Dr. Wei-Shin Lai

Dr. Wei-Shin Lai

CEO of AcousticSheep

AcousticSheep LLC was founded in 2007 by Dr. Wei-Shin Lai, a family physician, and her husband Jason Wolfe, a video game developer. Dr. Lai struggled with getting back to sleep after taking patient phone calls in the middle of the night. She needed to listen to some meditative music to help her relax, but headphones were bulky, and ear buds were uncomfortable. Since there were no headphones specifically designed for sleeping on the market, she invented her own and called them SleepPhones. They worked so well for her that she decided she had to offer them to all of her patients taking sleeping pills. Her husband soldered and she sewed the first 500 pieces themselves on their kitchen table. Initial feedback was phenomenal. One woman was able to come off of sleeping pills after taking them for 10 years. Another saved her marriage because she could finally sleep in the same bed as her snoring husband. Dr. Lai and her husband decided to patent their invention and start a real business. They completely sold out in their first year. For the first six years, Jason and Wei-Shin ran their business out of their house. After selling 100,000 pieces they decided to take their business to the next level, hiring their first full-time
employee and setting up their warehouse in Erie, PA. Since leaving their day jobs in 2013, Jason and Wei-Shin have won numerous awards as Entrepreneur of the Year in PA (SBA), Entrepreneur of the Year in Western PA & WV (Ernst & Young), and Small Business of the Year with the Consumer Technology Association. They have won 8 Consumer Electronics Association Innovation Awards for their products, 2 Pennsylvania ImPAct Awards (Entrepreneur and Exports), and a Red Dot Design Award. Locally, they have won the Disrupt Erie Award, Ben Franklin Award, and the Commitment to Erie Award.