Video by Influence Media
After 30 years with some of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world, Rob Lewis wanted to do his own thing.
In 2016 he left his job and set up a digital health startup. He’d had a hankering to start a business for some time.
His company FiftyFourDegreesNorth recently launched FLX, a digital product focused on musculoskeletal health.
Rob spoke to us about bringing a new tech product to the health market and some of the challenges he’s faced. We chatted at C4DI about why this product is important and the joys of creating something meaningful in his hometown of Hull.
Here's the story of a Healthtech startup being built in our own back yard.
The explosion of Healthtech
According to Rob, Healthtech has ‘exploded in the last 10 years.’ It’s one of many sectors disrupting major industries around the world.
There are now Healthtech startups and products for any and every area of healthcare. They’re increasingly being used in both private healthcare and the National Health Service in this country and abroad.
After building a successful career with the likes of Reckitt and GlaxoSmithKline, Rob wanted to explore health innovation and technology.
‘Technology allows us to track trends, motivating people to get deep insights into their health. We can look at our genomics, our lifestyle, where we live… all these factors can be tracked effectively through digital technology.'
‘We know that people want to interact with digital technology. Arranging to see healthcare professionals, going for a doctor's appointment, going to the pharmacy, seeing a chiropractor, all require us to take time out of our lives [that we often don’t have]. It's hard to do that often. Digital can make that more convenient.’
Certainly, with something as personal as our own health, it’s easy to see where we might benefit from the convenience of technology.
This is where FLX comes in.
What’s the FLX Health app?
Really, convenience is in the name. But the name FLX (pronounced Flex) is also a reference to its primary focus.
The app, which Rob is calling the company’s ‘big bet’, is focused on musculoskeletal health and helps identify biomechanical dysfunction. Part of the app’s strength comes through their partnership with a ‘world leader in the science of biomechanics’ Martin Haines.
‘Our app is basically like seeing Martin for an appointment. He's a physiotherapist and a biomechanics coach. The product identifies where you have biomechanical dysfunctions and gives you exercises to address them before they become symptomatic.'
'Through doing that we can prevent the risk of musculoskeletal disease and injury. We can also treat pain and can make people more flexible and more mobile.'
Tech products like this put autonomy in the hands of the individual and give them quick access to what they need without having to go through intermediaries.
FLX taps into the male health problem
This is particularly valuable for men, Rob says. Although the service is in no way limited to men, Rob recognises that 'men, and young men in particular, are generally very poor at interacting with the healthcare system.’
‘You have to have a lump the size of a rugby ball before you go and see a doctor,’ he quips.
‘It's a massive issue with men's health and part of that is embarrassment about talking and not being too touchy feely. Because technology is impersonal, perhaps those people will be willing to interact with technology more effectively.'
It’s something he’s banking on as they begin to take the product to market. They’re currently partnering with local company Arco, to do just that and are now ‘at a point where we are commercialising it and looking to hit the market this year.’
The goals going forward are obviously for it to be a commercial success but also for that success to lead to improving the company.
‘I'd love to be in a position where we're employing four or five smart young scientists who are adding to the science that we already have on the product. People who are going to write articles in journals, talk at conferences, and generate new science to improve our products.’
International health and safety provider and local powerhouse Arco are bringing FLX to market.
Leaving the corporate world and going solo
Providing employment and improving a product through science is one of the things that Rob finds so rewarding about being in business.
'I'd like to be able to offer fulfilling and valuable employment to local talent. That's where we see it going, get some money, employ some people, use those people to do cool things to help make our products even better.'
Rob had always wanted to set up his own business, partly because he was tired of having to ‘deal with a lot of crap’ that comes with being in the corporate world. Whilst running a business presents its own challenges, you are largely in control. ‘Doing your own stuff is quite fulfilling in that sense.’
There’s also an appeal to working in health. ‘If you can help people, that's obviously a good thing to do. So, it's rewarding in that sense. Hopefully, we can also make some money and establish a cool business.'
That’s not to say it has been plain sailing.
The challenges of starting up in health
When I ask about how easy it is to get into Healthtech and bring something to market, Rob has a knowing smile on his face.
‘One of the big challenges you'll face is the regulatory hoops you have to jump through. So, you have to prove that what you're doing works, which could potentially cost a lot of money.'
It’s also ‘phenomenally competitive and there’s obviously lots of people doing stuff in that area’.
Healthcare is part of the fabric of society. It’s something we all interact with and many of us could probably think of ways it could be improved. Finding cures and solutions to common health problems is also a common feature in the visions of the future we see in film and TV. It’s ‘an obvious area of deploying technology.’
Rob says, ‘I'm constantly giving myself a heart attack with our product, FLX Health because there's lots of other people doing physiotherapy type things. Every time we see something new, it's like, oh, are they doing what we're doing?’
Of course, in most cases they have arrived on a similar idea separately, but it doesn’t make it any less stressful and sometimes it’s an uphill struggle. Many competing products have ‘big companies behind them. But some of these companies are winning massive competitions, getting billions of dollars of investment.’
Unsurprisingly, having the best product doesn’t necessarily guarantee success.
Winning in Healthtech
‘Winning in Healthtech or really any product area is not necessarily because you’ve got the best products. It’s often about the marketing and how you talk about the benefits,’ Rob says.
With so many people vying for the same slice of pie the key to success is not solely reliant on having a good product. ‘It’s about how effectively you get to market. It’s about doing something novel that capture’s people’s imagination. So, you can have an amazing product and you can have something that offers people health benefits, but unless you can get that to market effectively and globalise it quickly, then you're not going to succeed.’
On this Rob isn’t just speaking from his experience of running a tech startup but also in his capacity as director and innovation consultant with the company Edenic. Edenic have worked with a significant number of national and international brands to help them innovate and head in the right direction.
One key to Healthtech being successful in this country is penetrating the NHS, which Rob admits is hard because of its sheer size and structure. But he is optimistic about the future. ‘At the strategic level, the NHS wrote a long-term plan two or three years ago, focusing on technology, preventative medicine, and heading towards digital health.'
There’s no question that Healthtech will continue to be a bigger part of our lives in the years to come.
Rob Lewis in our interview above.
Setting up in Hull
In some ways Rob could have set up his startup anywhere. But Hull is home and there’s as many opportunities available on his doorstep.
He’s been based at C4DI since the beginning and is certainly happy to talk about the benefits of being a member.
‘I’m a Hull lad and this part of Hull is beautiful. [The Fruit Market] is a great place to come and work.’ Rob regularly cycles to work and enjoys the smashing view he gets from his seat in the co-working area. It’s also nice to go out for a walk and visit the cool bars and restaurants in the vicinity.
'The hot desk area is great for me, getting to talk to lots of different people. Having worked in large organisations where you have lots of friends and talk to people every day, I value that day-to-day contact with people.’ It also benefits the business.
'From a practical point of view, you can meet people who can do things for you. So pretty much everything we've done is done with talent from this building. The people who developed our app, are members here, we've used designers here… we don't need to look any further than within these four walls [although it's certainly not your typical four walled building]. This building has everything we need to do what we're doing.'
And he doesn’t see any major reason to move on. In terms of safeguarding the future of the business, he believes Hull is just as good a place as any. The challenges of recruiting are the same, and Hull has as much talent as many other cities. The trick is holding on to that talent, rewarding them and creating ‘a culture that recognises what motivates your people’.
We’re certainly glad Rob has decided to set up here and look forward to seeing the progress FLX makes in the coming years.
Words by Tim Goodfellow
Video from Influence Media