Sep 10, 2025 · 27m · the-pitch
Track Mental Health with a Wearable?!
Antonio Forenza · 9m spoken Elizabeth Yin · 3m spoken Kate McAndrew · 3m spoken Josh Muccio · 3m spoken Ben Zeises · 1m spoken Charles Hudson · 1m spoken
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
On The Pitch, founder Antonio Forenza presents Aware, an EEG-equipped wearable designed to track mental wellness and provide AI-driven stress coaching. Despite investor reservations regarding consumer hardware risks and long-term user retention, Forenza's deep technical credentials secure a $150,000 investment from Hustle Fund's Elizabeth Yin.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Josh holds 14.6% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Josh as informed peer 2.9 Guest teaching 2.3 Guest disagreement 0.7 Josh pushing back 2.6
speaking balance: gold is Josh, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 14:11 Rebuffing Oura Ring comparison
Antonio firmly reframes Kate's comparison by pointing out that Oura only measures physiological HRV stress during physical exertion rather than true mental stress.
Hardest push from Josh ▶ 12:25 Pressing on device retention and actionable valueElizabeth directly challenges the fundamental value proposition of stress trackers by citing her own abandonment of vibrating wearable monitors that failed to solve actionable problems.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 6:41 Explaining EEG arousal and valence biomarkersAntonio educates the investors on UCSF psychiatry research and how scalp-level EEG detects distinct arousal and valence dimensions that optical wrist sensors cannot access.
Josh holds their own ▶ 9:11 Challenging aggressive profit margin assumptionsKate uses her hardware background to immediately call out Antonio's claim of 77% gross margins, forcing him to concede that early small-batch COGS will be significantly higher.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Josh as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Josh pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Host Announcements and Newsletter Promotion | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Josh opens the show with brief housekeeping and introduces the investor panel before Antonio delivers his opening pitch outlining his background and the premise of Aware. | |
| Hardware Prototype Demonstration and Form Factor | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | Elizabeth and Kate examine physical cosmetic and functional prototypes while Antonio explains how brainwave mapping into emotional states operates via an ear-worn form factor. | |
| EEG Technology and Competitive Differentiation | 3 | 4 | 1 | 3 | Kate questions why ear-based EEG is superior to wrist-based Apple Watch sensors, prompting Antonio to break down neuroscience concepts of arousal and valence. | |
| Founder Background, Economics, and Intellectual Property | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | The panel explores Antonio's telecom hardware patents and unit economics, with Kate pressing on realistic early-stage COGS versus long-term scale projections. | |
| Elizabeth's Retention Question and Mid-Show Break | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | Elizabeth pushes hard on user retention and product utility, noting previous stress devices merely alerted users without solving root problems, leading Antonio to clarify HRV vs central nervous system tracking. | |
| Investor Deliberations and Elizabeth's Deal Offer | 4 | 1 | 1 | 4 | Charles and Kate pass due to market size and hardware execution risks, while Elizabeth negotiates the valuation cap down from $7M to $5M and offers $150K. | |
| Post-Pitch Investor Debrief | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | The investors debrief Antonio's industrial design capabilities after he leaves, followed by a post-show diligence demo call where Elizabeth confirms the investment. |
Statements from this episode (15)
Forenza: Aware is raising a $700k pre-seed round to reach production
“Coming out of Techstars, we are now raising our preceded round of 700 K to go to production.”
Forenza: Aware's ear cuff will be a fashion statement destigmatizing mental wellness
“We believe that it's going to be a fashion statement, but also a way to tell people, I care about my mental wellness. So this is a way to remove also the stigma that is associated to mental wellness, and that's why we believe it's going to be really powerful.”
Forenza: Mapping arousal and valence biomarkers allows deriving all human emotions
“You have these two biomarkers that are arousal and valence. These are terms used in neuroscience. By mapping these two dimensions, you can derive all the different emotions.”
Forenza: Aware targets a $300 retail price with 77% profit margins
“We're looking at 300 dollars the price of the cuff with about 77% profit margin at scale.”
Forenza: Aware projects achieving $100M ARR within five years
“We're projecting a hundred million ARR in five years. So about 400,000 units.”
Forenza: Exclusive patents prevent competitors from measuring EEG via ear cuff
“There is a IP in the hardware itself, in the form factor, in the ear cuff.
Ben Zices: Is that protected?
Antonio Forenza: Yeah, we have, yeah.
Ben Zices: So nobody else can measure EEG with an ear cuff device.
Antonio Forenza: Yes.”
Yin: Stress wearables struggle with retention by not solving the root problem
“It was actually pretty good at, like, vibrating whenever I was stressed, but aside from someone to take a deep breath, like, I think one of the shortcomings is what is that final step, and that's something that a device cannot solve. So, I think there's this q…”
Forenza: EEG measures mental stress much more accurately than HRV-based wearables
“Exactly, because it's a measure of HRV. We tap into the central nervous system, which is where everything originates, and so we can have much, much higher accuracy, The real time component of EEG is phenomenal. We give you a sample of your emotion every second…”
Hudson: Single-variable wearables are harder to build today than a decade ago
“I just think single variable wearables are really hard now. I was probably more bullish on them five or 10 years ago when we didn't have as many things.”
Zices: Forenza has perfect founder-market fit for mental health wearables
“Arguably one of the best people, if not maybe the best person in the world to actually solve this problem. So there's perfect founder market fit.”
Yin: Hustle Fund offers to invest $150K at a $5M valuation cap
“I would like to invest. Seven is going to be too high for me, but I would do it at five cap, a 150 K.”
Yin: Forenza faces a tough production road without industrial design experience
“I think his production road is going to be a lot harder because he doesn't have that experience, even though he worked at wherever.”
Forenza: Aware's AI coach tracks emotions more precisely than a human therapist
“It's much more precise that a therapist or a life coach, but of course we don't see it as a replacement to that.”
Muccio: Elizabeth Yin and The Pitch Fund invested $200k in Aware
“A week later, Elizabeth signed and wired, a 150 K. And the Pitch Fund signed and wired too. 50 K alongside Hustle Fund. Since the show, Antonio has raised an additional 100,000, and he's still looking to raise 400 more to close out the round.”