The Mill’s 2nd Annual INX pre-qualification pitch event was held on Wednesday, July 25, 2018. Of the 12 pitches that were presented at this event, 5 will be moving on to the INX Pitch Event in Indianapolis, where the winning pitch will receive $100,000 in cash and services. We will be highlighting the 12 pitches at the pre-qualification in Bloomington in a series of blog posts. The following is a profile about Wave Therapeutics, one of the 5 winners moving on to INX this fall.
Jessica Bussert was inspired to create Wave Therapeutics when she was taking care of a patient with horrible bed sores, and his doctor wanted him to buy a $4,000 cushion to help treat them. The patient wasn’t able to afford the overpriced cushion, and it made Jessica angry enough to start making a change.
Jessica has created a therapeutic cushion that helps prevent and/or treat bed sores. She plans on selling it to healthcare facilities, along with wheelchair users, the elderly, and eventually to the consumer market. Bussert says that people are justifiably upset by healthcare companies that focus solely on profitability, at the expense of helping people. Jessica believes that it’s possible to create a profitable, high-quality product that improves the lives of patients, and is a win-win for healthcare providers and patients.
Eventually, Jessica would like to create full mattress toppers for bed-bound patients. She is thinking beyond hospitals and assisted living facilities, proposing applications of her solution for frequent flyers, long-haul truckers, and office workers. She says that it’s nice to know that Wave Therapeutics can realistically help improve and save lives. The need is huge, and the market is ready for a better solution; Jessica thinks that the sky’s the limit!
Wave Therapeutics is one of 5 pitches being sent to INX in Indianapolis. Here’s what Jessica had to say about the opportunity:
“I’m excited that we were selected because I really believe our product has the potential to help improve a lot of people’s lives and this helps us move the ball forward just that much more.
“Winning would mean finally getting a little paycheck for my efforts. We’ve self funded from our retirement savings up to this point, and my spouse is starting to worry we might spend our golden years living under a bridge!
“The first thing we’ll spend our winnings on is tooling. I’ve got people interested in buying our product once we have something to sell them, so I’d like to get to manufacturing as soon as possible.”