Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Brickler.
Chris, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I am the CEO and co-founder of MyndVR, and I’ve had a creative business relationship with co-founder Shawn Wiora for over 20 years. Shawn spent the past 8 years in the senior care industry using technology to improve the lives of seniors and their caregivers, and I spent the past 13 years in California as a producer in Los Angeles and video technologist in Silicon Valley. Together, we came up with a novel approach to building an entirely new VR content network full of loving, caring and compassionate content for seniors.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
We spent a considerable amount of time testing and perfecting our product to ensure the best possible virtual reality experience for seniors 55-plus. With help from our partners, we took a technology designed for young gamers and engineered it for seniors. The entire platform, technology and user experience is geared toward older adults. Since this is a new way of looking at the technology, we had to work diligently in the field and in the lab to ensure we deliver the best solution for older adults.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the MyndVR story. Tell us more about the business.
We are a health and wellness company creating virtual reality (VR) solutions for adults 55-plus, with a proprietary VR solution and customized content that has a powerful impact. Over the past year, we conducted a large-scale nationwide pilot involving several hundred participants at senior living communities in New York, California, Texas, Florida and Kansas. During the pilot, MyndVR and community teams observed mood improvement, reductions in feelings of isolation, triggering of memories, an increased sense of connection, and lifted spirits among participants. Residents across the continuum of care, from independent living to those with diagnoses including Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, macular degeneration and Parkinson’s disease participated in the pilot. Many residents cried tears of joy while viewing the unique content, and some felt relief from symptoms of their disease. We are encouraged by the success of this national pilot. It was fascinating to see how residents respond as memories flooded back. Prior to the pilot, we spent six months collaborating with The University of Texas at Dallas and Samsung to engineer the virtual reality platform and customize it for users 55-plus. Through our findings, we know what content works best for this audience, and in addition to curating a vast content library, we are continuing to film new original content which appeals to them. MyndVR integrated its technological, care and compassion findings from the pilot into its Mynd MomentumTM solution.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least about our city?
Dallas is a wonderful place to launch a national start-up. After relocating from Silicon Valley to Dallas, I have been super impressed by the talent pool across healthcare, VR technology and creative. Our local friends at The University of Texas at Dallas and Samsung have been amazing in helping us launch the largest VR content network in the US for seniors.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.myndvr.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/myndvr/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/myndvr
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