Why I'm building Tsumo · Nicole Nigri, founder
I wanted something like this for myself.
I've lived with Type 1 diabetes since I was five, in 2001. Back then, diabetes technology was much more limited, and managing it took an enormous amount of work from my family.
My parents, my angels
I hated needles. In the beginning, my mother was the only person I would let give me insulin. She worked far from my school, but she came during her lunch break to give me my shot.
My parents also woke up at least three times every night to check my glucose, because I wouldn't wake up when it dropped too low. For more than ten years, their nights were interrupted to keep me safe.
The pump gave me my childhood back
At seven, I started using an insulin pump. Before it, I was a very thin child who avoided eating, because eating meant another injection. With the pump, I could eat more freely and became a healthy kid again.
Seeing the curve
Years later, I tried a continuous glucose monitor. I was fascinated. For the first time I could see the curve: where my glucose had been, where it was going, how it moved through the day. A line instead of a single number.
The low-glucose alarms changed things again. I kept thinking about my parents. If we'd had those alarms earlier, how much easier could their nights have been?
Then came automated insulin delivery. Watching an algorithm take on some of the math I had carried for years felt extraordinary.
Grateful, and still remembering
Today I use a pump and a CGM, and I'm deeply grateful to the people who built them. Carb-counting apps helped me understand food better too. Every step forward gave me more freedom.
But there is still so much to remember. I paid for a photo carb app and never used it properly, not even once. By the time I remembered, I was halfway through the meal. The estimate was never the hard part. Remembering was.
Supplies take remembering too. If an infusion set fails and I change it early, I run out sooner than planned, and I don't always remember to move the refill date forward.
I've lived the missed steps, the setbacks and the wins. I've found routines that help, and watched them fall apart on a busy day.
That question became Tsumo
I wanted a device I could simply buy: one that would notice my meals, help estimate the carbs, and remind me of the things I might miss, like checking whether I need to bolus, my meds or supplies running low. It wouldn't have to be perfect. It would have to make my life easier.
I kept hearing other people with diabetes describe the same burden. When I couldn't find something that brought that support together, I started asking: could we build it?
I want to make my life simpler, your life simpler, and life simpler for caregivers like my parents. The technology we already have has given us so much. I want to carry it forward: more of everyday life in the picture, and less to remember alone.
Tsumo is still in development. My experience gives me a reason to start. Your experiences will help shape what we build.
Nicole Nigri, founder
Write to me at nnigri@tsumoapp.com or find me on LinkedIn.