CYstarters Spotlight: A 14-part series highlighting student entrepreneurs pursuing their business ventures as part of the CYstarters 2025 summer cohort. Through this program, students have the unique opportunity to prioritize the development of their own startup or business idea. Each individual receives $6,500 and access to resources such as mentorship, networking opportunities, and educational sessions on entrepreneurship and business startup.
Madelyn Lindholm: Finding Purpose and Easing Pain with Port Patch
For Madelyn Lindholm, entrepreneurship was never just about launching a business, it was about solving a problem that mattered deeply to her. A December 2024 graduate from Iowa State University’s Ivy College of Business, Madelyn grew up in the Twin Cities with a heart for helping others. Her interest in entrepreneurship was sparked early on, watching her stepdad juggle a full-time role in the Air Force with a series of creative side gigs like screen printing t-shirts, starting projects, and constantly pursuing something new. “He was constantly busy. Constantly doing things,” Madelyn recalled. “And that’s kind of the life of an entrepreneur. He really enjoyed it. It was nice to see him make a supplemental income.” His hustle was inspiring and it opened the door for Madelyn to imagine herself as an entrepreneur.
Coming to Iowa State, she knew she wanted to study business and soon landed on entrepreneurship as the perfect blend of creativity, independence, and purpose. Even then, she wasn’t entirely sure what direction that path would take. She always knew she wanted to help people, to feel like she was doing something meaningful, but the “what” wasn’t clear until much later. In fact, it wasn’t until a personal experience with her mom’s cancer diagnosis that her business idea began to take shape. Madelyn’s mom quickly became aware of the small but persistent struggles that accompanied port-based medical treatments like chemotherapy. Like many patients, she used a numbing cream before her port was accessed, but the cream would often rub off onto clothes or move around from the port-site. She was uncomfortable and frustrated. So she started sketching a better solution: a soft, dome-shaped patch that could deliver numbing medication directly to the site and stay in place. Together, Madelyn’s mom and stepdad even 3D printed a rough prototype and began testing it at home, taping it down over the port site.
Madelyn and her mom.
Port Patch Prototype.
Madelyn’s mom has since passed away from cancer, but the initial idea for Port Patch—the pain-relieving, protective patch designed specifically for port-based treatments like chemotherapy, dialysis, and long-term IV care—lives on because Madelyn is dedicated to bringing it to life. She is taking the early work done by her mom and stepdad and improving it, determined to bring Port Patch to market and help others going through similar struggles. “It’s so crazy,” Madelyn said. “There are so many people affected by these treatments, and there’s nothing on the market to help them.”
Madelyn has been working on this idea since fall of 2024, and while in her senior capstone class, Madelyn began to see the full entrepreneurial potential of Port Patch. For a while, she kept the idea close to the chest. There was something deeply personal about it, and she wasn’t ready to open it up to critique. “I don’t like talking in front of people very much,” she admitted. “I think I judge my own ideas very harshly, and I worry about other people doing the same.” But everything changed after she presented her business concept in class and a peer—CYstarters alum Andrew Walton—encouraged her to apply for the CYstarters summer accelerator. “It took Andrew pushing me to actually do it,” Madelyn said. “Then I talked to Megan, and she thought I’d be a great fit.” She put together her pitch deck, stood in front of the Pappajohn Center team to pitch her idea, and left the room feeling like she’d blown it. “I felt horrible about the pitch. I thought, ‘I’m not getting into the program.’” Weeks later, an email landed in her inbox. She’d been accepted. “I screamed,” she laughed. “That was probably my proudest moment.”
CYstarters came at exactly the right time. Madelyn describes herself as a very Type B person—creative, adaptable, but not always great at creating structure on her own. The 11-week program gave her dedicated time, mentorship, and accountability to work through the many challenges of developing a medical product. She’s spent her summer researching new materials, connecting with potential manufacturers, and working through legal questions around patents and licensing. She is continuing to refine her prototype, has upgraded her branding and website with help from fellow CYstarter Kailey Stevens of Bolded K Studio, and spent time in customer discovery conversations—interviewing patients, doctors, and caregivers about their experiences with port-based treatments. One key insight stood out: while the physical pain of the port was real, many patients reported that the anxiety leading up to the treatment was just as bad, if not worse. If Port Patch could offer both pain relief and peace of mind, Madelyn realized, it could dramatically improve the patient experience in more ways than one.
Of course, the road hasn’t been easy. Madelyn doesn’t come from a medical background, so navigating product development, FDA compliance, and manufacturing has been daunting. She’s still working to determine the best materials for the patch and looking into a provisional patent. The legal and financial costs of building a product from scratch are significant, and finding patients willing to share their experiences can be challenging. But what keeps her going is the emotional connection to the idea, and the growing confidence she’s built through CYstarters. “You see all these successful entrepreneurs, and they just look like they have a perfect life,” she said. “They look like they don’t ask anyone for help, and you want to emulate that, but you actually can’t get there without asking for help.”
Madelyn’s story is one of quiet determination, of taking a deeply personal problem and working tirelessly to create a solution that doesn’t just work, but truly helps people in a very difficult season. She’s quick to credit the people around her, from her mom and grandma (a cancer survivor) to the mentors, classmates, and peers who pushed her forward when she doubted herself. And as she looks ahead to Demo Day, she’s focused on continuing to refine her prototype and expand her network of healthcare professionals and potential users.
Her advice to other aspiring entrepreneurs? “Take the opportunities. Talk to your professors. Network with other students. Do the pitch competitions, join the entrepreneur club, apply for CYstarters. Just go for it.” Because sometimes, the idea that changes everything starts at home, designed with care, born out of a hope to make life a little more livable for someone you care about.
You can support Madelyn by following @portpatch on Instagram and visiting http://www.portpatch.org to stay up to date as her product develops.
Check out our video interview with Madelyn Lindholm below!
