HelpMate's December Update

Welcome to HelpMate’s December update 🎄

This newsletter goes through everything that has been happening with HelpMate and how we’re approaching our mission to alleviate carer burden and empower those living with dementia to retain their independence.

We will begin with our focuses, then reflect on the good, the bad, and the ugly, and finish up with our goals for the next month and our questions for you.

Where we’ve been focusing on

• Pumping out our solution's v0 and releasing it 🎉

The good, the bad, and the ugly:

Good

• Tested our solution’s v0 from a handful of select new caregivers, people living with dementia, and Dementia Australia contacts 🙌

• Making it to the final round of the TextBook Venture's pitch competition. HelpMate didn't win as the judges were looking for more traction, but we solidified the communication of our solution & value proposition. You win or you learn 💪

• As a team, we were invited back to the Startmate Student Fellowship to talk about all things HelpMate, startup careers, and life in general. It’s always a pleasure to chat with Cam and we loved meeting the S21 cohort 🤗

• Renee and Pia were interviewed by Bronte McHenry from Startmate for a write up on the Startmate blog - keep an eye out 👀

• Check out helpmate.life 😉

Bad

• The holiday period. The team wishes everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and we are definitely looking forward to celebrating with our family and friends! But unfortunately, this has put a halt in the rollout of our initial solution and trying to get feedback 🎄

Ugly

• The team has realised that we have been trying to solve a multitude of problems in the dementia space, rather than narrowing our focus to one problem. As a result, the team has been spread thin. After speaking to a mentor as part of Blackbird’s Giants program, we have decided to narrow our scope. Now, our plan is to solve this problem exceptionally before tackling the myriad of other problems in the space 👊

Our focus over the next month

• Release and get feedback on our solution’s v0 from more caregivers 🚀

• Speak to more Blackbird Giant’s Mentors on moving from 0 to 1 to ensure we are staying focused on the right things 🤝

• Initiate & build relationships with doctors and memory clinics to prepare for the distribution of our MVP 📈

Our Asks

• Warm intros to anyone in the dementia space - specifically GPs, new caregivers and people with dementia 🙏

Hope you all have a wonder and see you in 2022 👋👋

Pia, Aryan, Darren and Renee from Helpmate 💜