Today’s episode is an inspirational story from Lianna Genovese – a student, engineer, and founder of ImaginAble Solutions – on a mission to improve the quality of life for people living with impaired motor movement through her innovative assistive product, Guided Hands.
About ImaginAble Solutions and Founder Lianna Genovese
Founded in 2018, ImaginAble Solutions launched their first product, Guided Hands, in the summer of 2021. Guided Hands can allow anyone with limited hand function to not only paint but write, draw and access technology such as touch screen devices. They have eight healthcare pilots across North America and have recently released Guided Hands to purchase. Their mission is to provide independence and quality of life to anyone experiencing limited hand function in North America.
Lianna Genovese, founder of ImaginAble Solutions, is currently a biomedical and mechanical engineering student at McMaster University. The inspiration behind her product, Guided Hands, came from meeting a twelve year old girl named Bella at McMaster Children’s Hospital. Lianna brought painting supplies and taught Bella how to use Guided Hands, and as soon as she began painting, Bella turned to her mom and said, “Mom, I want one.” In that moment, Lianna knew she had created something that could potentially change someone’s life.
When asked about what advice she has for other young entrepreneurs, she said, “Find your passion and transform it into your profession. When I met with Bella, the little girl who inspired me to start my company, and when I saw what my invention in my engineering background could allow me to create a product to change someone’s life – I knew in that moment that I have found my passion. I have used that passion and transformed it into my profession in starting this company.”
To learn more, visit www.imaginablesolutions.com/.
About Host Patrick McGuire
Patrick is a creative entrepreneur, team leader, and Altitude Accelerator board member who has focused on the sales and success of companies including: HR tech, fintech, sports tech, Software-as-a-Service, cannabis (CBD / THC), nutrition, health and wellness, fitness corporations, and business of all sizes with a love for helping business grow and scale from $500k to north of $50m. With an entrepreneurial mindset focused on team-building, his ethical leadership delivers win-win solutions for his companies and clients.
[showhide type=”transcription” more_text=”Show Transcription” less_text=”Hide Transcription”]
Patrick McGuire
Hey, it’s Patrick. Before we start at the time of this recording, we went through a bit of a name rebranding from RIC Centre to Altitude Accelerator. With that in mind, we hope you enjoy the following interview. Welcome to the Startups Transformed Podcast. I’m Patrick McGuire, your host board member and advisor at Altitude Accelerator, where we help startups scale to new heights. We chat with phenomenal tech business leaders who’ve climbed their way to success within their industry. Our guests delve deep into the lessons they’ve learned along the way so that you can get a head start on your next big idea.
Patrick McGuire
This is just one of those podcasts that I’m excited for because I didn’t have anything in the entrepreneur world when I got started. This young lady is rocking it and having a little bit of fun and about to go to market. We’re going to talk about summer 2021 release a little bit later, but I just want to talk about the effort that’s gone into this. The accidental AHA moment, if you will. That really gave Lianna an opportunity to say, oh, my goodness, this is cool. I love it.
Patrick McGuire
I help others. This I can be passionate about, and, oh, yeah, I’m still in University, and I’m going to build a great, big, massive international business. So, Lianna, I want you to tell me a little bit about what you’re doing today. What is it that you got going? What are you releasing? And how are you helping other people?
Lianna Genovese
Absolutely. Well, first off, thank you so much, Patrick, for having me on the podcast. I really appreciate it. I’m currently a biomedical and mechanical engineering student at McMaster University, and the inspiration behind my product, Guided Hands, actually came from my first year school project where I was tasked to create, this woman with cerebral palsy, something to enhance her life in any way. So her name is Alyssa, and she did a presentation in front of our class on things that she could do and things that she couldn’t do.
Lianna Genovese
One of the things that she mentioned was painting because she experienced the uncontrollable curling of her fingers. Although she was a talented and magnificent painter, she couldn’t even hold onto a paintbrush as her condition progressed. So she mentioned other things like doing the buttons on her shirt, not being able to hold cooking utensils. But I wanted to focus on giving back her passion. So I created the first prototype of our product Guided Hands. It was a painting assistive device, and I used prototype materials from Home Depot.
Lianna Genovese
I used a sponge, I used pipe cleaners, and I iterated went through the whole design, the engineering design process, and I created her a prototype that worked for her. And I then later got a call from my professor, and he said, Lianna, and I remember your project, and I think you should enter it into the Innovative Design for Accessibility Student competition. So I thought nothing of it. I already had the prototype, the videos, pictures, and I submitted, and I ended up coming first place in Canada for this.
Lianna Genovese
I had no clue that this prototype could have done that. And quite frankly, it actually broke the day of my school presentation. So when they told me that I was going to the Canadian Innovation Exchange Conference in Toronto to showcase the product, I was quite nervous because I didn’t have a working prototype, but I went to the conference and a lot of business people and entrepreneurs came up to me and said, Lianna, this is such a unique idea, but it’s a prototype, but you should continue your project and transform it into a finalized device.
Lianna Genovese
So that’s what I did. The next year I specialized in biomedical and mechanical engineering, and I had a co-op and I was able to convince my supervisor to allow me to use their CNC machines and their 3D printers so I can transform my prototype into a finalized device.
Patrick McGuire
That’s awesome.
Lianna Genovese
It was an incredible opportunity that I had. So I redesigned, manufactured, and invented Guided Hands. So Guided Hands can allow anyone with limited hand function to not only paint but write, draw and access technology like touch screen devices. And as soon as I built this, I just wanted to see if it worked. So I’m born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario, and I made a list of every single rehab centre, hospital, clinic, nursing home and retirement home, and I didn’t have a car at the time, so I took the bus across Hamilton with Guided Hands in a garbage bag, since it couldn’t fit in any other bag.
Lianna Genovese
But regardless, I introduced Guided Hands to over 150 patients and physicians doing the grand reveal, taking off the garbage bag.
Lianna Genovese
And it was risky to bring this device in a garbage bag to respected medical institutions. But I saw the happiness and creativity as people wrote, coloured, painted, playing games on an iPad. But the reason why I started this company was when I met a twelve year old girl named Bella at McMaster Children’s Hospital. I brought painting supplies with me and I taught her how to use it, and as soon as she began painting, the widest smile spread across her face, she turned to her mom and said, Mom, I want one.
Lianna Genovese
And then the mum turned to me and asked, how much is it? And at that point, the thought of even selling the device had never crossed my mind. It was just my school project I wanted to see through because I had the engineering background to do it. But in that moment I knew that I had created something that could potentially change someone’s life and enhance quality of life, giving this little girl her independence, her self expression, creativity. And a week later, I actually incorporated my company, and ever since then, our focus and mission is to enhance the quality of life of people with disabilities and give them back their freedom, independence and creativity.
Patrick McGuire
Like you said, the happiness and the joy it brought to someone who could start painting again or drawing or even using something as simple as an iPad. That’s life changing. Let me sort of just poke you. I mean, you’re pretty much going after anyone that has a mechanical challenge, typically with their hands. I know you mentioned cerebral palsy, but who else could this help? Who else is having motor challenges?
Lianna Genovese
Yeah so again, the focus of Guided Hand is anyone living with limited hand function. So people with cerebral palsy, people living with Huntington’s disease, arthritis, even people recovering from spinal cord injuries and strokes. So again, anyone who has experienced this limited hand function, the uncontrollable curling of their fingers, weakness in their hand and arm, can use Guided Hands.
Patrick McGuire
Wow. That’s so cool. And I mean, this isn’t long ago. You didn’t do this ten years ago. And, like, prototype after prototype, a little bit of drawing, a little bit of this and that and some duct tape. I mean, you did the work in 2019. You incorporated in June 2019. Isn’t that right?
Lianna Genovese
Yes.
Patrick McGuire
Folks, I want everybody to hear this. Rapid prototyping is alive. You just
got to find someone, so don’t forget your dreams can happen overnight. They really can. And I say overnight, but it’s a year of hard work in school and a year of hard work since you incorporated to where you are today and anybody could do something special. It’s whether or not you’re passionate, if you’re driven and if you have the creative idea to just keep on going and make a difference in someone’s life.
Patrick McGuire
So fast forward now we’re talking about Summer 2021. What have you got going? What’s the big news? Because I don’t want to give the spoiler alert. I want you to tell us what’s happening Summer 2021.
Lianna Genovese
So, yeah. So we’re planning on releasing Guided Hands to purchase. And we’re also going to have eight healthcare pilots across North America. So Guided Hands will be made available to many different patients of different conditions. Creating more awareness is the main focus. And our focus is on providing independence and quality of life to anyone experiencing limited hand function in North America. So really excited for our launch and hoping to receive great feedback and really seeing how Guided Hands can change someone’s life.
Patrick McGuire
This is huge. We’re so excited for you. We can’t wait to see this thing out there everywhere. Let me ask you about a challenge. I mean, first of all, you’re doing this in school, and when you get started with this one, tell me the process you’ve gone through because I think you were kind of going to medical device road. That’s changed and evolved and become something that’s available for everybody everywhere. Help me understand what is that process and why you’re able to get it out this summer.
Lianna Genovese
Yeah so for quite a while, I would say almost a few months we’ve been trying to figure out if Guided Hands is a medical device or assistive device. If it is a medical device, then we would have to go through a long process of paperwork and getting our license so that we can sell it. And that day would probably be later on in the summer or around September. So we went through the whole process. And actually, this kind of reveals one of the challenges I experienced as an early entrepreneur was trying to figure out this classification, who to talk to.
Lianna Genovese
And I reached out to many different people, many different mentors, advisors, regulatory people. And they all gave me such conflicting information. And I spoke to 25 people. Half of them said it is a medical device. Other half said it’s not a medical device. And receiving that information is so frustrating because I couldn’t make a decision. After a few weeks of going back and forth, back and forth, I came to the conclusion that the only way I’m going to figure this out and make this decision is if I contact Health Canada.
Lianna Genovese
So I contacted Health Canada and actually, just two days ago, we found out or they gave us a response saying that Guided Hands is not a medical device and that we do not have to go through all of those hoops and all of that regulatory. So that does enable us to start selling our product tomorrow, which is amazing. All of our hard efforts into our research and development and prototyping that we can finally get it out into the hands of thousands to hopefully millions of people this summer and in moving forward.
Lianna Genovese
So going through that process of making those connections, talking to the CEOs and founders and medical device companies, such an incredible experience for myself as a young entrepreneur and learning and talking to these individuals, these experts in the medical field. So it was an amazing learning process for me. But now I’ve gained the incredible connections from this network while trying to move past this barrier or this hurdle for my company. And now we’re able to have a direct line of view on what we want and what our vision is for the next couple of months.
Lianna Genovese
So we’re really excited about that.
Patrick McGuire
As you’re going through things and as you’re struggling, I heard you clearly say, hey, I went this way because half the audience told me that that was the right way to go. And half the audience said, hey, you could be really basic and just get it out there. Having to get that feedback and use your feedback is really important for all entrepreneurs. Obviously, you made the change from pipe cleaners and duct tape and then balls and sponges to actually getting a prototype. What really drove the change to pivot your business from 100% medical device to we actually just need to get this to the hands of everybody, and I probably just gave it away.
Patrick McGuire
But you tell me when you pivoted and why you pivoted. So we get a better understanding of that. Yeah.
Lianna Genovese
So one of the pivots that we had to go through was especially during the pandemic where we were still in that design and research and development phase, and then Covid 19 happened and we weren’t able to physically test with real patients, which is so critical to the engineering design process to rapid prototype and be able to test the patients get some feedback going back to the drawing board. So in order to I guess, pivot around that, we did focus on connecting and creating relationships with healthcare facilities so that we are able to maybe not test one on one with the patients ourselves with our team, however, we are able to place Guided Hands into the hands of occupational therapists and trusted physicians so that they can test the device and that they can give us that feedback that we need in order to further make improvements to our device so that it can help a myriad of individuals.
Lianna Genovese
That’s why we have eight healthcare pilots occurring this summer. We have them across Canada, in Vancouver, we secured another one in Texas and Massachusetts, so we’re super excited to get some feedback everywhere so that we can continue to make progress.
Lianna Genovese
But that was the pivot that we made. And then to answer your question about the medical or assistive device, having the ability to get these units out there, to be able to test them, to be able to get that feedback. Our main focus is children to enable them to reach their full potential in school, to be able to develop those critical cognitive sensory skills in class in order to again reach their full potential in the classroom setting as well. So we do want to get the product into the hands of many people as soon as possible.
Lianna Genovese
And the way to do that is going that assistive device route. However, that’s not just the end for us. We are working with a team of 15 engineers and students to work on incorporating and investigating the therapeutic possibilities of our product as well. So that in the future we may go the medical device route as well. However, we are focusing on the summer 2021 launch of getting Guided Hands into the lives of many people. And then, of course, working in the background on that therapeutic device as well.
Patrick McGuire
Yeah, I’m pretty sure this time, though, your medical application won’t be made out of pipe cleaners.
Lianna Genovese
Absolutely not. We have definitely grew from pipe cleaners and move to better materials. Definitely a glow up.
Patrick McGuire
Awesome. So going through things, I mean, obviously pivoted and you’re fair
ly new in business while you’re still doing school, who made the decision for the company to make that pivot from a medical direction to assistive device direction.
Lianna Genovese
So ultimately, it was my direction as a solo founder of the company and CEO. However, I had great advisers and mentors that I surrounded myself with to help me make that decision. But ultimately, because I was the founder of the company, I was able to make that decision, and that introduces another challenge I experienced as a solo founder at the beginning, when I incorporated my company the day of I didn’t have any business background. And for example, I attended meetings with a patent lawyer to patent our product, and he was just saying legal terms that I just had no clue what legal terms he was saying. I didn’t understand them.
Patrick McGuire
Most of us still don’t get what they’re saying. Don’t worry.
Lianna Genovese
And I was frustrated. I didn’t understand what he was saying, and I wrote down the terms and I would Google them after the meeting so I could learn what he was trying to say. And in that moment, I knew I had a responsibility to educate myself and fast. So that’s when I reached out to McMaster’s Business Incubator. Program, I took time in between taking seven engineering courses at McMaster to attend this engineering night class, to attend coaching and mentoring and workshops so I could build that business foundation so I could lead a team and I could go into these meetings confident and know what these people are saying and be able to make sound business decisions as well.
Lianna Genovese
So that was also a personal growth that I had to encounter as a new entrepreneur that I’m sure that everyone started there at some point.
Patrick McGuire
Oh, yeah. I mean, I’ve done it a few times and I still have to look up stuff that people say and go. Great question. I don’t have the answer. Let me talk to the person that does, and I’ll get right back to you.
Lianna Genovese
Absolutely.
Patrick McGuire
And that’s usually just me Googling. So really happy to hear that you’re doing so well that you’re hustling, hustle and hustle. And if people aren’t listening to this carefully, they’re missing the whole message that we have brought up. You hustle seven engineering courses plus a little extra night class, plus joining some start up sessions from different groups, plus trying to figure out how the heck to navigate businesses in general.
Patrick McGuire
It’s just a great, great enlightenment to hear you talk and you’re passionate about what you’re doing and you need to be passionate. But it doesn’t mean that it has to be all consuming. You can go to school and you can get an engineering degree as well at the exact same time. So Lianna, if we flash back two years ago, what are three things you might have told your younger entrepreneurial self?
Lianna Genovese
So the first thing I would tell myself is, don’t let the words of others define you or defeat you. So when I started my company, I was young entrepreneur, solo founder, women in engineering, kind of all the keywords that sometimes would work against me. And I found that when I spoke to other entrepreneurs or business people or lawyers or physicians, I found that they saw me as a student and not the CEO of a company, so I had to work twice as hard to prove to them that I can still do this, even though I’m young, even though I’m a female and engineering or a solo founder, and I chose not to let their words defeat me.
Lianna Genovese
And the second thing is know your story and be able to tell it, which is incredibly important when you are trying to recruit a team of other passionate individuals, a team of advisors, researchers, collaborators, or even simply at a pitch competition trying to win money and create awareness for your product, which is incredibly important to show people why you’re passionate about something and how important it is to make others aware of it.
Lianna Genovese
And the last thing is, Lianna, surround yourself with people smarter than you so they can lift you up. And I think I did a good job of doing that. But I feel like I did that later on in my journey. And it is so important to surround yourself with such talented individuals in your space or in your field so that they can help point you to the right direction so that they can be that great support network that you can lean on in times of trouble. Or if you’re trying to figure something out or answer a challenging question that you have that support system around you.
Patrick McGuire
Excellent. So folks, listening to this podcast listen to this young superstar Rockstar entrepreneur who is just hustling and killing it. You got to remember to remind yourself, and it’s very similar to what we hear from others. Surround yourself with people that are smarter than you the other one. Don’t let the words of others distract you, discourage you, or just piss you off. In fact, use that as motivation to go after it. And don’t worry about pivoting. Sometimes you’ve got to pivot to go from something that’s a great idea to something that is a great idea for everybody.
Patrick McGuire
And I think that’s what we are hearing today is if we had a chose to go down the medical route, we might not see this product for who knows how long, but making sure it’s an assistive technology or assistive product that helps your living and everyday activities, that product can come to market now. And if there’s a will, there’s a way that’s what I’m going to say on that one. And you definitely got some serious willpower girl. So on top of that, I’ve asked you three things you might have told yourself, but what are three things you would tell other entrepreneurs at this point in time?
Lianna Genovese
So the first is find your passion and transform it into your profession. When I met with Bella, the little girl who inspired me to start my company, and when I saw what my invention in my engineering background could allow me to create a product to change someone’s life. I knew in that moment that I have found my passion and I have used that passion, transformed it into my profession in starting this company as my entrepreneurship self right now. And every single time when I experience a challenge or a barrier, I let my passion drive me to just get right past that.
Lianna Genovese
Another thing that I would tell future entrepreneurs or advice is I’m going to steal it from a movie. It’s a quote from Rocky Balboa. For the viewers. You won’t be able to see this, but I actually have a Rocky poster in the background where my office is. And one of my favourite quotes of his is it doesn’t matter how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. And that’s what entrepreneurship is all about. You’re going to have good days.
Lianna Genovese
You’re going to have bad days. But the most important thing is that when you have those bad days is that you get back up and you keep moving forward. You use that passion to drive you and you just have your eye on the prize of seeing those smiles, seeing what you can do to change someone’s life, and just focus on that to help you move forward.
Lianna Genovese
Then the last thing is flow like water. When you have a challenge or a barrier or something in front of you, just move around it, find a way to g
et around it and find a solution or find the opportunity to grow or learn from it.
Lianna Genovese
So always flow like water and don’t just stop. Always find a way to get past it.
Patrick McGuire
That’s Sage advice for someone pretty young in entrepreneurship. I like it.
Lianna Genovese
I’m always learning. I’m sure that I could tell you many more things in a few more years.
Patrick McGuire
Even what you say here, you’ve got some knowledge and skills and insight, whether you like it or not of someone who’s a lot more mature in their entrepreneurship journey. And that’s a compliment in a big, big way, because if you hustle, you’ll make it happen. And clearly you’re hustling. So just on a quick spin, obviously, Startups Transformed as a podcast from RIC Centre. You came to us by a different way. How did you get connected? How do we find each other? What’s the relationship there and what other places have you been doing some work?
Lianna Genovese
So I believe we were connected through one of my mentors that I have at the EO, which is the Entrepreneurs Organisation. I recently won a Global Innovation award at the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards, and I represented Canada in that and competed against 38 students in 38 different countries. And I believe one of my mentors from that organisation, and through my participation in that contest, he connected me with you guys. And I’m again, so incredibly thankful for this opportunity that I can share my story and hopefully inspire other young entrepreneurs like myself.
Patrick McGuire
Hey, folks, you heard that she went and represented Canada. She’s a beast, and that’s all I’ve got to say. I mean, you can be as young or as old as you want, but you can be a brand new never done it before entrepreneur, if you just have the passion and you have the drive and you have a willpower and you’re willing to hustle whether you have one job or seven courses to do, you can do it. That is fantastic to remind all of us young and old to just follow your dreams, flow like water, be passionate and know your stuff even when you don’t know it Google it or look it up or whatever you want to do, ask somebody who does and they’ll help you.
Patrick McGuire
Lianna, if you got the chance knowing how much you had to hustle, how much it’s been tiresome painful, just all the little challenges in between that nobody understands unless you really are an entrepreneur and going to school, going back to the beginning when you first thought of this as a potential business and you had the chance to do it all over again, would you be an entrepreneur again?
Lianna Genovese
Absolutely. I think everything that has happened to me so far or what happened to drive me to the point where I chose engineering as my major, I took a course that introduced me to this talented painter that inspired me to create this device, which then later made me want to specialise in mechanical engineering, to meet this young girl that I would create a company because I was inspired for her. Everything that has happened in my life and in my journey has happened for a reason to get me to this point today, I wouldn’t change anything.
Lianna Genovese
And I’m so incredibly thankful for everything that has happened to get me even talking to you on this podcast right now and inspiring others. So everything has happened for a reason for me, and it’s just been a great opportunity and lessons I can always learn from.
Patrick McGuire
Good. Great. I love it. I mean, most entrepreneurs will say that. Some will hesitate before they say I’ll do it again. But most of them say yes, I’m going to do it again. That being said, you’re on social media, you’re online, you’re on your website. People might want to contact you, people who are either entrepreneurs who just want to be inspired or get a chance to talk to you, but also those that maybe well, they want to get their hands on your product. How do we get in touch?
Lianna Genovese
Yeah. So you can contact us on our website at www.imaginablesolutions.ca or send us an email at info@imaginablesolutions.ca. And we’d love to chat with anyone. And again, we’re actively selling our product and having healthcare pilots across North America. So we’d love to connect and see how we can help someone in your life for you personally to help you achieve your dreams and enable you to live the life that you’ve always imagined.
Patrick McGuire
Awesome stuff. Thank you so much for sharing that Lianna. I want to say personal big thanks. I also want to give you massive kudos. I’m going to remind everyone that she’s a beast and she is going to make this happen whether you like it or not because she is changing people’s lives. So, Lianna, thank you for the opportunity to chat. You inspire me, a serial entrepreneur. So you’re awesome. Keep it going.
Lianna Genovese
Thank you so much again for having me.
Patrick McGuire
Thank you. And to all of the wonderful listeners out there. Startups Transformed Podcast, it’s a RIC Centre podcast that you’re going to enjoy and love and you’re going to get great insightful stories like we have with Lianna, a killer student, a killer engineer, and a killer founder with a killer product that’s changing lives.
Patrick McGuire
Thank you for joining us on Startups Transformed Podcast. You can subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoyed the conversation, a rating or review goes a long way, recommend the show to a friend. Find us altitudeaccelerator.com where we can help you begin your startup journey with access to our workshops, advisors and mentorshipship opportunities. Be sure to tune in for our next episode.
[/showhide]