Entrepreneurial journey told by five students
Story written by Shreya Nair
As an entrepreneur, starting a business and embarking on a journey of uncertainty has been difficult. Still, it has been so rewarding to my vision come to life and make a difference. Em-u Health and its product Desk Coach developed from my passion towards health care. I started this venture because I was frustrated about the physical health issues that my patients/ clients suffered from their work, and I wanted to change this. It took me years of brainstorming, market analysis, industry analysis and developing this idea before I put it out in the market in March 2020.
I have always been passionate about health and wanted to do medicine before realising it was not for me. Instead, I studied exercise physiology and worked as an exercise physiologist and corporate health consultant at a health company in Sydney. A reason for my passion towards health and my strong drive or resilience towards creating a change is due to the life experiences I have had. Perseverance is something I learnt from my brother, and he will always be my role model. Due to my high-risk profile, I decided to create a business to make an impact in healthcare.
I believe that failures are a stepping stone towards success. Through this venture and the creation of Desk Help, I have encountered numerous step-backs and failures, but I have had the opportunity to learn from these failures. In fact, one of our failures leads to a new start-up! So now I have two start-ups.
Creating a great business includes creating an effective team. Since I had this idea for a startup for a couple of years, during this period, I had the great opportunity to network and meet with many bright individuals whose values are what I want in my company. I spent a couple of years creating a strong team, developing the product and mainly relying on bootstrapping and building the team via the company’s equity. In March 2020, I created a minimally viable product (MVP) to test the interest and feedback. The MVP was a texting product that could be used on your phone. We received much good feedback on how to proceed with our product.
Today I am proud of what I have accomplished. The start-up is growing and attracting investors, and our current customers are in the Education and Health technology industry and this year, we are looking to partner with insurance companies.
Story written by Campbell Nelson
Ever since I was young, I have always been a problem solver, driven by the need to understand issues and finding solutions. My brother was diagnosed with cerebral palsy when he was a kid, leaving him with many issues surrounding his health, but he was always strong and never let it hold him back. My father passed away in hospital due to medical negligence, which has made me stubborn ever since. As a result of these family experiences, my problem-solving nature meant I have always been drawn towards issues in health. This led me to study sports science and physiology and to go on and take a job in rehabilitation. When rehabilitating corporate-working patients, I was frustrated by having to treat patients for the same issues. Many patients came to me with the idea that they could ‘get fixed’, when in reality there were aspects of their corporate lifestyle that were impacting their wellbeing. I realised there were ‘quick-fix’ aspects of their lifestyle in the corporate environment which were the root cause of these issues, and companies were not addressing them, in some cases making the companies liable and at risk. This is where the idea for my company, em-u, arose. There was a lack of transparency and awareness for initiatives to combat these health issues in corporate companies. My idea was to create a software that could serve as a tool to help companies implement practices to support employees’ physical and mental health. I didn’t have the technological background, but with the support of my lawyer husband who could understand the legal implications of health issues in the workplace, and with contacts I had who could fill the gaps for other necessary skills, I had the human capital to start my company. Financially, as I had worked hard over the years, I had enough backing to bootstrap my venture, which meant I could take full ownership of the venture without the need for initial investors or lenders. It took a while before the market was right to begin launching, but with a lot of thought over time, I had a clear vision for where I wanted to take it. When I felt the time was right, I launched a trial with patients and the feedback was positive! This confirmed the assumptions for the need for my software and with continuous tweaking, I’ve taken the platform to the point where it’s ready to be launched!
Story written by Aarushi Sharma
“I have always been the curious one, always finding a way around things. With my brother facing a severe neural disability issues and loss of a parent, I was always had to learn to adapt to situations. Working in the health industry, I have had a good experience and knowledge about the client need and problems. The idea for my startup came to me out of anger and frustration, where I was repeatedly dealing with the same issue again and again. The idea felt like a eureka moment, from which I have never looked back. I will always consider myself to be stubborn and practical. I never shy away from asking stupid questions which helped me immensely when developing this idea. Apart from this my team has been of a great support. I wholeheartedly believe that everyone in my team has their strengths and weakness which makes a fully functional team. Since I have become an entrepreneur, I have learnt that time is the most important factor due to which I always set goals and try to achieve them as fast as I can. I come from a family of hardworking and driven individuals due to which I have never been afraid to face problems and challenges during my entire career span. I have envisioned Em-u to be a product that can bring about a positive change in people’s lives and that is the goal we try to strive towards.”
Story written by Shutong Wu
Hey there, I’m Leigh Sherry, the founder of EM-U. With over 20 years of experience in the health industry, I’m excited to share my journey with you.
Due to my personal experience, I have engaged in this sector for such a long time. I have been taking care of my brother, who has cerebral palsy, since a young age. And the tragedy of my father’s death due to medical negligence had truly motivated me to create a company that addresses the gaps in the health sector.
I’ve always had a passion for promoting health and wellbeing. The idea for EM-U came about after years of rehabbing the same issues during my group fitness classes. I was frustrated and knew there had to be a better way. So, I developed a startup idea to address the problem. My direct connection to decision-makers in corporate fitness classes helped me to develop the idea further.
I’m a big picture thinker and recognize that everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. To complement my skills, I’ve recruited exceptional teammates who can fill my gaps. I value curiosity and learning from others, which allows for continued growth and improvement.
At first, the idea didn’t gain traction because health wasn’t a big thing on the corporate landscape yet. But after receiving good feedback from a non-tech version of the startup using my phone, I decided to build it. EM-U addresses gaps in the health sector that I had observed through my experience.
I know that building a team with diverse skill sets and personalities is crucial to success. By recognizing the strengths and weaknesses of team members, I can leverage their skills and delegate tasks accordingly.
If it is not my expertise in health and wellness, creativity, and collaboration with other professionals, I would not be able to recognize, incubate, gain insight, and validate/refine my idea for EM-U. I’m excited to see where this journey takes us!
Story written by Darren Zhou
“I’m Leigh Sherry, the founder of EM-U Health and SmartLife Health & Fitness. And also an exercise physiologist and sports scientist. That’s how I started out. I have a brother Ryan with several palsy, but he lives as a normal person now even with a formal job in government. I have watched him throughout his life gain energy to be super resilient and perseverant. And his story always promotes me to figure out a way around things. The 11-years suitcase of my dad’s death also taught me some things. If I know I’m right, I will dig my heels in, and I won’t move. That’s something that is super important to me and help me to be an entrepreneur. And the second thing I learned is that everyone’s the same. It’s better that you work with teams and you understand different personality types and never kind of put yourself above other people. Those traits I found also motivate me to be more innovative. I tried many industry related to health likes corporate health, clinical, sports science. I am the guy very, very involved in health. Finally I think fitness is probably what I want to do. However, I found most consumers in group fitness classes misunderstood what was required to actually get themselves better. I straddled between the health world and the fitness world. One day, I came out an idea to combine the advantages of my experiences in both health and fitness industry to redefine clients’ health at work. I started to form my starup company to create a mobile phone application to help people deal with their mental and physical health issues in an easily accessible way, just by putting their cell phone on the desk and following the guidance on the app. The 20 years experience in health and fitness industry help me a lot after I decide to do my venture. Some difficulties as potential clients, supporting resources, funding raise, relationship with large companies are not a big problem for me. All my previous experience helps me to be the better one in current time and also help me to select my business model and value of EM-U as consumer-oriented. I am like a borned innovator and native entrepreneur with the behaviour as a leader in any team.”