As a computer science Ph.D. student in 2017, Veena Somareddy received an intriguing email. Local businessman Bruce Conti reached out to learn how virtual reality could help improve patient recovery in his Neurological Recovery Center (NRC) clinic. By expanding her coursework and connections beyond the laboratory and into the business world, Veena’s company Neuro Rehab VR is now transforming rehabilitation.

Veena had learned about virtual reality (VR) in medical simulation and training through her arts and technology program at the University of Texas at Dallas and the RNS Institute of Technology in Bangalore, India. But while she believed a VR solution could help NRC’s patients, Veena recognized that she would need to learn some basic business and presentation skills and find some industry-experienced mentors to launch a startup successfully.

“I knew I had always wanted to be an entrepreneur. So I chose to take some business classes during my virtual reality Ph.D. program,” said Veena. Eventually finding Blackstone LaunchPad powered by Techstars, she says, “LaunchPad was an incredible help to me when I needed to practice my pitching or refine my business plan.”

Beyond academic training, Veena also received mentorship from Bryan Chambers, LaunchPad’s past Campus Director. Shortly after they met, Bryan encouraged Veena to enter her business idea in the UT Dallas Big Idea Competition (BIC). With his coaching, she ultimately won first prize—which came with a nice $15,000 check—that very first year. Veena also benefited from other UT Dallas resources brought together by LaunchPad, including speaking with peer student entrepreneurs in the GalXc and CometX Accelerators.

2018 Propel

In 2018, LaunchPad invited Veena to attend Propel (then called “Training Camp”) in NYC. At the event, she met with four or five mentors and kept in touch with several of them. Veena appreciated hearing from experienced founders about their journey as well as meeting other entrepreneurial students who were in the same boat.

“It was an incredible couple of days!” said Veena. “Entrepreneurship is a rollercoaster: the highs are great, but they often short lived, but the lows… they can last a lot longer! So when you’re at one of those points of giving up, it’s always nice to have heard others who have successfully made it through.”

FDA Approval

Operating in the healthcare industry, the next step in building her business was the arduous FDA review and approval process. Veena admits it was considerable work because she took it upon herself to do it. External consultants that assist in this process can cost over $100,000 and are simply not an option for a minimally funded student startup.

The UT Dallas LaunchPad also connected Veena to several founders of medical device companies who had themselves been through the process. Using insight gleaned from these mentors and all the publicly available resources on the process, Neuro Rehab VR officially launched commercially in March 2019 after gaining FDA registration.

“While I wouldn’t say we’ve pivoted, I have learned much more about the healthcare industry,” said Veena. “As a result, we’ve refined our business models and refined how we sell. For example, we recognized that therapy needs to be available to patients at home—where they are.”

Recent Accomplishments and Growth

Since launching, Neuro Rehab VR had a number of other significant accomplishments in 2019. Early in the year, Veena received a $225,000 grant from the National Science Foundation and later appeared on the covers of Dallas Innovates and the Fort Worth Business. The most significant milestone, however, has been making revenue—Veena has already grown the business to twelve rehabilitation clinics and hospitals in seven states (including Alaska!)

In addition to unofficial team members, like patients and therapist practitioners at the NRC who provide instantaneous feedback on products, Neuro Rehab VR employs one marketer and three engineers. Two of those engineers are actually fellow Ph.D. students from Veena’s program. In 2020, she says she will be looking for one or two salespeople to help with growth goals.

Goals for 2020 and Beyond

Using the recently released Oculus Quest by Facebook, Veena plans to offer her software to the in-home consumer market in early 2020. She is also working on expanding healthcare regulatory approval so that she can sell in Canada and Europe. She has received significant interest from both those regions, as well as Hong Kong and Singapore, but is taking expansion slowly. And finally, pending the revenue growth rate during the first half of 2020, Veena may explore raising additional capital for investment.

It’s clear that Neuro Rehab VR is poised to change the practice of rehabilitation in a very real way.

Veena’s Advice for Other Student Entrepreneurs: 

1. Find a cofounder while you’re still in school. Colleges are one of the best places to find talent: Founders have a vast pool of individuals to choose from with a wide range of capabilities in marketing, finance, computer science, engineering, etc. It is also a great place to work on teams that teach you about yourself, what you like and don't like, and what kind of people you want (or don't want) to work with.
2. Learn more than what you’re in school for. Every entrepreneur needs to have some level of interdisciplinary skill. Take classes outside of your major or degree program, read books on the industry you want to start a business in, etc.