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November 24, 2013 | Tom Ballard

It was a busy week for gludi’s Kyle McClain

gludiIn the space of a week, Kyle McClain of gludi was in California at the “DiabetesMine Innovation Summit,” as previously reported on teknovation.biz, and in Chattanooga for the CO.LAB’s “Will This Float?” competition, where he won third place.

We asked this busy entrepreneur for a quick update on his travels, and here’s what Kyle told us.

All of these events have been great experiences. The ‘Will This Float?’ event was so well done…what an honor just to participate. I was truly humbled by the fact that they had originally planned only to pick a winner and a runner up, but decided to add a third place award because of the merit of gludi. I am very impressed with CO.LAB there was so much energy around what they are doing.  

The diabetes mine event in California was also a humbling experience. It was exhilarating to be around so many like minded people. I was in awe of the talented, articulate people working on the problems diabetics face everyday. The Diabetes mine conference traditionally has been focused on T1 diabetes, but they are making a concerted effort to include more T2’s in the discussions. This was in part the reason I was there.  

So both of these events have triggered some things to consider. First, at this point, I feel it’s clear that gludi should be focused on T2 diabetes. Many brilliant people are working on technology solutions for T1.  Something the pitch competitions have forced me to consider is that my business model is not refined enough. Consistent feedback has come around how gludi would make money…something I thought I had done a good job making clear.  I even have to consider if gludi might do better as a non-profit.


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