Life after Montreal Startup Camp 2.0

Last Thursday's event leaves me with mixed feelings.

First, I think that I was OK overall. The first few minutes of the presentation went actually pretty well as it was very focused and clear. Then I made the mistake of exposing a 20,000-foot view of the long-term vision, which scared and confused people. At the same time, the experience that I had in other occasions with experts of the healthcare industry confirmes that the vision is right, realistic and feasible.

Second, there were actually very few real investors and lots of watchers. Not a good thing both from a funding perspective and from a market protection perspective.

In the end, I made some nice contacts and received a few appreciation/encouragement emails. It also obviously allowed me to try and test the various components of my sales pitch with a very diverse audience and get some tough (though expected) questions.

Now I'm questioning my funding approach. VCs and angels can't be knowledgeable in all industries, even if there are some universal principles (risk/return balance for instance). From now on, I think I'll focus much more on investors that actually know healthcare inside out. They are proving to be very receptive to the idea and are better positioned to help me avoid pitfalls.

In my last post, I mentioned that I would be attending Montreal StartUp Camp 2 and that I was hoping to get selected to present the Healthivate concept. Well, done deal!!! Philippe Telio just informed me that Healthivate was selected to present! Needless to say that I’m extremely happy. There seems to be some very interesting concepts among the other attending start-ups and it will be very interesting to hear about them too.

On other fronts, Healthivate is definitely getting VC’s attention, including some big names. I don’t want to settle only for the required seed funding, although it could be tempting. In many ways, it’s also about putting the right team together. Who the investors are is strategically more important than the amount of funding they can put on the table.

Healthivate at Montreal Startup Camp 2

I'm glad to announce that on May 15th I will be attending the Montreal Startup Camp 2, which is an ad-hoc gathering of people interested in startups (entrepreneurs, investors...). 5 of the registered attending startups will be offered to present their company to this most interesting, and interested crowd.

I cross my fingers and hope that I'll be given a chance to present the concept and business model behind Healthivate. The idea has generated so much interest up to now that I believe it's only a matter of time before I secure funding. Actually, 2 potential investors have already mentioned that they may want to participate (financially and strategically). I am pretty sure that things will unfold quickly as soon as the first investment dollars are confirmed. Who knows, it might happen as a result of attending the event!!!

A new company, a new way of consuming healthcare!

My name is Yan Simard. I am the promoter behind a new company called Healthivate. I don't want to get into too much detail at this point, but let's say that this company seeks to:

• Empower people with the ability to manage their healthcare environments;


• Modify the economics of global healthcare through increased availability and accessibility;


• Make sure that people get the most from the money they invest in healthcare, be it out-of-pocket money, insurance or tax.

Pretty ambitious hey! Just remember to keep coming here for updates.

Healthivate is currently in the process of securing seed funding.