Aflevering How A Female Founder Builds Privacy-First Tech For An Aging Population With Femke Delissen | Ep. 150

What if three wall plugs could transform how night nurses care for an entire nursing home floor? Femke Delissen is the co-founder of PAVA, a Dutch startup using a combination of Wi-Fi sensing technology and AI to help nurses in elderly care work more efficiently — without cameras, without wearables, and without sacrificing the privacy and dignity of residents. In this episode, Femke shares how she and her co-founders turned an AI master’s project in Amsterdam into a full-time startup, why they’ve stayed committed to healthcare despite the temptation of faster markets, and what top-level sports taught them about building a resilient founding team. You’ll hear about: - How Wi-Fi signals through a wall plug can tell a nurse whether a resident is asleep, in the bathroom, or wandering a hallway — without a single camera - Why Femke calls elderly care a “double problem” — and why solving it requires both technical innovation and a moral compass - The “first save” moment that proved their system worked, during a live night shift at their first paying customer - How all three founders’ sports positions still define how they lead today - What female founders get wrong about the funding journey in healthcare (hint: investors need numbers before they’ll listen to your vision) - Why Femke says she’d “lose faith in society” if they pivoted to energy savings just because it was easier Whether you’re building in healthcare, navigating slow decision cycles, or looking for proof that you don’t always need a breakthrough invention to solve a real problem — this episode is for you. About Femke Delissen Femke Delissen is the co-founder and commercial lead of PAVA, a remote monitoring startup for elderly care based in the Netherlands. She holds a master’s degree in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Amsterdam and studied at UC Berkeley. Before going full-time on PAVA, she worked in student-led consultancy at Sustainable Students Consultancy. She played hockey for HGC, at the highest competitive level in the Netherlands. Connect with Femke and Pava LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/femke-delissen/ PAVA Website: pava.ai PAVA on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pava-ai/ Chapters - 00:00 Introduction - 02:40 From Education to Entrepreneurship - 09:38 Introducing Pava: Revolutionizing Elderly Care - 11:04 Addressing the Challenges in Healthcare - 14:57 Innovative Solutions: Wi-Fi Sensing Technology - 20:41 Personalized Care Through Data - 25:29 The Future of Monitoring: AI and Beyond - 31:51 Passion for Healthcare: A Personal Journey - 37:53 Navigating the Healthcare Landscape - 44:48 Funding Challenges in Healthcare Startups - 51:51 The Influence of Sports on Entrepreneurship - 57:12 Learning Through Community and Collaboration Connect with Women Disrupting Tech Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube so you never miss an episode.