Innovators, Entrepreneurs & Student-Athletes
8/27/2024
“Just knocking ideas around.”
That’s how Katharine Kalap, a senior on the Princeton women’s open rowing team, describes the origins of eir, a wearable performance device designed specifically for women. Named after the Norse goddess of medical skill, eir aims to help female athletes understand their bodies to achieve peak physical performance. Kalap has been joined in this endeavor by Shelby Fulton, a senior on the women’s volleyball team and a Computer Science major, along with Sterling Hall, an Electrical & Computer Engineering major. While Hall is not a student-athlete, their skillset has provided an ideal match next to Kalap and Fulton.
The trio have been supported through the Princeton Keller Center’s nine-week eLab Summer Accelerator program. The Summer Accelerator program teaches participants how to develop their startup ideas into viable, scalable ventures. It provides targeted workshops and lectures, networking opportunities with entrepreneurs, legal and accounting services and investors. In addition, it provides co-working spaces in the Princeton Entrepreneurial Hub, a $5000 stipend for each team member, on campus housing, business expense account for teach team along with a faculty advisor, who was Ben Lehnert for this group.
During the spring of 2024, Fulton found herself searching for a summer internship. Little did she know at the time, Kalap had her in mind as an ideal partner. Needing to find someone who was equally passionate about women’s athletics, entrepreneurship and computer science, Fulton fit the description perfectly. She had met Kalap previously as freshmen through mutual friends.
“I got a text from Katharine,” proclaimed Fulton. “She said she was creating a startup about women, athletics and technology. “She asked if I would be interested in joining her, given my major and the fact I’m also an athlete.”
Kalap serves as CEO, taking the lead on decision making, project management and external communication. Her role involves steering the direction of the team and ensuring it’s aligned in its goals. Kalap will also integrate her thesis and independent work in data analysis into this project later in the year, along with contributing to its technical aspects. Fulton is operating as the software lead, while Hall’s focus is on hardware development and building the backend architecture of Eir’s software.
How did Hall come into the mix?
A Forbesian like Kalap, they also belonged to the same engineering problem set group as freshman. They had collaborated on numerous projects throughout the years, including the junior year automated robotics project (carlab) and given their previous success as a team, Kalap felt it was natural to bring Hall into this venture.
“What I didn't expect, is just how well our team would function as friends and coworkers, our dynamic really flourished this past summer,” said Kalap. “Together, our skills, experiences and humor form a really well-rounded, cohesive and fun team.”
While wearable devices have become hugely popular with coaches and athletes, eir aims to fill a gap in the market. The eir team recognized there was no device catered specifically to female athletes. While there are several existing wearables that provide valuable data, they all had drawbacks for women.
Catapult fitness monitors, which resemble a sports bra, have become staples at elite sporting organizations across the world. The devices provide GPS data along with heart rate capabilities, metabolic power ratings, work rate intervals along with sport specific data and much more.
While they are great for men, they are uncomfortable for women and are another layer to wear. Similar devices, such as a Whoop or Oura ring, aren’t practical for sports such as volleyball, basketball and field hockey.
The eir team also acknowledged the impact the menstrual cycle has on female athlete’s training and performance is typically overlooked.
Could a device be created that provided similar data to other wearables, but caters to the specific needs of women and is versatile across sports?
“Instead of a heart rate strap that goes around body that is uncomfortable, or a Catapult, we came up with idea of a hardware piece with sensors that clips to bottom of a sports bra band,” said Fulton. “It has a heart rate strap and motion sensor that’s in most wearables but solves problems of being uncomfortable.”
What is also specific to women in athletics is the software piece, as a mobile and web app are being built that connect to the wearable. Before beginning a game, practice, or workout, users press start on their phone then enter how ready they feel. At the end of the activity, users enter their perceived exertion along with menstrual cycle systems. Symptoms become factored into everyday training, and by building them into the mechanism, machine learning and AI produce recovery and nutritional recommendations based off what stage of the cycle the athlete is in. One of the end goals is to optimize training based around the user’s cycle.
Getting to where they are now has not come easy for the group. They met regularly during the spring semester, but due to schoolwork, Kalap being in season and lack of vision, progress was slower than anticipated
Originally, the group considered a sports bra with GPS sensors but decided there would be great difficulties in manufacturing and function. They also saw challenges in trying to compete with the Nike sports bra, which dominates the market.
Despite the initial obstacles, they came up with solutions.
“Shelby and I especially recognized the rarity of being able to dedicate 9-5 hours to a project, and so we fully committed to making the most of it,” said Kalap. “I believe it was this and our varsity athletics background which instilled the importance of showing up, consistency and trust in the process.”
Thanks to their high level of commitment over the summer, a strong foundation was built. With new members being onboarded, they anticipate a higher rate of progress throughout the fall, despite the demands of Fulton’s volleyball season.
The eLab Accelerator Program provided Kalap, Fulton and Hall with two demo days, where they had they had opportunity to pitch eir in front of a crowd. One took place in a loft in New York City and the other on campus at Princeton.
Working alongside Kalap and Fulton has provided Hall with an up-close view of how incredible Princeton student-athletes are.
“I definitely would have described myself as more of a casual fan before starting this project with Katharine and Shelby,” said Hall. “Working closely with them and talking with all the other women through our research has really given me a bigger appreciation of what it takes to be a Princeton student-athlete, and a lot of insight into the challenges our student-athletes face keeping up with school, extracurriculars, their sport, and their own health.”
Expect to see Hall cheering on their teammates at Lake Carnegie and Dillon Gymnasium in 2024-25.
Looking to the future, the eir team have aspirational goals. This fall, they aim to raise funds through an angel round, which is a type of funding for startups that is provided by individuals known as angel investors. Angel investors are typically used to finance the first stages of a business and provide the first round of funding for startups. Come spring 2025, the aim is to initiate a pilot program in collaboration with at least one Princeton athletics team, with the goal of launching in January 2026.
The senior trio are optimistic about the possibility of working on this venture full-time post-graduation and based off conversations they’ve had with varsity student-athletes and coaches around the nation, they see a vital need for this device.
“Many shared personal, often heart-wrenching, stories that reinforced our belief in the potential of this venture to make a significant impact and underscored our own commitment to it,” said Kalap. “We hope to create something that can truly change lives.”
