How a True Business Partner Helped Me Dive Back Into Entrepreneurial Waters

In business, even a labor of love requires a financially strong, resourceful and committed banking partner to be successful.

For me, Hancock Whitney has been that partner and one of the reasons UnaliWear — the company I founded to extend independence with dignity for my 80-year-old mom and millions of vulnerable people like her — continues to grow.

UnaliWear CEO and Founder Jean Anne Booth, wearing one of the company’s Kanega Watches, is joined by Mike McConnell, Austin market president for Hancock Whitney Bank.

From Chips to Dives and Saving Lives

An electrical engineer, I helped found two semiconductor companies — Luminary Micro, which we sold to Texas Instruments in 2009, and Intrinsity, acquired by Apple in 2010. Following those transactions, at 47, I was able to retire and pursue a passion of mine. I became a divemaster on a liveaboard scuba diving boat based in Key West, Florida, and was quite content.

During that time, I visited my 80-year-old mom at her continuing care retirement community. A former model who was always slender, she was becoming frail, and I worried about her falling. Like so many seniors, she didn’t want to wear a socially stigmatizing pendant or other unflattering medical alert device.

My engineer training took over and, with mom as my senior user experience officer and advisor, I developed the Kanega Watch. It’s a light, stylish, waterproof watch that gives wearers 24/7 access to medical alert operators by push button or voice, uses groundbreaking fall detection technology, and has a patented battery system that lets wearers recharge without taking the watch off at night, when most falls occur.

When I saw the wearable would give my mom and others round-the-clock medical alert protection, I came out of retirement to start UnaliWear, my third Austin, Texas, based company. We produce Kanega Watches and sell them directly to consumers online.

Searching for a New Bank

Since coming to market in 2020, UnaliWear has more than doubled in revenue year over year. We have customers in every state, and Wirecutter, a New York Times product review website, named our watch the best on-the-go medical alert device.

Every startup faces hurdles, and we encountered one in early 2023 when our bank began experiencing financial difficulties. After using a consultant to identify and thoroughly vet seven potential new banks, I selected Hancock Whitney.

Financial Strength and More

First and foremost, Hancock Whitney has the financial strength I need to safeguard my investors’ capital. Its long history of being one of America’s strongest, safest banks gives me great comfort.

The bank’s insured cash sweep product maximizes our interest income while securing our excess cash, and an attractive earnings credit rate minimizes our banking fees.

We use many of its treasury services, including inbound wires, ACH positive pay and online Bill Pay. Plus, the bank’s Treasury Manager online banking platform lets me do most banking in a self-service mode — which suits me — and I get customer service support whenever I need it.

Treasury Manager syncs up with our QuickBooks^® accounting software. Downloading transaction information automatically into QuickBooks makes it easier to reconcile and report on the company’s financial health to our investors.

Also, someday, when we’re ready, I plan to use the bank’s impressive merchant services capabilities.

Where the Rubber Meets the Road

Hancock Whitney is the definition of a true business partner, as illustrated by two situations in the past year:

• Because of the demographic we serve, and the fact that customers pay monthly subscription fees in advance, we must issue some refund checks, many in the same amount. Initially, the bank’s systems couldn’t provide the check number for each refund, which we needed for reconcilement. But Hancock Whitney’s treasury team went to work and created that capability within weeks.
  
  
• We are required to maintain a minimum monthly average collected balance in our operating account to earn a premium earnings credit rate. We recently fell below that level, but understanding the temporary reason for the change in the account's balance, Hancock Whitney was willing to suspend some fees.