#StartupsEverywhere: Austin, Texas.
#StartupsEverywhere: Scott Hickle, Co-founder & CEO, Throne
This profile is part of #StartupsEverywhere, an ongoing series highlighting startup leaders in ecosystems across the country. This interview has been edited for length, content, and clarity.
How AI is Decoding Gut Health
Throne Science, based in Austin, Texas, is bringing data-driven insights to an essential part of our daily routine. Co-founder Scott Hickle is utilizing his background in engineering and software product management, along with leveraging AI, to build a device that could change how people perceive gut health. We sat down with Scott to discuss his journey in founding Throne, the role of AI, the impact of tariffs on innovation, and what his fundraising journey has looked like.
Tell us about your background. What led you to create Throne?
I was raised at two very medically oriented dinner tables in Lubbock, Texas, with a dad who is a medical device inventor and anesthesiologist, and a mom who is a geriatrician. I spent a decade in software product management across various tech sectors, initially wanting to steer clear of healthcare.
The idea for Throne came in 2021 when my co-founder, Tim, pitched smart toilets as a joke. I later called my mom, the geriatrician, and asked about the medical utility of waste. She told me, "My patients are obsessed with their poop, and as people get older, they become acutely aware of these changes." That’s when we realized there might be something here. From there, we conducted surveys and found that people are, in fact, highly interested in gut health and hydration, and got to work.
What is Throne, and how does it work?
Throne is bringing serious health tracking right into your bathroom. It’s the first wearable for your toilet—it just clips onto the side and uses a camera and AI to automatically monitor key health areas that everyone cares about: gut function, hydration, and urinary health. Using smart models, it tracks vital, yet often overlooked, indicators like your stool consistency (based on the medical Bristol Stool Scale), urinary flow rates, color, and size. Beyond the data, it even helps you build better habits by watching the clock and offering friendly nudges, such as reminding you to put your phone away after ten minutes to help reduce your risk of hemorrhoids.
How is Throne using AI to analyze something so complex?
Our AI relies entirely on using incredibly precise, labeled, ground-truth data, the gold standard for accuracy. For stool consistency, we didn't just label images ourselves; we collected tens of thousands of photos from beta users, all of which were validated by gastroenterologists. The final model is rigorously tested against a reference set of expert-graded images, performing nearly on par with a human physician. To ensure accurate hydration readings, we go beyond simple color measurement by collecting urine samples in our lab and using a specialized, lab-grade device to measure the urine’s precise concentration.
How have recent changes in trade policy impacted your business?
Our factory is located in Thailand, and the U.S. has levied a 19% reciprocal tariff against Thailand, which hurts us as a startup. If we meet our targets, I anticipate spending north of $300,000 on tariffs, which is about 8 percent of our seed round. It would be beneficial to have that money to spend elsewhere, such as on research and development. It would be great if we could manufacture this in America, but, realistically, there are no consumer device manufacturers here that can make our product.
What was your experience raising money for a hardware device?
The short answer is that it was a very difficult fund raise. Since it’s a gut health measurement toilet camera device, it sparks skepticism. I pitched and was rejected by more than a hundred investors in the process of closing our seed round. I went to San Francisco to raise money, since it’s objectively the top ecosystem in the world to raise startup capital. And I thought that pitching a hardware product would be a lot like a show and tell, where I’d show up with a real hardware device and demonstrate its capability in person. But I found that the majority of my first meetings with potential investors were via Zoom calls, which I could have taken from my home in Austin. Ultimately, it came down to having a network to successfully fundraise. After some initial bumps, we have now reached the point where we turn away investors every day.
What are your goals for Throne moving forward?
The device we're launching this January is highly focused on health and wellness. Over the next six months, we will build a food logger that correlates your diet with your digestive patterns. Long-term, the vision is to build what we call the smoke detector for colon cancer and to use more advanced imaging techniques to look for trace amounts of blood that are invisible to the naked eye, but are often associated with early signs of colorectal cancer.
All of the information in this profile was accurate at the date and time of publication.
Engine works to ensure that policymakers look for insight from the startup ecosystem when they are considering programs and legislation that affect entrepreneurs. Together, our voice is louder and more effective. Many of our lawmakers do not have first-hand experience with the country's thriving startup ecosystem, so it’s our job to amplify that perspective. To nominate a person, company, or organization to be featured in our #StartupsEverywhere series, email advocacy@engine.is.
