Posted May 2, 2017
Asthma management device wins 2017 Be Your Own Boss Bowl
The wearable device created by Fox MBA student Nick Delmonico and his cofounders through their company, Strados Labs, was inspired by Delmonico’s own childhood struggles with asthma.
Photography By:
Chris Kendig Photography
Nick Delmonico’s work on devices to improve asthma management is inspired by his own struggles with asthma.
The cofounders of a company dedicated to improved management of respiratory health won the grand prize at the 19th annual Be Your Own Boss Bowl, a Temple University-wide business plan competition.
Strados Labs’ Nick Delmonico claimed more than $60,000 in cash and prizes, including the Bernard Spain, FOX ’56, and Murray Spain, FOX ’65, Grand Prize.
The flagship program of Temple’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Institute (IEI), the Be Your Own Boss Bowl is one of the nation’s most-lucrative business plan competitions. This year, 14 finalists representing five of Temple’s 17 schools and colleges delivered business plan presentations. They competed for more than $200,000 in related products and professional services, and $180,000 in cash prizes – including $120,000 from the Wolfington Family.
Delmonico, who will graduate in May with a Global MBA from Temple’s Fox School of Business, wrote the first version of this business plan in the capstone course for his Health Sector Management concentration. He delivered the winning pitch for Strados Labs. His team created Pulmawear, a wearable asthma device that, in conjunction with a mobile app, will help asthma sufferers better manage their disease.
Delmonico’s work is inspired by his own personal experience with asthma. As a child, he struggled to maintain his asthma, leading him to eventually create products to help others avoid that same struggle.
Delmonico and Strados Labs also won the Be Your Own Boss Bowl’s newly launched Urban Health Track, with prizes financed by Independence Blue Cross and Temple Health.
“The Be Your Own Boss Bowl victory, in particular the Urban Health Track, allows Strados Labs to focus on our core mission of building a better way to manage respiratory health,” said Delmonico. “Words cannot describe how much this means to us.”
Strados Labs cofounders Dr. Kan Au and Tanziyah Muqeem added that the prize money will allow the company to “not only build up our business model and validate our technology and make it more efficient and user-friendly, but also to gain meaningful connections to move our idea forward.”
Read more about the 2017 Be Your Own Boss Bowl and see a list of other winners of $400,000 in prizes.
—Christopher A. Vito
