The Iowa Tech podcast recently featured an insightful discussion with Anuj Sharma, the founder of Coltie, a tech company operating out of Ames, Iowa. Coltie aims to enhance the academic experience for students by bridging the gap between them and their potential faculty advisors. Anuj, a professor at Iowa State University, shared his personal journey and motivation for founding Coltie, highlighting his own experiences in academia where matching with the right mentor was crucial for success. Coltie is designed as an integrated platform that connects various stakeholders in academia—students, faculty, and administrators—using an app to provide timely and accurate information. The platform seeks to address the common challenges faced by students, such as finding the right advisor, understanding the resources available to them, and ultimately, reducing the stress and anxiety prevalent in graduate education.

During the podcast, Anuj also elaborated on the innovative use of AI in Coltie's matchmaking process. The platform utilizes natural language processing to create a comprehensive database of faculty and their research areas, allowing students to easily find potential advisors who align with their academic interests. Beyond just matching students with faculty, Coltie also provides tools for departments and local businesses to engage with students through platforms like Coltie Hive and Coltie Local, enhancing both academic and social experiences. With a focus on strategic partnerships and an expanding user base, Coltie is poised to become a significant player in transforming global academic collaboration by making the process of academic matchmaking more efficient and stress-free.

Find this show on your favorite app: https://iowapodcast.com/coltie

The latest episode of the Iowa Tech podcast, hosted by Micah Walker, features a heartfelt and inspirational conversation with Jeffrey Johnson, the founder of Brightn—a mental wellness startup. The episode delves into Jeffrey's personal journey, which led to the creation of Brightn. It all began with a tragic turn of events when Jeffrey lost his son to an overdose and subsequently, his wife to grief and substance abuse. These painful experiences propelled him to start a nonprofit, Living Undeterred Project, and eventually Brightn, an app aimed at shifting the focus from crisis intervention to mental wellness prevention and planning. Jeffrey emphasizes that while Brighton is not anti-medication, it seeks to explore alternatives before medication becomes the first line of treatment.

Brightn aims to revolutionize mental wellness by focusing on the pre-treatment and prevention realm. The app offers a unique approach by using a nine-question Brightn Zone assessment to identify user strengths and deficiencies in health, wealth, and purpose. This information, along with AI-driven personalized content, helps users engage in self-improvement. The episode also highlights Brightn's impressive growth, both in B2B and B2C markets, with partnerships like Med-One and Choice Charter Schools. Jeffrey shares the app's successful engagement strategies, which have resulted in higher retention and lower churn rates compared to industry averages. With strategic partnerships and a focus on prevention, Brightn is poised to make a significant impact in the mental wellness space, all while honoring the legacy of Jeffrey's late son and granddaughter, after whom the app is named.

Find this show on your favorite app: https://iowapodcast.com/brightn

The recent episode of the Iowa Tech podcast, hosted by Micah Walker, features an engaging conversation with Zach Krawiec from Legible AI. The podcast, recorded at the Jethro's Barbecue Studio, delves into the origin and mission of Legible AI, a company co-founded by Zach and Casey, who met as legislative interns at the Iowa State House. The duo leveraged their deep understanding of the legislative process to develop an AI-native policy intelligence platform designed to assist statehouse professionals. The platform addresses challenges such as policy discovery, tracking, research, analysis, and reporting, making it easier for users to navigate and understand the intricacies of state legislation.

Throughout the discussion, Zach emphasizes the platform's standout features, including BillChat, a tool for AI-powered bill summaries and Q&A, and policy chaining, which helps users track related bills that might otherwise be missed. These innovations are designed to streamline the policy management cycle, offering comprehensive solutions rather than focusing on a single aspect. Zach also shares insights into the challenges the company faces, such as hiring and scaling, and highlights the importance of building relationships in the government affairs sector. The episode concludes with a look at the future of Legible AI and its potential impact on policy engagement, aiming to democratize access to legislative information and foster a more informed policy creation ecosystem.

Find this show on your favorite app: https://iowapodcast.com/legible-AI