Six years ago, Atsushi Nakanishi launched Triple W with nothing but the seed of an idea and an overwhelming passion to realize it. Today, the startup is the creator and seller of DFree — the world’s first wearable device for urinary incontinence.
The tiny, noninvasive device uses ultrasound to monitor the volume of urine in the user’s bladder in real time. When the bladder reaches its threshold, DFree sends an alert to the user’s smartphone to tell them it is time to go to the bathroom.
Nakanishi credits the ground-breaking product to a eureka moment in 2013. Due to uncontrollable diarrhea, he soiled himself in the street and, not long after, he learned that sales in Japan of adult diapers had surpassed that of baby diapers. Seeing both the need and demand for a product that lets people know when to use the bathroom, he “felt inspired” despite having zero medical background.