Power Talk Interview: Taya Phillips on Metaflex Gloves

Naveen: Hi to you. Welcome to the Power Talk Show powered by Business Talks Weekly. Thank you so much for accepting our invitation and joining our channel today. Before we start the conversation, can we run through your professional background and what led to the creation of Metaflex gloves?

Taya: Yeah, thank you, Naveen. I'm really happy to be here. So I'm Taya Phillips. I'm the founder of ACS Innovations and the inventor of the Metaflex glove.

Metaflex is something that I invented while I was studying mechanical engineering at Tennessee Tech University, for the purpose of helping people manage arthritis at home. We found that a lot of people have arthritis and can't afford to go see a doctor—whether that be from taking time off work or the cost of the copay or the bill that comes after you see the doctor. We're in America, so healthcare is very expensive here.

Upon researching what helps with arthritis, other than drugs like opioids which are commonly taken for chronic conditions, we found that compression is good for pain, improving circulation, and reducing stiffness. And then grip strengthening helps to strengthen the muscles, so you're relieving the pressure on the joints when you're having to use your hands.

Compression's easy—you wear a glove. But strengthening? You had to remember to do 15 reps on each hand, squeeze, and it's time consuming and burdensome, and people weren't doing it.

The Metaflex Solution

Taya: So we made a wearable grip strengthener. It's this compression glove with a really gentle compression and then stretchy resistance bands that run the length of the fingers. They are adjustable with this Velcro strip that runs the length of the tendon, so it's adjustable for each finger and you can set the bands wherever feels most comfortable for you.

It works to extend the fingers. So as you're going about your day grabbing things, you're strengthening. When you're at rest, you're stretching—always a gentle compression. We made the first wearable compression, grip strengthening, finger stretching glove and called it Metaflex. Find your perfect fit with our sizing guide.

Standing Out in the Market

Naveen: Wonderful. So Taya, can you tell me, are there any similar products in the market right now, and if yes, how is Metaflex different from them?

Taya: Our competition is divided into three categories. No one's doing everything that we're doing. There's compression gloves, there's grip strengthening equipment like those spring-loaded strengtheners, and there's stretching equipment like TheraBand or the putty that you squeeze or stress balls.

Stretching, strengthening, and compression have never been combined until Metaflex, which kind of blew my mind when we were doing our research. It's such a simple idea, but no one had made it before. So we patented it and took it to market, got it registered, and have been on the market for a few years helping a lot of people.

It was surprising that such a simple idea hadn't been done before, but Metaflex really is the first and the only.

From Prototype to Product

Naveen: Great. So Taya, can you walk us through your journey in the early prototype stage to the current final product, and is there any innovation or integration that you're still working on?

Taya: Yeah, we've got a couple new versions coming out this year. It started with identifying that need—people needed a way to manage arthritis at home and they needed it to be affordable. My background's mechanical engineering, so I know a lot about product design and forces. I really studied the anatomy of the hands when I was making Metaflex to make sure that it was a natural hand movement.

I pretty immediately knew what the glove was going to look like, but I also have a bunch of different variations for people who like different features. We've got two new versions coming out, and I won't spill what's coming because we've got a whole marketing strategy. Thank God I finally was able to hire a marketer and really brainstorm with her about how we're launching these new products.

It came from talking to the customer—the most important person in the business. The person who's using the gloves and figuring out what they needed and what they wanted and what they were struggling with.

Unexpected Benefits

Taya: I found when talking to my customer that Metaflex has more uses than I thought it would have. My grandma had really bad arthritis, and she's kind of my passion and guiding light for making this. Making a product is so difficult, but knowing how much it could improve her life, I had to do it.

When I was talking to her, she was saying she also has problems waking up in the morning with her hands in a fist—poor circulation, stiff and closed and difficult to open. Her solution was holding a tennis ball and putting a sock over the top of her hand. But Metaflex takes it a step further. The circulation is going to be really good throughout the night, and the band for each finger can work to keep the hands open and extend the fingers.

You can sleep in the gloves and wake up and you're ready to go for the day. You're not waking up in pain, and that affects your physical health but also your mental health. If you're waking up and your hands are all tight and closed and they hurt, it makes it harder to get up and get ready. So we do have new versions of the product, but also just the use cases have been so surprising.

Overcoming Challenges

Naveen: Wonderful. So you mentioned earlier it's very difficult to make such a product. What were the challenges that you went through to develop such a wearable device?

Taya: Mostly it's money. The great barrier to innovation is money. A lot of people don't have the money that it takes to make these things happen. Getting approval from the FDA—the FDA fee this year for medical device establishment is $9,000, which is a fee every year and it's gone up every year.

It was the cost of all the patents. Finding the right manufacturer—I planned to launch the product in 2022, but we didn't get it on market until 2023 because the manufacturer I was working with didn't have all the FDA registrations I needed. It took me months of research because I didn't have the money to pay a consultant to tell me what to do and how to do it.

It was the money to pay the fee, the money to pay for the patents, the money to buy my first lot of inventory, the money to spend on marketing. Money has been the great limiter in bringing Metaflex to market. And I think it's what is stopping a lot of people from bringing their innovations to market. It's really a tragedy for the world that we have all of these people creating all of these amazing things that could change people's lives, and they're having so much trouble getting it to market.

Market Fit and Expanding Applications

Naveen: So Taya, do you feel the current version of the product is market ready? Is it market fit?

Taya: Yeah, absolutely. And it's fitting more of the market than I thought. I made it for arthritis, but it's helping people with carpal tunnel, Parkinson's disease, stroke, Dupuytren's contracture, and trigger finger.

I recently brought on a hand therapist to the team as my Chief Clinical Officer, and I am just so proud to have him on board. He's got this big list of all of these hand conditions that I'm just now learning the names of that Metaflex is helpful for.

It is a product-market fit, and we have more products coming out with different features that will address the same market, but just people with different preferences. We're definitely a fit and we're working on fitting into these little sub-cultures within the market. Learn more about insurance coverage and Medicare approval for Metaflex gloves.

The Future of Wearables

Naveen: AI has been on everybody's mind—everybody's talking about AI and smart wearables as well. Where do you see the trend going? What is the next big disruption going to happen in the wearable industry?

Taya: I think it's just more health tech like Metaflex. You're seeing watches and rings and things that are measuring the electrical signals and circulatory things happening in the body and giving people information. But I also think there's going to be wearables like Metaflex that are improving strength, improving flexibility, improving circulation—all of these other things that are really important too.

Wearables are the future of healthcare because it makes it easier to comply with your exercise regimens and these things that healthcare providers want you to do.

With AI, I get asked a lot how we're using it. I want to caution people of using it too much for things that you should do with your own brain, and rather just using it as a time-saving tool and as a way to streamline your operations. One of my team members is going to take this podcast and put it into some AI which can make a transcript and write out everything—that's a time-saving tool.

Try to use AI as a time-saving tool and not as a substitute for your brain, because then you're not using those muscles or those pathways and they're not getting stronger and growing.

The Entrepreneurial Journey

Naveen: Wonderful. Taya, from inventor to business leader and entrepreneur—how was your transition? What changed your life?

Taya: Being an entrepreneur has changed my life. It's a journey of self-discovery and learning all of the things that I'm not good at, and learning some things that I am good at. You fail over and over again. I've learned to be more resilient and to choose to have a positive outlook on life.

Honestly, high school was very easy for me. College was engineering school, but it wasn't that bad. When I worked as an engineer, it was easy because I did process engineering—just streamlining operations and writing down how to do things.

Things I wasn't good at that I've had to learn? Sales. Talking to people. I can read people really well, but it felt like manipulation to sell things to people, even though I know this is helping them. I had this internal thing where I didn't want to ask people for money, which really limited me when it came to raising money.

Marketing again felt like manipulation, but that's a mindset switch that I've just had to make for myself. I'm sure everybody has some different part that's more difficult for them based on their culture, the way they were raised, and the life experiences they've had. But that's been the most difficult part for me. Read more about the brutal truth of entrepreneurial resilience.

Read more about Taya's journey in Revolutionizing Relief: The MetaFlex Glove 2.0 Now Medicare Approved and Poised for Rapid Growth featured in Upper Cumberland Business Journal

Lessons and Reflections

Naveen: So Taya, if you look back at your journey, what is the one thing that you could have done differently or would do now?

Taya: I wish I would have known my first manufacturer didn't have all the registrations I needed, but we got through it. There's so many hurdles where I have fallen on my face, but I got through it. There was a time where I approved samples too soon and ended up having some defect inventory because of a miscommunication. But I worked it out with my manufacturer and we have a really strong relationship now.

Getting through those difficulties is just part of the process. I'd say to anyone: when you're failing, you're learning. It's a lesson. Don't shy away from it or feel like you're a failure because you did something wrong. You're not going to do every single thing right. It's life and you're learning, and failure is just a part of the process.

Edison took like over a hundred tries to make the light bulb. If he would have given up at any of those and thought himself a failure, we wouldn't be as advanced as we are. Failure is part of the process and I've learned to embrace it and shift my mindset from "I failed" to "I learned this." I've got this in my back pocket now and I know how to navigate the situation going forward.