\n Many kids process language in chunks or phrases, not word by
\n word.\n<\/p>\n
\n But most AAC (augmentative and alternative communication) tools
\n on the market aren\u2019t built to recognize this communication style.
\n This gap makes it hard for nonspeaking or minimally speaking
\n students to express what they want and harder for speech
\n therapists, families and others around them to understand.\n<\/p>\n
\n Nine co-founders (six from Sacramento State and three graduates \n Designed by speech-language pathologists, the tool allows them to \n Hager is a speech therapist who specializes in AAC. It wasn\u2019t \n The expertise of three speech therapists gave the GuLP engineers \n \u201cRight now, we have a backlog of about 200 different things that \n Vadhar says they beta test new features every week to get \n Co-founder Ben Duong noted that an early version of their delete \n The team shows a \u201ctenacity to hustle\u201d and a willingness to \u201cdo \n \u201cThey keep going back to customers, they pay attention to what \n The biggest challenge wasn\u2019t actually building the tool, Duong \n The team has earned top honors in several startup competitions, \n \u201cSomething that we\u2019ve realized and learned over time is you \n \u2013\n<\/p>\n
\n of University of the Pacific) designed GuLP<\/a>, an AAC app that lets nonspeaking
\n and minimally speaking children tap buttons on a screen to speak
\n out loud.\n<\/p>\n
\n communicate with whole phrases or build sentences word by word,
\n based on their communication style and preferences. The team is
\n also building out features for training and ongoing support, says
\n GuLP CEO and co-founder Haley Hager.\n<\/p>\n
\n just one incident that inspired the development of the startup.
\n She has matched, evaluated and implemented communication tools
\n for more than 200 students and 50 therapists. She saw the
\n disconnect between children\u2019s communication needs and the tools
\n available to them play out over and over. \u201cSeeing these
\n mismatches, seeing these problems within the ecosystem, was
\n something I experienced on a daily basis,\u201d Hager says.\n<\/p>\n
\n a foundation to build on, and feedback from the community also
\n helped the team determine what would be valuable to users and
\n speech therapists.\n<\/p>\n
\n need changing,\u201d says co-founder Umang Vadhar. \u201cWe have two
\n meetings per week: One of them is a check-in, the other one is
\n asking, \u2018What do we want to prioritize more? What can we ship out
\n to people and get feedback?\u2019\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n feedback fast, and building with the community has been a key
\n part of the process. For example, in response to feedback, the
\n team is making sure the voice for GuLP sounds more emotive and
\n human rather than robotic.\n<\/p>\n
\n button required users to hold it down to erase everything. After
\n receiving feedback, they added a one-click delete button a week
\n later. Another idea in the pipeline is a chatbot for guidance and
\n training, especially useful for parents.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n the unglamorous part without being asked,\u201d according to Cameron
\n Law, the executive director of the Carlsen Center for Innovation
\n & Entrepreneurship at Sacramento State.\n<\/p>\n
\n people actually do, and they\u2019ll change direction when the
\n evidence tells them to,\u201d says Law, who worked with the founding
\n team of GuLP. \u201cEntrepreneurship is vulnerable and hard, and
\n they\u2019ve kept showing up for it.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n says. With such a large team, the hard part was finding the time
\n to meet and plan next steps while juggling school and work. But
\n the effort has paid off so far.\n<\/p>\n
\n including winning the 2026
\n Capitalize: Next Gen<\/a> startup competition hosted by the
\n Sacramento Kings, receiving the $10,000 prize. GuLP also won
\n first place in the Social Impact Track at the
\n 2026 CSU Startup Launch Competition<\/a> for an additional
\n $20,000. The team is currently looking to raise a pre-seed SAFE
\n with angel investors, with an official launch slated for October
\n 20, 2026.\n<\/p>\n
\n really can\u2019t beat building in community,\u201d Hager says. \u201cI think
\n when we build in silos, that presents its own challenges, like if
\n we were just one engineer or one speech therapist, you\u2019re not
\n building with the community. But to build for all, you need to
\n build as all.\u201d\n<\/p>\n