HelpMate's October 21 Update
Welcome back to our October 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.
Also, happy national carers week! Special thanks to all those unsung heroes who provide care to those who need it most 🥰
What we’ve been focusing on
We've interviewed more carers, people with dementia, researchers and clinicians - this month we connected with 20 people 🤗
Preparing for the MedTech Actuator Origin Rapid Fire Pitch Round - unfortunately, we didn't get through to the next round but it was a fun learning experience regardless
Gaining clarity on our target users and mapping out our user journey
The good, the bad, and the ugly:
Good
Got accepted into the Blackbird Giants cohort 🎉
By refining our interview process, we've been able to iron out our problem space more through interviews
Strengthened our relationships with stakeholders - particularly Dementia Australia
Begun creating our first MVP
Bad
We didn't get through to the next round of MedTech Actuator Origin
Ugly
We didn't reach the goal we set last month regarding testing product hypotheses - we felt like we needed more time to understand our problem space
Although we managed to speak to a few now, it's still been very difficult to find people with dementia to chat with
Our focuses over the next month
Testing and validating some hypotheses around our solution and working towards an MVP - we have a clearer understanding of what our product will look like and have an action plan for validating it
Our Asks
Warm intros to anyone in the dementia space - specifically carers, people with dementia, occupational therapists, geriatricians or anyone else in the space
Do you know of any healthcare pitch competitions happening? We'd love to participate! 🥰
Pia, Aryan, Michael, Evan, Darren and Renee from Helpmate 💜