When good ideas (almost) fail: the case of CallPima
The Leipzig-based start-up CallPima had developed PimaAssist®, a technically sophisticated solution to a massive problem: the nursing crisis and the overloaded communication between patients and nursing staff. The idea: a voice and app-controlled assistance system that connects patients with the right contact person in the hospital without barriers - be it a carer, service staff or technical services. However, as with many HealthTech ideas, PimaAssist® initially failed due to the real market conditions. Hospitals are often hesitant to act, and investment decisions take many months, sometimes years. Pilot projects were promising, but did not lead to scaling. Before the transfer to a marketable product, the resources ultimately ran out. After years of intensive development, individual applications in clinical operations - but without a real market breakthrough - the start-up finally had to make the decision to wind up the company. "The workload was enormous, the decision-making processes in the healthcare market extremely lengthy and complex," says Khalid Karroumi, founder of CallPima, looking back. "We had a working prototype and successful pilot projects - but we didn't manage to make the leap into the market with the resources available."
iGNITE MEDICAL - Founding without founders
iGNITE MEDICAL is a company builder in the HealthTech sector focussing on the structural development of market-oriented medical innovations. The underlying principle is: "Founding without founders". The organisation takes on selected projects with a technology readiness level (TRL) of around 5 to 6, for which a functional prototype or initial pilots are already available. On this basis, an independent product company is founded - with a newly assembled, interdisciplinary team that is recruited specifically for the implementation and scaling of the solution. The original idea providers - as in the case of CallPima - are no longer operationally involved in the new product development, but receive a share of the profits and participate in the success of the spin-off.
"This model enables us to bring mature, viable ideas to market maturity in a structured manner," explains Isabel Antholz, CEO of iGNITE MEDICAL. "In this way, we ensure the continuity of the idea, but relieve the former founders of operational responsibility - a model that makes particular sense in the complex healthcare market," says Antholz. After all, founding a company is particularly difficult here: regulatory hurdles, difficult customer access and long marketing cycles require capital, expertise and a great deal of staying power. This is precisely where iGNITE MEDICAL comes in - with a structured approach, technical depth and clinical connection.Karroumi adds: "Of course, it is not easy for my team and I to hand over an idea that we have invested a lot of heart and soul and energy in. But the healthcare market is an extremely complex environment - and for us as a small team of founders, it was simply not manageable in the end. With iGNITE MEDICAL, our idea now has the chance to be further developed under professional conditions. For me, this is a constructive step: I can dedicate myself to new challenges - without the feeling of failure and with the prospect of continuing to benefit from potential success".
Thinking ahead with the product, approaching the market anew
In the case of CallPima, this means that PimaAssist® will not be copied, but will be further developed functionally and technically based on the existing product. Instead of relying solely on speech recognition, the future system will focus on modular communication, including translation tools and adaptive user interfaces. Clinical processes, data protection and IT integration will be considered from the outset - with the close involvement of nursing staff and clinical experts. The practical knowledge of CallPima's founder is also being incorporated into the new development - in an advisory role. "Even though I am no longer at the helm myself, the idea is now finding its way into the clinic," says Karroumi.
No start-up matching - but targeted implementation
In contrast to incubators or funding programmes, iGNITE MEDICAL does not act as an intermediary, but as an active co-creator. Only innovative ideas for which iGNITE MEDICAL has already identified a suitable pilot customer and defined a specific application scenario in consultation with clinical experts are accepted. Direct access to clinical partners - for example in Leipzig, Dresden or at the NCT - is a key advantage of the Company Builder. Equally central is the early focus on commercialisation and a possible exit. The network of biosaxony e.?V. and the regulatory and entrepreneurial expertise of leap:up GmbH provide support in this regard.
For its product company, iGNITE MEDICAL provides start-up financing that not only enables rapid progress, but also serves to acquire co-financing from partners or investors. A central goal of iGNITE MEDICAL is to significantly shorten the path from innovation to care - the so-called innovator's journey: from the first prototype to application at the patient's bedside. In order to organise this transition efficiently, the new product companies are not only geared towards technical feasibility, but also specifically towards real-life healthcare practice along the patient journey.
Many ideas are left behind even earlier
Not all innovations fail shortly before market launch. Many promising concepts get stuck at an early stage. iGNITE MEDICAL is also explicitly aimed at this target group: scientists with valid results, but for which there is no prospect of implementation. If you have an application idea with clinical benefits but no experience with market mechanisms, iGNITE MEDICAL offers you the opportunity to support the transfer from science to healthcare - without having to set up your own company.
Always on the lookout for needed innovations without founders
iGNITE MEDICAL is always open to innovative ideas in the healthcare sector that have not yet found a founder or no active founder. Such concepts can come from clinical practice, from universities and research institutions - or even from existing companies.
Saving ideas, not start-ups
The CallPima case shows impressively that failure does not have to be the end - if the idea is strong enough and the necessary stakeholders come together. iGNITE MEDICAL offers exactly that: a place where relevant innovations do not have to fail due to the typical start-up hurdles, but are brought to market maturity in a structured manner - with a clear perspective on impact and commercial success.
Create now
You have an advanced idea in the field of MedTech, eHealth or similar, but no team - or a project with a prototype that is not being realised? Then get in touch with iGNITE MEDICAL - and become part of the next start-up 'without founders', but with maximum impact.
Contact:
iGNITE MEDICAL GmbH
Deutscher Platz 5c
04103 Leipzig
Isabel Antholz
isabel.antholz@ignite-medical.de
André Hofmann
andre.hofmann@leap-up.com
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