IN THIS EPISODE:
> Advance Queensland Ignite Ideas Fund
> Robert Buehrig, the PR dream
> Welcome to our new investor
> Market Trends and Customer Segments
> Becoming the source of learning
Advance QLD Ignite Ideas Fund
FINALLY!!! The news Zoe has been chomping at the bit to share with you all. She can finally retire as a successful grant application writer! When the news dropped this is pretty much the reaction!
Flash back to December 2019, Zoe is curled up on the living room floor of our Melbourne apartment in the middle of our Med Tech’s Got Talent adventure. It is freezing cold outside, her laptop perched on the coffee table, the cricket is playing in the background and the cups of coffee seems to be never ending. She is determined to stay put until the Grant is written, and written to perfection.
Come March 2020, the world broke and a lot of the government funding initiatives were taken off he market. The Ignite Grant is a coveted program in Queensland with many people reveling in the prestige of the name even more than the funding itself. This was about the time winners of Round 6 should have been announced, but alas, word from Advance Queensland had gone completely silent. It was presumed this funding would be removed too, and Zoe would have to wait a little longer to add “Successful Grant Writer” to her CV.
So when the email from Queensland Government dropped on the 8th May, it took a moment for the words to sink in:
Not only was the application written to perfection, it was one of only 15 successful applications out of 300 entries. We couldn’t be more thrilled and proud of this achievement! With some fairly heavy reporting metrics in place, we can finally move forward with announcements and publicity, and begin some incredible initiatives.
With the theme of “COVID response, recovery and future proofing” we now have the opportunity to open the door and provide assistance to even more facilities and businesses as they begin to emerge post pandemic and take on the new look world. Now more than ever, its so much more than just business success. For many, it’s about survival, and we are incredibly grateful to be gifted the opportunity to help.
Robert Buehrig, the PR dream
Seriously, Zoe made me write that, but since the Ignite Grant win, PR events has quickly become one of my main activities.
Last week (July 6) I had the absolute privilege of joining the team from Startup Redlands in the BayFM 100.3 studio for their monthly “Entrepreneurs Journey” segment. Supported by Advicepoint Business Consulting, hosts John Burkett and Sharyn Doolan talk to local entrepreneurs with a focus on
startups. You can check out the segment here. I think that no matter what, giving back to the start up community and helping other entrepreneurs in any way I can will always be a passion of mine, so it was a great experience having a chat with them on air.
On Wednesday (July 15) I’ll be making an appearance on Ausbiz on their “Start Up Daily” show talking about Cogniom, the TANDM Suite and how the work we’re doing. I’ll be sure to send through an update on the experience!
Welcome our newest Investor!
We can now confirm that interest in Cogniom is now a Global affair!
Currently we’ve been fortunate enough to receive investment from Australia and the US, and last week we officially signed on our first French investor!
Claude has followed our journey from the very beginning and believes in the potential we show in making major change, especially now as the world recovers and builds its new norm.
Merci Claude, et bienvenue dans la famille Cogniom!
Market Trends and Customer Segments
What’s a startup story without a pivot or two, right? Heck, I even have a “Power of the Pivot” presentation for accelerator programs – and we are certainly not immune to them.
Pre COVID-19 we had signed up several customers in the healthcare industry and had some massive success stories (one client is set to save $500K this year alone!). Off the backs of those pilots we had aimed to help hospitals, Big Four consulting and a number of university research projects.
With the decimation of the pandemic, three of our top four customer segments were wiped off the charts. As mentioned above, it’s not just about success, now it’s about survival. Here is what we’ve learned:
MARKET TRENDS |
– Healthcare facilities have taken a major hit to profitability. With public facilities needing beds filled for funding and private hospitals needing surgery theaters that are off limits – both have been struggling. With the threat of COVID now reduced for the most part, the battle will likely come from an impending flood of patients and surgeries from increased backlogs and waitlists a months from now.
– Universities have been struggling nationally with travel bans since large segments of their student populations come from overseas. Additionally, most of the on-site research projects have been placed on hold due to budget cuts and social distancing needs.
– Big Four are taking a hit from lack of contracts, resulting in a flow on affect of major operational spending cuts. In an article from Consultancy.com.au it is reported that consulting firms are bracing for an estimated 19% slump in fees. Big four are looking to reduce significant staff numbers and taking on partner salary cuts to make ends meet.
CUSTOMER SEGMENTS |
So where does that leave us? For starters, the doom and gloom above doesn’t remove those segments altogether. Instead, directives for finding efficiencies and slimming costs have suddenly jumped to the front of the queue. To support their initiatives, our primary focus has been to provide codeless, rapidly adjustable software for proven business impacts. With that space in mind, we’ll look to Small/Mid-level Business Consulting, MedTechs/Startups/Scaleups, Finance, Manufacturing, and Mining.
> Small/Mid-level Business Consultants: Businesses will likely need help pivoting and navigating post-COVID-19 through a global depression. Smaller consultancies offering process mapping on client operations will need to have instant results tailored to meet the needs and prove the ROI of their services.
> MedTech’s / start ups / scale ups: New companies will struggle to sell their innovations to future customers, simply because they are unable to calculate the financial ROI their services deliver. The TANDM Suite provides opportunity for these new businesses to hit the ground running, armed with valuable data to prove their worth and close sales even faster. With this focus, it also provides an opportunity to breed a new generation of businesses with the TANDM Suite as a core foundation in their business success.
> Finance: The banking industry is often heavily regulated and audited, leaving it with legacy paper-based processes that are hard to simplify digitally. Helping to map the cost of processes done manually means they can make an informed business case to their leadership for changes that make the most financial impact.
> Manufacturing: With disruptions to supply chains, many businesses have had to pivot which products they sell and diversify their offerings. The news is filled with stories of distilleries selling hand sanitizer, gas pump handles being made for ventilators, and the need to restart an industry that has relied on China for decades.
> Mining: Lithium metal is a material Australia has in abundance and has seen a massive boom in recent years. As the demand rises with new battery technologies and recent patents, traction and adoption into products on the market will depend on creating new batteries domestically.
Becoming a Source of Learning.
We mentioned last month the launch of our e-book series. Even with minimal promotion we’ve had incredible response and have worked with a number of start ups through their customer validation and research phases.
However, we’ve put the release of future chapters on hold for the time being as we build out the learning annex of Cogniom.
With our recent customer pivots, we are currently flushing out the revamped eBook series to match future customer needs, and looking at creating webinars and industry networking events. Watch this space for more to come!
Our Ask
As always we’re incredibly grateful for your ongoing support. If you’d like to get involved further, here is how you can help:
- Help us close our pre seed round. The global pandemic put a spanner in the works for many, and we still have a couple of spots left to finish this investment round. We’re on the brink of a business surge post pandemic and we’d love to have you along for the ride!
- Make an Introduction. For those who are struggling in their businesses and need to make a change, we’d love to hear from them and help them on their journey. If you have a friend or spouse that gets frustrated with manual data entry or cumbersome processes, we’d love to meet them.
- Do you know a Healthcare professional?A Surgeon, a CFO, a CIO, a nursing or department head? It’s falling on their shoulders to not only recover from COVID-19 impacts but to manage the increasing pressures to the healthcare system. We’d love to chat and help them plan the most effective path forward.
Thanks again for joining us in the latest edition of our adventures!
