Interview with Aziz Kaddan, CEO and Co-Founder At Brain-Technology Start-up: Myndlift

Myndlift is a new neurofeedback startup based in Tel Aviv. Myndlift technology works with the Muse EEG headset and offers its users to have brain training anywhere, anytime, with remote professional supervision. Numerous researches proved the efficacy of neurofeedback for stress management, alleviating ADHD, depression, attention disorder, and hyperactivity symptoms.

The specific training for a patient is created by Myndlift’s Board Certified health care providers (Psychologists / Psychiatrists) based on a qEEG brain scan. The brain scan produces a functional map of the brain’s electrical activity and lets therapists see what areas need to be improved. Based on what symptoms can be seen on the brain map, the therapist advises how many times to train each week and the duration of each session (i.e 15 minutes per day, 3-5 days per week). Follow-up brain scans are used to track progress, monitor results, and update the treatment accordingly.

This highly-targeted, efficient and effective training can help one achieve their mental health and performance goals much faster and easier compared to conventional therapies that are performed without the guidance of measurable, progressive performance data of the brain.

How did you come up with the idea for the company?

At the age of 19, I started to work in the tech industry where I was exposed to the world of Neuroscience through various conferences and also through my father who is a pediatric neurologist. At that time I got to understand more about the field of mental health, neuroscience, and the connection between them.

When I saw that EEG and neurofeedback can be used as a way to improve mental wellness but only existed in clinical settings around the world, I decided that now is the right time to use the current technology in the market to change it.

I’ve noticed that new devices were emerging on the market that offer the ability to measure or sense brain activity by using wearables instead of going to labs or clinics. At that point, I understood that there is the potential here to create something big by bringing neurofeedback from the clinical setting into the home setting by using these wearable devices. That’s what we did with Myndlift.

What advice would you give to other aspiring entrepreneurs?

I think it’s very important to have a mentor who’s a few steps ahead of you, but at the same time, not too far ahead because you need somebody who’s been there and still has the memory of what has been done and still remembers the lessons that they learned along the way and transfer these lessons to you. It’s very important to apply the mentor’s wise advice.

I also believe it is important to focus on being transparent with your employees about everything concerning the company and flexible.

What can we hope to see from Myndlift in the future?

We’ve already started to help people improve their mental well-being using wearable and mobile technology. We are bringing something that existed only in the clinical setting called Neurofeedback into the home setting so that everyone can do it now at home in an accessible and affordable way. Through this, we’re helping people to get directly into their brain activity and try to influence the brain activity using games or videos and, therefore, achieve better focus, lower anxiety in an objective way and data-driven way.