“It takes grit and resilience:” Meerya founder talks about innovation, noise pollution and the startup power of Bedford
Since cars are changing and innovating so quickly, shouldn’t car horns be evolving as well? Bedford-based Meerya, a vehicular communication startup, says yes. It’s the brainchild of an engineer with an epiphany about changing noise pollution and saving lives. And it’s a passion project that Startup Alleghenies has been cheering on, every step of the way.
Failures — and there have been 100 or so — is teaching us more than simply succeeding. It’s making us more resilient. It shows us we were asking the wrong questions.”
A few years ago, Ankit Patel was walking home from work when he had an epiphany. “I noticed a driver passing and almost hitting a cyclist — the cyclist had no idea there was a car on their left side,” he remembers. “I’m not sure who would have been at fault had there been an accident, but I became curious to learn how future situations like that could be prevented. As a driver, you only have a few ways of communicating, and when it comes to audible communication, there’s only your horn— you only get one sound, no matter if you are communicating with a pedestrian, cyclist or other vehicle.”
“It’s such an antiquated way of communicating. How can we communicate in a different way that increases safety and also reduces noise pollution and noise fatigue?”
From there an idea was born. Patel says that the Southern Alleghenies Planning & Development Commission helped Meerya in its first stages, and then Startup Alleghenies stepped in. “The Startup Alleghenies coach and I spent hours going through everything. He was there in the thick of it with me. His wealth of knowledge in startups was awesome.”
The company is developing smart solutions for vehicle and heavy equipment that allows for automatic sounding of horns and a variation of sound. It enhances safety, reducing noise fatigue and boosting efficiency.
“The single best thing about Startup Alleghenies — for us — was having a startup coach as a single point of contact. Our coach helped get us grants — not just through Startup Alleghenies, but through Ben Franklin Technology Partners. He helped us to realize how we could utilize resources that were offered in this region.”
He says that as the company ideates and tests for new trends, it has had to be agile, and mindful of the supply chain. “There are a lot of companies that need computer chips before we do,” he said.
As they continue beta testing in both US companies and international markets in India and Israel, Patel says that they’ve learned from their ups and downs. “You have to get used to getting a lot of no’s,” he said. “I heard once that the founder of Starbucks had 200 people say no to giving him seed money before someone said yes. You are going to have ups and downs. You have to keep doing iterations.
Failures — and there have been 100 or so — is teaching us more than simply succeeding. It’s making us more resilient. It shows us we were asking the wrong questions.”
“Our biggest success has been understanding customers, and building vehicle communication systems to solve the problems that they are facing. Each iteration gets closer.”
He says that Startup Alleghenies has been integral to their journey. “The single best thing about Startup Alleghenies — for us — was having a startup coach as a single point of contact. Our coach helped get us grants — not just through Startup Alleghenies, but through Ben Franklin Technology Partners. He helped us to realize how we could utilize resources that were offered in this region.”
“Startup Alleghenies got us in touch with vendors and potential buyers, and helped us to get our products into the limelight. I tell other innovators that there is an entity in the Southern Alleghenies that can help you on your startup journey.”
Startup Alleghenies helps startup and emerging small businesses succeed by providing free coaching to entrepreneurs in Bedford, Blair, Cambria, Fulton, Huntingdon and Somerset counties. To access personal, one-on-one support from a coach in your county, including guidance, resources, tools and networking opportunities, sign up at startupalleghenies.com.
