avaroselim - Start-up Designer

The team posing with our prototypes at the Dempsey Start-up Competition

Experiencing the World of Start-ups Through Developing a Pet-Bot for Stress

Overview

In the middle of my junior year, I decided to post a message to my major’s slack channel about trying to find an electrical engineer to work with me on an idea to create a physical product to reduce stress by guiding the user through breathing exercises. I made the post on a whim, not expecting much out of it. However, I ended up getting connected with someone who would become one of the most influential people in my life who welcomed me into the world of start-ups. Soon after I joined the team as a designer and prototyper. In the next year, I got to compete in start-up competitions around UW, complete a business accelerator program, and learn more about business than I ever thought I would.

Personal Importance

This experience has been and continues to be one of the best growth opportunities in my life. Business had never been a huge interest of mine and I certainly never imagined that I would be fully immersed in the world of start-ups while I was still in college. Not only has this experience proven to me the value of taking risks and trying new things, I have met so many wonderful people who have become mentors and friends. I have been able to explore and experience career paths in a way that is not possible in a typical school setting and cemented my values for empathetically designing solutions that have a real possibility of positive change.

Tasks Accomplished

Designs and fabricates Komi, a biofeedback-based pet bot designed to help you improve your self-awareness and create a better relationship with stress
Focuses on 3D modeling and product design while also contributing to branding, research, and business
Recognition earned: 2023 Dempsey Startup Competition Sweet Sixteen Finalist, 2023 Jones + Foster Accelerator Cohort, Winner of the Electronic Arts Grand Prize at the UW Science and Technology Showcase

Leadership Competencies Gained

Verbal Communication

Although public speaking wasn’t something I was necessarily bad at, I also didn’t know much about it. Sure, I was able to give a presentation to a class, but talking is a very different skill than being able to communicate and get your ideas across through speech. Near the beginning of my time with the team, we were gearing up for start-up competitions for the chance to win thousands of dollars in prize money. This was a great motivator for me to learn how to be able to pitch an idea and be able to make others believe what you are saying. I learned about so much more than just what to say and how to say it, but how to use body language, tone, and conversation to make it so who I was talking to was engaged and in understanding.

Personal Contributions

When first starting, I was overwhelmed with the amount of possibilities now open to me. I wanted to try out everything I possibly could, finance, marketing, hardware, design, and more. At first, I was trying to learn about everything I could and offer to help wherever possible. Although I did learn a lot from this process, I think that I learned more about my personal contributions than in any of the skills I helped out in. The bottom line was that I wasn’t a finance student nor an electrical engineer, and no one was expecting me to be one. I am a designer and I am here to learn about, grow, and offer the huge variety of skills that designers possess. Once I realized that you don’t have to always strive to do it all, I was able to hone in on my strengths and contribute more by focusing on less.

Social Responsibility

As a team, we work together well because of our communication and understanding, but what brings us together above all is our shared belief that what we are doing has the chance to make real change. All of us are driven by a desire to make a difference. With this product, we feel that we are working on something that is bigger than any of us and opening an opportunity to serve communities in need. Even though it may be our social responsibility to support and improve welfare in our communities, we do this not because of an external obligation, but an internal dedication to help others and do what we can to leave this world better off.

Early stage prototypes of the pet-bot modeled and 3D printed by me

Lessons Learned and Looking to the Future

I plan to stay with Komi for as long as it is still feasible and reasonable for me to be there. It is true that I want to stay so I can see this product through to production and be part of whatever comes from the launch, but what is really motivating me to stay is the fulfillment, growth, and learning that comes from working with this team and building a product that you believe in. I got to learn about what it takes for start-ups to be successful, how to give a pitch to a potential investor, and how to capitalize on my strengths by knowing my weaknesses. None of this would have ever happened if I didn’t send a random message to a slack channel, and that only makes me that much more grateful for the invaluable opportunities I continue to have.

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