120 Interviews16 Weeks

Venture Lab start up Competition Semi-Finals

03-02-2015

APARNA SUDARSHAN

PRATIBHA ASHOKKUMAR

Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting :Originally, the idea was to develop an energy harvesting system for medical devices. Piezo electric harvesting has significant potential and has been used in external wearable devices.With the high initial cost of investment and constraints of FDA regulations we decided to start with the software industry which is comparatively easier to work in.An example of extension of this technology where a flexible piezoelectric nanogenerator could be used not only to provide sufficient energy to power a cardiac pacemaker, but also for real-time monitoring.A research team from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), working with the Division of Cardiology at Severance Hospital of Yonsei University, has developed a self-powered artificial cardiac pacemaker operated semi-permanently by a flexible piezoelectric nanogenerator.1 In trials, the energy harvested has amounted to 8.2 V and 0.22 mA from very small movements. The research team fabricated high-performance flexible nanogenerators utilizing a bulk single-crystal PMN-PT thin film.

OUR ORIGINAL BUSINESS THESIS

1.“Smartphone manufacturers will use our microchip to make phones charge

themselves”

171500000 users78% battery backup

DUAL FOCUSED MARKET

THE Original CONCEPT

• Build and store charge every-time the touchscreen of the phone is touched.

• Building charge even when the phone is being used.

• Based on our interviews; an individual touches his phone at least 20 times every hour. (To unlock the phone, check the time, send texts/emails, Gaming, Facebook etc).

• Charging of the phone would be directly proportional to the intensity and frequency of the screen touches.

RESPONSE TO THE ORIGINAL CONCEPT

SMARTPHONE USERS

Positive Negative Neutral

Positive Negative Neutral

SMARTPHONE USERS120 Interviews conducted: 23: Manufacturer side 97: End User Side

With our original concept: • User response was

outstanding.• 85% users gave it a

thumbs up!

SMARTPHONE MANUFACTURERS

POSITIVENEGATIVE

NEUTRAL

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

R&D Marketing/Sales

• Unlike what we expected, Though the R&D teams at the manufacturer side we happy to know about our progress with our technology, the response from the Marketing side was disappointing.

• Unlike the end users, the marketing department didn’t care about battery drainage issues with the phones.

• Of the 23 interviews; 12 were R&D engineers and 11 were Marketing/sales.

• Out of the 23; 4 interviews were solely cold call based interviews.

“Smartphone manufacturers will use our external case to make phones charge

themselves”

OUR NEW AND IMPROVED BUSINESS THESIS

VALUABLE LESSONS WE LEARNT FROM CUSTOMER DISCOVERY

Technical Challenges faced during customer discovery:1) Modifications to existing circuitry2) Team members Quit3) Compromising the Screen Resolution4) Space Constraints5) Affecting and Interfering with the existing sensor technology

Challenges posed by manufacturers:3) Cost4) Weight5) Miniaturization of Circuitry

EVOLUTION OF OUR CONCEPT

1st Generation 2nd Generation

3rd Generation

HOW WE TESTED OUR MINIMALLY VIABLE PRODUCT

Positive Negative

Neutral

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

R&D

Marketing

Response to the MVP

What did we do?• Built a CAD MODEL and showed it to users

and Manufacturers.• Put together a Specs sheet (Science Paper

Format) with list of parts and how they’d work.

• Consulted with Project teams at GTRI to help test the idea.

External Battery Backup case

First Prototype

Get an electrical engineer to help solve technical

challenges with the internal concept.

Extend Concept to Medical Devices

Intellectual Property (IP)

licensure

Identify and strike deals with local vendors

Use funds from case sales to build and test

Internal charging concept

Conduct Clinician Interviews

Apply for SBIR/GRA funds

Build MVP

Venture lab Process

OUR BUSINESS MODEL

• We would like to sincerely thank Venture Labs for the wonderful opportunity and unparalleled experience.

• A big shout out to Ilan and Matt at GTRI for their extended support, co-operation and tons and tons of motivation.

• We would like to thank our ex-team-mates for their inputs and time.

• Thanks to all those who helped us grow stronger and patient.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

REFERENCES

[1] http://cds.linear.com/docs/en/demo-board-manual/dc1459B.pdf[2] http://www.linear.com/product/LTC3588-1[3] http://www.digikey.it/it/articles/techzone/2014/nov/piezoelectric-energy-harvesting-at-the-heart-of-the-matter[4] http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2014/mobile-millennials-over-85-percent-of-generation-y-owns-smartphones.html[5] http://piceramic.com/applications/piezo-energy-harvesting.html[6] http://www.synaptics.com/en/files/507-000167-01-Rev-A-Display-Integration.pdf

APPENDIX 1

APPENDIX 2

APPENDIX 3

APPENDIX 4

APPENDIX 5

APPENDIX 1: INTERNAL CIRCUITRY

• Venture Labs

• Chip Manufacturers and suppliers.

• Eventually: Angel Funding

• Venture Capitalists

• Technology Design• Marketing• Demo and Customer

Feedback

• IP (Patents)• Linear

Technology• GTRI

Interviews, Surveys, MVP feedback

Indirect Serviceand then eventually direct service

• End users (Smartphone users)

• Smartphone assemblers and manufacturers

• Eventually: • Biomedical

Companies

External battery CaseEventually: Wearable/Implantable Medical devices

• Energy harvesting

• Reducing Frequency of Charging.

• Extending Battery Life

Value-Driven

APPENDIX 3HYPOTHESES• H1 : Smartphones run out of battery at least once daily • H2 : Smartphone users are using external measures to keep their phone batteries running longer • H3 : Frequent battery drainage affects the way users use their phone • H4 : Users find it inconvenient to charge their phones more than once a day X• H5 : Smartphone manufacturers are employing measures to solve battery drainage problems • H6 : Smartphone manufacturers will be open to incorporating a new technology

APPENDIX 4

Cost Considerations :Linear Technology - $4.22 per unithttp://www.linear.com/purchase/LTC3588-1

Ali Express - $3.60 per unithttp://www.aliexpress.com/price/ltc3588_price.html

Power Management System - $200 per unithttp://www.linear.com/purchase/LTC3588-1

VALUE PROPOSITION Smartphones run out of battery at least once daily

• Based on our Customer Discovery, 61% users reported that their phones run out of battery atleast once daily.

• Existing technology to solve drainage issues:APPLICATIONS that shut down other Background apps

that keep running even when not in use.EXTERNAL PORTABLE BATTERY BACK-UP that do not

charge themselves. • Existing solutions don’t tackle the problems effectively. • Our Product will cost less than existing portable back-up solutions. • Our product will last longer than current solutions.• EXISITING MARKET FOR BACK-UP CASES= 133.77 million!