A Language Barrier That Cost a Family Hours of Waiting

Samuel Marseille built his product after watching a mother and son wait five hours for care while hospital staff waited for a French interpreter. Now Marseille has won $100,000 to launch OneShot AI, the first HIPAA-compliant, automatic translation system for healthcare settings.

The system uses artificial intelligence to interpret languages in real time while maintaining patient privacy. Marseille said Google Translate cannot be used in medical settings because it is not HIPAA-compliant.

"If you can think of it, you can do it," Marseille said after winning the competition.

A Student Body That Turned Out in Force

The Cultivate 269 pitch competition brought together 49 student entrepreneurs from across Western Michigan University. Fourteen percent of the entire student body participated in the public vote, with more than 2,000 students casting ballots.

Marseille was one of nine finalists selected to pitch their business ideas to investors and community leaders at the WMU Student Center on April 10. Each finalist received six minutes on stage to convince the judges why their startup deserved investment.