SXSW Startups: BehaviorMe
The Forrest Four-Cast: February 21, 2019
Fifty diverse startups will aim to impress a panel of judges and a live audience with their skills, creativity and innovation at SXSW Pitch Presented by Cyndx. Winners in 10 categories will be announced at the Pitch Award Ceremony at 6:30 pm Sunday, March 10, at the Hilton Austin.
A finalist in Augmented and Virtual Reality, which will pitch at 3:30 pm Saturday, March 9, BehaviorMe has created a SaaS that enables therapists to increase the independence of kids and young adults with autism and developmental disabilities. The software is used as part of a therapy session where therapists can run multiple scenarios during a single appointment. Currently, the software is being deployed as a web portal and standalone VR headsets.
What is your competitive advantage?
BehaviorMe takes pride in having a foothold in the applied behavior analysis industry. For those unfamiliar, applied behavior analysis (or ABA) is the industry standard, go-to therapy for individuals with autism spectrum disorder. BehaviorMe’s advantages lays in an evidence-based learning curriculum that has been proven to be the most effective therapy yet for autism and learning disabilities.
Tell us a little about the benefits of using immersive technology.
The benefits of immersive technology can be boiled down to a few key terms: replication, control, learner engagement, and data collection. Immersive technology allows for easy replication of environments, easy control of infinite variables, active student engagement (aka active participation), and an objective data collection system that up to know has been addressed in ABA therapy only by observation by humans.
Who is BehaviorMe for?
BehaviorMe is for therapists who want to do their best in seeing their students grow and become independent adults. Parents who wish they had more resources to teach their kids how to be adults. And for those with autism, so they don’t even have to live in a world defined by their disability.
What are your goals for BehaviorMe in 2019?
Help 300+ kids learn basic community life skills. Continue hiring an A+ team. Raise our next round.
BehaviorMe is based in Gainesville, Florida. Tell us about the startup ecosystem there.
Gainesville is a small but fledgling startup community that has suffered through ups and downs as any other community has. The scars of the past are still in the air but the new generation is quickly writing a new path for the Gainesville startup ecosystem. We’re definitely privileged to be part of this new generation and we hope to make it our headquarters for decades to come.
Walk us through your team members and the collaboration involved in the BehaviorMe creation process.
Andrea VIllegas — A hippie at heart with a strong leaning towards verifiable, peer-reviewed scientific results. Without Andrea, we’d be snake oil.
Annie Villegas — A funny sock connoisseur with the patience of a thousand therapists. Annie has seen it all with her decade plus experience providing direct care to kids and adults with autism and developmental disabilities.
Chris Medina — A jack of all trades who never takes no for an answer. A key member of the group as he leads the technical team and taught himself how to code in Unity to make our product happen.
Andy Chavez — The creatively inclined speaker who thinks there’s a connection and possibility to do everything and anything under the sky with BehaviorMe. The question is not why, it’s why not.
How and when did your team come together and please fill us in on any relevant startup experience?
Two of our co-founders had a class together at the University of Florida. Through socialization and key deliverables, they found to have commonality in vision and scope of startups to begin. Along with their respective friends and partners, when our powers combined we are BehaviorMe!
If your team members weren’t involved in building BehaviorMe, what would they be doing?
Annie would be adopting shelter dogs and making a pet sanctuary.
Andrea would be knee deep in research of human behavior.
Chris would be the Miami Hurricanes new mascot.
Andy would be chasing waterfalls.
Looking at the entire tech industry, what trend is your team most excited about?
Genetic engineering (CRISPR) and the neural link.
What has the startup experience taught you about life?
Patience and communication are key to solving any problem.
What’s one piece of advice you wish you’d had that you’d give to others wanting to join the startup journey?
Do it because you have strong values for something. Not because you think it’s a good idea. Good ideas are a dime a dozen. When the going gets rough, your values will help you pull through. Think “How is my startup leaving this world a better place then when I found it?” If everyone, even outside of technology would have that mantra, the world would be a better place for all.
Look for more interviews with other SXSW Pitch finalists in this space between now and March.
Click here to see all 50 finalists for SXSW Pitch 2019, along with the links to their interviews on Medium.
Also, if you are an entrepreneur, check out all the cool panels and presentations in the Entrepreneurship and Startups Track, which runs March 8–12 at SXSW.
Hugh Forrest serves as Chief Programming Officer at SXSW, the world’s most unique gathering of creative professionals. He also tries to write at least four paragraphs per day on Medium. These posts often cover tech-related trends; other times they focus on books, pop culture, sports and other current events.
