BizWorld is proud to feature determined and enterprising young entrepreneurs, Karthik (18), CEO and Kushi (17), COO who are revolutionizing elder care for families who want to prevent life-threatening situations through a data-driven health app called AmityConnect. We asked him a few questions about what inspired him and his co-founder, Kushi, to start their company, AmityConnections, and what they hope to achieve by participating in our Young Entrepreneur Success (YES!) program.

1) Tell me a little bit about who your company is and what interested you in starting AmityConnections?

When my grandfather experienced a life-threatening heart attack, I was devastated—especially knowing that there was nothing I could do to help. Later, I realized that millions of families face the same issue: the lack of connection with their elders’ health. Immediately, I started my journey to offer family members proactive, data-driven care to help prevent situations like my grandfather’s. And that’s when AmityConnections was born, a health tech startup focused on streamlining elder care through AmityConnect. AmityConnect is an app that helps family members monitor their elders’ health by aggregating real-time health data from smart medical devices (e.g. Dexcom, Apple Watch, Fitbit) onto a single platform accessible to family members at any given time, thus providing them with constant peace of mind.

2) What do you hope to learn and get out of the YES! Program?

Through the YES! Program, I hope to learn from the diverse stories and experiences of my fellow peers and the leading business professionals that help support the program. Also, I want to understand how to launch AmityConnections nationally and therefore impact potentially millions of family members throughout the nation. Finally, I hope that the YES! Program will provide my team and me with the necessary funding, along with the mentorship, to accomplish our mission and catalyze change in the world.

3) Tell us a fun fact about yourself.

My fun fact is that I can do a kick-up. This means that I can jump up laying flat, and then stand up in one motion!

4) What do you feel has helped you with launching AmityConnections?

I believe that Kushi’s and my conviction to create value in the world in all that we do has been instrumental towards our work at AmityConnections. With this spirit, we ensure that all our actions and decisions are based on our fundamental goal to help family members better monitor their elders’ health and cherish life with them. Also, my past startup projects and experiences with Model UN have allowed me to foster pivotal leadership and problem-solving skills. Kushi’s work with local advocacy organizations and experiences with DECA has allowed her to understand the nuances of any problem and develop strong interpersonal and leadership skills. Together, with our common goal of catalyzing change through entrepreneurship and technology, we have been able to complement each others’ skills and embark on our journey to revolutionize elder care through an effective and affordable approach.

5) What is your superpower? And how has it guided you in developing your business?

My superpower is my ability to envision simple and innovative approaches to global problems. Through this superpower, I have been able to reimagine the way we approach many of today’s pressing issues and ensure a human-centric and effective solution by dissecting the complexity behind each problem and categorizing each component of the problem to create a holistic solution.

Karthik and Kushi – it looks like your app is right on and timely with growing generations of families and all the developments and innovation in the health tech space! We wish you well and hope that by participating in YES!, you’ll learn the critical business skills through the program and mentorship to make that huge impact you’d like to make nationally for AmityConnect! Good luck!

The YES! Winter Cohort opened on January 25th, and is scheduled to run until April 8th, 2021. The summer cohort application deadline is May 14th, and is scheduled to run until August 27th, 2021. Both cohorts will have the opportunity to participate in the YES! Demo Day and pitch for start-up investment scheduled on September 17, 2021.