Meet Biospectal co-founder Eliott Jones and find out how he turns smartphones into blood pressure monitors

11.06.2021 07:30, Isabelle Mitchell

Eliott Jones co-founded Biospectal, a medtech startup and Venture Leader Mobile that advances blood pressure monitoring using non-invasive optical biosensing algorithms. Biospectal’s OptiBP smartphone app and platform make accurate, instant, and convenient remote blood pressure monitoring a reality: Users apply their fingertip to their smartphone camera’s lens and get a blood pressure reading in about 20 seconds. Learn more about Eliott’s expectations for the Venture Leaders Mobile experience and find out how being a wakeboard pioneer influenced his entrepreneurial career. 

The Venture Leaders Mobile 2021 will accelerate their expansion into the global market and strengthen their business network by attending the Mobile World Congress 2021 in Barcelona, Spain, to meet with top-notch investors and industry leaders. To introduce you to the members of the Swiss National Startup Team, we asked each entrepreneur to complete a short profile and choose six questions from a questionnaire about their personal and professional life.

Name: Eliott Jones
Location: Greater San Francisco Area (US)
Nationality: American
Graduated from: Harvard University  
Job title: Co-founder and CEO of Biospectal
Number of employees: 10
Money raised: >CHF 4.5 million
First touchpoint with Venturelab: In 2018, at the Swisscom StartUp Challenge

“At Biospectal, we develop optical software systems whose algorithms use the smartphone camera to measure blood pressure at the fingertip with clinical accuracy.”

How and where did you come up with the idea for your startup? 
In Dr. Patrick Schoettker’s course on clinical research and development using non-invasive optical biosensing technologies at the CHUV hospital in Lausanne, Dr. Schoettker had the insight that such software could be leveraged in the common smartphone via the built-in camera. This, of course, enables the massively scalable application of blood pressure monitoring worldwide in existing phones. This is the spark that led us to create Biospectal.

What do you expect from the Venture Leaders program, and how will it help you achieve your vision? 
We are seeking to grow awareness and investment among the venture community in Europe and internationally and continue to develop our industry partnerships and collaborators.

What is one thing not many people know about you?
I have a passion for linguistics, especially Proto-Indo-European and Germanic language history.

What would be the title of your biography?
Make It Count—From Kansas to the World: Life is short and precious. We should use our precious time to make a difference and make the most of our abilities as human beings. Since I was a kid growing up in Kansas, I have striven to see and do things in new ways, creative ways, to contribute to humankind and the world. It made for a very rewarding adventure!

What is the one talent you wish you had?
Singing!

What is your favorite movie?
Andrei Tarkovsky’s The Mirror: I’ve never seen a filmmaker paint with celluloid like Tarkovsky did. The movie is a truly kinesthetic experience that elevated cinema beyond narrative.

What is your favorite podcast? 
History of the English Language: See above! Fascinating to discover how our native language comprehension and use can be deepened through understanding the source of its development over thousands of years, both in history and forces and peoples involved in its evolution.

What is your favorite book? 
La Condition Humaine by André Malraux: It’s captivating to experience how Malraux explores the way seeking meaning and “release” in life in dire conditions manifests itself in different characters. The human condition is about ultimately finding meaning and being driven to realize it, each person in their own way and on their own path.

What is always in your fridge? 
IPA and Gruyère.

What are you most proud of?  
My four daughters.

What advice would you give your teenage self?
Carpe diem! Life is short. Don’t wait to shoot higher, sooner. Anything is possible, and anyone can change the world!

How did you come up with the name of your startup?
We are about “seeing into the living things.” This is exactly what the Greek “Bio” (life/living) and the Latin “Spect” (see/look) mean.

What is your favorite productivity tool? 
I know it’s pretty geeky, but I watch DIY/How-to videos during lunch on YouTube. YouTube is an incredibly efficient learning resource!

Where and when are you most productive?
Early in the morning before the world is awake and late at night when the world is asleep. At home has always been a naturally efficient place to work for me.

What are your three favorite apps? 
Strava for cycling, Wunderground for weather, and Waze for driving.

What do you do when you are creatively stuck?
Go for a walk, take some time to do something totally unrelated, or sleep on it overnight. Sometimes, I also find that starting simple, without pressure or expectation, is also a good way to get over the “blank canvas” paralysis.

How and where do you clear your mind? 
Cycling on the California roads in redwoods and mountains.

What is the most challenging aspect of being a founder? 
You are never satisfied with the current state of growth, and it requires a nuanced balance of being both focused and driven yet patient to work within the limitations along the way. There is no standing still: It’s either forward or backward, but you still have to sleep sometimes.

What is the most rewarding aspect of being a founder? 
The creative joy of manifesting something fascinating, exciting, and new into the world with a passionate team of like-minded creators.

What is something you wish you had known about being a founder previously?
It’s less mysterious than you think and more difficult than you feared.

What is the most important lesson you have learned as a founder? 
The best ideas in the world aren’t necessarily the ones that win, and you will encounter many illogical and unexpected forces along the way, any one of which can slow you down or derail you. Alternatively, working on a world-changing idea is the most rewarding and noble pursuit possible, and I wouldn’t change anything about that! Lastly, your community of fellow entrepreneurs, professionals, advisors, board, friends, and family are invaluable to your success, much more so than your own contribution. You will never survive or succeed without building and leveraging this community.

What is the best advice you have ever received and from whom? 
From my dad: “Don’t sweat the small stuff. And it’s all small stuff.”

What is your greatest professional failure, and what did you learn from it? 
The business that doesn’t succeed is the one never started. My co-founder, Dr. Schoettker, and I have been friends since we were teens. He and I had a chance to be wakeboarding pioneers in the 80s! Being bored, we took a homemade snowboard (also should have started a business with that!) to see if we could get up behind a boat and actually did it. We should have found a way to get a few thousand dollars together to start a business way back then, but we really didn’t believe that we could pull off such a thing. We really “missed the boat”!

Last but not least, could you show us your workspace? 



For more information and updates on Biospectal and the Venture Leaders Mobile, follow the Venture Leaders Mobile 2021 team with #VleadersMobile on social media or subscribe to our newsletter. 
 
This year's Venture Leaders Mobile program is supported by Huawei, Swisscom, and VISCHER.