The Touchpoint Solution: Winner of the Entrepreneurial Opportunity Contest

The Touchpoint Solution is a finalist for the Entrepreneurial Opportunity Contest in partnership with BBVA. Learn more about the contest.

Company description: The TouchPoint solution was founded by entrepreneur Vicki Mayo with a mission to bring relief to the millions of people who suffer from stress and anxiety. TouchPoints are non-invasive, neuroscience-based tech wearable devices for stress relief based on effects of bilateral stimulation that relieve stress by more than 70% in as few as 30 seconds. We specialize in stress, anxiety, health, wellness and technology.

What is the concept you are pitching? We are using cutting edge technology to build an app that will provide additional alleviation from stress, anxiety and help improve sleep function based on a personality stress profile and other technological factors. The app will include a quiz as well as a rating system and areas in which the user can lower stress through a variety of mechanisms. Our main product, TouchPoints, can also be used in correlation in the app, but is not the main purpose.

What do you enjoy most about being an entrepreneur? I like to view being an entrepreneur to walking at the edge of the cliff. Yes, it’s scary and dangerous, but the view truly is so much better. And when I say view, I don’t just mean the beauty; I am also referring to the opportunities.

What I enjoy most as an entrepreneur is the act of making a difference in and for my community. You are given the view to be able to see where and how to best share thoughts and ideas in a way that truly impacts people. The ability to share ideas combined with building something has the ability to change people and their lives for the better.

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How did you get your idea or concept for the business? My daughter was having trouble with night terrors. It had gotten so bad that none of us in the house were sleeping and my stress was through the roof. I felt I was failing as a mom to provide her some much-needed relief.

I shared the feelings with a friend, and she introduced me to a technology she was working on. Desperate, I tried it, and it worked. I called her the next day and said, “What are you missing to launch?” I took her concept to reality, building the algorithms, apps and protypes so that it would be affordable and accessible. Today, our proprietary TouchPoints devices have relieved stress and anxiety and helped people across the world sleep better more than 3 million times.

To what do you attribute your success to date? Hard work and the right mentors. My father came to this country with pennies in his pocket. His American dream and hard efforts took my family from being poor and living in a hotel to a life that was comfortable for us.

Inspired by his efforts, I became a successful entrepreneur at 14, selling my first company for profit at 17. I took this money to attend college, and upon graduation began climbing the ladder of the corporate world. That came to a pause when at the age of 20, I adopted two boys who had been abandoned. I went back to my entrepreneurial roots and have helped to build three globally recognized companies since then.

What business ventures did you try before this one? I refer to myself as a serial entrepreneur as The TouchPoint Solution is the fifth business that I have founded and launched. Outside of the reservation business of my teens, I have also owned and operated hotels and currently also own and operate a contact center and technology firm.

Who do you go to for business advice? Outside of my parents, my husband is a large inspiration. Not only are we partners by marriage and in parenting, but he is also my business partner. In fact, we purchased our first commercial building before a home. We have stood by each other, each as the other’s rock, through every single step of this wild and crazy entrepreneurial journey.

What was your biggest challenge in launching or growing this business? People not taking you seriously. With any new concept, idea or business, you’re going to be the odd man out. People are going to think that they’ve been there, done that or that there’s no room in the market for what you’re bringing to the table. But, you have to show them that you’re not backing down. You have to have enough belief in yourself and what you’re doing to compensate for everyone else’s disbelief. You have to have the conviction that your product and your business belong in the world.

Tell us something about yourself that would surprise the people you work with. Although my business was a success during my teen years, my first love and passion during that time was (and still is) dressage. I competed and won the state and regional championships and was recruited on the short list as top talent for the Olympic team. Due to a decision to adopt two boys abandoned by their parents when I was 20, my parents disowned me and sold my horses. My dream to ride was paused. I am happy to share that a year ago I began riding again and recently purchased a horse.

If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be? The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is just a little “extra.” So why not just do the little extra? Hustle like you’ve never hustled before. Become a sponge. Learn and absorb everything that you can. I attribute so much of The TouchPoint Solution’s success to my yearning to learn every single thing there was about the business from the ground up, from the device, to the technology, to the manufacturing, to the marketing, to the launch, to the legalities of it all. There is no part of my business that has not been touched by me. I learned from others what I could and researched what I couldn’t. You have to be willing to put in the work – and the hustle.

Register to attend the 2020 virtual event on Nov. 4 to see the finalists’ pitches and the announcement of the winner.

This article originally appeared: https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2020/10/26/the-touchpoint-solution-finalist.html

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