Living with dementia, Alzheimer’s or any other memory-impairing disease can have significant impacts not only on the individual with the diagnosis but also among their loved ones. Memoryz founder and CEO Rishawn Dindial, a medical student enrolled in the double MD/MBA program, understands this complicated shift firsthand after acting as his grandfather’s caregiver for most of his life.
Pronounced “memories,” Memoryz is a company focused on redefining dementia care for the patient, the family and the caregiver through technology. While working in Canada back in 2017, Rishawn was exposed to health tech and liked the idea of predictive chatbots working to solve problems about companionship.
“What I’ve seen from caregivers and personal experience is that calendars and task management were all over the place, so putting those ideas together actually led me to start Memoryz.” As for building his team, Rishawn had many cases where he would interview and hire on the spot, so they could focus on building a large online presence.
With their app launching early this year, Dindial hopes to offer support for both the caregiver and the care receiver at every level of need. App features include daily mood reporting, task reminders, instant communication, digital memory album, non-dial and in-app calling and more. Deciding what features to put in the app is “a constantly revolving door of decisions,” some of which came out of a series of 30 interviews Rishawn and his team conducted with Dementia patients and caregivers. Dindial wants Memoryz to follow a model in which their company is “always in beta.” Dindial says, “We always want to have something functional out there and then add the features that make sense. We will continue to evolve based on the needs of our customers.”
As for Tulane, Dindial has been working with the Lepage Center on Memoryz for some time now. Dindial said things really began to change when he started talking to Rob Lalka. Recently, Rishawn and his team competed in a demo day for the pre-accelerator startup boost and said they have made many connections through that. “I think there is a whole bunch of support and an array of services, and I think the Lepage Center is doing a great job of tailoring what they have for that stage of the company.”
Rishawn’s advice for aspiring startups? Simple: “Don’t wait until you graduate. Candles burn very quickly in this space, and everybody has an idea, but not everybody can execute. Sure there’s ups, and there’s downs, but this has been one of the best journeys that I have ever been on, and you’re consistently learning. So, if you’re looking for a challenge, I’d absolutely do this.”
As for the next steps for Memoryz, the team is hoping to launch their application very soon. Then they will roll over some key staff and start running with it. “Our main goal is to be able to very much support the caregiver and the care receiver at every level of need.” Those interested in signing up for early access to the application can click here.
— Neera Kennedy, Lepage Fellow (BSM ’23)
Learn more about the MD/MBA program at https://freeman.tulane.edu/graduate/double-degrees/mba-mds
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