Latest / Sarah Knows Support Workers / NDIS Home Care Technology: How One App Is Solving the Family Coordination Problem | Lisa Thomson

Transcript

NDIS Home Care Technology: How One App Is Solving the Family Coordination Problem | Lisa Thomson · Sarah Knows Support Workers

• 0:00
  It's Sarah, no support workers. And today I've got Lisa from
• 0:03
  Harmony Help and I'm really excited to talk to you because
• 0:06
  you're doing some really cool stuff in the sector and I can't
• 0:09
  wait for people to listen to this podcast to hear about it.
• 0:13
  So you have had a really long career in the enterprise product
• 0:20
  space, retail space. What was your first like?
• 0:24
  What pulled you in first two products?
• 0:26
  Like what? What gave you that drive?
• 0:29
  Yeah, absolutely. So I think you know like my
• 0:32
  first kind of foray into building products and health
• 0:35
  technology and and retail platforms was in pharmacy.
• 0:38
  And I think what really drove me was I just really liked to solve
• 0:42
  problems for my customers and translate that into easy to use,
• 0:47
  powerful technology. So what led you to 1:00 or so?
• 0:51
  So let me rewind this back. You've LED some really large
• 0:54
  scale platforms across hundreds of pharmacies across Australia.
• 0:59
  What did it teach you about real life implementation?
• 1:03
  My goodness, it taught me communication is key.
• 1:06
  So I was building just for context, like I was building the
• 1:10
  the enterprise software that pharmacy head office groups
• 1:13
  would use. And some of the biggest groups
• 1:15
  that I've that product has supported is 750 pharmacies and
• 1:18
  it's the business operations of those pharmacies.
• 1:21
  So what I learned in not just designing that software, but
• 1:25
  rolling it out was that you are designing it for not only the
• 1:29
  head office group, but 750 CEOs. So it's communication, it's
• 1:35
  transparency, it's change management.
• 1:38
  I think it was it's really set up, set me up for a career in
• 1:42
  product as a result because. There'd be a lot of testing
• 1:45
  involved with that to see how it works and back and forth and
• 1:48
  what what is the customer. Absolutely.
• 1:53
  There's actually it is really complex and we have this saying,
• 1:56
  had this saying in my team that we were building for simple
• 2:00
  complexity and what that meant was that we were building really
• 2:03
  complex engines behind it like it's calculating pricing for
• 2:08
  pharmacies or you know a lot of analytics and data.
• 2:11
  But on the front end, it was just everyday users like us, you
• 2:16
  know, aren't operating a dashboard and buttons.
• 2:19
  But it's just really simple workflows and easy workflows.
• 2:22
  It's funny, there was so much testing involved, yes.
• 2:25
  Because we only see like at the other end, all the pretty
• 2:28
  buttons and all the pretty things that it does really
• 2:31
  quickly. We the understanding of what is
• 2:34
  required to go into the back end to make it so functional.
• 2:38
  Isn't is the mind blowing? It really is.
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  It really is. And then I think just really
• 2:44
  knowing your audience and knowing what they want and also
• 2:49
  predicting what they will want in the future, but they don't
• 2:52
  quite know it yet. And yes, exactly, exactly.
• 2:58
  And translating that into the right amount of buttons for
• 3:01
  their skill level or for what they want to.
• 3:04
  Do the wooing of CEOs. You said you had 700 of them.
• 3:07
  They are not easy people to please.
• 3:11
  I, I don't even know how to describe it.
• 3:13
  I think it's because of the time that I've spent interviewing in
• 3:16
  this sector. There's so many different
• 3:18
  personality types and traits in this sector to meet that middle
• 3:23
  ground. Like how did you bring him in?
• 3:26
  Like how did you will him? Yeah, absolutely.
• 3:29
  Sorry. I mean, gosh, that's that can be
• 3:31
  challenging in itself. So I think, you know, what we
• 3:35
  did in that space was we got like we identified our advocates
• 3:38
  and they were the people that were a little bit technology
• 3:41
  forward to start with that really got excited about new
• 3:43
  tech and, and, and trying things.
• 3:46
  And we made them into advocates. We identified how it solved
• 3:49
  their problems and benchmarked, you know, the efficiencies that
• 3:53
  they gained as an example. And then we rolled it out with
• 3:58
  the messaging that it saved, you know, X percent in time or it's
• 4:03
  increased your average, average basket size by this percent.
• 4:07
  And we'll let the analytics and the and the facts speak for
• 4:10
  themselves. So was that the easiest way to
• 4:14
  scale for you guys? Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
• 4:18
  Because I think, you know, the healthcare, like we're
• 4:20
  developing tech in Healthcare is a lot about trust and it's, you
• 4:25
  know, it's obviously it's holding really sensitive
• 4:28
  information cannot go down at any way or it can't stop
• 4:32
  healthcare delivery. So you need to build that trust
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  and you need to build it with people, like I said, that's, you
• 4:39
  know, that's willing to be a bit brave and and trial it to start
• 4:42
  with, but giving them a lot of support.
• 4:44
  And then when other people see those results, you've got that
• 4:48
  trust. So you were quite successful.
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  So to be honest, like, yeah, because it does take a different
• 4:55
  part, like implementation stuff, you know, it takes another,
• 4:59
  another level of understanding the data and making it live.
• 5:02
  Where was, was there like a point or a moment?
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  Because that seems like such a successful part of your career
• 5:08
  to open up something completely different.
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  What were you thinking? Like, did you always want to
• 5:12
  build something for yourself? Think.
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  Yeah, when you say it like that, you know, successful corporate
• 5:18
  career as startup founder, it's it's a brave new world, but I
• 5:22
  think at my core, I've have always been a little bit
• 5:26
  entrepreneurial. I've liked problem solve, but I
• 5:30
  think really what the problem for me that I just couldn't
• 5:34
  ignore and I needed to solve was when my dad got diagnosed with
• 5:38
  stage 4 cancer. And it was us as a family
• 5:43
  navigating him having those treatments, those medications
• 5:47
  and getting that support into the harm and feeling really
• 5:51
  alone and vulnerable. And like, we had no tools to
• 5:54
  manage that care. And my dad is in Perth and I'm
• 5:58
  in Melbourne and I've got brothers in Queensland.
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  So we're all spread, you know, trying to do like trying to care
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  for him. We really had no tools.
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  And I just, I couldn't ignore it anymore.
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  So I took the leap. So was it kind of like one of
• 6:13
  those stuff that I'll build it anyway?
• 6:16
  A little bit, yeah, a little bit actually.
• 6:20
  You know, they tell you can I say I broke all the rules.
• 6:23
  So I you know, I build tech it's easy.
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  I mean, you know, people that you know, are the developers.
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  So we built the tech when really we do things the opposite way
• 6:34
  around and it's, you know, validate your market, set up
• 6:36
  your sales pipelines and and your interest and things like
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  that. So so that's been, you know,
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  that's been a journey going none and I you need to speak to
• 6:46
  people first, but. People don't grow in.
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  Yeah, it's all learning. It's all learning.
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  But, but also it's been like a bit of a journey as well is like
• 6:54
  as dad's care is, you know, intensified and then mom has
• 6:59
  actually been added to that. She's had a fall, so she needs
• 7:02
  extra support, but just different support.
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  It allowed us to allow me to learn more and about navigating
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  like aged care as an example and long provider wait times and
• 7:13
  impacts and things like that. So there's been a lot of our own
• 7:17
  learnings that have gone into it.
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  So what problems did you see in the home care space that made
• 7:23
  you think, was it a problem even in the home care space, or is it
• 7:26
  a problem that you just really wanted to solve for your family?
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  Both actually, what I saw for my family was that, you know, so my
• 7:34
  dad, my dad's pretty computer savvy, so he created a
• 7:37
  spreadsheet and it was, you know, all of his health
• 7:39
  information, all his, you know, notes from his appointments when
• 7:43
  he remembered. And, you know, I would find
• 7:45
  myself ringing him every day. I'm what did the GP say?
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  Have you taken that medication? Things would slip through the
• 7:52
  cracks and compound that with long provided wait times,
• 7:56
  fragmented care. We were going to the emergency
• 7:58
  room more times than what I can count, which is it's emotional,
• 8:02
  you know, it's emotional time, it's emotional roller coaster.
• 8:05
  But I think, you know, like if we go out and look at home care
• 8:09
  as a wider market, it is all the same problems that you've got
• 8:14
  3,000,000 family carers, 3,000,000 carers supporting care
• 8:17
  in the home. And we know that providers and
• 8:21
  people like yourself that are amazing once you get them, but
• 8:25
  you stretch really, really thin. So the problem still translated
• 8:30
  to what we were experiencing. Was it you just need more in the
• 8:34
  home? So for anyone listening, can you
• 8:37
  explain your product to them? Like is it a physical product?
• 8:40
  Is it an app? I don't think I've touched on
• 8:42
  that, apologies. No, that's OK.
• 8:45
  So imagine walking into a home and instead of having like a
• 8:49
  Google hub on the on the bench, you would have a Harmony home
• 8:52
  health hub. And that would, what that would
• 8:54
  do is that would support your participants or your
• 8:57
  individual's daily routines or their medication management,
• 9:01
  their care information, like their care plans in one place.
• 9:04
  And then what that would do is connect to the village of
• 9:09
  support around the home. So it would connect to family
• 9:12
  like us for visibility that dad's taking his medication or
• 9:16
  he's had that care appointment. And it would connect to the care
• 9:19
  team so that they could actually coordinate their care and
• 9:23
  sequence their care and be able to share care information to the
• 9:27
  hub. So was your parents the first
• 9:30
  ones that got to try the model? They were, yes, whether they
• 9:34
  liked it or not, they really were there and, and different,
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  you know, they were, they were both really different use cases.
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  So dad's, you know, dad's obviously going through chronic
• 9:43
  illness and, and you know, a really tough journey, but mum
• 9:47
  was really different. So mum has had a fall and it's
• 9:50
  affected her mobility, but socially active still, you know,
• 9:55
  just wasn't really on any medication per SE.
• 9:58
  And I gave it to both of them. And as an example with mum, it's
• 10:01
  given her confidence for her day just to manage when her care
• 10:04
  appointments are all when her social life is as well, you
• 10:09
  know, and it's with dad it's it's supporting 5 page
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  medication lists when that comes out of hospital that he has to
• 10:17
  have. Did they ask for anything that
• 10:19
  you didn't think of to be added? Yeah, You know what they did?
• 10:25
  And going back to that medication list, it was actually
• 10:28
  probably as a whole family, we went, whoa, you know, we need
• 10:32
  more. So Dad, you know, medication's a
• 10:36
  bit of a journey. And he'd gone into hospital for
• 10:39
  six weeks and he was released two days before Christmas.
• 10:42
  He lives on his own and with A5 page medication list that
• 10:45
  include a number of pretty strong painkillers and no
• 10:52
  supports, absolutely no supports.
• 10:55
  So as a family, we're all staying together at Christmas
• 10:58
  and I'm like, here you go dad. Here's the home health hub.
• 11:02
  We're using it. And, and what we actually found
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  was like as an example, medication management,
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  medication reminders is not enough.
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  It is not medication management in the home.
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  What we found is we needed something that allowed us to
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  hand over without the handover so that I could give some
• 11:20
  medication doses and then my brother could, my other brother
• 11:24
  could with a little to no handover or dad when he's
• 11:27
  feeling better. And it was things like
• 11:30
  medication safety. So some of those painkillers,
• 11:34
  it's really important that you don't take them any more than 8
• 11:37
  hours, you know, a minimum 8 hours apart.
• 11:40
  So important needed more. And you know what as well, like
• 11:45
  real life happens and and people are receiving care for a reason
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  and sometimes they can sleep through that medication.
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  So what we also needed was that medication, you know, routine to
• 11:57
  actually update based on when we took it and auto calculate going
• 12:02
  OK, this is the next. Dose wow.
• 12:05
  Yeah, yeah, yes, I think that with blister packs and support
• 12:09
  workers because it's never the automation is never quite clear
• 12:12
  and you can't always have them like it needs to have that 4
• 12:15
  hour period. Wow.
• 12:17
  Correct. And I think just from linked
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  experience alone and you know the pain going Oh my God, you
• 12:24
  know we could have given that to dad within that 8 hour threshold
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  or you know we could have given him too much medication.
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  Just those feelings became the non negotiables of what we
• 12:34
  delivered. So now everybody has that
• 12:38
  functionality from version 1. Yeah.
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  Was it hard, because he's quite independent to put a product
• 12:43
  like this into his home to and explain that this actually helps
• 12:47
  you be even more independent in essence?
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  Absolutely, absolutely. So he's well, both of them
• 12:53
  really. You know, you get the whole I'm
• 12:56
  fine, it's fine. Like I ring every day, I'm fine.
• 13:03
  But I think, you know, what's sort of happened over time is
• 13:08
  they've actually realized, or both of them have realized that
• 13:12
  being independent doesn't mean that you don't need a little bit
• 13:16
  of support to help you maintain your day or be in control of
• 13:20
  your day. And it's better than, you know,
• 13:22
  families surveilling or hovering like what we were doing.
• 13:26
  And so I think just that experience, you know, has made
• 13:30
  them both really embrace it. Can you leave notes on it?
• 13:35
  Yeah, so like Eric would come in and say medication was given,
• 13:39
  but if he drowsy or I noticed this morning with a meal assist
• 13:44
  and things happen. Absolutely.
• 13:45
  So from the care coordination point of view.
• 13:48
  So one of our first pilots was a gentleman in the home who's got
• 13:51
  Parkinson's and he had a support worker coming in and AOT and
• 13:57
  physio and speech pathologist. So basically what the hub
• 14:02
  allowed them to do is like share their care plans so that they
• 14:05
  could see, you know, when the gentleman needed particular care
• 14:09
  or things like that, coordinate their care, but also leave notes
• 14:13
  for each other. Hey, this has been done.
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  You know, like you mentioned, this has happened today.
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  So is there much training for support workers and people that
• 14:23
  are using the product? Does it take long?
• 14:27
  Yeah. So this is a simple complexity.
• 14:29
  So making a product so visual and so simple to look at, it
• 14:33
  doesn't need a lot of training. So whilst we provide training,
• 14:37
  it really is very straightforward and there's
• 14:40
  multiple views as well so that you can get as simple or as
• 14:45
  detailed as what you need. So because you're you're a data
• 14:51
  person, let's be, let's be quite clear about this.
• 14:53
  Is there anything when you were doing some of the testing or
• 14:56
  even to now that surprised you when the data how people are
• 14:59
  using the product? Yeah, I think that, you know,
• 15:02
  like all of it's been a bit of an evolution, right?
• 15:04
  And it's, you know, it's how they it's if they leave
• 15:08
  reminders and things like that, they don't sort of complete them
• 15:11
  or they just press complete, complete, complete, really quick
• 15:13
  things like that can really stress the system.
• 15:16
  And you know that you've got to, you know, cater for lots of
• 15:20
  button pressing, things like that.
• 15:22
  But no, it's, you know, it's, it's the basics really.
• 15:25
  It's just, I think what's really surprised us is if I had to put
• 15:28
  my finger on it, it's we can be a little bit detailed, but it's
• 15:33
  the simple views I think that people are using the most.
• 15:37
  So are your parents your best sellers of the product?
• 15:40
  Yeah, absolutely. Can I tell you I've done
• 15:43
  something I've never thought I'd do in my in my career in a time?
• 15:47
  Ever. Go for it was I took my mom to a
• 15:50
  health tech conference on Friday and I know, right?
• 15:55
  And we spoke to all the big home care providers.
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  And what I actually found was that it was interesting having
• 16:03
  mom because she's my biggest advocate now.
• 16:08
  She was like explaining it to the providers about how it makes
• 16:12
  her feel. And they wanted to listen to
• 16:14
  that gun. And they didn't want to hear
• 16:16
  from me, the data tech person. They wanted to hear from her
• 16:19
  going, what is it that makes you like it?
• 16:22
  What is it that you're getting out of it?
• 16:24
  And really, for her, it was just confidence to manage her day.
• 16:31
  That's a biggest selling point, isn't it, because it really is
• 16:33
  from somebody that does require it and need it and there is a
• 16:35
  language around it. And so we able to show like a
• 16:40
  lot of people this product in one go with her.
• 16:43
  Absolutely, absolutely. And like I said, it wasn't,
• 16:46
  wasn't the complex, you know, I can do this and this and this.
• 16:48
  It was it enables people to feel in control of their day.
• 16:53
  They've got independence, they've got confidence and it's
• 16:58
  support without hovering. It's not just an A individual
• 17:03
  that can buy your product. It can be brought by a family,
• 17:06
  it can be bought by a provider. Is there a difference in like
• 17:10
  who is buying it from you guys? Have you noticed?
• 17:13
  Not really, because I think the core elements are actually the
• 17:16
  same. It's it's those daily routines,
• 17:18
  it's those, you know that care information in one place.
• 17:21
  So whilst there might be like customizations from a provider
• 17:26
  level, the core features are pretty much the same.
• 17:30
  Because the way that the product looks, you can adjust and update
• 17:35
  it as required. So just say if there's something
• 17:37
  that you want to add into the feature, regardless of the
• 17:40
  model, it will automatically update.
• 17:42
  Or is it something that you have to update manually?
• 17:46
  No, so it's all automated. So the hub and the hive on the
• 17:50
  kitchen bench is, is automated. Like it updated with every
• 17:53
  release. So it'll be probably during the
• 17:56
  night. So now I'll ever see it.
• 17:58
  And then you know, what we do is we give those instructions and
• 18:01
  this is what's changed. And you give those handy hints.
• 18:03
  But also as well, like I've made a real point of having this
• 18:08
  company as like all of the updates are driven by the users.
• 18:12
  So as an example, in the hub you've got an ideas portal and
• 18:16
  you can say I'd love it to do XYZ and people can vote on that.
• 18:21
  So what we can do is go, OK, this is getting a lot of votes,
• 18:24
  this is where a lot of people are AT and we can develop and
• 18:28
  send that through. So from the voting, what have
• 18:31
  you added into the product? Medication safety order updates
• 18:36
  and work days, things like that. You know, it is obviously like
• 18:40
  the, the visibility of family. It's been a big one.
• 18:43
  You know, care information, things like photos.
• 18:46
  People also want to just see photos of family, you know, I
• 18:50
  don't want to see the grandkids and have that up as a slideshow
• 18:53
  on their hub. So it's been a few things like
• 18:57
  that, but what's coming through as well will be, you know,
• 19:00
  languages and and some multiple profiles and things like that.
• 19:06
  So what makes your product completely different to other
• 19:09
  people on the like other products in the market?
• 19:13
  Yeah. So I think that for me it's is
• 19:17
  whilst we can't be everything to everybody, we're not, you know,
• 19:20
  a magic pill in the home. We're a single like, I guess a
• 19:23
  gateway of support. You know, we, we combine all
• 19:27
  the, you know, the information, the people into one place.
• 19:32
  So whereas a lot of, I think things that you see in the home,
• 19:35
  like, you know, like falls or senses or things like that,
• 19:39
  they're very siloed. You know, you've just got that
• 19:41
  product and it's just got that app that gives you the data, but
• 19:44
  it's not connected anywhere. So I think the whole preface of
• 19:47
  our software or our kind of product is that we can connect
• 19:51
  in a lot of different points of data.
• 19:54
  Can you download it? Like just, I'll give you an
• 19:56
  example that certain medication there might be missing or I've
• 20:01
  noticed that every Tuesday we might have a fall when we're out
• 20:04
  and about. Is it?
• 20:06
  Can it collate that type of information so you can give it
• 20:08
  to a GP or an Earth? Yeah.
• 20:11
  So there's a couple of things. So, you know, obviously
• 20:14
  everything updates in real time. So if you put, you know, as a
• 20:17
  support worker, you put something in, it's there and
• 20:20
  that data is shared with whoever you know, has the ability to see
• 20:24
  it. But second of all that as a
• 20:26
  company, we were selected as one of 18 companies to connect with,
• 20:30
  connect to My Health Record and E prescribing.
• 20:33
  So you've also got data being uploaded to My Health Record, so
• 20:38
  naturally it's shared as well. Is it blown a sock set of people
• 20:42
  like literally, because they'd be like, Oh my God.
• 20:44
  And it automates this and it does this and I don't, I don't
• 20:47
  have to follow up with an e-mail, like I don't have to
• 20:50
  send one to this person, that person, the care team.
• 20:53
  It just automatically does it. Absolutely.
• 20:56
  It really does, you know, especially like the people like
• 20:59
  yourself that are going into the home and but they're also
• 21:02
  spending so much time doing admin and, you know, trying to
• 21:06
  coordinate care and things like that.
• 21:08
  And, you know, we're building it to save that time.
• 21:12
  Yeah. Wow.
• 21:13
  Sorry, just I know you've told me about it before, but I just
• 21:17
  love the fact that how accessible the product is.
• 21:21
  Yeah, absolutely. And it's, you know, it's the
• 21:25
  whole point of it really. It just seems to be easy to use
• 21:28
  and accessible. But also as well, you know, a
• 21:32
  promise that I've made to myself for developing this is it can
• 21:36
  never, ever get in the way of people and meaningful
• 21:40
  connections. So, you know, it's really
• 21:43
  designed to be support from the background so that you've got
• 21:48
  more time to disconnect. Yeah.
• 21:51
  And gather it where it's not in a way that can be quite you can
• 21:56
  just waste admin time, the gathering part of the
• 21:59
  information from every service to bring into the one spot and
• 22:02
  to have it there. But also like as a family member
• 22:05
  yourself that lives far from your your dad in particular.
• 22:08
  Just knowing what happened during the week that we did.
• 22:12
  We did do what we were going to do.
• 22:14
  And then we saw it through. And maybe it was Sally on
• 22:16
  Saturday, came in, provided support, whatever it may be,
• 22:20
  just having that Peace of Mind. You know what, from a family
• 22:25
  1000% because there's been times and I probably need to apologize
• 22:29
  to my dad before I say this, but you know, bless him, but he's
• 22:33
  perhaps not taking his medication and then he's had a
• 22:36
  fall and we don't know that. We don't know that he didn't
• 22:38
  take his medication. So with this, we know, and also
• 22:42
  we know what that medication is for.
• 22:45
  So that's been a big thing as well.
• 22:47
  And there's been a lot of times where he's received care and
• 22:50
  he's told, you know, whoever's come into the home, fine, fine.
• 22:55
  And we'd be like, have you told them this?
• 22:56
  Have you told them this? Have you told them this now?
• 22:58
  So like having this sort of platform that's really designed
• 23:02
  to better share that information.
• 23:04
  In a way, that's routines as well.
• 23:06
  So yeah, keep that independent to wherever possible.
• 23:10
  Yeah. So I know you've mentioned a
• 23:12
  little bit about this, but can you, can we go a little bit
• 23:14
  deeper about how you balance technology with humanity because
• 23:19
  care is personal. So I know you've done the
• 23:21
  pictures. I know, I know it's routine.
• 23:23
  Is there any other little elements that you've added in
• 23:26
  that is for users only that particular box?
• 23:29
  Yeah, so just to, you know, it's personal.
• 23:32
  I think really we've done that with the hub, so they to be able
• 23:35
  to actually allow them to personalize it from everything
• 23:39
  to colour. You know, I love hot pinks and
• 23:41
  mine's, mine's hot pink, dad's a green, mom's an orange.
• 23:45
  You know, we've been able to personalize it with views, like
• 23:48
  I mentioned, easy views, more detailed views and also as well
• 23:53
  plugins. So dad loves the weather,
• 23:56
  absolutely loves the weather. So we've got the weather plugin,
• 23:59
  you know, today's XYZ, you know, temperature.
• 24:04
  Here's some photos of the grandkids and also as well,
• 24:08
  really importantly, every morning, afternoon, you know,
• 24:11
  good morning and that person's name.
• 24:14
  So it just, it feels like that personal experience.
• 24:18
  So do you have one for yourself? Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
• 24:23
  I coordinate my family's care. So I've, you know, I've got a
• 24:26
  busy family. I've got two boys that have lots
• 24:29
  of sports and we have a lot of things going on.
• 24:32
  So there's one on my kitchen bench, you know, they've got
• 24:37
  nurofen when they're sick that needs to be taken 8 hours in a,
• 24:40
  you know, apart and soccer practice at the same time and.
• 24:43
  It could be, yeah, everybody is. It doesn't have to be particular
• 24:47
  for aged care or disability. It could be across any family or
• 24:51
  any individual person. Because I know I'm not very good
• 24:54
  at keeping. Like, you know, when I needed to
• 24:56
  take medication, I was horrible at it.
• 24:59
  Could never keep up, but always forget.
• 25:01
  Well, life is busy, isn't it? So like I found myself, you
• 25:06
  know, I was putting all these reminders in my phone, taking
• 25:09
  medication, all this and that and that.
• 25:12
  But we'd still have calendars on the wall.
• 25:14
  So now we've got Harmony on the bench.
• 25:16
  And, you know, it's just a view of knowing exactly what's going
• 25:20
  on. So it makes it easier.
• 25:24
  How did you go up with the name? Yeah, that's an interesting one.
• 25:26
  It's a little, a couple of little things actually.
• 25:28
  So I wanted the name to represent what it feels like
• 25:32
  when you get support and then you'll and also my bright
• 25:36
  brought like branding as well. You know, it feels like you step
• 25:40
  out of a black and white TV into a colour TV and everything's in
• 25:44
  harmony. You know, you've got your social
• 25:46
  health, your well-being and all your holistic care just in
• 25:51
  balance. So that was a little bit of
• 25:54
  where harmony came from. And the boring little bit was
• 25:57
  what was what was free as well with business names and things
• 26:01
  like that. Yeah, that's really difficult.
• 26:05
  I've been through the process. Yeah.
• 26:06
  You're like, who thought of that for me?
• 26:11
  What? And you get set on a name,
• 26:12
  you're like, this is the name. And then, you know, people have
• 26:15
  got it already. You got to start again.
• 26:18
  But yeah, but I'm glad of what we've actually what we've
• 26:21
  settled on with Harmony. It's just, yes, everything's in
• 26:25
  balance. Do you ever think get any family
• 26:28
  members that are part of the ecosystem, the network for an
• 26:32
  individual reach out to you and explain how it has changed or
• 26:36
  impact their loved one? Like anyone from our family is
• 26:39
  actually. Just in general, like anyone
• 26:41
  that's using the product their family extended to say, oh, you
• 26:44
  know, it's like I feel more at ease with mom or dad or my
• 26:49
  brother living independently because I've got Harmony.
• 26:52
  Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, back to my mom,
• 26:57
  she's become my sales manager because she loves it.
• 26:59
  It's very much so. She lives in an area where
• 27:03
  there's a lot of retirees, so she's total, they're friends and
• 27:09
  that's resulted in leads from retirement villages as an
• 27:12
  example. I never would have picked that
• 27:15
  in 1000 years, but yeah, that's kind of one example.
• 27:19
  Do you have to build the product in Australia because it's a
• 27:22
  physical or did you build it overseas?
• 27:24
  Like how did you put it together?
• 27:26
  Because it's like it's quite difficult.
• 27:29
  Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So looking at, you know,
• 27:33
  development, you get a lot of overseas development these days,
• 27:36
  but you get a lot of, you know, there's a lot of really expert
• 27:38
  people in Australia. So with us, it's all been made
• 27:42
  in Australia. So all the development, all of
• 27:45
  the everything is, you know, everyone's Australian based.
• 27:48
  And also we needed that as well, you know, with our, you know,
• 27:52
  Grant with the Australian Digital Health Agency, all of
• 27:55
  our team needed to be in Australia.
• 27:56
  So it's actually something that I'm quite proud of now as well.
• 28:01
  Like it's, it's really, yeah, everyone is, is me here.
• 28:07
  So you talked about receiving a grant to do so.
• 28:09
  Was the process really hard or is it something quite easy?
• 28:14
  No, it was really hard. So like it was a, it was a grant
• 28:18
  proposal and you know, that can take a lot of time to submit and
• 28:23
  a lot of detailed information and, and the way you say things
• 28:27
  and even though it might not be many pages and then as a result,
• 28:32
  so we were really lucky and one of 18 companies that was
• 28:36
  selected. So how many people do you have
• 28:38
  in your current team that runs the company?
• 28:41
  Like is it just you or do you have others as well?
• 28:44
  Yeah. So we're, we're still in startup
• 28:46
  style. So we've got a development team,
• 28:48
  a small development team of three at the moment.
• 28:52
  And myself we use like obviously you know, external people where
• 28:56
  we need to. But yeah, we achieve a lot.
• 29:00
  We as a development team as well have really harnessed AI.
• 29:04
  So you know, one of my developers as an example,
• 29:08
  benched, benchmarked himself as being the equivalent of 3
• 29:11
  developers and he's just, he's mind blowing.
• 29:15
  So yeah. So we've been able to scale
• 29:18
  quickly like that. Did you, you know, ever.
• 29:23
  See this as your future like 5-10 years ago like.
• 29:27
  Oh, no, no way. I was, you know, 5-10 years ago,
• 29:30
  I was, I was in corporate life and I was, you know, wanting
• 29:34
  that promotion and wanting to challenge myself and more
• 29:38
  authority and responsibility. I never ever would have thought
• 29:43
  I'd be a startup founder. So, but now you know, now I
• 29:47
  could never imagine going back. Get one from another.
• 29:51
  I get you. Yeah.
• 29:53
  The idea of going back feels like you're slowing down.
• 29:56
  Yeah, doesn't it? Doesn't it?
• 29:59
  So I want you to stretch your legs and yeah, there's learning
• 30:02
  from your mistakes, or there's just yeah, you just learn new
• 30:05
  things. As well, building's fun, let's
• 30:09
  be honest, it's a lot of fun that yeah, you make.
• 30:13
  Yeah, there's a heap of mistakes and things that go crap in
• 30:16
  between. But I wouldn't trade any of it
• 30:19
  because the building, when you're building up that product
• 30:21
  to launch and to show people what you put into it.
• 30:26
  Yeah, I don't know, like I it's not even the launch sometimes
• 30:29
  it's the actual build that I find so enjoyable because
• 30:32
  because it's just like the ideas just coming up and I can add
• 30:35
  this and I can do that. And imagine if we can do this
• 30:38
  this together, like just the thrill.
• 30:40
  But also I think the cool part is that you're it's functional
• 30:43
  and your family and getting the use of the product at current.
• 30:48
  Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, There is that, you know,
• 30:52
  I'm not going to lie. There is that, you know, tech
• 30:53
  nerd side of me that, you know, the developers show me
• 30:57
  something, that something that they've made that's new and it's
• 31:00
  like Christmas and you kind of do this.
• 31:03
  Let's do that. But it's also.
• 31:06
  You know, like it's, you know, if it's good enough for my
• 31:09
  parents, if it's going to solve some of their challenges, then
• 31:13
  it's good enough to release it. And it's getting that.
• 31:18
  And it feels like your medicine cup, you know, like it.
• 31:20
  It's medicine for the soul, being able to help families like
• 31:23
  ours and people like. Ours navigate time and
• 31:26
  especially like you, what you said, if if it's good enough for
• 31:29
  my parents. I think that I mean, that's your
• 31:31
  benchmark really, isn't it? Because yeah, you'd only want
• 31:35
  the best for your parents when it comes to supporting care.
• 31:38
  That's it, That's it. And that's kind of my measure
• 31:41
  stick as well. Like we've got, you know, in our
• 31:43
  team, we've got really experienced product testers, but
• 31:49
  mum and dad are the first people that get it once we've released
• 31:52
  it. And you know, if they like
• 31:56
  they're going to tell me if it's not easy to use or what were you
• 31:58
  thinking of, I'm not going to even use that.
• 32:00
  But they're also going to tell me if they love it.
• 32:04
  So yeah, they're our first testers.
• 32:08
  When you first gave the product to them, was it like were you
• 32:11
  overwhelmed or like I think I would have had a theory to be
• 32:14
  honest with you because of the hard yakker and work that goes
• 32:17
  into it for them because they are the bench back.
• 32:19
  And then, to be honest, our parents are our hardest critics
• 32:23
  as well. Yeah, they they are, they really
• 32:26
  are. Like it's probably a like a, you
• 32:29
  know, there's been a couple of examples.
• 32:31
  It's it's mom that's, you know, my number one sales manager now.
• 32:34
  But I think it's also my dad who is, you know, he's he's old
• 32:38
  school. He doesn't say a lot.
• 32:39
  He doesn't, you know, show a lot of emotions.
• 32:42
  And and when there was a particular scenario and it was
• 32:46
  that five page medicine list, he got up and he took his own
• 32:49
  medication. And I said to him going, did you
• 32:52
  use harming? You know, and his answer was,
• 32:55
  well, how else would I have known what to take?
• 32:57
  And like you just go, that was a little tear.
• 32:59
  That's the one of the drivers that keeps you going.
• 33:03
  That would have felt good, but also the fact that I think in
• 33:06
  particular that family members get to use something that
• 33:09
  doesn't, like you said, overbearing and you just know
• 33:12
  like and there's no asking the questions like after this, we
• 33:15
  need to have a conversation because I have an auntie.
• 33:18
  Yep, absolutely. Sorry, did you did you have any
• 33:25
  like I know that your you said that your dad wasn't quite tech
• 33:30
  related was how long did it get you from somebody that was
• 33:34
  resistant to technology to be using the product?
• 33:37
  You know, like I think it was, it wasn't too long, but I think
• 33:41
  it was also a combination of as we were adding more features
• 33:44
  that I knew he needed, you know, bit by bit, like he was there.
• 33:47
  And I think, you know, the medication management and, and
• 33:51
  the care information in one place was the thing that
• 33:53
  solidified it for him because they were the things that, you
• 33:57
  know, were hardest challenges for him.
• 34:00
  You know, 11 different medications at breakfast time or
• 34:04
  it's, I know, right, I know. Or it's, you know, that folder
• 34:09
  of printed out a full paper of all your care plans and all your
• 34:13
  information are once we actually built out those features, you
• 34:18
  know, that was the that was the thing that changed for him.
• 34:22
  Although I know that sometimes even nurses get it wrong.
• 34:25
  So to have some a system that is backed by actual information of
• 34:28
  how do you take medication. So yeah, have you received much
• 34:34
  feedback from our frontline support workers and carers that
• 34:37
  come in and out of the homes? Yeah, you know what, probably
• 34:40
  the most would be OTS. You know, obviously we love you.
• 34:44
  Yes. Yes, thank you.
• 34:46
  Thank you. So our very first, you know,
• 34:50
  like, yeah, they probably they're the ones that resonate
• 34:52
  the most and give us the most holistic feedback.
• 34:56
  But you know, it does come in on forms.
• 34:59
  It's like going back to that Parkinson's pilot that we did.
• 35:04
  The support worker emailed me and said, how do I invest in
• 35:07
  your company? So it's, it's little, little
• 35:10
  things like that that they've given feedback and you just, you
• 35:13
  kind of know you're on to something.
• 35:14
  So do you have any? Like I bet no you don't have
• 35:18
  any. I know you do 100% have this in
• 35:21
  mind but what is your goal for Harmony care?
• 35:24
  Sorry have any help? How many health?
• 35:27
  Yeah, absolutely. So I think, you know, my goal is
• 35:30
  that to walk into a home and instead of a Google hub, there's
• 35:34
  a Harmony home health hub supporting care and it is
• 35:38
  connecting the people, but it's also as well following, excuse
• 35:43
  me, and supporting that people that that person's care journey.
• 35:46
  So whether they go into hospital, have a baby, you know,
• 35:50
  have an illness, it supports that journey.
• 35:55
  So five years from now, if you had a crystal ball.
• 35:58
  Gosh, you know it would be Sky's the limit.
• 36:03
  Here's all I can say, you know? Yeah.
• 36:06
  It does not going to put the Australian base, does it really?
• 36:09
  It could be. It can be anywhere.
• 36:11
  Yeah, I wonder why this excites. You.
• 36:15
  I. Know the possibilities?
• 36:17
  Yeah. So much so, so much so.
• 36:20
  And you know how to say you're a startup founder without saying
• 36:23
  it. I wake up and I'm like, man, I
• 36:26
  had this dream that we could do XYZ and in this country and that
• 36:30
  feature and yeah, yeah, just really the Sky's the limit.
• 36:36
  So if anyone's listening to this podcast and today, tonight,
• 36:40
  wherever you may be in your car at home, who knows where would
• 36:45
  they be able to find the information about your product?
• 36:47
  Is it website? Is it LinkedIn?
• 36:51
  Tell me. Absolutely.
• 36:52
  So website obviously has got information on us as a company
• 36:57
  and it's got some detailed product information and the
• 37:01
  ability to buy the hub. But it's also LinkedIn as well.
• 37:05
  You know, it's social media I think 1st and for my website.
• 37:08
  And if anyone is looking for a little bit more, please reach
• 37:12
  out now. I can't wait.
• 37:14
  Like it's really exciting. Sorry, I'm just going to break
• 37:19
  from my script from this podcast.
• 37:20
  I just love the idea that as a family member, you don't have to
• 37:25
  always be that overbearing family member in somebody.
• 37:29
  You can just see it from afar and give people distance that
• 37:32
  they require because people want to be as independent as
• 37:34
  possible. But because, you know, as it's
• 37:36
  as a bit of like the the heart plays with us and we want to
• 37:41
  make sure that the people that we love the most are careful.
• 37:44
  Yeah, that's it. Like I'd, I'd find with Dad, you
• 37:47
  know, I'd be ringing him every single day and without
• 37:50
  realizing, I would be holding my breath to see what that first
• 37:53
  hello sounds like. And, you know, is that a happy
• 37:57
  hello that we're going to talk about what the grandkids are up
• 37:59
  to? Or is it I'm in agony, I need to
• 38:01
  go to the emergency room. You know it, it is really tough
• 38:05
  supporting someone and it's tough for them as well.
• 38:07
  So I think first and foremost, yeah, this, it's for families.
• 38:12
  So that's my. No, I just, I can't wait to see
• 38:15
  this. So I'm going to have to do like
• 38:16
  a catch up podcast like 5 years from now where he is, where it's
• 38:20
  gone from. Thank you so much for joining
• 38:22
  the podcast. All right.
• 38:24
  Thank you. Thanks for having me.
• 38:25
  No worries.