January 27, 2026 • 16 mins
In the first of our Diabetes Technology Starts series, we talk with SNAQ founder Aurelian Briner (aurelian@snaq.io) about using AI meal photos, CGM integrations, and targeted insights to make mealtime decisions easier for people with diabetes.
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(00:03):
Hello, this is Dr.
David Klonoff.
I'm here with DiabetesTechnology Report Starts.
This is our new podcast forstartup companies.
(00:23):
I'm here with Dr.
David Kerr, and he's going tointroduce our first guest.
This podcast is for startupcompanies that have either
presented data at the DiabetesTechnology Meeting or who have
published in Journal of DiabetesScience and Technology.
Our guest today fromSwitzerland has done both.
Now I'll turn this over to Dr.
(00:44):
David Kerr.
David Kerr (00:46):
Thanks, David, and a huge welcome to everyone to
Diabetes Technology Starts.
I'm David Kerr.
I'm speaking to you from thesunshine and warmth of Santa
Barbara, California.
Whereas our first guest,Aurelian Briner from SNAQ, is
based in Zurich, Switzerland.
Aurelian, welcome to thepodcast.
Thank you very much for havingme.
It's a pleasure to be here.
Great.
Well, we're going to be hearingabout your company and what
(01:08):
you've been up to and whereyou're going.
But I'm always curious, how didyou end up being interested in
diabetes technology?
Aurelian Briner (01:16):
Yeah, as uh many founders in the in the
diabetes industry, uh my storyin diabetes actually also
started from a personalrelationship.
Uh, in in our case, uh my wifegot diagnosed with type 1
diabetes over 10 years ago.
Um, I was uh previously workingin software.
Um, and yeah, that that wasreally that uh the moment how I
(01:40):
got into into the topic ofdiabetes um and hopefully can
can make a difference there.
David Kerr (01:45):
Great.
And what is the fundamentalproblem that you're trying to
solve?
Aurelian Briner (01:50):
Yeah.
Uh so with SNAQ, uh we uh wantto make mealtime decisions
easier for or simpler for peopleliving with diabetes.
And um, yeah, the fundamentalproblem is really um around
better managing meals.
And that's what we uh areworking on for actually close to
eight years, uh, or about eightyears right now uh with SNAQ.
(02:14):
Uh and it's still, I mean, eventhough in the uh as as you know
uh very well in the last eightyears, a lot of things have been
changing uh in the in theindustry to the positive.
Um and also a lot of thingshave been changing in on the
technology side.
Yeah, it's it's a verydifferent place compared to 2017
when we got started where weare these days.
But somehow the problem ofmatching meals still uh exists
(02:37):
in in one or the other way.
Um, and we're still happy tocontribute to solutions.
David Klonoff (02:41):
Oh, Rellan, could you describe what your product
does and how does it makemeasurements?
How does it know what it'sdoing?
Aurelian Briner (02:48):
Sure.
Uh so with SNAQ, basically thethree components to uh to the
product.
Uh it is a mobile app um wherepeople uh can lock their meals.
Predominantly they can locktheir meals by taking a picture
of their meals and it willidentify the different food
components.
And depending on a camera, itwould also uh estimate uh the
(03:09):
portion sizes.
We've done a number of studies,uh peer-reviewed studies on on
the accuracy as well as on theclinical efficiency, uh efficacy
on that.
Um then the second part, Imean, there are all ways these
days on how you can log meals.
Taking picture is one, you canscan barcodes, you can actually
voice log things.
You we have a verifiednutrition database and so on.
(03:30):
Uh so the meal logging is onepart.
The second part is we combinethat with uh diabetes data.
So uh you essentially canconnect your CTM, um, your
incident pump, your variabledevice to really have the meal
data in context, essentially,um, because all these variables
matter.
Um, and then the third uh pieceis more the insights uh and the
(03:53):
coaching aspects um that peoplecan get really deep on how
different meals impacted theirglucose levels, how other
variables around meals impactedtheir glucose levels, um, and
and yeah, help them ultimatelyachieve their goals um in
managing the meals.
David Klonoff (04:09):
If someone logs that they had a certain meal, do
they have to log what theingredients are, or do you
figure out what are thecomponents, how much carbs,
protein, and fat?
Aurelian Briner (04:19):
Yeah, I mean, uh actually that's where the
latest technology advances camein uh were very helpful.
I think uh compared to when westarted, it it evolved a lot
from uh being able to more andmore automate uh from I mean,
depending on how accurate youyou want it, that there can be
more or less user intervention,but these days it's uh you get
(04:40):
to a pretty decent uh estimatein in some cases by just taking
a picture and the output alreadyis like fat, protein, carbs,
calories.
Um, if you want to have it veryvery accurate, you might want
to give it a bit more inputs,uh, or you have some
dependencies on special camerasensors.
That's it it's it's phenomenalthe amount of automation which
is possible to see.
David Klonoff (04:59):
Let's say I eat a turkey sandwich and I take a
picture of the turkey sandwich.
Do I write down turkey sandwichor does it uh know that I ate a
turkey sandwich from thepicture?
Aurelian Briner (05:10):
Um I mean what with sandwiches can be a bit
tricky, right?
Because even if you give it tojust a dietitian, like
eventually it's just purely froma picture, you would also not
perfectly be able to tell what'severything in there.
But uh, I mean, it might saythat it it is a turkey sandwich,
it might say sandwich and likepropose a couple of ingredients
which you then need to confirm.
Yeah, it it it it depends.
(05:31):
Rillian, who is this for?
David Kerr (05:34):
I mean, people with diabetes vary enormously.
There's no one person with youknow it's the same as another.
Who so who is this for?
And also is the expectationthat people will have to use
this forever, or do they use itnow and again, or what's the
vision for its use?
Aurelian Briner (05:52):
Yeah, so I mean this the the story originates
from from the type one uh space.
When we launched in the US, uhwe saw much broader usage,
particularly we got significantuptake in the type two market as
well.
Uh and uh, I mean a smallerportion in in pre-diabetes and
cessational diabetes.
But overall, uh, I mean we havewe have a user base of 250,000
(06:16):
uh people and like 90% of themhave some sort of diabetes.
So we're really heavy on the onthe on the diabetes uh side.
Actually, what I wouldcurrently at least uh make more
as a denominator is that theyuse um some like glucose
monitor, whether it's a BGM or aCGM, that's actually where you
know where we are really strongat the combination of meal and
(06:37):
glucose and and the combinedinsights, to some extent
irrespective of of the actualdiagnosis.
We see very sim actuallysimilar engagement across the
diagnosis types.
And um to your second questionson on the usage and frequency,
um it there are really differentpatterns.
But what you're actually seeingalso in some of the published
(06:58):
studies is that um I mean theimprovements in time and range
come very quick.
So even after a couple ofweeks, you already see an
improvement in time and range.
And then though, when peoplestop using, unfortunately, uh it
the effect doesn't maintain.
Uh I mean, unfortunately, froma perspective of the user, I
mean, from an industryperspective, um, yeah, it might
(07:19):
be more okay.
You really need to continue toto engage with the product in
order to see uh sustainedbenefits.
David Klonoff (07:25):
How much of the benefit comes from the picture
and how much comes from thelogging?
Aurelian Briner (07:32):
It's an interesting question, um, which
I uh we didn't specifically do astudy on that, and so
therefore, unfortunately, I Icannot answer it to you, but um
for sure it's it's something tobe uh like explored at some
point.
David Klonoff (07:46):
But you you provide both and then you
combine them.
Aurelian Briner (07:49):
Exactly.
Um I mean so far, well, I meanwhat we see in the distribution
on what type of logging peopleuse, whether they use you know
search or barcode or voice or orimage, like image is the the
most used.
So even in those studies whichwe published, uh like uh the
image taking part was the mostused modality of locking links.
David Klonoff (08:12):
How large is your reference library so that you
can match pictures withreference foods?
Aurelian Briner (08:18):
Yeah, um I mean it these days it uh everything
got a bit more open, but it's inin the hundreds of thousands uh
of uh on the image recordingside, and then in in the food
database, it's more it's in themillions.
But interestingly, also fromour observation, I mean, with
with food logging, um I mean notmany items make up like the 80%
(08:42):
bucket basically of uh likethey're always or all frequently
logged.
And but the 20 remainingpercent, so there's a really,
really long tail with hundredsor thousands or in the millions
of different like smaller fooditems.
But in the end, um, you know,you really need to support the
the whole bandwidth uh in orderto have a great experience.
David Kerr (09:04):
Um here in the United States, um food choice is
a red hot political discussionat the moment.
Major changes in arecommendation.
I'm I'm just curious, lookingat at all these people with
diabetes who have lulled, arepeople are they adhering to
guidelines or are they kind ofdoing their own thing, or are
(09:27):
people putting in common foodsor people deciding that, hey, I
don't know what about this weirdthing I've just chosen in this
restaurant, so I'm gonna put itinto SNAQ.
What's the kind of behavior,what's your impression of
people's behaviors?
Aurelian Briner (09:41):
Well, actually, that could be an interesting
study question, and we weprobably would have the data to
to answer it.
But I mean, just I mean,looking at in chat just purely
on a frequency scale, likelooking at the most like five,
ten uh logged food items, it'sit's very common things like
bread, banana, coffee, rice, uhthings like that, uh which which
(10:04):
make it up uh high on the list.
Um, so not to too manysurprises on on the really on
the top picks.
David Kerr (10:11):
Okay, I always wonder whether people hide if
they're eating a lot of red meator drinking a lot of beer or or
something, or whether they'revery honest with SNAQ.
Aurelian Briner (10:24):
Honestly, I think in general, maybe people
are a bit more honest with withwith software.
Also, if you think then a bitfurther on like AI and AI agents
and companions and things likethat.
Um I think they they might be abit more honest compared to to
really like human interactionbecause yeah um it's still
perceived as being digital.
David Klonoff (10:45):
Do you need uh does a person need or do you
need FD approval for yourproduct to be used in the United
States?
Aurelian Briner (10:53):
Um as long as we don't make insulin dose
recommendations, which we whichwe don't do, and we clearly
disclaim that at several placesin the app that's not uh
intended to be used for forsuch.
Uh we as actually most otherdiabetes apps as well, which
which are not bonus calculators,uh um fall in the into the the
FDA enforcement description ofuh like lower-risk medical um
(11:18):
software.
Um which is to to be honest, isa huge advantage for innovators
uh in general.
Uh I I really appreciate thatframework by the FDA because it
doesn't exist in such a way inEurope.
David Klonoff (11:29):
Um so uh do you feel that your product has some
advantages over other apps thatpeople could use for a diet?
Aurelian Briner (11:37):
Well, just I mean, look looking at the usage
numbers, we really have a verysignificant user base in the
diabetes community.
And I mean those individualsfigured probably looked at
different options in themarketplace and and figured that
that SNAQ might might be theone which works best for them.
But like where we where we feelwe you know we have a strong
edge is really at thecombination of of food, strong
(12:00):
food login capabilities and andstrong diabetes focus slash
device integrations and insightsand things like that compared
to maybe in my fitness poll,which is much broader, or
compared to just a lock, whichis not that strong on the food
component side.
David Kerr (12:16):
You're focused on diabetes.
Correct.
Aureline, you're the face ofSNAQ.
I mean, you're the every time Igo to a meeting, you pop up.
But how just tell us a littlebit of the team.
I mean, is this a are you aone-man band, or do you have
gazillions of dollars in yourwar chairs, then you've got huge
team?
Just give us some insight intowhat's how SNAQ functions on a
(12:39):
day-to-day basis.
Aurelian Briner (12:41):
Uh yeah, we we're a really like small and
nimble team.
We're sex uh in like includingincluding external resources,
we're six people.
Actually, like these days withum with AI and coding agents and
all this, like we really feelwe are more like a 10 to 15
person team because every aspectgot so much more efficient, and
(13:01):
particularly because we're so asmall team, we can also you
know adapt very quickly.
So yeah, we're actually prettyhappy.
I mean, you know, on a monthlybasis, we roughly deal with
20,000, 25,000 uh uh users.
So I mean the product uh has tobe pretty self-explanatory and
things need to like workdecently well that you're able
(13:21):
to like deal with that amount ofusers on a monthly basis with
that small of a teacher.
David Kerr (13:26):
Yeah.
And my the final question forme is looking back at where
you've come from and where youare now, there's like there's
likely to be some buddingentrepreneurs listening to this
podcast.
What would be your kind oflesson of the week you'd like to
give to people so that theydon't make that mistake or they
take that big opportunity?
What's have you got a have yougot a killer piece of advice?
Aurelian Briner (13:48):
Well, first of all, start with a problem you
really, really believe is worthsolving.
And don't fall too much in inin in love.
Eventually we have thesolution, but really more of the
problem.
Because the journey alwaystakes much longer than than what
you think.
And there there is will be likea significant roller coaster
ride uh with ups and downs.
(14:09):
And you know, you you need tobe passionate about about you're
doing to to stick it through,but uh ultimately, you know,
it's it's it's also rewarding toto see the the impact you
you're having that that uh likepeople reach out and and and say
like you know what what asignificant difference it made
in in their life and or how muchthey improved on a medical
side.
David Klonoff (14:28):
Brian, I have one uh last question for you.
Has your company announced anyplans for the future?
Aurelian Briner (14:34):
Um actually not not too much recently.
Uh so uh what we actually whatwe are right now though the
working on, which we releasedbriefly before Christmas, um, is
our what do we call uh coach.
It's basically an AI agent uhspecifically uh developed for
diabetes care.
So it means that it is able topersonalize, um, it is able to
(14:58):
memorize um and uh contextualizebasically very diabetes
specific and also followguidelines and regulatory uh
requirements along the way.
And it's extremely exciting.
We we believe there is hugeopportunity for having uh more
care immediately in your pocket,in our case, more like uh on
the nutrition side, like havingkind of like a nutritionist in
(15:21):
your pocket.
Um for for the everydayquestions, I don't believe it uh
will like you know um uh orsubstitute the real
professionals, but there is sohigh demand and sometimes the
access is really not there, andwe really believe there is an
opportunity uh for digital uh tohelp those individuals which
(15:43):
might not as easily or not evennot able to afford uh
traditional care these days.
David Klonoff (15:49):
Thank you for speaking with us today.
Um this was an interesting,unusual product, and it's a
digital health product.
So, on behalf of Dr.
David Kerr and myself, thankyou for being interviewed on
Diabetes Technology Starts.
This diabetes technology reportis our first starts.
You're the first one, and wewill be talking to people from
(16:12):
other startup companies.
A diabetes technology reportstarts is available at the
Diabetes Technology Societywebsite at Apple and Spotify and
other sites, and we lookforward to connecting with you
and others in the future.
So for now, goodbye.
Aurelian Briner (16:28):
Goodbye, thank you.
Thank you.
Always a pleasure speaking withyou today.
Hello, this is Dr.
David Klonoff.
I'm here with DiabetesTechnology Report Starts.
This is our new podcast forstartup companies.
(00:23):
I'm here with Dr.
David Kerr, and he's going tointroduce our first guest.
This podcast is for startupcompanies that have either
presented data at the DiabetesTechnology Meeting or who have
published in Journal of DiabetesScience and Technology.
Our guest today fromSwitzerland has done both.
Now I'll turn this over to Dr.
(00:44):
David Kerr.
David Kerr (00:46):
Thanks, David, and a huge welcome to everyone to
Diabetes Technology Starts.
I'm David Kerr.
I'm speaking to you from thesunshine and warmth of Santa
Barbara, California.
Whereas our first guest,Aurelian Briner from SNAQ, is
based in Zurich, Switzerland.
Aurelian, welcome to thepodcast.
Thank you very much for havingme.
It's a pleasure to be here.
Great.
Well, we're going to be hearingabout your company and what
(01:08):
you've been up to and whereyou're going.
But I'm always curious, how didyou end up being interested in
diabetes technology?
Aurelian Briner (01:16):
Yeah, as uh many founders in the in the
diabetes industry, uh my storyin diabetes actually also
started from a personalrelationship.
Uh, in in our case, uh my wifegot diagnosed with type 1
diabetes over 10 years ago.
Um, I was uh previously workingin software.
Um, and yeah, that that wasreally that uh the moment how I
(01:40):
got into into the topic ofdiabetes um and hopefully can
can make a difference there.
David Kerr (01:45):
Great.
And what is the fundamentalproblem that you're trying to
solve?
Aurelian Briner (01:50):
Yeah.
Uh so with SNAQ, uh we uh wantto make mealtime decisions
easier for or simpler for peopleliving with diabetes.
And um, yeah, the fundamentalproblem is really um around
better managing meals.
And that's what we uh areworking on for actually close to
eight years, uh, or about eightyears right now uh with SNAQ.
(02:14):
Uh and it's still, I mean, eventhough in the uh as as you know
uh very well in the last eightyears, a lot of things have been
changing uh in the in theindustry to the positive.
Um and also a lot of thingshave been changing in on the
technology side.
Yeah, it's it's a verydifferent place compared to 2017
when we got started where weare these days.
But somehow the problem ofmatching meals still uh exists
(02:37):
in in one or the other way.
Um, and we're still happy tocontribute to solutions.
David Klonoff (02:41):
Oh, Rellan, could you describe what your product
does and how does it makemeasurements?
How does it know what it'sdoing?
Aurelian Briner (02:48):
Sure.
Uh so with SNAQ, basically thethree components to uh to the
product.
Uh it is a mobile app um wherepeople uh can lock their meals.
Predominantly they can locktheir meals by taking a picture
of their meals and it willidentify the different food
components.
And depending on a camera, itwould also uh estimate uh the
(03:09):
portion sizes.
We've done a number of studies,uh peer-reviewed studies on on
the accuracy as well as on theclinical efficiency, uh efficacy
on that.
Um then the second part, Imean, there are all ways these
days on how you can log meals.
Taking picture is one, you canscan barcodes, you can actually
voice log things.
You we have a verifiednutrition database and so on.
(03:30):
Uh so the meal logging is onepart.
The second part is we combinethat with uh diabetes data.
So uh you essentially canconnect your CTM, um, your
incident pump, your variabledevice to really have the meal
data in context, essentially,um, because all these variables
matter.
Um, and then the third uh pieceis more the insights uh and the
(03:53):
coaching aspects um that peoplecan get really deep on how
different meals impacted theirglucose levels, how other
variables around meals impactedtheir glucose levels, um, and
and yeah, help them ultimatelyachieve their goals um in
managing the meals.
David Klonoff (04:09):
If someone logs that they had a certain meal, do
they have to log what theingredients are, or do you
figure out what are thecomponents, how much carbs,
protein, and fat?
Aurelian Briner (04:19):
Yeah, I mean, uh actually that's where the
latest technology advances camein uh were very helpful.
I think uh compared to when westarted, it it evolved a lot
from uh being able to more andmore automate uh from I mean,
depending on how accurate youyou want it, that there can be
more or less user intervention,but these days it's uh you get
(04:40):
to a pretty decent uh estimatein in some cases by just taking
a picture and the output alreadyis like fat, protein, carbs,
calories.
Um, if you want to have it veryvery accurate, you might want
to give it a bit more inputs,uh, or you have some
dependencies on special camerasensors.
That's it it's it's phenomenalthe amount of automation which
is possible to see.
David Klonoff (04:59):
Let's say I eat a turkey sandwich and I take a
picture of the turkey sandwich.
Do I write down turkey sandwichor does it uh know that I ate a
turkey sandwich from thepicture?
Aurelian Briner (05:10):
Um I mean what with sandwiches can be a bit
tricky, right?
Because even if you give it tojust a dietitian, like
eventually it's just purely froma picture, you would also not
perfectly be able to tell what'severything in there.
But uh, I mean, it might saythat it it is a turkey sandwich,
it might say sandwich and likepropose a couple of ingredients
which you then need to confirm.
Yeah, it it it it depends.
(05:31):
Rillian, who is this for?
David Kerr (05:34):
I mean, people with diabetes vary enormously.
There's no one person with youknow it's the same as another.
Who so who is this for?
And also is the expectationthat people will have to use
this forever, or do they use itnow and again, or what's the
vision for its use?
Aurelian Briner (05:52):
Yeah, so I mean this the the story originates
from from the type one uh space.
When we launched in the US, uhwe saw much broader usage,
particularly we got significantuptake in the type two market as
well.
Uh and uh, I mean a smallerportion in in pre-diabetes and
cessational diabetes.
But overall, uh, I mean we havewe have a user base of 250,000
(06:16):
uh people and like 90% of themhave some sort of diabetes.
So we're really heavy on the onthe on the diabetes uh side.
Actually, what I wouldcurrently at least uh make more
as a denominator is that theyuse um some like glucose
monitor, whether it's a BGM or aCGM, that's actually where you
know where we are really strongat the combination of meal and
(06:37):
glucose and and the combinedinsights, to some extent
irrespective of of the actualdiagnosis.
We see very sim actuallysimilar engagement across the
diagnosis types.
And um to your second questionson on the usage and frequency,
um it there are really differentpatterns.
But what you're actually seeingalso in some of the published
(06:58):
studies is that um I mean theimprovements in time and range
come very quick.
So even after a couple ofweeks, you already see an
improvement in time and range.
And then though, when peoplestop using, unfortunately, uh it
the effect doesn't maintain.
Uh I mean, unfortunately, froma perspective of the user, I
mean, from an industryperspective, um, yeah, it might
(07:19):
be more okay.
You really need to continue toto engage with the product in
order to see uh sustainedbenefits.
David Klonoff (07:25):
How much of the benefit comes from the picture
and how much comes from thelogging?
Aurelian Briner (07:32):
It's an interesting question, um, which
I uh we didn't specifically do astudy on that, and so
therefore, unfortunately, I Icannot answer it to you, but um
for sure it's it's something tobe uh like explored at some
point.
David Klonoff (07:46):
But you you provide both and then you
combine them.
Aurelian Briner (07:49):
Exactly.
Um I mean so far, well, I meanwhat we see in the distribution
on what type of logging peopleuse, whether they use you know
search or barcode or voice or orimage, like image is the the
most used.
So even in those studies whichwe published, uh like uh the
image taking part was the mostused modality of locking links.
David Klonoff (08:12):
How large is your reference library so that you
can match pictures withreference foods?
Aurelian Briner (08:18):
Yeah, um I mean it these days it uh everything
got a bit more open, but it's inin the hundreds of thousands uh
of uh on the image recordingside, and then in in the food
database, it's more it's in themillions.
But interestingly, also fromour observation, I mean, with
with food logging, um I mean notmany items make up like the 80%
(08:42):
bucket basically of uh likethey're always or all frequently
logged.
And but the 20 remainingpercent, so there's a really,
really long tail with hundredsor thousands or in the millions
of different like smaller fooditems.
But in the end, um, you know,you really need to support the
the whole bandwidth uh in orderto have a great experience.
David Kerr (09:04):
Um here in the United States, um food choice is
a red hot political discussionat the moment.
Major changes in arecommendation.
I'm I'm just curious, lookingat at all these people with
diabetes who have lulled, arepeople are they adhering to
guidelines or are they kind ofdoing their own thing, or are
(09:27):
people putting in common foodsor people deciding that, hey, I
don't know what about this weirdthing I've just chosen in this
restaurant, so I'm gonna put itinto SNAQ.
What's the kind of behavior,what's your impression of
people's behaviors?
Aurelian Briner (09:41):
Well, actually, that could be an interesting
study question, and we weprobably would have the data to
to answer it.
But I mean, just I mean,looking at in chat just purely
on a frequency scale, likelooking at the most like five,
ten uh logged food items, it'sit's very common things like
bread, banana, coffee, rice, uhthings like that, uh which which
(10:04):
make it up uh high on the list.
Um, so not to too manysurprises on on the really on
the top picks.
David Kerr (10:11):
Okay, I always wonder whether people hide if
they're eating a lot of red meator drinking a lot of beer or or
something, or whether they'revery honest with SNAQ.
Aurelian Briner (10:24):
Honestly, I think in general, maybe people
are a bit more honest with withwith software.
Also, if you think then a bitfurther on like AI and AI agents
and companions and things likethat.
Um I think they they might be abit more honest compared to to
really like human interactionbecause yeah um it's still
perceived as being digital.
David Klonoff (10:45):
Do you need uh does a person need or do you
need FD approval for yourproduct to be used in the United
States?
Aurelian Briner (10:53):
Um as long as we don't make insulin dose
recommendations, which we whichwe don't do, and we clearly
disclaim that at several placesin the app that's not uh
intended to be used for forsuch.
Uh we as actually most otherdiabetes apps as well, which
which are not bonus calculators,uh um fall in the into the the
FDA enforcement description ofuh like lower-risk medical um
(11:18):
software.
Um which is to to be honest, isa huge advantage for innovators
uh in general.
Uh I I really appreciate thatframework by the FDA because it
doesn't exist in such a way inEurope.
David Klonoff (11:29):
Um so uh do you feel that your product has some
advantages over other apps thatpeople could use for a diet?
Aurelian Briner (11:37):
Well, just I mean, look looking at the usage
numbers, we really have a verysignificant user base in the
diabetes community.
And I mean those individualsfigured probably looked at
different options in themarketplace and and figured that
that SNAQ might might be theone which works best for them.
But like where we where we feelwe you know we have a strong
edge is really at thecombination of of food, strong
(12:00):
food login capabilities and andstrong diabetes focus slash
device integrations and insightsand things like that compared
to maybe in my fitness poll,which is much broader, or
compared to just a lock, whichis not that strong on the food
component side.
David Kerr (12:16):
You're focused on diabetes.
Correct.
Aureline, you're the face ofSNAQ.
I mean, you're the every time Igo to a meeting, you pop up.
But how just tell us a littlebit of the team.
I mean, is this a are you aone-man band, or do you have
gazillions of dollars in yourwar chairs, then you've got huge
team?
Just give us some insight intowhat's how SNAQ functions on a
(12:39):
day-to-day basis.
Aurelian Briner (12:41):
Uh yeah, we we're a really like small and
nimble team.
We're sex uh in like includingincluding external resources,
we're six people.
Actually, like these days withum with AI and coding agents and
all this, like we really feelwe are more like a 10 to 15
person team because every aspectgot so much more efficient, and
(13:01):
particularly because we're so asmall team, we can also you
know adapt very quickly.
So yeah, we're actually prettyhappy.
I mean, you know, on a monthlybasis, we roughly deal with
20,000, 25,000 uh uh users.
So I mean the product uh has tobe pretty self-explanatory and
things need to like workdecently well that you're able
(13:21):
to like deal with that amount ofusers on a monthly basis with
that small of a teacher.
David Kerr (13:26):
Yeah.
And my the final question forme is looking back at where
you've come from and where youare now, there's like there's
likely to be some buddingentrepreneurs listening to this
podcast.
What would be your kind oflesson of the week you'd like to
give to people so that theydon't make that mistake or they
take that big opportunity?
What's have you got a have yougot a killer piece of advice?
Aurelian Briner (13:48):
Well, first of all, start with a problem you
really, really believe is worthsolving.
And don't fall too much in inin in love.
Eventually we have thesolution, but really more of the
problem.
Because the journey alwaystakes much longer than than what
you think.
And there there is will be likea significant roller coaster
ride uh with ups and downs.
(14:09):
And you know, you you need tobe passionate about about you're
doing to to stick it through,but uh ultimately, you know,
it's it's it's also rewarding toto see the the impact you
you're having that that uh likepeople reach out and and and say
like you know what what asignificant difference it made
in in their life and or how muchthey improved on a medical
side.
David Klonoff (14:28):
Brian, I have one uh last question for you.
Has your company announced anyplans for the future?
Aurelian Briner (14:34):
Um actually not not too much recently.
Uh so uh what we actually whatwe are right now though the
working on, which we releasedbriefly before Christmas, um, is
our what do we call uh coach.
It's basically an AI agent uhspecifically uh developed for
diabetes care.
So it means that it is able topersonalize, um, it is able to
(14:58):
memorize um and uh contextualizebasically very diabetes
specific and also followguidelines and regulatory uh
requirements along the way.
And it's extremely exciting.
We we believe there is hugeopportunity for having uh more
care immediately in your pocket,in our case, more like uh on
the nutrition side, like havingkind of like a nutritionist in
(15:21):
your pocket.
Um for for the everydayquestions, I don't believe it uh
will like you know um uh orsubstitute the real
professionals, but there is sohigh demand and sometimes the
access is really not there, andwe really believe there is an
opportunity uh for digital uh tohelp those individuals which
(15:43):
might not as easily or not evennot able to afford uh
traditional care these days.
David Klonoff (15:49):
Thank you for speaking with us today.
Um this was an interesting,unusual product, and it's a
digital health product.
So, on behalf of Dr.
David Kerr and myself, thankyou for being interviewed on
Diabetes Technology Starts.
This diabetes technology reportis our first starts.
You're the first one, and wewill be talking to people from
(16:12):
other startup companies.
A diabetes technology reportstarts is available at the
Diabetes Technology Societywebsite at Apple and Spotify and
other sites, and we lookforward to connecting with you
and others in the future.
So for now, goodbye.
Aurelian Briner (16:28):
Goodbye, thank you.
Thank you.
Always a pleasure speaking withyou today.
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