Week 8

Our team is called Decode and we are currently working on a patent which uses ECoG technology to measure activity electrodes in the brain and translate thoughts or mumbled speech into writing. This patented technology, which can be paired with an iPhone or other electronic devices has many potential applications. The three broad categories we identified and chose to explore were neuroprosthetics, speech translation for those with speech disabilities, and alternative entertainment uses (such as for video games or phone applications).

Our team was split between these three potential routes for the patent and initially wanted to pursue all of them rather than narrowing down on one customer segment.
Therefore, we in the beginning stages of this project, we incorporated all three of these uses when sizing our market rather. However, what we learned from this is that failing to specialize and capture one market not only made our job more difficult, but made our product less effective. This is because our markets were simply too different. For example, the entertainment market, we would need to use the patent technology to develop an external device which could be paired with iPhones and video game consoles. This device would allow people to control phone apps and video games with their minds. On the other hand, for the purpose of speech disorders, we were looking into the patent’s implanted technology, rather than an external device, since this was proven to be the most effective ECoG method for the purpose. We realized from this distinction that it made no sense to try to develop a company catering to both of these markets, because this would require two vastly different products with very different needs.

Therefore, now we are focusing on trying to pick a specific route to pursue. The issues we have with this are that we are unsure which market would be most profitable. Our team is very interested in working on the speech disorders technology. However, on concern we have about this route is whether customers would be willing to get an invasive procedure done (especially because this is a new technology). We are also unsure how to collect data and interview customers to determine the answers to these type of questions, because this would require interviewing patients with speech disorders and/or their families. Ultimately, we worry that our lack of expertise in the medical field would make it too difficult to pursue. Similarly, the entertainment market route also has its complications. While the entertainment industry is one of the largest markets in sheer size, it is also very saturated. We are unsure how effective our product would be as it is contingent upon partnering with big companies and apps to penetrate the market.

As for now, we are still researching the pros and cons of each of these markets. We are going to continue with customer interviews and hopefully find answers to some of our concerns before finalizing which path we will pursue.

- Originally sent March 9th

Week 10

What did you want to do?

We wanted to do a higher number of surveys and interviews. Gathering this additional data will allow to do further analysis and understand our market needs and concerns better. Having this information will allow us to focus the MVP and test it with a specific group.

What did you learn? Issues?

We were able to to do 14 interviews and over a hundred surveys. We asked about the people's opinion about gesture touch technologies, and most of them prefer touch based technologies. The biggest concerns about brain signals applications are related to ethical issues and misinterpretations. A lot of the people surveyed did not know much about this kind of applications, which makes it clear that we're breaking into a new market. To introduce this project in the world, we would need to invest in marketing and give a really specific focus to this project. We explained our idea to the people during the interviews. Some of them had concerns about how this would work and which would be its limitations, but most of them showed a lot of interest.

What are you going to do?

We need to carefully analyze the data we gather and see which would be our most important market.

Week 9 Post

What did you want to do?

We wanted to narrow down our focus onto a single market, choosing between entertainment and medical approach for our brain signal patent


What did you learn? Issues?

Through communication with another group, which talked to the patent holder, we learnt that the technology is still growing, with limited accuracy and speed currently. It was estimated that the medical approach for the technology might take more than 5 years to be ready


What are you going to do?

Our group decided to focus on the entertainment approach. We have drafted up surveys and interviews to gain a better understanding of the market.

- This was originally sent March 15th