Whether it’s a desire to make a positive impact on the world or pursue a cause that affects them, startup founders often find ways to turn their passions into businesses. For Dr. Keren Sagib Friedgut, it was a combination of both. A pediatrician and mother of her two children on the autism spectrum, she sees limited evidence-based treatments and a lack of understanding and support from the healthcare system. I understood other parents’ concerns about Her passion for helping her parents and children through a combination of community building and cutting-edge technology has led her on her path to becoming a startup founder and CEO.
social mind autismA member of the Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub, is a platform that uses artificial intelligence and natural language processing (NLP) to help people with autism spectrum disorders improve their social skills. The app uses AI to personalize social skills training for each parent-child pair or therapist and child pair, collects data on the quality of adult communication opportunities and child responses, and uses this information. to tailor training to your specific needs. learning style. The technology behind SocialMind Autism is designed to give families of all backgrounds, regardless of income or location, a personalized, data-driven, evidence-based approach to social skills training.
I sat down with Dr. Friedgut to discuss her transformation from doctor to startup CEO, the technology that enables SocialMind, and how Founders Hub membership has provided her with a community of mentors and fellow founders of her own. rice field.
Mission to Bring Hope to Families
Dr. Friedgut was well aware of the shortcomings of common treatments for children with autism, but he continued to look for ways to help his daughter. In 2014, she received certification in Pivotal Response Therapy (PRT), a behavioral therapeutic approach that uses holistic, naturalistic interventions to improve children’s communication and social skills, and its usefulness. has the potential to extend beyond academia.
“You don’t have to be an expert to practice PRT,” Dr. Friedgut told me. “Children don’t need to be highly educated to communicate, play and explore the world. I pointed out their good points by watching videos of them interacting with them.”
Dr. Friedgut sees PRT as an opportunity not only to improve her daughter’s communication and social skills, but also a new mission to bring hope to other families. That led to her founding SocialMind Autism in 2019, through which she continues to build a community of supportive parents.
“Our app is aimed at training and supervising adults, focusing on the interaction between adults and children, while analyzing the performance of both at the same time,” explains Dr. Friedgut.
Dr. Friedgut says balancing humanity with new technology encouraged parents to report positive results within months and to train and support others. This is just another aspect of the platform that makes SocialMind so rewarding to create, Dr. Friedgut says.
“This is what made me want to contribute to this world.”
Build the future with Azure and AI
Microsoft technology foundations contribute to SocialMind autism treatment success. To power its capabilities, SocialMind’s software platform relies on an Azure backbone consisting of a robust database that interacts with various front ends including web and mobile interfaces to provide a seamless user experience.
“Using Azure allowed us to build a state-of-the-art HIPAA-compliant architecture for parents to upload parent-child videos,” said Dr. Friedgut. “It would have taken longer without Azure.”
“You are the best expert for your child, but sometimes the best thing to do is ask others for advice.The same is true when it comes to becoming a CEO.There are great resources and great people who really want to help. So don’t be shy.”
One of the notable Azure technologies her startup relies on is speech-to-text capabilities. As users record themselves and their children, SocialMind can transcribe the interactions for further study. However, Dr. Friedgut notes that such techniques may have difficulty distinguishing between adult and child voices, or “speaker diarization.” Fortunately, with advances in AI and machine learning, Azure cognitive servicesSpeaker diarization techniques have improved significantly in recent years, allowing speech-to-text algorithms to accurately distinguish between multiple speakers with high levels of accuracy and efficiency.
Find community and mentorship through Founders Hub
The community aspect of SocialMind Autism is one of its apex components, and Friedgut says he appreciates the same camaraderie among other members of the Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub. Guidance from these founders was of great help, both from a mentoring perspective and in understanding the technical and business aspects of his role as CEO of a startup.
“As a doctor, I get immediate feedback from my patients on whether I’m doing a good job,” she told me. “After that, I quickly entered a world I was not comfortable with, such as IT and talking to investors. They were great mentors, they helped me grow as a businessman.”
But she credits much of SocialMind’s success to the team she’s assembled to bring her vision to life, and advises future founders to surround themselves with people from a variety of specialties. doing.
“Our story of impact is more about my team than my management skills,” she emphasizes. “Having a phenomenal team like mine makes up for not being the most mature CEO in the field. I think it will give confidence to investors and customers.”
Dr. Friedgut believes that building a strong sense of community, whether it’s building teams, collaborating with peers in the startup community, or supporting parents of children with autism, will lead to success and growth.
“You’re the best expert for your child, but sometimes it’s best to ask others for advice,” she says. “It’s the same with being a CEO. You have great resources and great people who really want to help. So don’t be shy.”
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