[00:00:11] Adam: Welcome to People Helping People, the podcast for social entrepreneurs who want to build a social impact business. I'm your host, Adam Morris. And it's so awesome to have Aaron Westbrook joining me today, founder of Form5 Prosthetics. He started Form5 Prosthetics 10 years ago to help those with limb differences achieve new things with custom 3D printed eco friendly devices, which I've always been fascinated with prototyping and I'm passionate about sustainability and combining those to create a difference.

So I'm really excited to dive in and explore this story. So Aaron, welcome on the podcast..

[00:00:44] Aaron: Thank you, Adam. Excited to share more about my story and the mission of Form5.

[00:00:48] Adam: Can we kick off and just share a bit about, what it was like growing up and how that was different?

[00:00:53] Aaron: Yeah, absolutely. So I was born without my right hand. The terminology is that I have a limb difference. So my forearm actually stops right before, uh, my, wrist and I have a little bit of my elbow. So growing up was a little bit different than most kids given that I only had one hand. I often dealt with a lot of stares and questions and, you know, a lot of times people ask me, how is having one hand different?

You know, and I often describe it as, I can do everything everyone else can. Just in a different way, and it might take me a little bit more time. So, whether that was tying my shoe, riding my bicycle, participating in extracurricular activities even getting my license. It looked different than what most traditional kids went through.

[00:01:36] Adam: Got it. And then what led to starting Form5? What was that like when, you were exploring prosthetics? Off the ground.

[00:01:44] Aaron: Yeah, so, kind of the genesis of Form5 is really... Community led. So, it wasn't until I was a teenager in high school that I was connected through social media to an online community of people with limb differences. So most of my life I might have known maybe 1 person when I was a kid but had never had access to an entire community.

And so. Initially I was just inspired by just the connection and the collaboration and really raising awareness of limb differences as a whole. And so I kind of took it upon myself as a 14 year old to start a blog called Alive With Five. And so being alive with five fingers I really wanted to document my personal story to be able to help cultivate that community of people with limb differences.

And so that's really kind of where Form5 starts it's just a blog being ran by a teenager. And eventually what that turned into was researching and developing a 3d printed prosthetic arm for myself, uh, while in high school. So basically how that came to be was, uh, my experience. going the more traditional, uh, medical route of getting a prosthesis.

And really what I was exposed to, Adam, was just the barriers that people face with limb differences in getting proper prosthesis care whether it be kind of socioeconomic barriers but also there's, you know, some of these really custom application devices. That people are looking for that don't exist on the market.

And so, you know, there's this kind of disconnect and innovation where there's a lot of progression and advancement seen in medical devices, but that doesn't always reflect the needs of users. And so really my idea for Form5 is to serve as the conduit between the limb difference community and the needs that they have and the innovation that's already being seen in the industry.

And so really, the work of our organization is to empower people to successfully interact with their world and their future. Uh, we do this in a lot of different programs, but honestly, to boil it all down, it's just meeting people where they're at. What are their unique needs? How, as an organization with the passion, technology, skills that we have can we enable them to do things that they maybe never thought that they could do and some folks maybe lost the ability to do?

[00:04:05] Adam: Can we dive in and just share some examples of what this actually looks like? So what, what's a typical person that comes to Form5?

[00:04:12] Aaron: Yeah. So great question. A lot of times I describe it and kind of two different tracks. So, we're really at an exciting time as an organization, given that we're launching product lines where we're going to be able to offer a device to a wider, uh, broader demographic. So if someone comes to us and let's say they're looking to ride a bicycle, well, lucky for them, we just launched a product line where we're developing and producing what we call our bike handlebar adapter.

So actually this summer we're going to be producing more devices than we ever have in our entire existence as an organization. In two months creating these bike handlebar adapters for people with limb differences. So that's kind of one track. The other track I would say often meets the needs of people who have those socioeconomic barriers, or let's say they're looking for a device that doesn't exist, or maybe their limb difference is so unique that there aren't traditional devices that fit for them.

And so this is really where our education piece kicks in. We recently just did a workshop where we helped a young man want to weld. And so there's actually no prosthetics commercially available for welding. So he was using a device that was for farming. And so he was trying to make it work for welding.

But that is just the kind of custom lens that we apply to prosthetics. And I like to think that as an organization we're reinventing. The word prosthetics, because a lot of times when people hear that word, they think of it as like a replacement limb. It has to look like a hand, an arm, a leg, but really at Form5, we view prosthetics as tools.

They're no different than having a pair of glasses. Like I said, they kind of help you interact with the world the way you want to.

[00:05:47] Adam: Neat. Well, what was the first thing that you, built as a custom prosthetic?

[00:05:52] Aaron: The first thing that we ended up building was actually for the bicycle. So it's been a long time coming. Uh, you know, a few years in a pandemic later, uh, were we able to create something for a lot of people? So we worked initially with a young girl. It was actually her first prosthetic arm. This was more of a traditional lifestyle device, as we call it.

So it resembled a hand and kind of performed everyday functions. And this individual wanted her arm, like any seven year old girl wanted to be personalized to her. And so we made it a panda arm. Uh, so it had white and black coloring and had a panda face and the socket really personalized to her.

That was kind of my first. experience and seeing how this next generation of people with limb differences. Celebrate who they are, and I think that's a stark difference than what we've seen in the past across the disability community. Because I think probably the last two decades it's been more like, let's find ways to mask your difference, have you be quote unquote normal.

These, these kids, this generation, they want to celebrate and accentuate their difference to the point where I'd rather draw attention to my limb difference because I have the Iron Man hand or the Elsa arm rather than hiding my arm in my sleeve. So I was really inspired by that. Just this seven year old girl who wanted to celebrate who she was in a really unique way to her.

[00:07:15] Adam: I love that too, just being able to change that story. 'cause quite often, the stories that we tell ourselves of how we're perceived in the world and, and what things are like. You know, are shaped by those experiences and being able to flip that from, Oh, I'm just trying to fit into, Hey, I am a, you know, this thing that is unique to me is a source of style and expression.

That seems really powerful, which is really, especially for somebody who's like growing up, cause I think that's gotta be really tough when you're a young kid.

[00:07:46] Aaron: Yeah, and even just in my experience in starting Form5 in high school I very quickly went from the kid with one hand to the kid with all the 3D printed hands sticking out of his backpack. Very quickly. And it definitely got me more street cred. It was an incredible maturation.

[00:08:02] Adam: So this was like 10 years ago. So if I think of 3D printing, it's not that, not that old. So it must have been fairly new at that point. Right.

[00:08:10] Aaron: yeah, right on the cusp basically at that time, uh, the term desktop 3D printing exploded, which is basically going from when computers were a giant room to like having your MacBook on your desk.

[00:08:23] Adam: That was the first Kickstarter project that was like, Hey, here's the,

[00:08:26] Aaron: Yes. Yeah. And so, you know, I basically got into 3d printing by doing research around just new ways of making prosthetics. I was dissatisfied with the device that I got from a traditional clinic and just wanted to find a way to change my own life. And really, from that point, it grew into changing the lives of others.

A lot of things that have happened with Form5 have just been by fate and determination. And I walked into the computer science teacher who was at my high school. Pretty much said to him, Hi, my name is Aaron, you have no idea who I am, I'm not in any of your classes, I know that you are the only person trained on how to use the 3D printer, and this is my idea, can you help me?

And, I'm sure he blinked and looked at me, tilted his head and went but later on, you know, he ended up, uh, allowing me to work with a 3d printer, kind of showing me the ropes. And it was, I think probably before the holidays of my sophomore year of high school, I had 3d printed and assembled my own prosthetic arm and really from that moment forward.

You know, I intended to go to school for film and photography, And then all of a sudden , such a personal mission grew from this opportunity and it has now evolved into something way bigger than myself.

[00:09:48] Adam: Now, did you need anything special for, operating the 3D printer? And I think of when I'm at a computer, like I need both hands to type and navigate, was that a different process?

[00:09:59] Aaron: Yes especially when it comes more into like the fabrication piece, the nice thing about the printers when they work, like most technology They're pretty much self sufficient. You start the print, it runs as many hours as it needs. A lot of the post processing, cleaning, fabrication, that's where it gets difficult, because I might need to be like holding a part and sanding it or doing things like that, and a lot of those are two handed activities.

But I think most of my life I've kind of pivoted and navigated around these things that I just kind of You know, figure it out for myself. And I think that's , the core of what we do as an organization is it's like, what is this thing that you want to do and how can we just figure out how to make you do it?

[00:10:37] Adam: And then this is, so, man, I'm still trying to get my head around this. So you start this blog when you're like 14 or 15 and , it's been 10 years and you've been running this company. How has that kind of changed you and affected you?

[00:10:52] Aaron: yeah. I would say I have much more of a global mindset. I'm very fortunate that I, you know, received higher education. I got my undergraduate degree at Ohio state and, you know, I, I think of the world much bigger than me. I think it's really easy, especially when you're in kind of a, a marginalized community to think that I'm the only one facing this. And I think finding that community, being a part of cultivating that community has just absolutely changed my worldview. And I think the more impact that Form5 has, I think the more I want to see the work that we do around the globe.

I know that's a very ambitious goal, but I think there's a lot of opportunity for us as an organization to flip the script on what it means to have a limb difference. What's possible having a limb difference. As long as you have the right tools and resources.

[00:11:42] Adam: So how has Form5 evolved over the years?

[00:11:45] Aaron: We have experienced rapid growth and I feel very fortunate saying that because most nonprofit organizations, didn't make it through the pandemic and I think in many ways because of Form5s, innovative spirit, we were able to not only sustain our operations through the pandemic, but grow in the pandemic.

The pandemic made a lot of organizations. think differently about how they reach people, how they raise dollars. And so the organization, I think through the pandemic realized its capability to impact more lives. And so I would say just within the last three years, we've seen tremendous growth.

One of them being in terms of our educational programs, we offer a high school workshop and a college workshop. These programs I like to describe as our ideation engine. And so by connecting you know, young individuals with a lot of ideas and solutions to industry mentors and, you know, obviously including the perspective of people with limb differences, we're kind of coming up with new devices for people. In terms of our R and D, we're now really looking at how can we scale our production? How can we help more people with limb differences? Are there product lines that we're able to offer? Not only as a way to increase our impact, but potentially earn sustainable income for organization to grow.

So, there's just been many ways that we've grown in the last few years, but I would say a lot of it is just realizing our own capability. And I think it's unique because no That's kind of what we preach to the people we work with is, you know, realize what you're capable of. And I think as an organization, every time we work with someone, we realize our own capability that much more.

Especially when we take on these unique cases, because a lot of times we're known to think outside of the box. And, most people would be like, how in the world are you going to help create a device for someone to weld? And it's like, well, we've never done it before, but we're going to figure it out.

And, and most of the time, that's what my life has been with. You know, with one hand. It's like, I don't know how to do this, but I'm going to figure it out. And that's just kind of the resilience. And kind of tenacity that we bring.

[00:13:50] Adam: What happens when you get stuck and ? It seems like you'd run into a lot of barriers with that. I'm just curious like

[00:13:56] Aaron: Yeah, we do. And honestly, I would say our greatest success and navigating these barriers is that we are not a room of people with the same skill sets.

[00:14:07] Adam: Hmm.

[00:14:08] Aaron: A lot of times people think of Form5 and the work that we're doing and product development. And it's like, Oh, it's just, you know, an organization with a bunch of engineers.

But it takes so much more than that. It takes this, unique, collaborative, diverse setting where people in the medical profession can talk to engineers and engineers talk to designers and kind of this cross functional team is created. And that's where we kind of check each other's blind spots and hey, I've never done this before.

Have you done this before? And then it works itself out somehow. It's really neat to see that. And I think, the most unique relationship that I see is between the folks that engage in Form5 that are in the healthcare space. And a lot of times, they want to provide these custom solutions to their patients.

But, oftentimes, whether it's, you know, the red tape and bureaucracy they're limited in what they can do. And sometimes it's skills. I'm a medical professional and I have an idea for a device to help my patient, but I don't know how to design it. Being able to connect that person with an engineer or designer at Form5 and like that idea comes to life and then impacts the patient.

It's just an incredible process to watch.

[00:15:15] Adam: And how big is the team at Form5? Kind

[00:15:18] Aaron: so you were speaking to the only full time staff person. We have a contracted sales manager who's leading some of our contract manufacturing Westerville, Ohio.

Where we're really looking to partner with other prototyping companies, engineering companies and offering our 3D printing services as a way to grow our business. In addition to that, we offer internships for engineering design students as well as marketing communications to kind of help raise more awareness of Form5.

[00:15:49] Adam: It sounds like you've had to work with a lot of different people and connecting them.

How has that been, learning just how to build an organization that is connecting with a lot of different people?

[00:16:01] Aaron: Yeah, well, I'm going to take your question one step further, which is how do you do that when you're, under 21 years old and going to college at the same time It was hard, trying to find the right people, there were days where I would just. sit and stare at the wall and go, how in the world am I going to find the people to turn my vision into reality?

And it's not just finding anybody, it's finding the right people. And it took a lot of time and, you know, there's definitely been moments where I've met with people and, they tap me on my head and say, Oh, this is a great idea for, you know, an 18 year old or a kid who just graduated high school, but.

I was just relentless. It's like, I'm much more than that. I have demonstrated the work that we're doing and the vision that I have. And so I think it took some time and obviously you know, maturing and growing into kind of a young adult, uh, for people to kind of see what Form5 was doing and, the need that we were meeting.

But it's been neat now, thinking 10 years back I would have meetings. I'd have coffee with these people in Columbus that I called them super connectors. Cause I'm like, wow, like, you know, they, I'm telling them I need to talk to someone at Battelle or I need to talk to them. And they're like, I know someone, I know some, like, and every single time I'm like, I need a connection here.

And they had it or three connections. And I think now 10 years later. I'm kind of a super connector and I have younger entrepreneurs or people reaching out to me and it's like, Oh, I know someone there, or let me connect you to this person. And I think it just speaks to the Columbus community as a whole and just how supportive and connected we are.

It's just been remarkable to see being on the other side of it now than 10 years ago.

[00:17:34] Adam: I love that. That is something I've seen very unique to Columbus of just how open people are to meeting and sharing and connecting. How did you find those initial super connectors?

[00:17:46] Aaron: Yeah. I would say I found most of the super connectors just by networking in my community. I mean, I started very local. I'm a very big advocate of change happening on a local level. And so, through the connections that I had at my high school, so like, teachers, administrators, people like that who I was just able to leverage and say, Hey, I'm a student here at your school.

You may not even know who I am, but this is what I'm doing. And do you know someone at XYZ or do you think you could help me with this? I just kind of started asking. And it just snowballed from there. And then I think to where we're at now, we just have an incredible Volunteer engagement.

I mean, we probably have about 60 plus volunteers that help Form5 impacted limb difference community. And that ranges from engineers, designers I. T. Professionals, H. R. Finding. I mean, like people kind of just came out of the woodwork and,

[00:18:41] Adam: So when you say come out of the woodwork like how did they find you or not? How did that happen? Was that intentional

[00:18:46] Aaron: We have done a great job of getting press. I think that's been a big success for our organization over the years as we've just gotten the word out. You know, there's times, even 10 years later where folks like, I remember you were in this article five years ago and it came to my house and I've been following you ever since.

That. Happens a lot to me, and it's unique because they all kind of know me in a different time and Form5. It's like, you know, five years ago I was doing this and now I'm doing this. And, you know, it's, it's neat to see where people have become aware about our organization and then, reconnecting with us and seeing how much it grows it's really impactful.

And I think people want to be a part of that growth. That's what, at least what I've seen.

[00:19:29] Adam: I mean just poking in this because there are a lot of people who are starting social enterprises and they struggle because it's like well, how can I do all of this? And it's like they don't know where to go or how to find help or support or who to talk to. And so some elements that I'm hearing from you is one, you have an awesome story.

Like it's fun to tell and share, but you also did work getting that story out there. And that led to a lot of connections down the road. And you are also not afraid to go and talk to people and really start connecting with people and get connected to the right person. Who had connections to the ones that you really needed to talk to.

So going out and just doing that work , of sharing your story and connecting with people. And it sounds like that, that led to a lot of finding the right people. But also this, work that, hey, you didn't have to do everything on your own. And I think a lot of social entrepreneurs get stuck in that of like, Oh, I have to do everything myself and not realizing that no, we're a community and we are working together to solve these issues so you're not alone and being able to, to reach out and say, hey, let's do this together.

[00:20:34] Aaron: yeah, I think it's the collaboration piece. And then I think from a founder, visionary leader standpoint it has a lot to do with being humble enough to know your strengths and weaknesses. You know, I am always the first person in the room to say. I have no idea what I'm doing and I often say I'm the youngest person in this room and the least experienced person in this room, help me.

And I think that has been a strong pillar of our corporate culture , because we're all coming from different backgrounds into the organization. There's people who have no idea how to use a 3d printer, but they might have another skill. But we're all willing to learn from each other or learn something new.

And I think a lot of that stems from me. You know, I had never served on a nonprofit board. I just started a nonprofit and started figuring it out as I went. And I leaned heavily on the people that were engaged in Form5, you know, I've never made board materials. I've never done this. And it took some times where, I definitely probably didn't come off as polished as I wanted to be.

But that's a part of the process of learning. And I think being vulnerable enough and being humble enough to say that I've never done this before. Can you help me? Or how would you approach this? People genuinely want to help other people. And, you know, if they have the skill set and knowledge, why not tap that skill set and knowledge because then they're going to feel a value to your work and the mission.

And so I think an extension of this whole topic here is, if there's things that people in your organization or your friends, they offer to help you do, take It off your plate. Like, let them do it. Let them shine. That's the thing that they want to do. If you hate doing finances and you have someone that wants to do finances, don't bury yourself in the weeds trying to do finances.

I've kind of equate that to. Every single person that comes into Form5 and they want to get engaged. I have a conversation with them and I ask them, what are you passionate about? And basically from that conversation, I tell them, all right, based on these passions, I'm aligning them with a purpose in Form5 and here's how you can help.

If you're passionate about writing, thank you cards, you're joining our development committee. If you're passionate about problem solving, attend one of our workshops. Like I want to figure out what that thing is that excites you. Because that's the hard thing. I mean, even in non profit and for profit, no one wants to do something they don't like to do.

So figure out what makes people tick and then let them shine.

[00:22:59] Adam: I love that. I think that is a really important point that, hey, one, everybody is very unique and you have to pull that out and give them that opportunity for, whatever magic's inside that to come out. And looking for people and fitting them into things that match their passions. Neat. What's on the horizon and what's the vision for Form5?

[00:23:23] Aaron: Yeah. So we're at just such an interesting intersection as an organization, in one way I look back at all the growth. And then the other way I look and I see all the amazing things ahead. And when I look ahead, I can't help but think about how we are going to impact the next generation of people with limb differences.

And I think a lot of it has to do with ability and representation. And Being able to show people what they are capable of doing, I think is huge. Sometimes that doesn't always instill confidence in people because they say, Oh, well they can do it, but I don't think I can. Being able to show people who look like them doing the things that they aspire to do is immensely profound.

You know, we are in a really. Unique time. I think in terms of the limb difference community and the awareness that we're raising, I think there's more publicity around people with limb differences now than ever or in commercials or in billboards or in all these public facing things. And I think people see the limb difference community now more than they ever have before.

And I think being able to showcase These people, these leaders, uh, who have limb differences, I would hope only inspires the next generation to reach for the stars. I always give the example of, it wasn't until about three years ago that anyone with a limb difference thought it was possible to be an NFL football player.

And there's still a kid somewhere out there right now who's on the high school football team who has one hand and is thinking, I'll never be a pro athlete. I can't, I have one hand. And just that sentence right there is what we want to combat and I see the possibility you know, just recently having a gentleman be drafted, not just considered but drafted to the N F L.

It shows people what they could do to and so thinking about the future of Form5, you know, we want people to live functional lives. We want them to achieve their dreams. We want them to be empowered to interact with the world they want to and the way that they want to. And so, looking at head, we are structured as a nonprofit, but there's a lot of work that we do that has a lot of social impact.

And, you know, is there a way that we can scale that social impact in a way that both is meaningful to our mission? But also allows us to generate revenue to sustain the growth that we're experiencing. And so we kind of have three different avenues that we're looking to build out a sustainable business model.

One of them I mentioned earlier, which is kind of from a sustainability standpoint, we have all this technology and are we utilizing it to its full capacity and there's times where our printers sit idle. And so could we look at filling this open space and partnering with other companies and creating their products?

And generating revenue that way. The other piece of it is our educational programs. You know, right now, we are looking at partnering with educational institutions, primarily 9th through 12th grade students and engaging them in our workshops at kind of in an after school setting. And so not only does this inspire students to pursue careers that are life changing, uh, to themselves and others. It's also a way that we can partner with schools and earn, you know, earn and generate income that way. And then of course, our North star as an organization is the work that we're doing and product development, we need to legitimize. You know, we are creating very unique bespoke devices, and if there's opportunity to meet a greater need I think the bike handlebar adapter is a great example.

You know, a lot of people with limb differences in their adolescence want to learn how to ride a bike. It's a right of passage for so many people. Riding a bike for some people is freedom. It's their first taste of being able to go to the park without mom and dad having to drive them to the park or going to the store and picking up something.

And then, you know, even to some of these adults that maybe have lost their limbs. Sometimes that's transportation. It's access to job and employment and income. So, you know, it's, it's much bigger than just riding a bike. It means a lot to people with limb differences. And so if we can find a way to remove those barriers and allow people to do what everyone else can, that's, that's what we dream of doing.

And so with launching these product lines, we're really able to scale our impact in a way that allows us to grow. And I think, like I said, legitimizes the work that we do as an organization.

[00:27:38] Adam: That's fantastic. How can people best support what you're doing?

[00:27:41] Aaron: Yeah Obviously as an organization, we're philanthropically supported by the generosity of donations from community, members, corporations, foundations, you know, at large. But beyond that, a lot of it is just, telling one more person about Form5. I mean, that's been our success to date. You know, so many people hear about our mission.

They read a story and they tell their neighbor, they tell their friends, and that sparks so much interest because you never know. Who around you might know someone who has a limb difference? It's more common than you think. And there's, you know, so many unique coincidences. I mean, even this summer we have an intern who is working on the bicandle bar adapter and, uh, Went home and told his parents, Hey, I'm working on this really cool project at my internship.

And his parents are like, I think your cousin has a friend that lives in their neighborhood and they have one hand and now they're getting a bike arm adapter. So like, it's really neat to see that community grow. So a lot of what I ask is just spread the word, talk about Form5 increase our brand awareness.

Cause I think that is the core of everything. It's the core to donations, to volunteerism, just having more people be aware about our brand. And then, like I said, everything else just kind of follows.

[00:28:56] Adam: So if you're listening to this and you know somebody with a limb difference, share Form5 prosthetics.

[00:29:00] Aaron: Absolutely. So, I would say we get a lot of engagement for people with limb differences through Facebook. And so we are at Form5 Prosthetics on Facebook and Instagram and LinkedIn. And then, our website is form5prostheticsinc. org.

[00:29:15] Adam: Wonderful. Man, I feel like we covered a lot in the last half hour, one, hearing about your journey, talking about what that means but then really diving into the nitty gritty of what it's like building an organization and how to find the right people to help support you in that which I think is, is really wonderful how you're doing that.

And then tying it back to the exciting things that you have coming up in the future. So I love it.

[00:29:39] Aaron: Yeah, we're really excited. I mean, we just moved to our first space in Westerville. That is entirely our own. And so for us to have a home for Form5 obviously means so much for the work that we're doing. But for me, I view it as a safe space for people with limb differences to gather and to have a place that in the community that's theirs and that they feel represented and heard and included in.

Thank you. To me, that just extends beyond any physical product we could make someone. And that's, I think the unique thing about the services that we provide people is yes, it's a device that you're going to get at the end of the day, but the process in which we go through to create that device, the community we connect you to, it's much bigger than that product.

[00:30:28] Adam: Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for sharing your story today and, opening up and telling us everything that's going on.

[00:30:35] Aaron: Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity.