We Were Soaring All Summer
As we’re firmly into Fall and wandering into Winter, Team Parrots has been so busy, flying high & soaring all throughout spring & summer of 2022, that we’ve barely had time to grab a quick perch here on the blog to keep you all updated (Our apologies!) We wanted to take a moment to share some of our accomplishments throughout the past several months, to ensure you’re entirely up to date on our latest migrations throughout the startup landscape. Thus we proudly present this summer summary!
We toasted the tail end of Spring & the beginning of Summer by attending The Global Good Fund Gala, where we we thrilled to be honored as a 2022 Fellow! What a night! “I am forever grateful to be one of the 2022 Fellows,” said our Founder, David Hojah. “It was wonderful to meet and collaborate with all the other fellows. Thank you to Samir Goel & Abbey Wemimo for your inspirational story and for sharing your wisdom and passion. Thank you very much to all of the organizers, supporters, coaches, mentors, donors, sponsors, and managers. Let’s transform our world, let’s make a global impact!”
From there, we travelled to Dallas, Texas for the MedVentures 2022 Healthcare Dealmakers Conference, where we were a featured speaker and participated in their 15th annual Healthcare Innovation Pitch Competition. We were incredibly pleased, honored, and grateful to take home First Place! As you can see, David was overjoyed to be presented with the top prize of $5,000 by the competition judges! We especially want to thank Dr. Hubert Zajicek, Lindsey Settles, Bobby Guy, Neil Johnson, Chrissy Liotta, and Rachel Laureno!
We kept our wings busy, then taking off for San Francisco, where we attended the AI Med Global Summit 2022. We soon emerged victorious, claiming top honors at the AIMed Shark Tank! It was an incredible conference, featuring some great people and organizations that are helping to drive the agenda for artificial intelligence in healthcare. We especially wanted to thank the event organizers, Dr. Anthony Chang, Alexis May, Steve Ardire, and the award sponsors, Hank AI, Medscape, Ada Health and Lumenix.
At the conference, everyone - including us - pledged to Pass It Forward. It was fantastic connecting with people who are as passionate as we are about making a global impact for the betterment of health. We plan to honor our pledge, passing forward the power of AI to everyone, including those with advanced disabilities. Let’s change healthcare, one connection at a time!
June closed out with a big bang & a great honor! We were named Finalists in the CTIA Wireless Foundation Catalyst Grants Program! Best of all, we got to share the CTIA Catalyst honor with our friends & fellow Halcyon Incubator alumnus, OxiWear! It was a truly outstanding experience and we’re deeply grateful for CTIA’s ongoing support.
June wasn’t done with big experiences & amazing memories! We took flight to the Amazon, by way of Las Vegas, NV, for the Amazon re:MARS 2022 Conference! It was an inspiring & motivating week where we were honored to present & showcase our technology with other global innovators & creators. We were invited by Amazon Web Services & Mass Robotics, for which we are deeply grateful. Team Parrots was represented by both our Founder, David, and our COO, Dina Abdou! We had a fantastic time connecting and collaborating with other startups, entrepreneurs, and companies who are passionate about the potential for advanced technology to reshape and improve our world, especially when it comes to robotics, space, and — our specialty — healthcare. It was a profound experience, seeing glimpses of our near future, inspiring us to dream bigger, imagine what we can do together, and ultimately, propel us to keep flying higher! Thank you, Amazon!
Getting ready to come in for a landing at the tail end of summer, we migrated down south for the Louisiana Startup Prize in August! It was a spectacular opportunity, where we were nominated among a great list of finalists! David & Dina participated in an intensive one-hour pitch competition and deliberation in front of 18 judges and investors. It was all worth it, as we deeply valued the expertise and feedback of the impeccable panel of judges! We were so proud of the ultimate winners of the competition, Khatija Ali & Tina Saw! It’s always fantastic seeing female founders getting the respect, applause, and support they deserve. Khatija & Tina truly knocked it out of the park! Parrots Inc believes that women can achieve great things as entrepreneurs. “I was so proud to be among a crowd that wants to make a difference in our society and is committed to providing solutions to make the world a better place,” said our COO, Dina Abdou. “Thank you for the crazy innovation journey! If you have a startup dedicated to tackling healthcare problems, I highly recommend participating in the 2022 Startup Prize!”
We want to thank Gregory Kallenberg and Melissa Brannan for organizing such an excellent, heartwarming conference. Many thanks to sponsors Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana, Ochsner Health, LSU Shreveport, Ochsner LSU Health, and the Prize Foundation.
Clearly, 2022 offered a summer to remember! But we weren’t quite done yet. We came in for one spectacular landing! Remember how at the mid-point of the summer, we were named a CTIA Wireless Foundation Catalyst 2022 Finalist? Well get ready!
We won! We could not be more proud, honored, grateful, or excited! I mean, just look at the faces of David & Dina! Catalyst is a profoundly competitive grants program for social entrepreneurs using 5G and leading-edge wireless technology. We received a $50,000 grant from the CTIA Wireless Foundation, in recognition and support of our work. In its third year, Catalyst 2022 focused on solutions that take advantage of the speed, efficiency, and versatility of 5G to deepen our connection to one another and make our communities stronger. Polly certainly exemplifies that, by making it easier than ever for people with neurological disorders to speak their minds, connect with their loved ones, and maintain more of their own independence.
Needless to say, our deepest gratitude to everyone at CTIA Wireless, as well as the event’s sponsors & organizers! We also want to congratulate fellow Catalyst 2022 winners, Kai XR and OxiWear!
Finally, to close out this wonderful flight through Summer 2022, we want to extend an extra special thank you to our family, friends, mentors, advisors, teammates, partners, and investors. To leave you with one final parrot pun, you’re the wind beneath our wings.
