just adding on to that, expectation, when it comes to a small business, really any business, you have a really cool idea, you get super excited because you have these soft cells coming from Google, coming from Microsoft, coming from Target, and you're

like, oh my gosh, people are interested, then the expectation levels start to rise. In terms of leadership, it really falls then on Bethany and I to ensure that while we're getting the team excited and letting them know that we have something beautiful here, There's also this unknown and this uncharted water and this things can change in an instant that also needs to be balanced. Because life is unexpected, sales and great ideas don't always make it. And I think you want them to be excited and ready for that to be the case. But if their expectations are here, you're simply up against the battle. And so everything is kind of slowly, slowly faltering. They have to be able to handle the pros and cons that come with running a business, the ups and downs, the successes of winning a competition and then not making it past the entry round, the next one, the successes of implementing in one location and then having three more say they're not interested.

Being able to look at success like this continuum that is constantly changing so that when there are moments where you fall short, it's not a failure because if you learn from the situation, you can never really fail. It's a learning opportunity to say, okay, team, how do we double down and be better for the next time? I think that was really well said from the both of you and great advice. I you know, both of you really great points in creating that co -founding team and it shows, right? It shows between the interactions of you two, I mean, just on this call, how much you guys really care about the problems you're solving and the work that you're doing. So that's really amazing. Before we get too far, I just wanted to bring up one of Adriana's comments. She wrote in the comments that she said it's rare that a non -disabled person really listens to real users. And so I think that she's really excited that you guys really take that into consideration as you're developing and designing products. So thank you so much. Just wanted to highlight that because it is something that, you know, even just in the digital space, designing for disabilities, for example, colorblindness is something that rarely gets put into place.

So very neat, very cool that you guys are doing this. I have a follow -up question, a little bit similar to the one that Nancy just asked, but what's been the most exciting part of this journey so far? So you guys are kind of established, you have your product, you're coming up with several other products. What's been the most exciting piece of this? Seriously, I don't think we've been asked that question in all of these, so we've traveled and done interviews and stuff. I don't think we've been asked that question. I think the most exciting part really is, it's definitely the outreach. So for example, we went to a couple Deaf Nation expos, an expo where the predominant individual is the Deaf community and the services and the people that are showcasing technology or their business are either a part of the Deaf community or created something for the Deaf community. and we went to one in Florida and one in Texas. Out there and our ASL interpreter and the deaf member of our team were kind of like, hey, you guys are going and we're throwing you into the sharks. You better utilize that sign that you've been learning

because you have to try. In those experiences, we had to get past our own internal fear of being the odd one out and not fitting in. As we try to create technology to ensure that everyone fits in, we have to put ourselves in the space of like, hey, I'm a little uncomfortable. But the attempt, us trying to sign and messing up and having these conversations and sharing a laugh in ways that it's not, we didn't create this to share a laugh, but as we create, we're sharing laughs. We didn't create this to have this banter back and forth before the sign language translators created, but in that we've had that banter. I think competitions aside and cool meetings aside and placing it in locations and having people be excited aside, like it's the connection that we've formed with these communities and like the outreach that we get via email, via text, a friend of a friend of a friend sending a message on Facebook saying, hey you heard about what

you're doing, like that's really great, like thank you. Just, it is so nice, especially since the first two years, it was a difficult battle to try to acclimate ourselves into the Deaf community, because to put it into kind of a perspective that makes sense to me, and it kind of fits in our global space right now. Community is not looking for a white savior to save the day when there is something wrong within the black community. They're looking for allies to help aid. We are one. We are a community. Community is not looking for a hearing savior to come and save the day when there's a problem. And since so many people have tried to do what we've done, fallen short or lied about their creations, we've faced a lot of backlash from the deaf community. So I think the fact that now we kind of have a comfortable space where when we come to these events, like there's a warm greeting, when we reach out, there's a warm greeting, there is an interaction. It's been the best part because it's breaking down walls to actually ensure that we hear you, that everyone is heard. That's my long -winded answer, pardon me.

I 100 % agree that the feedback and the desire for the product has been so motivating, especially when times get kind of tricky and we're trying to overcome some of these technical challenges. I think my favorite part as the business side was when we closed the first deal and we jumped into the manufacturing of the product for Push and things started to get really real. And then we were able to start traveling to different locations and pitching the idea. I taking accessibility off of the paper and into business meetings with various individuals, that was so exciting for me of, okay, we're getting there. we're going to make this change that we're, you know, we've put so many hours into trying to make, seeing it kind of come to fruition and being able to speak with individuals who are like, oh, this could be a potential in this location. That's awesome. I would love that. Like, that would be so beneficial for me. So being able to make it a reality and kind of crossing that threshold into actual producing, that has been so, I don't know, that has been the most fun part for I like that you both had sort of like the same but different answers to that. I can definitely start to put together some of your team conversations. You guys have a great dynamic. I actually wanted to pass to Adriana to ask a question and Adriana, if you want to briefly introduce yourself. Yeah. Hi, I'm Adriana.

I have CC and I actually drive my Truda with my mouth, so I do everything with my head my mouth and everything that you guys are saying totally resonates with me. It's just so refreshing to see that there's so much thought put into the actual user because as you mentioned about previous or similar devices that try to solve the same problem, they don't put that user in mind. Obviously, we have a disability. We don't want to stand out even more, right? Which is why the deaf community don't like the gloves because then they stand out. So my question, I was wondering when you were talking about the disability related trade shows and expos, are you going to CSUN? Did you go to ATIA? Is that the one that you went to in Florida? I'm just curious.

First, thank you so much for being vulnerable with us and kind of your story with us and it sitting here just hear your words and so happy that you can appreciate the way that we're going about doing this and that it seems like it's hitting the mark in terms of how you're feeling about what we've created. So thank you so so much. And then in terms of Expos, even though we have two products both tailored towards accessibility, the Expos we've gone to specifically are through an organization called Deaf Nation. So they host Expos throughout the United States and that's kind of where we started going to Expos maybe a year ago? It's been a year? No, I think it's only been about six months. Okay, I guess we just went to a bunch in that six month span. But they were just Expo, Florida Deaf Nation Expo, Texas, Deaf Nation Expo, Chicago. So that was kind of the names that were associated with them. But if you have recommendations of ones that aren't necessarily conferences or that are beneficial for us to go to, please slide them our way via discord email number, whichever works. Yeah, those two are the main big disability -related tech conferences. So ATIA just happened in February and they did a hybrid this year. So last year it was all virtual. So this is the first year that they actually did a hybrid version since the pandemic. And then CSUN is really huge and that's coming up next week actually because it always falls at the same time

at South by Southwest. Those are the two really big tech conferences. So I'm also developing assistive tech as well. So I would love to connect with the both of you because I think we can collaborate on something. Yeah, that would be amazing. It's awesome for me is exactly why this community should exist for people to connect with one another. This is an interesting change of topic because our community has really grown outside of this group, but many of us in this community are alumni of the MIT Entrepreneurship Boot Camp programs where we were introduced to the disciplined entrepreneurship framework. And I was wondering if there was a particular program or some sort of framework that's been useful to you, either one of you or both in business development as you went about formulating WeHearYou? Good question. I feel like since we jumped in, I I joke with my team that we started out playing business, and then we started to succeed. So then we had to go through all the channels to make the business from a legal aspect and then also from the real aspect. We have learned a lot from the fellowships that we've been a part of. We were part of an NPR fellowship. We were part of a couple fellowships here in Peoria through Bradley University and through Peoria in and of itself. Those fellowships gave us so much knowledge. We from the individuals who were around us, learned from the critiques that we received, we learned from other business professionals. I think a lot of our success at Taylor Towards is attributed to mentors that we've had. So we've never been shy about reaching out and asking for advice, asking for guidance, because since we don't really see it as this competitive thing that we're doing, like, yes, the space that we operate in is competitive, but I, I leave the businessy cutthroat aspects to Bethany. When I take on the more non -profit -y, philanthropic kind of vibe to everything, I guess since we don't really see a lot of people as like, oh, there are

competitors that we have to fight with, makes us able to reach out and communicate and just ask questions and learn as we go, but I think the fellowships and the mentors that we have through NPR and through Bradley and through Peoria and through the competitions we've done has been vital to how we've managed to keep succeeding so far. And I think to go off of that, I agree completely, I think the communities and the mentorship has really propelled us and helped us to take those next steps that are sometimes hard. I think one that kind of stands out for me was G -Beta. We recently finished that one in December, a G -Beta accelerator, and it was a great experience. I think the community that rallies around you and the mentorship and those lunch and learns that we had and all of the sessions that we had with G -Beta was very informative, very beneficial to helping us grow and take those next steps that they felt really big at the time because we were jumping into the producing space. So having them to help guide us in that accelerator was so beneficial. That's awesome, and it really speaks to the benefit of asking for help, right? Because you never know unless you ask.

And so being able to take that kind of step and that leap and just being able to ask about what you don't know. So it's amazing that you've seen the huge success and support from those communities as you guys are growing and scaling and building. Kind of on that same topic, has there been a time when you guys had to make a very challenging decision and how did you navigate through that? What was that decision and how did you navigate through it? Something that either changed the trajectory of the organization or you guys had to really take a step back and decide if you were gonna push forward. Decision we make sometimes feels like a challenging decision. Same time, I don't think, you can definitely correct me if I'm not clear, I don't, we have hit a challenging decision that like every business faces as yet. I think we have been very fortunate and two have only been around for going on two years for the sign language translator, going on a year for PUSH, maybe a little less for both, like a year and a half for the sign language translator, a little less than a year for PUSH.

So far, the drive that we've had and kind of our risk -taking, we were bold in our decisions. We want to go into an institution and present, we make that connection and then place ourself into that space. We want to talk with this community. we go to the proper channels, but we do it very quickly and get ourselves there. And I think that bold mentality, which I think scares some sometimes, and sometimes can be abrasive if you're not doing it correctly,

it has worked in our favor so well that even when we had to figure out the manufacturing route, because the costs were difficult, the fact that we were just insured and our cause is so good made our manufacturers believe in us to the point where they're not charging us as much as they should for trying to create. When it came to our sign language translator, and we know that to pay one data scientist would be like $100 ,000 to have them for a year.

We bring the idea and they're so passionate about the research that has been done and how in the, even if Bethany and I can't do the data science work that they do, we sit there and help problem solve from a logical aspect and bring our talents that way. So I don't think we've faced a major challenge yet. The biggest one that comes to my mind was when we received pushback from the deaf community after receiving kind of the emails that were like, no, you guys don't have what you've created. Like, this is wrong of you. I was then faced with this level of, do we back? Do we stop? Do we slow down? But instead we did the opposite. We doubled down and said, let's create a product that is so good, cases that we are not here to monetize off the community. We're here to create with the community. And then that doubling down was kind of a gamble. So when we launched our beta version way too early, I guess in retrospect, we launched our prototype version with just a fingerspelling much earlier than I think most people would have chosen to. Making ourselves vulnerable and presenting this product that was the walking before you could run, then the community reaching back out and saying,

hey, and we want to see you make it better. And they challenged us to be better. So I think we gamble a lot. And I'm not really a gambling man. I like gambles that I know I can win. but we gamble a lot in terms of the chances that we take. And because of that, we haven't really faced too many difficult decisions that I say are as difficult to be pleased. You might be thinking like, what about when we did this and this? But I feel like we've done so well. Yeah, please.

You hit primarily. I think the one thing that comes to my mind was, it was so early on, but when we started developing and then COVID kind of hit And it kind of threw a wrench in trying to work with everybody and get it, you know, scaling. And then we also made a pivot from our original model into the neural network. And so it was so early on that it feels like a different lifetime. But I think that that pivot really kind of then changed the trajectory and the rate at which we could develop. After we kind of figured out the COVID situation with working virtually and working with individuals when we couldn't be together, I think that pivot was essential to finally getting us back on track. I think since then, we haven't really faced as many, you know, kind of earth shattering, earthquaking situations, but that initial pivot very early on, I think was pretty instrumental to our development. That does feel like a lifetime ago. How long ago was that, that you kind of went through that stage of earning trust from the community? first couple months, we had a prototype working within the first three months of this idea, two to three months of this idea coming about. And it's because once I found the students, the senior students who had a club and the professors who had the expertise, we got to work because we were so excited. And so we created our own code before we knew that Google had some stuff available. We got it working with our fingerspelling. And so we reached out the first two to three months to the Schools for the Deaf saying, hey, we have this creation, really want it to be tailored towards the community.

Are you interested in like working with us, helping, guiding, letting us communicate with some of your parents and students? And then we got that pushback instantly. So then we got that pushback. COVID, then like, nope, no more meeting together. The team kind of has to like break up. And so like, we're gonna make this work. I'm thinking about the fact that the community doesn't seem to care what we've created. And then COVID is stopping us from meeting. And then graduation happens. So then a lot of the guys that we had who were dedicated to this had to leave and go do other things.

And we were so early on that they weren't, they didn't fall in love with fully what we created. They were like, OK, cool, something to do. So then that transition happened within six months. But then when we found COVID, when the past team mentored the new team gave them what we had created and then the new team on with their energy and their excitement we then kind of exploded with our ability to launch our beta version in December and then have the full capability started like a couple months after that it really was asked to turn around but I'd say it was about a year ago when we really started picking up for a Sign Language Translator, my time is so off. So be correct me if I'm like months off ahead or behind, but I'd say after COVID and the pivot happened, the Sign Language Translator has kind of been like 11 months, 12 months. And maybe a bit longer, because then we shifted to push about 10 months ago. My goodness, yeah. So just to put it into perspective, time is a little, is relative, you know, time is relative. Yeah, I mean, you're absolutely right. I mean, I think obviously COVID's impacted everyone,

But it's really cool to see that you guys have made such huge strides during this time and in the face of that, and were able to kind of pivot and change your product and redesign and develop. So that's awesome. And I love that you guys didn't just go, no, you know what, this isn't going to work. We're going to double down and we're going to actually build this along with the community, which is awesome. I love to hear that and see that. Andrew had a question in the comments. This community here through MIT Boot Camps and through Founders Voyage, One thing we often ask is how can we help, right? And so we're always here to help you guys and other entrepreneurs as they're going through their journey. And so putting this on you guys, is there any way that we can help as a community from our perspective? Great question. I'll start with my comedic answer, then I'll start with my real answer. Comedic answer, if any of you have copious amounts of money, just make it rain. Just make it rain. But no, on a serious note, any connections to institutions or or larger businesses or smaller businesses that are looking to be more ADA compliant

that we can kind of make ourself a push because our goal is to kind of get pushed out with just these cities get pushed to help accessibility around the United States. So I think just that a network of connections connecting us with the right people, guidance. You all have years of experience. You guys have trial and error. You guys have successes. You guys have failures. You guys have what you learned from it. So probably wasn't a failure,

but you have so much knowledge that can be bestowed to us. So if there's any time and you all would want to have a conversation, whether it's verbally or in text or sign, whatever it is, say the word. And I think your expertise is valuable. And then any connections you can make to any institutions or businesses that you think would be a good fit, that is all I can ask for. You from a business side, you take it away. No, I think you hit the business side. I think that connection and guidance, because everyone brings something different to the table is what we're learning in this mentorship journey is you can always learn something from somebody. So to be able to garner that knowledge from this community, I think that is more than what we could ask for. So you hit it right on the head. Absolutely. Grant opportunities. Are there any grants you've heard of and you're like, maybe they should think about this one, please. We're always looking for grants. We're always searching the web for different competitions. We're hoping to get to the point where we no longer need to sustain ourself off of these pitch competitions, but I enjoy pitch competitions.

It sounds like you've both taken opportunities to learn along the way, you know, with each of those competitions and programs that you've been through. So I think that's, that's pretty awesome. I actually want to pass back to Adriana to ask another question, if that's all right. Yeah, real quick, with the push, you're basically using the radio waves that the basic automatic doors have already on there, right? My question is, there are going to be all these people with these buttons, and I'm only asking this for you to think about this, is for me myself, I have an automatic door on my apartment. And the building also has one. So the same remote actually works for both, which is a little scary. But, you know, obviously people don't know that, right? That's not common knowledge. And no one else in the building has a button because there's no one else that's a wheelchair user. So I'm not concerned right now about that. But it's something to think about where us as people with disabilities who have automatic door openers installed on our own personal homes or dwellings where it uses a similar frequency of that, you know, just something to think about that if they could change the, I don't know, but it's just little just thinking about all these people with buttons and they could go up to any door and even a private home and open your door. So I just wanted to put that out there. Great point. That is a great point when it comes to one of the main questions that we get is really security. How do we ensure that like this is secure and not just allowing anyone to enter into a college or a college institution any time of day. And so we have two solutions for that, but that is a real problem that you're highlighting because since we're just using radio waves and we have a device that goes in the door and then our thought that goes with it and the device that goes in the door takes, I think our fastest run was two minutes and 30 seconds

to attach to the door. You do have a capability to have different remotes with different codes. So sequence of zeros and ones would be different for your door than it is for the building door. And then that would mean two different fobs or two different button that allow for the different doors to be open. But that is a real problem. And it has been one that when we talked to PNC, that was one of their questions. Like they needed to worry about somebody coming in and opening the door after hours once the facility has been closed. So we managed to ensure that the security aspect was intact. But that is an amazing point and definitely a security concern and if more people have more fobs with the same frequency.

Yeah, yeah. With regards to grants, I would love to talk to you guys about that. So we'll love to connect regarding grants. We'll be besties by the end of this. I have another question, kind of summing all of this up a little bit. Do you guys personally, or as an organization, do you guys have any kind of guiding vision or philosophy that's helped you guys move forward in this journey and help you guys make some of your decisions, both personally and professionally. We always tell the team that diversity and inclusion should never be the afterthought of innovation. That is kind of what drives our team. This idea that when it comes to more inclusive and accessible world, you have to place that inclusivity and accessibility and diversity at the foundation of everything that you're creating. There's a graph that Bethany brings to the table when we go and give our pitches,

and it's an individual, it's a snowy day. They're outside of the school. It's a snowy day. The steps have snow on it. The ramp has snow on it. The individual with the shovel is shoveling the snow off of the steps. And so there's a student who's in a wheelchair and they say, hey, can you clear off the ramp? And the person the shovel goes, well, once I've finished with the steps, I'll then go to the ramp and clear off the ramp. And the student goes, well, if you clear off the ramp, we can all get in. Whereas if you clean off the steps, only some of us can get it. Simple, but it's so powerful. And I think that is kind of the driving force behind what we do. We clear off the ramp. We ensure that that ramp is available because that is a more accessible space for all, as opposed to the colloquial conventional thinking of like, you gotta get steps. So I think that is kind of our guiding philosophy that keeps us grounded and taken us so far. I think we're gonna keep it up until it stops working, but I don't see that happening." I think that's a perfect answer. No one can really tell you why

you should do something, but when you really know why you want to do it, it just brings so much clarity and helps you through some of the hurdles that you've both overcome, that you've kind of shared with us. Kind of transitioning to what do you think is next for you and for We Hear You? Like in your ideal universe, how do you envision the future? Strategic planning is one of my favorite things. So we're looking to kind of continue across universities in the Midwest. That's kind of our business model right now is working with different institutions to make sure that their campuses are as inclusive for their students as they can be. That's been kind of our passion of growing push. So while we're growing push, we're also developing the sign language translator kind of in the as we move. Once we kind of facilitate growth in the Midwest with universities, we're gonna expand out with our team. I think if all goes well and we keep closing our deals with these universities to make their campuses really inclusive and bringing our product to them, we will have enough money hopefully to bring on a few people full -time. And then ideally we kind of it's stable, we continue funneling push out, the model kind of speaks for itself once you see what the product can do. And then eventually later on, maybe bringing in some of those other inventions to help these other populations that haven't been kind of thought

of at the forefront, like we said. So I think the vision is really big right now. We're kind of taking it one day at a time, one pitch at a time. I think that the future looks really bright for the way we're going. So we're hopeful. Excellent. Excellent. And very well said. I think, I mean, I agree, I think you guys have been doing tremendous work here and the passion certainly shows for the work you guys are doing, and you both as co -founders navigating the relationship and that journey together. So thank you guys so much for being on today. I want to round this out with one last question that we ask of everybody at the end of every one of these interviews. If you could leave us with a single piece, or in this case, maybe each of you leave us with a single piece of advice, an inspirational quote, something that you want to give us as we leave here today. What would that be? Something that could have helped you guys throughout your journey? What's the single piece of advice that you'd give? I think my advice, if I had to go back and tell us a year and a half ago, two years ago,

like one piece of advice, I think it would kind of boil down to, throughout all of the challenges, if what you're doing is grounded in the values that you hold close and the values that you find important, especially in business, things are gonna get rocky, but everything's gonna work out the way it needs to. You just have to forge forward and continue holding those values as your motivation, because at the end of the day, sometimes that's all you have. When you push forward with the values

that are the most important, things are going to work out. If that's my one piece. Titled to comfortability, just failure. We are not entitled to comfortability just because it's familiar. I think some are afraid to get uncomfortable. For us, go to a Definition Expo when we don't know sign very well because we're used to being in a bubble in our comfortable space, but sometimes you have to enter into uncharted waters to do great things and learn great things. So I think that is my advice. We're not entitled to comfortability just because it's familiar. Get uncomfortable, make change, try again, learn, try again, learn, try again. That's a really wise words, not just professionally, but personally. Thank you both so much meeting with, it's really evident that you both led with your value system first, and I appreciate that. We're definitely not entitled to comfortability just because it's familiar, I 100 % agree.

Thank you both so much. We really appreciate you taking time with us this morning and sharing your thoughts and your journey and everything that you've taught us today. Thank you so much for having us. I definitely look forward to continuing to get to know both of you and having you back for future discussions with other individuals, too. And thank you, everyone else that joined today and for bringing your perspective and energy to today's discussion. And I'm just going to kind of we have a script for this, but I'm going to kind of off the cuff say that we started Founders Voyage to provide opportunity for meaningful connection and engagement after some of us met up in Boston right before lockdown happened. And we needed that supportive community then. And the need has continued. And I'm feeling that really strong sense of mission and that, again, Matt and I co -hosting today feel really fortunate to be able to bring you this sort of opportunity for cooperative learning and host one another's work. But I also want to say that professionally and personally, we see this community as one that should support each other on an ongoing basis. So it doesn't all have to happen in a recorded discussion.

Please know that we care. We care about our Ukrainian friends and our Russian friends and everyone who's going through other things right now. So let's continue the connection and thank you for leaving us with so many amazing lessons and inspiration today, Bethany and Pierre. We really, really appreciate you. Thank you so much for having us. You've just finished another episode of Founders Voyage, the podcast for entrepreneurs by entrepreneurs. The team at Founders Voyage wants to thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We hope you enjoyed your time with us, and if so, please share this with someone else who might enjoy this podcast. You can also support us by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and by donating to our Patreon. Outro music today is Something for Nothing by Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band.