What was Physao?
Physao (now Vigor Medical Systems) was a digital health startup that built a medical device to track breathing patterns and catch abnormalities, particularly for patients suffering from asthma or COPD.
How did I get involved?
Ever since I joined The Cube as an undergrad at Duke, I was interested in working on a startup that had larger ambitions than what I’d considered in the past. I was surrounded by a ton of really smart, driven people, who had decided to dedicate themselves to startups, and I wanted to get involved.
My friend and fellow Cube member, Daniel Chander (still the CTO of Vigor), had cofounded Physao out of personal need—he had suffered from asthma growing up and was looking for a way to help patients like himself be able to notice when they were having an attack and alert their physician quickly and easily when needed.
What I did for Physao
Personally, I was excited about the seriousness with which the existing team was taking the startup—the team of 4-5 had already built out the hardware device and had several clinics who were interested in testing out the solution. I was also enticed by the ability to get exposure to real-world software development. Physao needed help building out their Android application, which was supposed to connect to the device and track and graph lung function for the patient.
It was basic stuff, but I had never really built something for production before (only Hackathon web projects til that point, really), and I was hungry to get started.
While I’m not sure what the current status of their Android app is (or even the purpose of their company), it looks like Vigor Medical Systems (formerly Physao) is still around, and Daniel is even still involved!