Harvard in Tech Spotlight: Doll Avant, Founder and CEO of Aquagenuity
I spoke with Doll Avant, founder and CEO of Aquagenuity, the 23andMe for water. Aquagenuity is a data as a service platform that makes water quality data visible, accessible, and understandable. Doll was named Google’s “Woman of Water” and has been featured by Forbes, TEDx, The New York Times, and SXSW.
Doll was inspired to found Aquagenuity after the Flint water crisis that began in 2014 when the water source in Flint, Michigan was contaminated. Through her research at Harvard, Doll found that there were over 3K locations in the US with more lead in their water than Flint. Because of the legacy water systems that most of the US uses, it would cost more than a trillion dollars to do a complete overhaul to solve the water crisis, which is a practical impossibility that perpetuates the water problems in the country.
Doll also found other flaws in the water quality assessment system. The EPA, for example, only tests for 100 toxins, but there are more than 100,000 toxins in water, many of which are carcinogens but are not deemed illegal and consequently not tested for. There are also major gaps in testing frequency: the EPA is only mandated to test for lead every 3 years. Moreover, the last mile transportation of water from the water treatment center to homes creates a huge opportunity for contamination. Anything that displaces water can change water quality, such as dumping and construction.
Upon identifying the massive lack of transparency around water quality, Doll decided to found Aquagenuity to empower consumers, schools, and governments with more information about their water and make more informed decisions for the long term health of the population.
Doll shared her perspective on the data challenges she faced and overcame, how COVID impacted the water quality space, her time at Harvard, how to build effective partnerships, and her advice for her younger self.
On data challenges, Doll shared the major obstacles that Aquagenuity faced and overcame in creating their product. Aggregating data was incredibly challenging. They had to work with over 150K individual water systems, each with data in different formats and with significant unstructured data. For her work on this crucial data architecture, she was recognized by Forbes, Google, Singularity University at NASA Research Park, Coca Cola, and WIRED.
Aquagenuity also had to correlate this data with other health information and subsequently translate it into something that was meaningful, digestible, and actionable for the average consumer.
Finally, the team had to develop a hyperlocal network of sensors that gathered data on the ground in each ecosystem around the country. To achieve this, Aquagenuity established designated aqua hubs through partnering with schools and local governments. These partners conduct regular testing of their water through Aquagenuity that then feed into the company’s centralized data system.
On how COVID’s impacts, Doll highlights the need to be proactive in understanding and taking action with our environmental threats. We can no longer solely rely on our governments to foresee, alert, and protect us from these dangers.
Data has shown as well that COVID impacts underserved communities disproportionately in part because of the decades of exposure to pollution these communities have had through their poor water systems. This type of granular understanding of health impacts of industrial structures on disadvantaged communities is crucial in creating a vaccine that is comprehensive along with preventative solutions to ensure the long term recovery of these communities.
On building effective partnerships, Doll underscores the importance of communicating your vision. Get past the technical jargon and connect with people emotionally. Focus on the feeling rather than the features, the “so what” rather than the “what.” Additionally, be crystal clear on what follow up action you want people to take.
On her time at Harvard, Doll appreciates how the university encouraged her natural tendency to think outside of the box. She has also found the incredible access to former founders and mentors immensely valuable as she has started and grown Aquagenuity.
On advice for her younger self, Doll recommends building long term, non-transaction relationships that you cultivate over time.
She also recommends following your gut. You never know what is on the other side of fear; it could just be an amazing idea waiting for you to explore.
