For many children, visiting the doctor or staying in the hospital can be an anxiety-riddled experience. MedBerry, a startup, aims to reduce those experiences by creating a new style of stuffed animals, which will come equipped with outfits, accessories, and accompanying stories. Each animal will have a specific story, medical occupation, and different specializations.

The idea to create MedBerry came to be during the 2024-25 Startup Games at the University of Iowa. The Startup Games is a two-day event where UI students pitch ideas that will impact communities, and the best pitches receive a cash prize to put toward the group’s idea.

After pitching the ideas, students form teams and work with one another to turn their ideas into reality. The teams then assign roles, conduct research, customer discovery, and meet with business coaches.

UI students Ella Brennan, Nora McCloy, Fisher Muck, Katrina Ng, and Branson Pearson were one of those teams working together and created MedBerry, which won first place at the Startup Games and received a prize of $1,000.

Brennan, a first-year and open major, decided to attend the Startup Games with her roommate and teammate McCloy. Brennan shared that she was inspired by her own experiences with chronic illness to come up with the idea of creating MedBerry.

“Growing up, I was very, very sick, especially as a young child, and even now, I still struggle with chronic illness,” Brennan said. “So, I was thinking, ‘What could have helped me be less afraid of doctors when I was little, and what could help decrease that fear in children?’ And that’s where I came up with the idea.”

Brennan pitched the idea at the Startup Games, which drew the other students to join the team. Pearson, a fourth-year student majoring in enterprise leadership, knew the idea would be well-received and draw in consumers.

“I remember really liking the pitch for MedBerry. I was like, ‘Oh, this one’s gonna get people right in the heartstrings, so people are gonna like it,’” Pearson said. “I just felt like MedBerry was that one was going to get pretty far, and I felt it wouldn’t hurt to be a part of that.”

As a transfer student from Kirkwood, Pearson felt there weren’t many opportunities around campus for him to socialize with other students. However, Pearson said the Startup Games not only allowed for a place for students to be innovative but created connections as well.

The Startup Games offered a place for Pearson and other students with similar interests and ideas to come together. He quickly became connected with the other members and saw himself as a mentor, as he was the oldest in the team.

“I felt a little bit more like a coach to them, especially since all my classes were centered around starting a business,” Pearson said. “I really liked giving them pointers and kind of taking a step back and watching them do stuff.”

In addition, Pearson believes MedBerry will go further to help educate individuals about healthcare workers and the overall field.

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Muck, a first-year student majoring in entrepreneurship, said the connections he created at the event will help him develop his educational and career goals during his time at UI.

Muck said this experience will also aid in future opportunities to create other businesses with a purpose later on.

The group said the Startup Games and the creation of MedBerry have definitely had an impact on their current and future selves.

“[MedBerry] gives me a different perspective on something I never really fully thought about,” said Ng, a third-year student who recently switched majors from nursing to pre-business.

Ng said she used to work and volunteer at UI Health Care, where she could see the children and how they interact with the professionals. Some of her former classes also gave her medical knowledge.

Overall, Ng was able to offer insight from those experiences to the creation of MedBerry as well.

The entire team credited UI, the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center, professors, and more for their assistance during their time at the Startup Games and the UI.

“There were a lot of great professors and faculty that I got to talk with about the idea that helped me at the event, and it was great to talk to them,” Muck said.

Currently, MedBerry is continuing to discuss the future creation of the business at upcoming meetings, as they want to turn the idea into an actual company. The prize money from the Startup Games will go to MedBerry and aid the team in beginning their journey.

As for other students looking to start their own companies or projects, Brennan said the fear of putting their ideas out there was worth it.

“You’re going to be terrified when you’re doing it, and you’re going to be terrified the entire time,” Brennan said. “But be afraid because fear is not necessarily a bad thing; it means that you’re doing something that you haven’t done before.”