As part of the startup Interview series, we are going to interview Mr. Grzegorz Madajczyk from Helfio, a Warsaw-based startup offering an advanced platform that prevents metabolic disorders and reduces Cardiovascular risk.
Grzegorz, thanks for taking the time to catch up with us. Can you briefly outline the company’s story, what is Helfio’s key goal? Who are the founders and how it all became what it is today?
2014 was one of the most breakthrough years. Back then, I was working as an engineer in a global company. One tick bite on a business trip changed my whole life forever.
The unfortunate consequence was that I was diagnosed with Lyme disease. The conducted 3-week therapy was to be a health success. Unfortunately, despite the long treatment, I felt the symptoms of the disease again after a year. A long-lasting fever appeared that was very hard to reduce. It was a very hard time in my life because as an active lifestyle person, I never got sick. Suddenly my fate changed. Another year of fighting the disease made me realize how hard it is to find the right diagnosis and how important preventive healthcare is. It was these events that initiated the establishment of the Helfio company.
We are currently a 10-person team that works every day to help people maintain good health by reducing CVD’s risk. Thanks to the combination of medicine, technology, and experience, we have managed to create an application that helps people minimize cardiovascular risk factors, take care of the prevention of metabolic disorders, and at the same time keep a positive mood in users.
The main core of the company:
CEO- Grzegorz Madajczyk,
CMO- dr Sławomir Powierża
CTO- Maciej Binder
Business Development- Iuliu Rab
What kind of products and services does your company offer?
Our Company offers Helfio application that analyzes users in terms of cardiological risks and by the usage of a combination of science, medical experience, and high technology personalized lifestyle therapy to reduce cardiovascular risk and prevent metabolic disorders.
What’s the latest progress in the project, and what are you focusing on right now?
We are finishing the Helfio application that we have developed for the last 2 years with a predicted start by the end of 08/2021.
From the commercial point of view, we are signing agreements with our partners in Poland.
What pain of your customers are you helping solve? What is your company’s offering and what kind of customers and partners are you looking for?
We care about users mainly at the age 30+ due to the fact that CV risk increases. By designing personalized therapy based on user health we can prevent metabolic disorders or help users recover from metabolic disorders leading to a decrease in the CV risk.
What differentiates Helfio from its competitors?
I can summarize like that:
- Innovative, medical approach,
- Technology,
- Experience,
- Vision.
Do you use AI technology in your product? How does it work for you?
Yes, we are working on that in terms of ECG and personalized therapy.
Do you have any projects related to COVID-19 research? If so, can you explain how your product is contributing to a global fight against coronavirus?
We know from the last studies that people with higher CV risk have a higher probability to go CoVid-19 much harder. That’s why our first priority is to reduce CV risk.
What is your business model and how are you planning to get early customers onboard? Have you already raised money for your operations and building the platform?
Our business model is based on subscription. We are a self-funded company and by signing agreements with our partner (media company) we will have a much higher position to get the customers on board.
What milestones have you had in fundraising and where are you now?
As I have already mentioned we are self-funded so we have our own milestones like launching Helfio app on the market and get 100k customers on board by the end of 2021.
What was it like growing your team? What are the challenges and surprises you encountered? What tips do you have for building a solid team?
The team is the most important in the company. It is the biggest asset that as a CEO you should care about it. During my 3years of operations in a startup environment, I have operated in 2 different models. The first one was outsourcing, and it has advantages and disadvantages. The second one is having your own team. Right now I have my own team and have to honestly admit that it is more complex but it is a better pleasure. We are a team of best-selected people who are aligned with the company and who care about the company. I was looking for people to my team for quite a long time but it was worth Of course, I had many cases where people wanted to work in the startup but they didn’t want to work under pressure, rapid changes etc. Then they resigned and I was forced to look for new people and learn them again etc. So, do not rush with selecting people, chose the one you need, and use your intuition to choose the best candidates.
What are your company’s plans for the future, your major dream in 2021?
We are focusing on the team to develop more personalized programs using AI and medical equipment. My dream in 2021? Well, I would like to get feedback like this app really saved my life
What do you think about the business climate in Romania and in the EU in general?
I do not know specifically Romania environment, I know its emerging market and I am pretty sure that has a nice potential to grow the company. With reference to the EU, it’s an ocean of opportunities and I am pretty sure that the EU will put more and more resources to support young companies to grow their business. It is essential if we want to be competivie for the USA and China.
To summarize our interview I would like to ask your opinion about the future of the HealthTech industry, especially considering the impact of pandemics and all this economic turbulence.
I think Covid-19 boosts the digital transformation in the Healthtech industry and the future looks promising. On the other hand, I know Medtech startups that due to Covid-19 have slowed down the pace of development as the accessibility to hospitals was limited. Another point is the regulations that are more and more strict and it is not helping young companies who have limited resources to overcome this challenge. I am very excited to see the direction of the EU in the next years.
Definitely, Hefio wants to be part of digital change in the HealthTech industry! Thank you.
