Erica Cole received her first prosthetic leg in September after losing her leg in an accident in May of this year. And it didn’t take long for her to become tired of the constant questions that people asked when they saw her prosthesis.
“There were a lot of uncomfortable questions that I didn’t want to answer multiple times a day,” Cole said. “It got really tiring. I didn’t like telling that story over and over because it kept dragging me back into that moment.”
In October, she made her own prosthetic cover after having seen other people make custom covers.
“When I did, I noticed that it shifted that conversation from ‘oh my gosh, what happened to you?’ to ‘that’s really neat, how did you do that,'” said Cole. “It really helped me in my healing process and I realized it could probably help a lot of other people too.”
After realizing how much customizability allowed her to take control of her own prosthesis, Erica founded No
Currently, options for prosthetic covers are overpriced and limited, usually costing $600-800, Cole told Clay & Milk. No Limbits is seeking to change that, offering designs that start around $200.
Since starting the company in October, Cole has already won first place multiple competitions—Iowa Startup Games and the Rose Francis Elevator Pitch Competition—taking home $12,500 which will allow her to purchase her own 3D-printer and grow the business.
“It’s gain a crazy amount of traction in such a short amount of time,” Cole said. “Winning those competitions has allowed me to keep up with that.”
Cole hopes to have completed 2-3 prototype rounds by sometime in March of next year and have products ready to be sent to customers
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Erica Cole wins both days of the Rose Francis Elevator Pitch Competition -Nov. 28, 2018