LEXY

IE Business School

Industry: Ed-Tech/ Health-Tech

MBA Founding Student Name(s): Layth Fahoum, Maria Alejandra Roa, Juan Camilo Silva, Daria Damina, Ennio Pastore

Brief Description of Solution: Lexi is a cutting-edge platform designed to revolutionize the detection and management of dyslexia, affecting 1 in 10 people, many of whom remain undiagnosed. Utilizing advanced AI, Lexi offers engaging, gamified diagnostics that not only identify dyslexia with precision but also unveil each user’s unique strengths. This AI-driven personalization extends beyond diagnosis to provide tailored educational and career guidance, optimizing each individual’s ‘dyslexic advantage.’

Built for integration within schools, universities, and personal use, Lexi serves as a powerful tool for transforming societal perceptions about dyslexia. By focusing on abilities rather than deficits, Lexi fosters a positive understanding and appreciation of the diverse cognitive landscapes in learning communities. It empowers individuals by providing them with personalized tools and resources that align with their specific needs, helping them carve out paths that accentuate their strengths.

Lexi’s approach is about more than just managing dyslexia—it’s about enhancing life trajectories. The platform encourages a shift in conventional thinking, promoting an inclusive environment where every individual’s potential is recognized and nurtured. Lexi not only aims to mitigate the challenges posed by dyslexia, but also to convert these challenges into opportunities for substantial personal and academic achievement. As Lexi continues to grow and evolve, it remains committed to expanding awareness and accessibility, ensuring that every person with dyslexia has the opportunity to thrive.

Funding Dollars: NA

What led you to launch this venture? Lexi’s mission is fueled by a profound commitment to revolutionizing the understanding and treatment of dyslexia. Our founder, Layth, has personally navigated the complexities of living with dyslexia, giving him firsthand insight into the obstacles it can present. This deep personal connection is the heartbeat of our team’s dedication. We are driven by a relentless passion to help others realize their full potential; we harness innovative technologies to craft solutions that not only improve educational outcomes but also foster greater inclusivity. By transforming challenges into opportunities for growth, we aim to empower every individual affected by dyslexia to thrive, making a lasting impact on communities worldwide.

What has been your biggest accomplishment so far with the venture? Concerning this venture, we’ve had several accomplishments of note. That starts with our runner-up position for the Startup Lab Course at the IE MBA program. Furthermore, the other accomplishments to note were the staggering interest from every person we interviewed and validated our project with. Lastly, as a team, we believe we have developed a profoundly strong and deep connection to the project, cause, and friendship.

What has been the most significant challenge you’ve faced in creating your company and how did you solve it? The most significant challenge we faced would have to be Identifying the best go-to-market strategy based on the product. Throughout the journey of the startup lab, many a mentor provided us with contradicting ideas as to where Lexy would thrive whether it was B2B or B2C market. After careful consideration and pliantly validation, we discovered that leveraging an already established market presence meant we would go for a B2B-C model.

How has your MBA program helped you further this startup venture? The MBA program helped us on multiple occasions, whether it was the numerous mentors provided to us either from professors or the Startup Lab Mentors. Furthermore, being part of a competition allowed us to push ourselves further and ensure we would advance each week to formulate a more holistic and well-rounded idea ready for the next steps in launching a startup.

What founder or entrepreneur inspired you to start your own entrepreneurial journey? How did he or she prove motivational to you? There are two founders/entrepreneurs of interest. The first is Richard Branson who is dyslexic himself and a big advocate for dyslexia as a powerful skill to have. He has recently embarked on creating a Dyslexia University and we at Lexy hope to partner with him hopefully soon.

The second is Max Lytvyn, one of the founders of Grammarly, a company that started in 2009 to help people write and communicate more effectively. As someone who struggled with spelling due to my dyslexia, Grammarly helped tremendously over the years to improve and enhance my writing abilities; I (Layth) have been a user since 2015, I hope to create something that can help people with dyslexia just like Grammarly did to me!

Which MBA class has been most valuable in building your startup and what was the biggest lesson you gained from it? It was the Entrepreneurship class with Mr. Henrik Wesemann Lekkas. I had a basic idea about Lexy at the time. It was just a thought, but did not yet have the concept to make it a reality. During that course, we were tasked to come up with an idea for a startup. It was then in that class that the idea began to take shape as the professor and my initial group team set the foundation of what Lexy was to become. From there on out, the professor even came to hear the new pitch and saw how the idea evolved beyond his classroom to the Startup Lab and now Venture Lab. Even then, Professor Henrik provided his feedback and asked that I showcase this idea to the new batch of students as an example of what he hopes his class could accomplish.

What professor made a significant contribution to your plans and why? The above answer remains the same. Professor Henrik Not only provided me with the means to start this venture through his class, but also instilled in me the hope that this could become something rather substantial and big.

An honorable mention would also be Mr. Adam AG Mitchell-Heggs, who initially was someone I reached out to get some advice and direction before starting the Startup lab. He later became a panelist and it was then that he claimed that he could see LEXY becoming a Unicorn not like Glovo and Cabify but rather Spotify. Although exciting news, it is also scary to think that someone with an extensive background in startups and VCs can see such potential in our humble idea.

What is your long-term goal with your startup? We want to disrupt the current practice for diagnosing people with dyslexia and other learning disabilities. At the same time, we want to become the pioneers and go-to place for anyone hoping to diagnose and learn more about their specific learning challenges, reshaping the term disability to Ability anywhere around the world!

Looking back, what is the biggest lesson you wished you’d known before launching and scaling your venture? You need to start somewhere and it’s easy to get lost in all the amazing features and plans you have for your startup, but there is a crucial balance that needs to be set on what is viable and possible before you can launch.

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