This Startup Plans to Save a Million Lives Using Your Toilet | Entrepreneurship | How We Profit | E7

Young and Profiting (YAP) with Hala Taha: Entrepreneurship and Self-Improvement PodcastWednesday, July 29, 2026

Show Notes

Scott Hickle built Throne Science around a startup idea most investors thought was too unconventional: a device that transforms your toilet into a health tracker, monitoring your health as effortlessly as a smartwatch. After nearly 100 investor rejections, he and his team kept refining the product, driven by a mission to detect early signs of diseases like colorectal cancer before symptoms appear. That persistence helped them raise $4 million in seed funding. In this episode, Scott shares how entrepreneurs can validate unconventional products, raise capital despite rejection, and build demand in a market consumers don't yet understand.

In this episode, Hala and Scott will discuss:

(00:00) Introduction

(01:27) How Throne’s Smart Toilet Device Works

(07:56) Throne’s Mission to Detect Cancer Early

(17:22) Launching Throne in a New Product Category

(23:55) Pivoting Away From a Failed Nurse-Staffing Startup

(32:27) How Scott Raised Millions After Pivoting

(42:35) Marketing a Product Customers Don’t Understand Yet

(49:46) Lessons From Scott’s Costliest Business Mistakes

(1:00:03) Throne Science’s SWOT Analysis

(1:08:37) Smart Toilet Costs, Pricing, and Margins

(1:13:14) Building a Mission-Driven Hardware Startup

Scott Hickle is the co-founder and CEO of Throne Science, a health technology company building a device that attaches to a toilet and tracks gut health, hydration, bathroom habits, and prostate health. Before Throne, Scott and his co-founder, Tim, built a nurse-staffing marketplace called Pineway before pivoting into consumer health hardware. Throne’s long-term mission is to develop technology that can help detect early signs of colon cancer, bladder cancer, and other cancers of the lower gastrointestinal and urinary tracts.

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