Every so often a guest on Real with Ritesh reminds me why I started this podcast. Dr. Dion Kelly is one of those guests. She's the co-founder and CEO of Possibility Neurotechnologies, and her team built Think2Switch - a brain-computer interface that lets children with severe physical disabilities control lights, tablets, and toys using nothing but their thoughts. Kelly almost became a fashion designer instead of a neuroscientist. She spent seven years working directly with kids who have cerebral palsy before she ever wrote a line of code for the product. Here's her founder story, the science underneath it, and what it teaches any founder building something genuinely hard - plus the full episode.
- Dr. Dion Kelly's Think2Switch turns an off-the-shelf EEG headset into a non-invasive brain-computer interface, letting children with severe disabilities control lights, toys, and tablets using only their thoughts.
- The global brain-computer interface market is projected to grow from $2.94 billion in 2025 to $13.86 billion by 2035, and non-invasive systems already generate about 81.86% of category revenue (Precedence Research, July 2026)
- About 1 in 345 U.S. children live with cerebral palsy - the population Kelly spent seven years working with directly before founding her company (CDC, Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network)
- Kelly grew Possibility Neurotechnologies out of the University of Calgary's BCI4Kids research program, then used non-dilutive grants and incubator support before Think2Switch launched publicly in April 2026 with 150+ families already on it worldwide
- Her core leadership philosophy: "Don't think, just do." Start with action, get comfortable with discomfort, and let real users correct the plan.
She Almost Became a Fashion Designer, Not a Neuroscientist
Dion Kelly's path to neuroscience didn't start anywhere near a lab. As a teenager she redesigned and resold clothing at local markets, and she seriously weighed fashion, paleontology, and archaeology before an EEG headset ever touched her hands, as she told me on Real with Ritesh (Real with Ritesh, "Empowering Children With Severe Disabilities Through Thought-Controlled Technology," August 2026). She took a gap year after high school, traveled, and even considered marine biology before deciding science offered the clearer path.
The pivot came through a master's in biomedical technology - a hybrid of medical science and business - which Kelly completed at the University of Calgary in 2018. That program is where she first sketched out neurotechnology for conditions like Parkinson's disease. A serendipitous connection to the university's pediatric brain-computer interface research pulled her toward children instead, and she became the second graduate student in the world to work on pediatric BCI, finishing her PhD there in 2023.
Then COVID-19 hit, and the research had to leave the lab. Families couldn't come in for sessions, so Kelly's team had to simplify the entire system so it could be set up at home without a technician standing over it. That forced pivot is what proved the technology could work outside a university building - and what convinced her it needed to become a real company, not just a research paper.
I've talked with founders before about the moment a side project starts feeling like it has to become a business - see From Employee to Entrepreneur for the framework I use with people making that leap. Kelly's version of that moment happened inside a pandemic, working with kids who couldn't wait for the "right" conditions to come back.
What Think2Switch Actually Does
Think2Switch is middleware software, not a medical implant. It pairs with a consumer EEG headset - the current supported device is the Muse Athena - reads electrical activity through sensors on the scalp, and translates specific brain-signal patterns into commands for lights, tablets, toys, and other connected devices (Calgary.Tech, April 2026). No electrodes go under the skin. No surgery is involved anywhere in the process.
That distinction matters more than it sounds. Brain-computer interfaces have existed in some form for over 50 years, but the invasive versions - think Elon Musk's Neuralink - require a surgical implant most families would never consider for a child. Think2Switch instead runs on hardware you could order online this afternoon, which is exactly why Kelly built it that way.
Most people picture a implant when they hear "brain-computer interface." That's the opposite of where most of the money and the real-world deployments actually are. The non-invasive segment wins because it's cheaper, safer, and doesn't require a hospital - which is precisely the lane Kelly chose to build in for a population that already faces enough medical intervention.
Built From Seven Years of Direct Work With Kids
About 1 in 345 U.S. children live with cerebral palsy, according to the CDC's Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network - roughly 3 per 1,000 children, and around 10,000 babies born with it every year (CDC). Kelly spent seven years working directly with children in that population before she wrote a single line of the app that would become Think2Switch.
The technology grew out of the University of Calgary's Calgary Pediatric Brain-Computer Interface Program, known as BCI4Kids, a child- and family-centered clinical research program connecting kids with severe physical disabilities to BCI technology and personalized goals (University of Calgary, Cumming School of Medicine). One of the program's earliest participants is a Calgary child named Claire, who has used the underlying technology since she was three years old to choose library books, pick colors for art projects, bake, and play video games.
"Her smile just said it all. It was one of the best feelings I could have had for her," Claire's mother, Stephanie Sonnenberg, told Global News after watching her daughter operate a light switch independently for the first time (Global News). That's the moment Kelly builds toward - not a demo, not a pitch deck slide, a kid choosing something on her own.
By the time Think2Switch launched publicly on the Apple App Store in April 2026, more than 150 families worldwide were already using the underlying technology, developed in partnership with those families as early adopters rather than after-the-fact testers (Ontario Brain Institute, April 2026). That sequencing - research first, product second - is rare in consumer tech and almost mandatory in pediatric medical devices.
The Entrepreneurship Playbook Behind It
Possibility Neurotechnologies incorporated in 2022 with early support from the University of Calgary's SPARK Alberta digital health innovation program (BetaKit). Kelly took the leap with little to no income, borrowing money from family and weighing risk against reward the way most first-time founders do. Her mindset going in: even if the company failed, the leadership experience and network would still be worth having.
That's the philosophy she called "getting comfortable with being uncomfortable" on the podcast - and it shows up in how deliberately she built her support network. Possibility Neurotechnologies graduated from Remarkable's 2023 Australia+ Accelerator and later took a co-investment through Remarkable's Scaler program, whose team evaluated the company on one question: would the technology create meaningful, scalable impact for people with cerebral palsy or similar complex disabilities (Remarkable). The company was also selected for the second cohort of MaRS Discovery District's Mobility Unlimited Hub, a partnership with the Toyota Mobility Foundation that launched in 2024, and it's an Ontario Brain Institute portfolio company through the NERVE 2024 program, which provides funding, mentorship, and commercialization expertise.
Much of that early capital was non-dilutive - grants and program support that don't cost equity - which let Kelly validate the product before she had to negotiate a term sheet.
| Funding Type | Description | Benefit |
|---|---|---|
| Non-Dilutive Funding | Grants, accelerator support, or tax credits - no equity given up | Free capital to validate the product before investors get involved |
| Dilutive Funding | Investment in exchange for equity | Larger capital to scale operations once the model is proven |
Kelly also chose to stay in Calgary rather than relocate to a bigger tech hub - a call that echoes what I've written about founders who build a portfolio of businesses without chasing the coasts; see The Silent Scale for more on why the systems underneath a company usually matter more than its zip code. For a deep tech company built on university research and government-adjacent grants, Alberta's affordability and grant infrastructure turned out to be a genuine advantage, not a compromise.
The Leadership Lessons Any Founder Can Steal
Kelly's leadership style is empathetic almost to a fault, grounded in responding to real needs rather than roadmap deadlines. Her core advice for other founders, verbatim from the episode: "Don't think, just do." Start with action instead of over-planning, so you can learn and pivot instead of perfecting a plan that reality will rewrite anyway.
That advice isn't abstract for her. On the episode, Kelly described one of the technology's most striking early moments - a young woman using her mind to operate a sewing machine, something neither of them had seen documented anywhere before. Families using Think2Switch have shared similar wins online without being asked to: kids racing remote-controlled cars, making art, and - per Kelly - simply making a choice for the first time in their lives.
She's been candid about the harder parts too: financial insecurity after years of graduate school, and moments of real doubt about whether any of it was worth it. What pulled her through, by her own account, was staying close to the families actually using the product - proof that showing up for your users is also how you survive the low points as a founder.
Building Something Hard and Wondering If It's Worth It?
Dion Kelly's story is proof that deep tech, purpose, and business discipline aren't in conflict - they compound. If you're a founder trying to figure out whether your hardest project deserves a real company around it, let's talk it through.
Book a Strategy Call →For more on making the leap from a research project - or a job - into a company you actually own, read From Employee to Entrepreneur. And if you're weighing whether to build fast with borrowed conviction or wait for perfect conditions, Skills Every Founder Is Getting Wrong Right Now covers the foundational skills that decide which path actually works.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Think2Switch and how does it work?
Think2Switch is a mobile app built by Possibility Neurotechnologies that pairs with an off-the-shelf EEG headset, such as the Muse Athena, to read a user's brain signals and translate them into commands. It lets people with severe physical disabilities control lights, tablets, toys, and other connected devices using only their thoughts, with no surgery required.
Who is Dr. Dion Kelly?
Dr. Dion Kelly is the co-founder and CEO of Possibility Neurotechnologies. She holds a PhD (2023) and a Master of Biotechnology (2018) from the University of Calgary, where her research grew out of the university's pediatric Brain-Computer Interface Program (BCI4Kids), and she spent seven years working directly with children who have cerebral palsy before founding her company.
How is Think2Switch different from invasive brain implants like Neuralink?
Think2Switch is non-invasive: it reads brain signals through a consumer EEG headset worn on the scalp instead of a surgically implanted chip. Non-invasive systems generated roughly 81.86% of global brain-computer interface revenue in 2025 (Precedence Research, July 2026), largely because they carry no surgical risk and cost a fraction of implanted alternatives.
What does Think2Switch cost and who can access it?
Think2Switch offers a free one-month trial, then costs $35 a month, on top of a compatible EEG headset priced roughly $255 to $488. It launched publicly on the Apple App Store in April 2026 after several years as a University of Calgary research program, and more than 150 families worldwide were already using it at launch.
What is non-dilutive funding and why did it matter for Possibility Neurotechnologies?
Non-dilutive funding is capital such as grants, accelerator support, or tax credits that founders don't have to repay or trade for equity. Possibility Neurotechnologies used non-dilutive support from programs like MaRS's Mobility Unlimited Hub and the Ontario Brain Institute's NERVE program to validate Think2Switch before taking on investor capital.
None of what Kelly built required a breakthrough in neuroscience - BCI technology has existed for decades. What she added was seven years of direct relationship with the exact families who needed it, the discipline to commercialize slowly through non-dilutive support, and a willingness to start before the plan was perfect.
That's the pattern behind most deep tech that actually ships: not a smarter algorithm, but a founder who refused to build in a vacuum. Whether you're building neurotech or a services business, the sequence holds - understand the real need first, prove it works, then raise the capital to scale it.
If you're sitting on a hard problem and wondering whether it deserves a real company around it, contact me and let's find out together.
Sources
- Real with Ritesh, Empowering Children With Severe Disabilities Through Thought-Controlled Technology (source episode for this article), retrieved 2026-08-03, August 2026
- Precedence Research, Brain Computer Interface Market Size, Share & Growth Report (market size, CAGR, and non-invasive revenue share), retrieved 2026-08-03, July 10, 2026
- CDC, Data and Statistics for Cerebral Palsy (Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network), retrieved 2026-08-03
- BetaKit, New App Think2Switch Lets Users Control Devices Using Their Thoughts (incorporation date, pricing, SPARK Alberta support), retrieved 2026-08-03, April 2026
- Calgary.Tech, Think2Switch Brings Mind Control to Market (launch details, pricing, family adoption numbers), retrieved 2026-08-03, April 13, 2026
- Ontario Brain Institute, OBI Portfolio Company Possibility Neurotechnologies Launches Think2Switch (NERVE 2024 program, adoption figures), retrieved 2026-08-03, April 2026
- Global News, Alberta-Developed Device Helps Mobility-Challenged Kids Turn Thoughts Into Action (Claire Sonnenberg case study), retrieved 2026-08-03
- University of Calgary, Cumming School of Medicine, Calgary Pediatric Brain-Computer Interface Program (BCI4Kids), retrieved 2026-08-03
- Remarkable, Why Remarkable Invested in Possibility Neurotechnologies and Their Think2Switch BCI, retrieved 2026-08-03
- MaRS Discovery District, Dion Kelly, Possibility Neurotechnologies (bio and Mobility Unlimited Hub), retrieved 2026-08-03
- Possibility Neurotechnologies, possneuro.com (company site), retrieved 2026-08-03
