How Co-Working Spaces Can Help You And Your Startup

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First published June 2, 2016

 

Wondering what co-working is? We visited two major co-working spaces in Perth-  Spacecubed, and its sister space Flux, to find out.

Co-working spaces are community spaces for working on and building your startup, sole trader enterprise, or scaling business. Spacecubed just held Australia’s first Mental Health Hackathon, MindHack. Its success means another MindHack is in the works!

Co-working spaces are also, by definition, a space for working with other businesses, at various stages of a business lifecycle and from a range of different industries. Startups and sole founders can be very isolated, and co-working helps to solve this problem. Membership flexibility allows businesses and sole founders to adapt as they require, and the space is built to facilitate networking and collaboration, as well as quiet -room working spaces and longer-term office leases.

Spaces tend to offer a rotating program of activities that can help its members, for example, SEO tutorials, legal advice, games events, pitching tips, and drinks. Some of these events may be open to the wider community.

 

Spacecubed offers packages including mentorship and legal advice for its members. Photo: The Medical Startup

 

Spacecubed Marketing Manager Matt Kirk kindly took us on a tour one Wednesday, showing us the varied office spaces, desks and personalities inhabiting Spacecubed over several floors. Home to startups across a range of industries, co-working helps members cross-pollinate ideas, resources and perspectives that they wouldn’t encounter otherwise . Having neighbours who are coders, engineers, designers, or copywriters from fintech, education, photography and even space tech, helps new connections and, potentially, new startups form. Mentor programs also run from many spaces.

 

Spacecubed, Perth. Photo: The Medical Startup

Hot-desking options allow members to meet and greet while working in different spaces. Office space for more established companies are also available for hire. Part-time and full-time memberships are on offer, and many spaces offer one-day or even free introductory rates. Packages at most co-working spaces exist to be flexible, starting from daily rates to monthly or even yearly memberships. Spacecubed also offer a day of free co-working at partner locations across Australia, and this helps foster connections between communities across the country.

Housed in the former Reserve Bank of Australia headquarters, Spacecubed has different floors for levels of quietness during work hours. Meetings can be held in a soundproofed former bank vault. And, further down the road at Flux, businesses can use the new maker labs with 3D printer, virtual reality lab, and prototyping materials – a first for co-working in Perth. Introductory packages are on offer to coincide with Flux’s opening this month.

 

A peek inside a demo office at Flux Perth. Photo: The Medical Startup

The other benefit of co-working spaces tends to be location. Both Spacecubed and Flux are situated along the CBD hub of St George’s Terrace. The area’s bank facades and glass windows are punctuated by shortcuts to some of Perth’s best bars and dining areas for business meetings and post-work meetups. I snuck over to the Print Room for a meeting, chomping kale salad while my colleague had a drink, and, later, The Apple Daily Bar & Eating House for a dinner catchup. (Melburnians, think Chin Chin with less queuing and a more Malaysian twist.) Perth’s startup scene may not be as well-known as Sydney and Melbourne, but its geographical isolation, strong education institutions and quiet beauty has helped it become a major player in Australia’s startup community.

For more details and to book a free tour, visitSpacecubed‘s and Flux’s websites. 

 

What We Learnt from Jay Samit’s Webinar

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First published June 1, 2016

Jay Samit. Serial entrepreneur. Former head of major entertainment labels including Sony, Universal and EMI. Self-starter. TED Speaker. Professor of High Tech Startups at University of Southern California. Author. Why am I featuring him on a “medical” website?

Because great ideas come from anywhere, and inspiration knows no boundaries. Some of my biggest heroes have never been known for their medical achievements. And when I started reading Jay’s book, “Disrupt You!” (“Disrupt Yourself!” in Australia and other regions), I knew he was using “disruption” not as a buzzword, but as a teachable, adaptable concept that brings clarity to problems I’d thought were unsolvable, and to dead-ends with hidden paths.

 

Jay Samit webinar hosted by Startups Innovation. Photo: StartupsInnovation.com

 

Jay’s book is filled with examples from his work in the entertainment and computer industries, and from his knowledge of other companies. He begins from his childhood growing up in Philadelphia, and leads to his career in Los Angeles and beyond. He lists examples of Airbnb’s success; how NASA disrupted research & development by creating an open-access patent library; and on a personal note, Bill Clinton phoning him to help roll out Internet in classrooms across America.

The idea of disruption is that once it occurs, the industry it occurs in is changed forever. Think music and downloads; medicine and antibiotics; taxis and Uber. The core concept of Jay’s teaching in his book and webinar lies on understanding the links in any industry’s value-chain. Disruption occurs when you’ve identified which part of the value chain is weakest, and is thus “ripest” for disruption.  Jay describes the chain being made up of Research & Development; Design and Production; Marketing and Sales; and Distribution. So, how can you figure out which link to disrupt in an industry?

“The only two things you need to succeed are Insight, and Perseverance,” says Jay. An Insight may come in an instant, or it may take days of contemplation or years of hard work to arrive. Then, to grow from an Idea, you need to bring that Perseverance to the table.  

“You suddenly realise big ideas attract big minds,” Jay added. Sharing your idea helps each link in your value chain. Speaking of links, he suggests LinkedIn- “you can find experts in any field, and ask for advice- start a conversation, and connect with experts all over the world. You can’t do it by yourself.”

How can your idea be disruptive? “The first thing is to figure out how you can solve problems for others, and that will attract success. Every problem is an opportunity in disguise,” he said. Disruption from technology can bring social impact. Jay mentioned a startup which 3D-prints prosthetics for children. Someone went to Disney, got a licence for Star Wars, Ironman, Frozen and other popular shows. This disruptive yet simple design change not only helped kids get well-fitting prosthetics, but also de-stigmatised their prostheses and helped their emotional perception of their disability. 

As webinar facilitator and author Alistair Schneider of Startups Innovation said to Jay: “From your book,ideas don’t need to be complicated.” You don’t need to invent a new computer to innovate. A whole industry in accessories and dust covers for computers, keyboards and smartphones rose from the more expensive hardware they’re meant to house. It’s much easier and cheaper to prototype ten-thousand dust covers than ten-thousand of the latest laptops.  Jay’s friend did just that; the success of his covers was such that, “despite never learning how to use a computer, his first company was sold at age 30 for USD135million.”

Jay teaches his proven business model as being Social, Local, and Mobile. If you can prove it’s usable and scalable in one city, or town, you can adapt it to other cities.  

How can employers allow employees to excel and help intrapreneurs lead? “You have to change the culture that’s afraid of making mistakes. If you’re not making mistakes, it’s because you’re not trying something new. Success comes from trying something new. If you’re not creating value, your job will be eliminated.” 

Jay warns against getting too comfortable even after disruption: “It’s really the illusion of security that robs ambition- because given the circumstance you WILL be disrupted.” He used Kodak as an example- Kodak refused to branch into digital photography, sticking with traditional film, and unfortunately, losing its spectacular market share as a result. On a personal level, you may face this if you’re worried you’ll lose your job, your steady income, or other comforts by leaving work to start on your idea. Ambition is thwarted by fear, and disruptors learn to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. 

Finally, Jay predicts that “wearables will change the medical industry.” Anyone can see this from any industry.  The challenge will be to ethically and responsibly manage consumer and medical-grade wearables. 

To view the exclusive replay of Jay’s webinar, visit YouTube, or listen on SoundCloud. Startups Innovation are a startup education platform based out of Boston, running regular webinars on disruption and innovation with startup experts from all over America. Their founder, Alistair Schneider, is also the author of book “Fast Lane: Start Ups Innovation,” a handbook on startups available on Amazon. We thank them for the opportunity to cohost Jay’s webinar.

Jay can be followed for daily advice on Twitter at @jaysamit. Learn more about him at jaysamit.com. 
*This article contains affiliate links to bookdepository.com.

Three Hot Tips From Three of Australia’s Most Successful Founders

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First published May 31, 2016

We tuned into the Sunrise Conference that was awesomely available for livestream yesterday, as part of Vivid Festival in Sydney. (Thanks guys!) While we flitted between conference sessions, three things we heard from three of Australia’s most successful founders really stood out:

(Photo: Atlassian’s Mike Cannon-Brookes and his designer value the people behind the product. Credit: Atlassian)

  1. “Every single entrepreneur goes through the same challenges,” Canva founder Melanie Perkins advised. Kicking off as the first guest, she shared how she came to this realisation when she met Google’s Lars Rasmussen, the founder of Google Maps. “I sat across the table from him, and I realised, he’s just a normal person,” Mel explained. She described how Canva’s “overnight success that took nine years” taught her two things about entrepreneurship: “It’s possible, and it’s hard.” But, she added, definitely worth it.

     

  2. “Technology is all about people- the app, the coding, it’s all about the people behind it,” said Mike Cannon-Brookes, co-founder of Atlassian, on the importance of vision and teamwork. It can be tempting as a founder to set your eyes squarely on your product. By being team-facing rather than product-facing, Atlassian allows its team members to work to their strengths and build the best product possible.

     

  3. “We decided not to follow NASA’s model (operating as a space company); we ran PlanetLabsas a regular software company,” explained PlanetLabs CTO Chris Boshuizen. Breaking PlanetLabs’ vision into its basics- as a software company, rather than a space behemoth- allowed PlanetLabs to be nimble, rising from its beginnings in rural New South Wales to Silicon Valley acclaim with its satellite-imagery technology.

    Okay, we loved this bonus tip: “Let’s get it 80% correct, and move forward. It’s probably a negative decision to get 100% of things correct. If you get your gut-calls 80% correct, and you’re constantly moving forward, you’ll be fine. Speed is the single most important thing that moves you forward,” said Mike Cannon-Brookes. In the medical world, 100% accuracy is the norm, and this perfectionism extends to other industries too. As a startup, though, Mike challenges this thinking by reminding us that speed is the startup’s biggest predictor of success. By testing quickly, and making mistakes quickly, your startup can move forward faster than your competitors, including your biggest competition- yourself. 

Interested in more events like these at Vivid Sydney? Check out our post on the Top Picks for Medical Startups and people interested in entrepreneurship. 

Events for Healthcare Startups and Creatives at Vivid Festival

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First published May 30, 2016

 

Vivid Festival, Sydney’s annual festival of light, culture and ideas, is back! Amidst the jampacked program of international music artists, brilliant light shows over the Sydney Opera House, and inspiring speakers, here’s our picks for people interested in startups, entrepreneurship, medicine and creativity.

Vivid Sydney 2016, Opera House, Lighting The Sails, Songlines. Artist: Donny Woolagoodja. 26/5/2016 Photo Credit – James Horan/Destination NSW

 

  • Sunrise Conference hosted by Blackbird Ventures. Not strictly medical, but very inspirational for the calibre of Australian success stories that are presenting- the likes of Atlassian, Canva, Planet Labs and Vinomofo and Stylerunner are on the lineup! Learn how they worked their way to success. The conference runs today and, if you missed out on tickets or can’t make it, they’ll be live-streaming from their website! Follow @blackbirdvc on Twitter and #TheSunrise with any questions.

  • Design for Social Innovation brings together people concerned with improving health outcomes for the elderly. Learn from insightful talks by speakers in this field.

  • Dare to Design Healthcare is a brainstorm session bringing together healthcare workers, designers, and anyone else who’s interested in designing better solutions for healthcare’s biggest problems. Attendees will be taught the principles of design thinking, and apply this to the workshop.

  • Rare Birds Convention: featuring speakers from across multiple industries- panel includes robotics engineer Marita Cheng, who does incredible work with engineering and healthcare.

How Is Telehealth Used in Australia? Lessons from the Australian Telehealth Conference ’16

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First published May 27, 2016

 

Many of us may not know how telehealth is actually used in patient care. Whether in a metropolitan hospital or clinic setting, we may not be exposed to telehealth in Australia unless our clinical team has partnered with a rural healthcare provider using telehealth. Without this exposure, how are clinicians able to advocate for telehealth?

The Australian Telehealth Conference provided many examples of how telehealth is used in clinical settings. Here’s a summary of some of the highlights below.

Prof Mohamed Khadra at the Australian Telehealth Conference 2016. Photo: The Medical Startup

 

Prof Mohamed Khadra, Consultant Urologist and author, spoke of home dialysis monitoring through his colleague’s “My Home Hemo App,” allowing patients to log their haemodialysis sessions for their doctors and nurses to view remotely.  Telehealth is also used for Aged Care Outreach, where nurses can update clinical notes and pictures when they perform home visits, and patients can spend more time at home rather than in transit to appointments. In theatre, Prof Khadra spoke of double consoles for robotic surgery; the robot extends the range of the human wrist 360 degrees, providing immense help with surgery.

What does he think helped his Local Health District implement new programs and embrace change? “Having that model of people who are dedicated to the project,” he said. Telehealth-specific rooms and Telehealth staff members have been implemented in hospitals across the country to focus on these programs. Prof predicts that digital health can improve anaesthetic monitoring; medical and nursing student training; and post-op patient monitoring. Wearables may also grow into the mainstream; Prof Khadra imagined a sensor on OpSites (surgical wound dressings) which alerts the clinician when there’s a leak or increased warmth, so assessment and antibiotics can be started earlier.

A/Prof Andrew Kornberg (Paediatric Neurologist), and Susan Jury (Telehealth Program Manager) of the Royal Children’s Hospital discussed how attendance rates at child psychiatry clinics dramatically improved when conducted through telehealth. Children usually feel more comfortable at home, and thus are more likely to open up to their clinician. Being home also means the clinician can meet siblings and other family members they wouldn’t have seen otherwise, and see this interaction firsthand. Telehealth clinics are held in a dedicated Telehealth Clinic room, or in the specialist’s rooms.

Prof Kornberg also mentioned how Telehealth consults are performed by Anaesthetists at Pre-Admission Clinics; attendance rates are impacted as 20% of the RCH’s patients are from regional areas. Physiotherapists at the RCH also conduct HITH (Hospital in the Home) consults for cystic fibrosis sufferers. A lifelong condition, cystic fibrosis patients and their families are subject to countless appointments each year, and juggling this with school, work and other family members can take its toll.

For diabetic patients, screening for diabetic retinopathy can be challenging when working in isolated rural communities, like the mines of the Goldfields in Western Australia. Prof Yogi Kanagasingam of CSIRO has successfully used tele-assessment of retinal images to screen Goldfields residents for diabetic retinopathy (DR). 82 of the 1088 patients screened in his study had DR; 8 of these had severe, sight-threatening DR that needed immediate attention. His software, Remote-I, is able to grade the images according to severity of retinopathy.

Dr Shannon Nott, junior doctor (RMO) and founder of Future Health Leaders, explained how telehealth clinics in western NSW save thousands of kilometres in travel each year. “COPD (emphysema) patients make up 41% of bed days in hospitals,” he said, showing potential cost savings if early discharge programs could be developed with telehealth follow-up for patient convenience. What does he advise if you’ve got an idea for a telehealth program? A Churchill Fellowship recipient, Shannon emphasised the importance of teamwork, passion and keeping data in mind when dreaming up solutions: “As I’m designing this, how can I collect the data that can sustain this program? Find your champions in Clinical, IT and Administration; enthusiasm is like an infectious disease, one of the most potent infectious diseases out there.” 

Learning about these uses for telehealth helps us imagine a future where barriers to accessing quality healthcare are reduced. With Australia’s vast geography, some regions will be exposed to telehealth more than others, and the challenge will be to deliver the services to those who need it most, at minimal cost. We learnt a lot from attending the ATC, and similarly, clinicians and non-clinicians alike can learn from attending conferences like these for the future of medicine. For those who attended, full  presentations can be viewed for a very limited time via the Armchair Mobile App for online lectures.

The Health Informatics Society of Australia is led by Dr Louise Schaper, a former Occupational Therapist and now CEO of HISA. HISA runs education programs and events online and across Australia for anyone interested in health informatics and the future of healthcare. We thank HISA for providing us access to the Australian Telehealth Conference, and for those who couldn’t attend, their annual conference on Digital Health and Innovation, HIC 2016 and their Hacking Health hackathon, will be held in Melbourne in July. 

 

Medical Startups at the Melbourne Accelerator Program Launch Party 2016

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First published May 26, 2016

 

The Melbourne Accelerator Program (MAP) 2016 Launch Party last night was the first accelerator event we’ve attended, and it was a great introduction to Melbourne’s startup scene.

MAP’s Startup Accelerator awards each team with AU$20,000 equity-free, dedicated mentoring, office space, and opportunities to pitch across Melbourne, Sydney and even Silicon Valley. This year’s ten winning teams presented their 3-minute pitches to a packed Plaza Ballroom in Melbourne’s Collins St. In a nice gesture showing the warmth of the MAP community, each winner introduced the next presenter in relay team fashion.

Two of the winning teams were founded by medical doctors who are solving problems they’ve experienced first-hand with their patients.

 

“Imagine going to hospital, safe in the knowledge that medical errors are a thing of the past,” said Dr Chandrashan Perera, Ophthalmology registrar and founder of Nebula Health (formerly named Axon). Dr Perera explained how, in a landmark WHO trial, checklist implementation in clinical settings was shown to potentially reduce mortality by 50%. Nebula Health‘s IT platform builds upon this by generating workflows around each patient, which are then delivered to each carer at the right time. Nebula Health will do this intuitively so clinicians won’t be burdened having to learn another complicated software system in hospital. We can imagine the enormous benefits this could have with efficiency and risk reduction in surgical and other procedural specialties like cardiology and gastroenterology.

A/Prof Ajeet Singh from CNSdose is a psychiatrist and pharmacogeneticist who aims to tailor antidepressant prescriptions to a patient’s unique genetic profile.  Using precision medicine, a patient’s saliva sample is sent to an authorised lab and the results are sent to the doctor indicating which antidepressants are most likely to work. Prof Singh showed a remission rate of 72% in 148 patients studied through a randomised-controlled clinical trial published last August. “We have 3 value propositions; simpler prescribing for doctors, better outcomes for patients, and lower costs to society (in minimising prescribing costs),” he said. In a big win for their team, Prof announced that former Federal Trade Minister Andrew Robb has joined their advisory board. They are also working on distribution deals internationally. 

Another relevant healthcare startup, Kind aims to transform aged care in the community. Founder Lee told his moving story of how he was dissatisfied when he had to experience the aged care system with his mother. After speaking to others who felt the same way, he decided to create Kind, which will “connect carers with seniors in the community.” By focusing on safety and quality, performing rigorous background checks with potential carers, he looks forward to introducing Kind further once it goes live.

If you’re learning about startups, watching as many pitches as possible will help your knowledge. The other eight winners included:

  • Deliciou‘s healthy bacon-flavoured seasoning;

  • Allume‘s solar and grid-sharing renewable energy company;

  • Honee‘s booking and reviews platform for health, fitness and wellness businesses;

  • Onomap‘s customer data analytics platform;

  • Black’s community of hackers for a smarter world;

  • BajaBoard‘s multi-terrain skateboard; and

  • Shacky‘s tiny houses for farmstays.

As MAP Program Director Rohan Workman said, the Melbourne Accelerator Program is ranked 8th of 1200 university accelerator programs in the world. This year’s MAP winners have benefited from Australia Post’s extra funding of 2 additional winners (there were 8 recipients last year), and Entrepreneur-in-Residence Jeremy Kraybill told the room, “We want to get as many of you involved as possible.” Acknowledging the perceived glamour of entrepreneurship, he continued, “entrepreneurship has an extremely high sweat to fireworks ratio, and tomorrow that hard work continues for the ten teams tonight, and everyone in this room.” With MAP‘s array of free programs for the wider community, it’s an exciting time to be an entrepreneur in Melbourne, and we wish this year’s winners the best success with their work.  

 

 

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Melbourne Accelerator Program Launch Party: Event Tonight!

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First published May 25, 2016.

May 26 2016 Edit: We’ve now written about the event, learn more about what happened on the night here! 

Melbourne University’s Accelerator Program (MAP) has announced its ten participants for 2016. Tickets are available for their launch party tonight, where you can hear them pitch and learn about one of Melbourne’s leading accelerators for startups and enterprises.

Grab your tickets here. To learn more about the program, The Australian and Startup Daily have some great info on this year’s finalists.

Event: Mental Health Hackathon at Spacecubed, Perth

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First published May 21, 2016

 

Spacecubed, Perth’s largest coworking space, are running Australia’s first Mental Health Hackathon this weekend. From 20-21st May, you can collaborate with others from research, tech, clinical and consumer backgrounds to tackle some of Mental Health’s biggest challenges.

Mentors include former WHO head Dr Norman Sartorius (also formerly President of the World Psychiatric Association), and other key leaders in Mental Health Management in Australia. To read the full list of mentors and to purchase tickets, click here. 

We had the opportunity to meet Spacecubed’s team and learn about their new space, Flux, opening in June- stay tuned for our future post.

 

Event Tomorrow: Chronic Pain Hackathon

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Chronic Pain Australia are presenting a Hackathon in Sydney from Friday 20-Sunday 22nd May. The world’s first Chronic Pain Hackathon is a great way for tech professionals and healthcare workers to collaborate by prototyping an app that can help chronic pain sufferers.

Chronic Pain Australia have provided some case studies that may provide inspiration for new working apps. The Hackathon will run using the “co-design” method, meaning the end-user (chronic pain sufferers) will be involved from start til finish.

No matter what your healthcare background is, a hackathon is a great way to get started in medtechand gain real experience creating a minimum viable prototype. It will be held at Fishburners, Australia’s largest tech coworking space in Sydney. Tickets are available here.

 

Events This Week: Webinar featuring Jay Samit, Serial Entrepreneur

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First published May 16, 2016

We’re very pleased to partner with Startups Innovation for this weekend’s Webinar on Disruption with Jay Samit, serial entrepreneur and author of “Disrupt You!”

Jay’s illustrious career spans multiple industries. He is the former Executive VP at Sony, CEO of Seachange International, and lectures on Startups at the University of Southern California’s School of Engineering. He also continues to be a key advisor with various startups and corporations.

 

We’ve been reading Jay’s book, “Disrupt You!“, and recommend it to anyone from any field or industry, whether you’re a student, graduate worker, founder, investor, board member, or just plain curious. Jay’s failed lotto machine in the 1980s pivoted to become the airport check-in kiosks that are used worldwide today. He saw the value of LinkedIn, streaming music, and telecommunications years before they hit the mainstream. And his book really struck a chord with us.

“Disrupt You!” is about self-reflection and questioning your values, your outlook, and how you learn things and see the world. It’s about using your unique experiences to “disrupt” the world, and that’s exactly the kind of thinking that led to The Medical Startup. Reading Jay’s book, his experiences mirror the thought process that went into creating our blog, and we can’t wait to hear what he has to share this weekend.

To register, click here with the code MEDSTARTUP for live access and a recording after the event. The webinar will run Saturday 21st May from 1-3pm EDT (US Eastern Daylight Time), which is Sunday 22nd May 3am Australian EST; click here to check out the time in other cities.

Startups Innovation, based out of Boston, host key players in the startup world through their program of webinars, coaching and events. Be inspired by their list of other upcoming events.

More inspiration coming soon! Like us on Facebookand subscribe to our mailing list for updates via our home page, TheMedicalStartup.com