Real Traction in Health Doesn’t Start Where You Think
Real Traction in Health Doesn’t Start Where You Might Think
This week my co-founders and I spent two days at the Cicada Innovations Health Tech Hub at the Westmead Health & Innovation District.
The workshop was facilitated by Nicolette Conway, whose depth of experience across health startups and the broader healthcare system made the conversations incredibly valuable for us. Her insights into regulation, policy, and the real-world complexity of working in health will shape how we move forward.
Building in health is not just about having a meaningful idea.
It’s about understanding how the system actually functions and learning how to work within it early, especially at the stage we’re in right now.
For me, the biggest mental shift was this:
Breaking into the health space is challenging, particularly if you aim straight for executive levels and hospital decision-makers. Real traction often starts elsewhere.
It starts with community.
With practitioners.
With the people who interact with patients every single day.
That is where we need to embed ourselves, to learn, to validate, and to co-create what we’re building.
Human-centred research and validation have always been at the core of my work in the corporate world. The same applies here, and I would argue it matters even more in a space as sensitive as grief and mental health.
We are coming very close to completing our MVP simulation for the Post-Life Planner experience.
Now the more important layer begins.
Co-creation with mental health experts to ensure what we build is not only innovative, but effective and safe.
If you are a grief therapist, psychologist, counsellor, palliative care provider, or work in community-based mental health, I would genuinely value a conversation.
To understand how grief is supported in practice, and to explore how immersive technology, coupled with therapy, could make mental health support more accessible, especially for those who cannot access professional help or who live in remote areas where support simply isn’t available.
If you work in this space, or know someone who does, I would truly appreciate an introduction or a short conversation. Even 20 minutes of your perspective could shape how we build this responsibly.
First Published in Linkedin 5 MARCH 2026