SmpliCare, founded by Garrett Sprague and Alexandra Reissig, is a healthcare-tech startup. Garrett and Alexandra spoke with us about their entrepreneurial journey so far, the difference they would like to make for friends and families caring for loved ones and how they have connected their ideas to the world through the Venture Builder Incubator and support from the University of Edinburgh.
Garrett: Alex and I met through our MBA at the University of Edinburgh. My background has nothing to do with healthcare at all but when I realised that Alex’s background was in home healthcare, I immediately shared my family’s experiences of caring for my aging Grandmas. We started thinking about how you could build a gig economy model to find home health providers. How could we make personalised home care more accessible, flexible, and affordable?
Alexandra: The home healthcare system we currently have doesn’t meet people’s needs. This means it's up to families and friends to manage care. We want our app to support these people, to help them make better decisions, increase health literacy, and feel more able to access the healthcare system. Achieving this would keep people out of A&E, benefiting those being cared for, their families and the healthcare system.
Garrett: Data is central to everything. In the current iteration of SmpliCare, we're taking clinical health frameworks and translating them into something that's accessible for families and any consumer. That being said, we’re not a data farm. Our data comes from a human being, and it's incredibly important that we respect and appreciate the sensitivity of that.
Alexandra: SmpliCare is no longer something that's just in our heads - it's something that's so much bigger than the both of us.
Garrett: Being an entrepreneur is the best thing and the hardest thing. When we talk to people about SmpliCare, they almost always immediately resonate with the problem we’re solving - and I'm passionate about being at that ground level.
Garrett: Day-to-day, being an entrepreneur is incredibly humbling. The thing that you accomplish at the end of the day is hardly ever the thing you expected. We're learning to just stay in it, and I think that's success.
Alexandra: From the start, we used the University’s resources. We've been able to access Scottish startup and investor networks and funding through DDE’s Graduate Grant and Seed Fund which have given us a huge boost.
Garrett: DDE’s resources are awesome. Through the Venture Builder Incubator we’ve become part of an entrepreneurial community, all solving important problems from different angles - it's endlessly inspiring.
Garrett: What’s being built at the University of Edinburgh is a world-class entrepreneurship programme and community. The entrepreneurship ecosystem around the University was 100% a driver for applying to do my MBA here.
Alexandra: At the moment, our product launch is underway. Once we get the product in the market and start validating it, we are hoping to see some new customers and growth. Later on in the year, we want to make an effort to raise capital and get the resources we need to scale up as quickly as we can.
Want to learn more about SmpliCare, click below to head to their website.
