Most healthcare innovation stories start with complexity. More equipment, more data, more complex installations.
PAVA started building on top of something much simpler: a WiFi sensor that can be plugged into any electrical outlet. No wearables, no cameras, just a quiet layer of insight.
In episode 150, PAVA co-founder Femke Delissen shares how she and her team are building a solution that helps night nurses in nursing homes see where they are needed, without adding friction for the people receiving care.
Our energetic conversation doesn’t just cover the technology. We cover team dynamics, mindset, and fundraising.
Hit play below to listen to the episode. Or scroll down for key takeaways, magical moments, and practical tips from the episode.
- 3 Lessons From This Conversation
- Highlights and timestamps
- 3 Magic Moments In The Episode
- Practical Takeaways for Founders
- The Quote from the Episode
- Patterns I’m Seeing Across Conversations
- Coming Up On Women Disrupting Tech
- What I Want to Leave You With
- About Femke Delissen
- About PAVA
- Listen to Episode 150 on Spotify, Apple, or YouTube
- Events that Women Disrupting Tech Must-Attend
3 Lessons From This Conversation
Healthcare is dealing with a clear tension: more people need care, while fewer nurses are available to provide it. That “double problem” runs through this entire conversation, and it shapes how you need to think about building in this space.
Simple signals beat complex systems and are privacy-friendly
Many providers in healthcare rely on expensive and invasive monitoring to replace humans. What PAVA does is much simpler. They use WiFi sensing to detect activity and let the nurses do what they do best: decide if a client needs attention. In that sense, they do not replace nurses, but help them do their job better, without relying on cameras or wearables.
The lesson here is practical: if your product is so complex that it creates noise, it will not scale in a constrained system like healthcare.
A moral compass is a powerful anchor
There are easier markets to enter, faster ways to generate revenue. Femke and her team chose to focus on healthcare, even when it meant slower progress. Because they see solving these problems as part of their responsibility. That choice shapes how they build, who they work with, and what they prioritize.
For founders, this matters because your focus will be tested. Without a clear reason to stay the course, it becomes easy to drift toward what is easier instead of what is needed.
Build with users, not assumptions
You cannot build healthcare products in isolation. PAVA works closely with nurses and residents to understand what actually happens on the floor. By staying close to the people using the system, they make sure the product solves real problems instead of introducing new ones.
The takeaway is simple: if you are not in constant conversation with your users, you are building based on assumptions instead of reality.
These 3 lessons show that solving the healthcare workforce gap is not about adding more technology, but about applying the right technology in a way that fits how care is actually delivered.
Feel free to share the episode with someone who needs to hear this.
Or scroll down for magic moments.
Highlights and timestamps
| Time | Highlight |
|---|---|
| 00:00 | Introduction |
| 02:40 | From Education to Entrepreneurship |
| 09:38 | Introducing Pava: Revolutionizing Elderly Care |
| 11:04 | Addressing the Challenges in Healthcare |
| 14:57 | Innovative Solutions: Wi-Fi Sensing Technology |
| 20:41 | Personalized Care Through Data |
| 25:29 | The Future of Monitoring: AI and Beyond |
| 31:51 | Passion for Healthcare: A Personal Journey |
| 37:53 | Navigating the Healthcare Landscape |
| 44:48 | Funding Challenges in Healthcare Startups |
| 51:51 | The Influence of Sports on Entrepreneurship |
| 57:12 | Learning Through Community and Collaboration |
3 Magic Moments In The Episode
Femke’s energy is magical and contagious throughout the conversation. You hear her drive to improve healthcare in how she talks, the choices she makes, and the way she builds. Here are three moments that show how that plays out in practice.
The first real impact on the floor
During the first pilot night shift, the system picked up movement from a resident who normally never left her bed. That signal prompted the nurses to check immediately if the resident was okay. Without that signal, they would have relied on routine rounds and reacted much later.
This is where the product stopped being an idea and started proving its value in a real care setting.
Leading like a central defender
Femke compares her role in the company to her position on the hockey field. As a central defender, she sees the full field and steps in where needed. She sets direction, keeps overview, and makes sure the team stays aligned.
At the same time, she coaches and motivates others to perform at their best. It’s a simple way to explain a complex leadership role.
Learning to step into the unknown
Her time at UC Berkeley marked a clear shift. It pushed her to be more proactive, more curious, and comfortable with uncertainty.
It contrasts with the Dutch idea of “just act normal, that’s already crazy enough.” That mindset keeps you within the lines. Berkeley pushed her to step outside of them.
These moments matter because they show how the product, the leadership style, and the mindset all connect. This is not just about building technology. It is about how you choose to approach the problem in the first place.
What was your favorite moment from the episode? Let me know in the comments!
Practical Takeaways for Founders
Femke believes there is no point in building a product without testing if it truly makes sense for the nurses who will use it. But that is only part of the puzzle in a complex environment like healthcare.
Target the right investors
Not every investor is a fit for your business. If your investors expect quick wins in a slow-moving system, you create pressure that works against your product and your team.
In healthcare, long sales cycles and regulatory hurdles are part of the reality. That requires patience and a different expectation of growth. Therefore, Femke focuses on investors who understand that context.
Numbers before vision
A strong story helps, but it will not carry your pitch on its own. Investors want to understand the market, the size of the opportunity, and the logic behind your assumptions from the start.
Femke made sure she could back up the vision with clear numbers. That is what gets you through the first layer of scrutiny and earns you the space to tell the bigger story.
Ask for help early
Many founders assume they need to figure things out on their own. In reality, people are often more willing to help than you expect. Femke actively reached out to experts, partners, and potential customers to understand a space that was new to her.
If you are building in an unfamiliar market, your speed depends on how quickly you learn. And learning comes from asking.
These takeaways matter because in healthcare, you need the right people, the right data, and the right expectations around you to make a good product work.
Know a founder building in healthcare or another complex market? Share this episode with them. These lessons are easier to apply early than to fix later.
The Quote from the Episode
“Success doesn’t mean we become the next Google, but it does mean that the technology is used in a purposeful way in healthcare.” – Femke Delissen
Femke said this when talking about how they measure progress at PAVA. They build simple signals instead of complex systems. They test in real care environments. And they stay in healthcare, even when it slows them down.
In this context, success is not about how fast you grow, but whether people actually use what you build.
Patterns I’m Seeing Across Conversations
Part of the fun in making this podcast is that you start seeing links between what guests are saying. When I step back and look across recent conversations, three patterns become obvious.
We only accept technology if it’s perfect.
In healthcare, trust is everything. What stood out is how much higher the bar is for technology than for human judgment. A nurse can make a mistake, and we accept it as part of reality. A system cannot.
You see the same pattern in my conversation with Sophia Zitman. The hesitation is not about whether the system helps. It is about whether it is flawless.
That changes how you build. It is about earning trust step by step, even when your product already does a better job.
Commitment is a strategic choice
Femke and her co-founders started while still in University. And what started as a side project quickly became their one thing. In the previous episode, Marsha Goei and the team at Breeze went through a similar shift.
Both teams went all in early and have real results to show for it. It raises a simple question. Does part-time thinking create full-time problems?
Dignity shows up in very different forms
In my conversation with Faviola Dadis, dignity was about loneliness and human connection. Here, it shows up in how care is delivered. Quietly, respectfully, and with respect for people’s privacy.
The context is different, but the underlying idea is the same. Technology should support dignity, not take it away.
These patterns matter because they move the conversation beyond a single product or company. They show how decisions about trust, focus, and dignity shape entire systems.
If you’re seeing similar patterns in your own work or investments, I’d be curious what stands out to you.
Coming Up On Women Disrupting Tech
What if building one breakthrough is not enough, and the bigger ambition is helping others build many more?
In this episode, Carmen van Vilsteren shares why she set herself a concrete goal: helping create seven new gold standards in healthcare, and why she wants to do that by backing and coaching seven women innovators. It is a powerful conversation about multiplying impact, rethinking what innovation can serve, and why women’s health may be one of the biggest opportunities hiding in plain sight.
In the clip below, Carmen explains where that ambition comes from and why she believes progress accelerates through a flywheel effect, when one innovator helps others build what she calls the next gold standards.
Give the audio a listen, and if it sparks your curiosity, subscribe to Women Disrupting Tech to find the full conversation in your inbox by 7 May 2026 at 8:00.
What I Want to Leave You With
PAVA shows what happens when you take the “double problem” seriously. An aging population. Fewer hands to care for them. Their answer is not more control, but better insight. Quiet, non-invasive, and focused on what actually matters in the moment.
In my conversation with Femke, that approach connects back to the core idea behind this episode. Technology is not there to replace care. It is there to make care more targeted, more human, and more sustainable under pressure.
It also reflects a different way of building. The discipline to go all in. The mindset to act without perfect certainty. And the choice to stay with a problem that takes time to solve.
If this episode is about anything, it is this. The real shift is not just in the technology. It is in how deliberately we choose to use it.
Hit the play button or listen to the episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.
About Femke Delissen
Femke Delissen is the co-founder of PAVA, a startup she began during her Master’s in Artificial Intelligence at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam together with her co-founders. What started as a university project quickly turned into a full-time company once they realized the scale of the problem they were tackling.
Femke holds an MSc in AI and has a background in cognitive science and consultancy. You can connect with her on LinkedIn.
About PAVA
PAVA is a healthtech startup focused on improving elderly care through non-invasive monitoring. Using Wi-Fi sensing and AI, the system translates small disruptions in wireless signals into meaningful insights about movement, activity, and sleep patterns. This allows care teams to see what is happening in real time without relying on cameras or wearables, preserving both privacy and dignity for residents.
What makes the approach stand out is how it fits into daily care. The system is plug-and-play, requires no complex installation, and provides a simple dashboard that helps nurses prioritize where attention is needed most. Instead of adding more alerts or workload, it reduces unnecessary checks and enables more targeted care. In a sector under pressure from staff shortages and rising demand, PAVA positions itself as a way to make care more proactive, efficient, and human-centered at the same time.
You can learn more about PAVA on the website and by following the company on LinkedIn.
Listen to Episode 150 on Spotify, Apple, or YouTube
How a Female Founder Builds Privacy-First Tech for an Aging Population with Femke Delissen | Ep. 150 – Women Disrupting Tech
Events that Women Disrupting Tech Must-Attend
Some great events take place this spring. Below are three that you definitely want to check out. For a full overview of all events, including links to buy tickets, please check the events page.
DevWorld 2026
On 7 and 8 May, it’s time for DevWorld again. It’s the event where modern Engineering Teams become faster, smarter, and future-proof in the age of AI. DevWorld has graciously given me the opportunity to offer a limited number of free full-access conference passes to female leaders in tech (founders, engineers, AI experts) for free.
You can check out the program here. And if you want to go and meet Gina Schinkel ✨ there as she will be the main stage MC, slide into my DMs to get the code for your free ticket.
BTW, in case free community tickets run out, DevWorld is offering 30% off for Women Disrupting Tech subscribers with the code: community30.
Featured Event – Trek XIII – 23-30 May 2026
Trek is the program for founders and funders to learn from—and connect with—Silicon Valley, the epicenter of innovation and technological disruption.
Participating offers a unique insider perspective, lots of fun, and access to the investors behind Dutch successes like Mollie, FLYR, Weaviate, and HackerOne. Previous participants have raised funding in both the U.S. and the Netherlands, found inspiration, and made new friends.
Trek is an activity by DutchTechX, which spun out from DutchTechSF—the Dutch-American entrepreneurial community. Funded by Dutch-American founders, the initiative fosters collaboration between the U.S.
The next edition will take place from May 23–30, 2026. About five spots are still available. DM the organizer, Oliver Binkhorst, or click here for more information. FAQs are available here.
I’ve done a previous version of this program, and I can absolutely recommend that female founders who are thinking about taking their business to the US follow this program to understand the ecosystem and connect to investors and founders in the Valley.
Featured Event: Understanding Women’s Health – 24 June 2026
Learn how hormone cycles or perimenopause impact your life, and discover more about conditions like PCOS or Endometriosis at the quarterly Understanding Women’s Health Events hosted by Kasia Pokrop.
Women’s health is a topic near and dear to my heart. Which is why I’m happy to support and attend the events that 3mbrace Health organizes at Equals every quarter.
Men are expressly invited to join. In fact, send me an email if you want to be a women’s health pioneer. More info and tickets can be found here.
Diverse Leaders in Tech Events
If you like being in the know about what is happening in the DEI space, Diverse Leaders in Tech is the place to be.
Every last Thursday of the month, they have monthly in-person meetups for tech people, HR leaders and supporters of diversity to exchange insights, tackle challenges, and take action. It’s a vibrant, safe space where diversity is celebrated.
You can find their events on the website. Joining your first event is free.
Women Disrupting Tech | The Podcast 
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