This as-told-to is based on a conversation with Hannah Herbst, CEO of Golden Hour Medical, a Boca Raton, Florida, company that created AutoTQ, an automatic tourniquet system. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Blood loss is the leading cause of preventable death and trauma, and over a million people bleed to death each year.
Every time you turn on the news, you might see something that’s a consequence of blood loss, or people who are victims of it. I thought to myself: What would I do if something happened in my community? How would I help someone who’s bleeding out?
The reality is, if a million people are bleeding out every year, there are probably many millions more standing by and watching, who are helpless in that moment. That was the inspiration for AutoTQ — how do we empower bystanders to jump in and intervene at the moment of injury rather than wait for a professional to arrive?
We founded Gold Hour Medical in 2021. We’re based in Boca Raton, Florida, and have about 10 full- and part-time employees. But we’re hiring over the next few months.
We launched our first product, AutoTQ, a patented, FDA-registered automatic tourniquet, last year. AutoTQ didn’t come from one breakthrough moment; it came from hundreds of small decisions made by engineers, clinicians, manufacturers, and operators, each solving different problems together. It’s been amazing to see the adoption so far, and we’re excited.
Jennifer Ortiz for BI
We’re filling an important medical need
A tourniquet is a 2,000-year-old compression device. When someone is bleeding from their arm or leg, applying a tourniquet is the first intervention to stop a major bleed.
The problem is that most tourniquets on the market are designed for professionals, not for bystanders. AutoTQ provides audio and visual instructions to guide anyone through stopping a bleed. We also offer a training platform with demonstrations.
The company’s name, Golden Hour, represents the critical moments after an injury occurs. You have just seconds between injury and successful intervention before the person bleeds out.
Generating awareness has helped us grow
Our growth has always been driven by one question: How do we serve someone on the worst day of their life?
If you look at construction sites, for example, accidents happen. Those are the groups that really see the value in AutoTQ and want to implement the device.
When we show the product, people immediately want it, especially safety professionals who are overseeing hazardous industries like construction and manufacturing. Every day, 27 US workers experience work-related amputations or hospitalizations. They realize the need for this product.
Jennifer Ortiz for BI
Generating awareness has led to our growth. Over the past four years, we’ve focused on education and community-driven efforts, such as meeting with organizations like schools and manufacturing plants, rather than traditional paid advertising. We wanted to understand their first-response realities and shape the product around the people who would actually act in an emergency. So, we sought their feedback.
Because AutoTQ is considered a new device category, once people understand what it does and experience it firsthand, adoption follows naturally. When people realize that the product can boost their confidence in an emergency, often for the first time, they naturally share our tools with others.
Our research shows that 92% of people who tried AutoTQ under pressure applied the tourniquet correctly on their first try after watching our 30-second demo video.
Now, we have a national network of sales representatives and distributors who push AutoTQ out to their customers. A lot of the growth has been organic, word-of-mouth.
I didn’t anticipate how powerful word of mouth would be. Once someone saw the device or tried it, they told others. Our growth has been driven by people realizing they could actually help in an emergency and wanting others to feel that same confidence.
The most surprising and exciting part of the launch was how quickly people understood the need. Customers didn’t just evaluate the product; they immediately saw where it fit in their environment and wanted to implement it.
People see the product, and the most common reaction is, “Where has this been? Why has no one come up with this?”
I hope we’re in the right place at the right time
Hundreds of AutoTQ kits are currently used nationwide across different industries, including construction sites, manufacturing facilities, sports venues, hospitals, schools, and more. This includes Lee County, Florida, which has deployed the kits in several parks.
Jennifer Ortiz for BI
We view AutoTQ as following the Automated External Defibrillator model. We see more and more similar devices coming out to enable bystanders to intervene. We’re developing additional products that are easy for bystanders to use to help others, and we’ll release more details about them later this year.
Our goal in the first full year is to become the best in the industry at serving our customers. AutoTQ has gone through dozens of revisions to get to this point because we are relentless about building something that is right for the people using it.
Every feature, every adjustment, and every refinement has been driven by real-world feedback. We don’t see the launch as the finish line. It’s the beginning of listening, improving, and supporting our customers at the highest level.
Although I hope AutoTQ is not used, we live in a world that needs something like this. I hope that we’re in the right place at the right time.
We want to be in those places and support people in that moment where no help is coming, and it’s just them and the victim. We want to empower them to save a life.
