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She Built It® Podcast
Welcome to the She Built It® podcast. Join me as I talk to women who have successfully built it - a life and business that they love. We dive into the topic of “how” they built it and talk about everything from having the courage to make career leaps to the details of how to lead effectively, build teams, implement growth strategies, and infuse tech innovation. Magic happens when we focus on the part of ourselves and our business that brings us joy so let’s dive in.
She Built It® Podcast
How to Build Healthcare Tech That Earns Trust
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When Dr. Maheen Mausoof Adamson’s father had a stroke that left him unable to speak, it took him fifteen minutes to ask for a glass of water. She had just finished her PhD in neuroscience. She understood the brain but still couldn’t help him.
On She Built It®, Dr. Adamson shares how that experience eventually led her to found Soof Solutions, an FDA-cleared, AI-guided communication app that uses eye and head tracking on an iPad to help people with ALS, stroke, and other neurological conditions communicate when speech is no longer possible. She also opens up about building a company while holding dual roles at Stanford and VA Palo Alto, navigating the leap from researcher to founder, and why she chose to crowdfund on StartEngine so that the community, not just investors, could be part of what she is building.
This conversation is about what happens when science, personal mission, and entrepreneurship meet, and what it takes to build something that puts real impact directly in the hands of patients.
Connect with us:
Maheen Mausoof Adamson LinkedIn
StartEngine: Invest in Startups Online
Soof Solutions App — FDA-Cleared Eye-Tracking AAC
Soof Caregiver App — Real-Time Patient Monitoring & Support
Soof Provider App — Clinical Tools for Neuro & Stroke Care
She Built It® CEO, Melanie Barr Instagram
I came to it from a daughter's perspective. So I knew what the patient felt like, and then I brought the neuroscience on top of it. But I did meet a lot of clinicians, caregivers, I did as much interviews as possible to understand the need. To get that product to market fit is really important.
SPEAKER_01I'm Melanie Farr. Welcome back to the Cheap Up Tit Podcast, your go-to place to empower you to live the life and business that you crave. I'm here to talk about everything from having the courage to make life and career leads to the details of how to lead effectively, create successful teams, implement strategies for growth, and infuse tech innovation. I'm here to celebrate your wins and navigate through your challenges. I live in the city now, but I grew up in a town of a thousand people. I've navigated major life leads, a senior-level corporate career, worked in professional sports, and now as a successful entrepreneur who loves business, technology, family, and making meaningful connections with you and the She Built It community. I also love a good workout and dose of self-care. Magic happens when we focus on the part of ourselves and our business that brings us joy. So turn up the audio, open your favorite notes app, grab your favorite drink, and here we go. Welcome to She Built It. I'm your host, Melanie Barr. Maheen, thank you so much for being here. Thank you for inviting me. You are a Stanford neuroscientist who chose to build a company. What made you decide that building not just research is the best way to create change?
SPEAKER_00As researchers and as scientists, when we are going through our training, we are told that publish or perish. And we're so focused on trying to publish whatever we find in these really amazing journals that only have reach to the academia and to the community. So there's no pushing it forward to the lay people. However, in the last 10 years or more, I've noticed that there's way more interest in science, especially brain health. And a lot of everyday publications that we read online, especially Reels, are very focused on what we find. So we do have YouTube videos that do get into our research, but there still is not hands-on immediate impact in the community. So if I'm working on something that I can actually put in the hands of the patient really fast in a very commercial way, I feel like I've really served my purpose for science because science should work for everybody. It really is completely agnostic to anything other than the human body. Creating a company that can provide a solution in the hands of the patient and the caregiver and the provider immediately that they can download and use. That's impact.
SPEAKER_01You're right. And reels are so fast. They're quick moments in time. And maybe we need a little bit more than that. We do. Share with us more about who you are, what you've built with Seuss Solutions, and the problem you're solving.
SPEAKER_00Sure. I'm originally from Pakistan and I came here when I was 19. And I have gone through all of my academic route with different universities, getting my PhD and my master's and bachelor's and all that. And I did my postdoc at Stanford after my PhD in neuroscience. And I stayed there because I got involved with Veterans Affairs Palo Alto. And I've been in those dual positions for about 20 years now. So I'm currently directing a woman's health center's research and also a clinical professor in neurosurgery at Stanford. And my background is neuroscience, meaning I'm a PhD, not an MD, but I've always studied the brain and always found it absolutely fascinating because it's the only organ in the body that can literally change the way you dream if you stimulate it. I've been studying eye movements and traumatic brain injury and Alzheimer's with neuroimaging and all that for 20 years. And about three years ago, I was doing a faculty fellowship at the Biodesign School at Stanford. And Stanford really encourages innovation and ideas that doctors have that they can take it to market so that again you can have a bigger impact than to the patient and the provider and caregivers. So I came up with this idea of creating a solution for communication for people who cannot speak, giving voice to the voiceless is how you would say it. And it is interesting because it was something that happened with my father in 2007. He had a stroke and he had a phasure right afterwards. And within three days, he was diagnosed with depression. He could not communicate at all. And it took him 15 minutes to ask for a glass of water. And it was devastating for the whole family. But now that I am doing this, I know that it was more devastating to me from the perspective of I had just finished my PhD in neuroscience. And I really thought I understood the brain and I couldn't help my father. And it really did affect me in a very grieving way. But at the same time, I wanted to do something about it, but obviously I couldn't. And when they asked me for an idea to create a company, I wanted to have something that could be immediately off use. And I didn't want to create a device. I didn't want to go through the FDA route. I wanted something that people could use. So I used the camera and the iPad. And I worked with a company to create a solution with the programming, but AI enabled so that we can use the eye tracking to measure eye movements as well as head movements and use them so that you can capture things from the screen of an iPad by a patient and they can throw it from the iPad to the caregiver's phone. And that way, if you needed a glass of water or anything, we don't have a stimulus library. We have whatever you want. So I can put my daughter's picture on the screen, and my eyes will pick it up and take that picture and give it to the caregiver saying, I want to see my daughter. And it measures your eye movements and your head movements. And then we can gather some personal health data in terms of like how good your movements are, and that could be a detection of some sort, like in terms of your eye health. And everything is very need-based. So we decided that we would be able to actually capture how involved the caregiver is, which is really making this application not just very patient-oriented, but actually very business-oriented. This is B2B marketing. So we can target nursing homes and rehab hospitals because they're always looking to provide better care for their patients. And if you can measure what the caregiver is able to do during the day, how many needs can be measured that they're meeting, that's a really good thing. It's a needs-based score, it's a needs assessment. So that's really what we're doing.
SPEAKER_01That's so interesting. A lot of listeners probably don't know this, but I'm also in the senior housing industry. And so to think about that type of support and to be able to help your father in that way has to be so incredible for you.
SPEAKER_00He actually passed away within a year of having his stroke. And that was that really, it really devastated me. And I always say this is like we should always talk about our problems. We should always communicate with other people about what we're going through. And the reason why is because I grieved on my own about all this for years until I realized when I found out that when you do have a stroke and you have aphasia afterwards, and you're a caregiver, it really affects you and you're personalizing your story and you're talking to your family, you're talking to your friends, just within yourself, right? But then after years of grieving about it and when the right time came, I don't do particularly stroke research. I'm not a stroke neurologist or anything like that. I'm a neuroscientist. I know how it works, but I stayed away from it because it was traumatic for me. And then you get to the point where you actually look at the epidemiology of it and you figure out how many people have gone through this? How many people are there that have a stroke and cannot talk? Every year, close to 175,000 people in the United States have stroke with aphasia, new ones, not talking about the ones who are going through rehab. There's ALS, there's MS, there's neurodevelopmental disorders, there's kids who cannot speak between the ages of 5 to 17, or they, when they should be speaking between 5 to 17, they need all these special ads. And I think it's really important to understand, and that's one of the things that I learned in my classes that were non-clinical and non-research is the business side of things. What is the need? So it wasn't just my dad, the need was much bigger. And that's what I want to address is take it to market because there's people like my father, and there's people like me and my mother or my brothers who the whole family just devastated because communication is a human right.
SPEAKER_01And hundreds of thousands of people that you could be helping. Tell us more about the business process and the data behind it and how you're able to use that data.
SPEAKER_00So let's go back to some basics on this. So our all three of our apps are on Apple App Store right now. So they're on a freemium, so you can download them. Our programmer will be contacted, and you will be able to use the basic package without any fee. And we will charge in a little bit, but right now we're letting people use it. We are FDA approved to be used as a communication solution. We are also backed by Stanford. So we are ready to sell. We are also reaching out to our bigger communities, nursing homes. So we have about three pilots that are going on. So we're trying to collect data and three different institutes. One of them is Children's Pediatrics Department at Aga Khan University in Pakistan, because I'm a visiting professor there. It's an IRB-approved project. So we're trying to have children use it. We are also starting a pilot in Kansas City and it's St. Luke's Hospital. And we are working on an IRB proposal there. They've said yes, they've given us a wonderful letter, and we are starting a study there. We also have a study that we are working on with Burlingame Senior Care. So you can see I'm attacking both ends of the spectrum, neurodevelopmental and elderly care. This kind of work has huge impact in terms of lots of different ways we can use it. But as long as we use it for communication right now, that would be the best way to go. It is a software, a basically digital health. So it is a SAS model. So we get the basic package, and then after that, you can keep adding things to it. As we gather the data, the for B2B, the main data is needs assessment score, which is about how many times does the caregiver actually go and meet the needs of the patient? Give them what they need. And once that is done, then you basically are able to show that not to just your business partners in the community and say, hey, we've got this innovative way of in our nursing home that we can actually measure how caregivers are doing, but you can also give it to your insurance companies and say, look, this is an important thing. Right now we don't have insurance to pay for it. But as we gather the data, we should be able to convince the insurance to pay for it because we will be able to provide the quality of life both to the caregiver and the patient, and we will have better needs met. In fact, one of our nursing homes was like, we will like to put this in our flyer because we're so digitally AI oriented. So that's where we're at. And I think the actual solution, the communication solution, actually grows with you. So, like I said, you can add your own pictures in it. You can use your fingers to touch. If your hands are working, most sometimes when stroke happens, most of the time your if your left hemisphere stroke, your right hand doesn't work, which is why I used eyes. So if your eyes cannot pick it up or your hands are working, you can use your fingers, but it still tracks your eyes and your head movements. So that's our model right now. We would like to sell it directly to patients with the price if they want, but our main strategy right now is B2D, and it'll be like a certain amount of money for 12 licenses for each facility.
SPEAKER_01And if someone wanted to go to your apps, what are they?
SPEAKER_00So they're called Soup Solutions, and there's three apps. One is for patient, which works on the iPad, and two are for iPhones for provider and caregiver. We're also working on moving it to Android, which is really important before use in other countries that are not as well off and don't have Apple as much. And we can download it and it's available on Apple right now. And the good thing about it is that it's quite easy to use. We have an AI chat box in it. We also have a programmer who is able to answer all kinds of questions, and it's easy to use. That is something that we are very proud of because a lot of the devices and a lot of apps that are out there for people who cannot speak takes a long time for them to learn. They're also very expensive. A lot of them are their own devices with amazing eye trackers, but that means you just have to carry another device with you. And there's also no communication with the caregiver a lot of the times. So I don't like to say that oh, I'm using AI because AI is just like a buzzword. I'm using AI because I'm bringing humans together. Because everything you do every day is you and the phone. But I like to say that our SUF Solutions brings people together. That's what the logo is. It's three people holding hands. There's no AI in it. Three people are holding hands because AI brings them together. And it doesn't do anything despite anything like that.
SPEAKER_01And you're helping the patients because you're helping people to be able to speak, but then you're also bringing in that data, which is really interesting because I've never heard of anything like that being tracked or the ability to be evaluated because everyone wants the best care.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. Now preventive care, best care, to be able to. So I don't say diagnose, I say detect. And detect, which is complementary to whatever the doctor's doing, whatever the ER is doing. I'm not gonna say, hey, I detected. I'm gonna say it's gonna either make it quicker or it's gonna create a warning sign that's gonna help lead to better solutions, better outcomes, better quality of life. Now, it is so cool for us to think about the eye, the eyes are amazing. The eyes are an I love eyes, not just because of makeup, but I love makeup. But it's important to know it's a beautiful feature of your face. And if you look at any poetry, from at least in my language or in other languages, eyes are always talked about because it's the entrance to your soul or whatever. Eyes are part of your brain. And a lot of marketing strategies, a lot of personality, a lot of leadership classes are about how you look at other people, like how what your eyes are saying, because eyes are part of your brain. So I know that eye tracking has been studied for years in neuroscience. And I've been advising companies, I've published papers in it, and I think it's an amazing thing to look at the back of the eye to look at multiple sclerosis, to look at the back of the eye for amyloid, for Alzheimer's and other movements for how it moves for traumatic brain injury. But it can also be used as a way to communicate without speaking. You would say her eyes told the story, you know, all that stuff. Like there is a way to actually gather the XYZ coordinates of your eye to actually have an eye-health score that you can see changes happen in every day based on your body, based on what your brain is feeling. And maybe that's a way to detect changes in the body. That's so interesting because the eyes do say a lot.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they do. And I know you take it a step further from what we see visually. I also think about how we think and how that approaches business, how we can wire our brains to think in a certain way in business situations and to grow our business and to have a growth mindset.
SPEAKER_00Empathy is a really new thing in the business world compared to like how it used to be in the 80s and 90s, you know, and even in 2000. Empathy is something that is really important for today's leadership. And it comes from really reading the room and the understanding the other person. And I'm old enough to like curb my anger. I won't say enthusiasm because I like to be enthusiastic. I love to show how excited I am about science, about the work that I'm doing, or about anything really. I get excited about customized tailoring. It's important to show the excitement and the opportunities that are out there. But when it's negativity, your eyes can really tell. And I don't have a poker face, but that's one of the things that people who who are very good at dealing, but business, their eyes can they can mask movements of their eyes in a way that people can understand that.
SPEAKER_01It's interesting when you think about working through negativity. I haven't ever thought about how eye movement correlates to that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, there's a lot of data out there about eye movement correlating with mood, depression, attention deficit disorders, focus. There's some relationship to particular genetic variants that we have that make us perseverate more, that make give us tunnel vision. Once we get going on this in terms of gathering the data, the things that you can do is it's amazing.
SPEAKER_01That's so interesting. I have large eyes, and I've always been asked, especially when I was younger, if I was scared. Like, no, I'm not scared. I just have round eyes. But I do see how the data in relating to places like senior housing or nursing homes and how valuable that data can be as it relates to healthcare as well.
SPEAKER_00The first time I visited a nursing home, I think I was 21 years old. I'd been here for two years. And it was very shocking to me because in my culture, there's no such thing as nursing homes. It's not necessarily a good thing. A lot of people are not able to take care of their parents. They don't have the income to do it, and there's a lot of bad things that can happen. So there's good and bad on both sides. It's just I'd not seen a nursing home before. And it was actually a very nice nursing home in Salinas, but it really affected me.
SPEAKER_01It's interesting to think about how we can improve quality of life. Yes.
SPEAKER_00And because none of us are getting any younger, you're in this field. Ways to pull up socks. When you get bend down, how do you pull them up? There's all these physical needs that can be met by making all these physical devices like these, but now we have digital AI solutions that can help you communicate. You could say, hey, I need someone to put my socks on. So you could just click on socks and they'll come put your socks on.
SPEAKER_01As Souf grows, how do you think about innovation, product development, and growth without losing sight of the patient?
SPEAKER_00As a business person, as an entrepreneur, I would like my solution to be used all the time. But one of the questions I get is like, hey, what if they start speaking? And how will you make sure that they keep using? So we have different ways of adding bells and whistles to the solution. And we have stuff up our sleeves that I can talk about, but it is a way of making sure we retain the customer, we keep the customer because the app becomes part of your life because it's on the phone. It's not an extra device, it becomes part of your life. Like, how many times do you check your bank account every day? Or how many times do you go to WhatsApp? I want it to be one of that background app that actually runs and you just use it for everything. You want to go to Netflix, you go through Souf. You click on the icon of Netflix in Soup because your eyes can't you can't speak. So that's how I would want it to be. Like I want it to be used like that. And it would grow with you because it we can add things to it. We can add AI voices to it, we can add therapy to it. The provider can download homework onto it, they can have calendar on it. So they one of the things that this speech language pathologist once told me that she visits this child at home for therapy every two weeks. And she gives homework on an iPad to the child and they put it in her drawer every time she leaves. And when she comes back two weeks later, they take it out of the door in front of her. No one looks at it for two weeks. But if you have Sooth, the provider has the app in front of them, they can check every day, they can download homework. It's just more interactive. It's more, it's basically what we do in school now. My daughter is a junior, she's got four AP classes, she's going crazy. And you see how they study now, how everything is monitored. That's how we are when we work. So why can't we be like that when we're older and retired? It's so true.
SPEAKER_01The other thing that you mentioned is it's good that there's not another device because you're right, we don't need additional devices. I know.
SPEAKER_00Because you want one thing that you have in front of you that you can just use as much as you can.
SPEAKER_01What is the biggest mistake founders make when building in a regulated space like healthcare?
SPEAKER_00Not talking to enough people, not doing enough research, thinking you know. A lot of people are like, oh, you're a scientist, and you must know. No, I don't. I study the human brain, it's the most complex organ in the body, it's the entire universe. And neuroscientists are probably should be the most humble scientists in the world because we really don't understand it. And I think that if I had to go to other people to really understand business terms, really understand a lot of the clinical side of things, because I'm a researcher. I can tell you about the human brain, but learning about the patient, the good thing about it is that I didn't come to this from the neuroscience perspective. I came to it from a daughter's perspective. So I knew what the patient felt like. And then I brought the neuroscience on top of it. But I did meet a lot of clinicians, I met a lot of caregivers, I did as much interviews as possible to understand the need. So I think that is important. To get that product to market fit is really important. That mold of breaking that first customer. We're trying to get customers right now, we're trying to raise money right now. And founders like myself, I'm the CEO, we are pulled in so many directions.
SPEAKER_01And none of those things are easy. They're new. I mean, you're very skilled and educated and knowledgeable in your, but no one is good at everything. And you're so smart to keep questioning.
SPEAKER_00You have to question. And right now we're raising. And that's another thing I wanted to say is we are crowdfunding at the moment for another two months, and we're doing it at Start Engine. And it's a great platform because it allows people to follow us. It allows people to see how we're growing. And for little money, you can actually be part of the company in a small way to see how we can actually go to market and make revenue, and it'll you'll be part of it. Because my company is a very commercial communal company, and it's for the patient rather than something that is maybe just like hanging out with people in the market and more towards business. I want it to be in the hands of the patients. What brings you the most joy in what you're doing today? Seeing people speak when they can't speak. It's amazing. It brings tears to my eyes because I always say, like, I'll have these billboards and SF when you're driving, and there's all these AI billboards and all these product and Salesforce. And I want a tiny billboard there, whatever, and it says can't talk, souf it. That's that's what I want.
SPEAKER_01It'll be there one day. It will happen. I hope so. I really hope that's neuroscience to bring it to life. Yes. Thank you so much for joining us today. Please share with us again how and where we can find you.
SPEAKER_00My company is called Souf Solutions, which is S-O-O-F Solutions, soufsolutions.com. You can also look for my name, Amahin Masuf Adamson. And my apps are on all three apps, Souf Solutions, Souf Caregiver, and Soup Provider. All three of them are on Apple App Store. We're also on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and we're on X.
SPEAKER_01Thank you for joining us today. I'd love to hear from you. Reach out to me at hello at shtbuiltit.com on our ShBiltIt website or at ShBuiltit on social. Thank you to my editor, Rich Drafalino, who always makes us sound good. Until next time, let nothing stop you from experiencing effectively business that you crave.