In this podcast episode, Eudaemon's co-founders, Rob Gorkin and Simon Cook, discuss their journey from academia to entrepreneurship and their challenges in bringing their next-generation hydrogel condom to market. The conversation covers topics such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's call for a better feeling condom, the unique challenges of building a Medtech business, and disrupting the 100-year-old industry of latex condoms.

You will also learn about the importance of a multi-disciplinary approach, a no-assholes policy, and professional advice from serial entrepreneurs for others considering entrepreneurship.

About Eudaemon Technologies

Eudaemon is a company focused on providing superior Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) products. Their flagship project, Geldom, aims to produce a condom made from innovative tough hydrogels, which will revolutionise the safe sex industry by providing enhanced feel and lubrication, no adverse odours or tastes, no allergic reactions, and an unprecedented ability to customise sensual experiences. With the aim is to disrupt the $28B contraceptive market, $13B fertility market, and $100B+ STD diagnosis and treatment markets.

Their mission is to provide superior SRH products to every person for every situation. They are bridging internal and partner-based next-gen capabilities in Advanced Manufacturing, Material Science, and Human Centred Design to benefit consumers, manufacturers, brands, and health agencies.

Eudaemon has recently received $4 million in funding from the NSW Medical Devices Fund (MDF) and $1.5 million from the Australian Government’s Clinical Translation and Commercialisation Medtech (CTCM) program, delivered by MTPConnect, to advance the clinical trial of their next-generation hydrogel condom project.

About Dr Robert Gorkin

Rob Gorkin is a biomedical engineer and serial entrepreneur who is passionate about bringing innovative concepts to commercial reality at the intersection of Industry 4.0 and social good. He is currently the CEO and Co-Founder of Eudaemon Technologies. Rob is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Wollongong's SMART Infrastructure Facility in Australia. He holds a PhD and a MS in Biomedical Engineering from the University of California, Irvine, as well as an MBA from the University of Wollongong's Sydney Business School.

About Dr Simon Cook

Simon Cook is the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Eudaemon Technologies. He holds a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Wollongong and has previously worked as an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at Swinburne University of Technology and as a Visiting Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Kinsey Institute in the USA as a Fulbright Future Scholar. With his expertise in science and technology, Simon plays a key role in developing and implementing Eudaemon's platform technologies, including producing next-generation hydrogel condoms.

Chapters

0:00 Intro Eudaemon

1:28 Intro Rob Gorkin & Simon Cook

2:45 Serendipity & becoming a co-founder (Simon’s background)

6:00 Rob’s journey from academia to entrepreneurship

08:53 Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation & the call for a better feeling condom

11:47 BBFH Challenge, Funding and the gap to commercialisation

15:35 The complexity of brining a condom to market

17:40 Skin-like feeling condoms thanks to hydrogels

20:05 The start of Eudaemon

22:07 The risks&struggle as a founder in academia

24:16 The importance of family&friends

25:39 Nick Northcott, third co-founder

26:28 Why the switch into entrepreneurship is hard but rewarding

29:55 Academia can be tough for founders

32:48 The birth of Eudaemon and the next-generation condom

36:58 Unique challenges building a Medtech business

41:41 Disrupting a 100-year old industry

45:08 Challenging each other is progress

46:43 Multi-disciplinary approach

48:36 Importance of a no-assholes-policy

49:53 Advice for others thinking about going into entrepreneurship

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In this episode, our host, Richard Sokolov, speaks with Morgan James, Manufacturing Director at IDE.

Richard and Morgan discuss the government’s plan to reboot Australian manufacturing, Morgan’s journey through the Medtech world, Kissick’s Iron Triangle of Healthcare and more

Links and Chapters/Timestamps below.

About Manufacturing at IDE

IDE has production facilities and fully equipped QA laboratories in Sydney (Australia) and Philadelphia (USA) that enable our team to develop and manage production automation and perform final assembly, testing, verification, and validation of various devices.

IDE’s presence in Rotterdam (Netherlands), Shenzhen and Ningbo (China) allow to audit, qualify and manage suppliers throughout Europe and China, coordinated by our Chinese-proficient technical experts in Australia.

The scale of operations has created a global network of approved suppliers, including high-tech and low-cost providers. With this worldwide network, IDE is able to optimise supply chains and find the right process specialists to get the best outcome for their clients.

IDE’s Manufacturing team combines the expertise of process integrators to create supply chains and operations, and specialists to implement processes such as injection moulding, automated assembly and sterilisation to meet your business needs.

About the BBFH Series

The Building Better Futures for Health (BBFH) Series is a series of interviews with Founders, Professors, Executives, and other leaders of the Australian start-up community. Together with our guests, we explore and analyse the drivers and challenges of the healthcare start-up community in Australia and discuss their unique journeys and stories.

All Podcast Episodes and Platforms: https://www.idegroup.com.au/videos-podcasts

IDE Manufacturing: https://www.idegroup.com.au/manufacturing

BBFH Challenge: https://www.bbfhchallenge.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ide-/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ide_group

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IDEGroupAU/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ide.group/

Chapters

0:00 Introduction

0:46 Importance of Manufacturing

2:17 Having a good plan executed today is better than having the perfect plan executed

3:51 Mission-led journey in Medtech of Morgan

5:58 From Large Multinational to Startup to being acquired

8:55 Entrepreneurial Manufacturing

12:30 The Manufacturing elements of a Medtech venture trying to get out the door 

14:30 Parameters in Manufacturing & the advantage of an outsiders perspective 

18:08 Manufacturing Renaissance in Australia &Government Funding

21:29 The Healthcare Dilemma: The Iron Triangle of Cost, Quality and Access

23:00 Outlook on Manufacturing at IDE

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Our host, Richard Sokolov, Executive Director and Co-founder of IDE Group, speaks with Sam van Bohemen, Co-founder and CEO of Nuroflux. 

Richard and Sam discuss how Nuroflux is trying to solve the $6 Billion problem with a novel approach, why technology isn’t everything, and what you need as a founder for a successful commercial outcome.

About Sam van Bohemen and Nuroflux
There is a stroke every 19 minutes in Australia, and the associated costs are $6 billion annually just for Australians. Stroke is the second leading cause of death worldwide. Unfortunately, current standard care relies upon subjective observations, and CT perfusion scans do not provide continuous monitoring. However, for an oxygen-starved brain, every second counts.

That is why Sam, founder and CEO of Nuroflux, wants to revolutionise stroke patient care with the first-ever device for continuous, long-term monitoring of brain activity and blood flow in the brain. 

Their solution is a wearable device for real-time monitoring of patients with acute ischaemic stroke. It provides continuous monitoring of blood flow and electrical activity in the brain to allow rapid detection and treatment of complications to improve outcomes and reduce the need for repeat CT scans to lower the radiation risk and financial costs.

Nuroflux was born out of seeing how blind the situation can be around stroke and engineers teaming up with clinicians and commercialisation experts to define, discover and deliver.

Nuroflux is the winner of the BBFH challenge 2021 taking home $25,000 of development and commercialisation support from IDE. They recently formed a strategic partnership with The George Institute for Global Health. 

About the BBFH Series
The Building Better Futures for Health (BBFH) Series is a series of interviews with Founders, Professors, Executives, and other leaders of the Australian start-up community. Together with our guests, we explore and analyse the drivers and challenges of the healthcare start-up community in Australia and discuss their unique journeys and stories. 

Chapters/Timestamps 
0:00 Introduction
1:04 Background of Sam
2:32 Why Stroke Care and the jump to commercialisation
4:45 Trying to solve the $6 Billion Dollar problem with a novel approach
7:02 The journey of Nuroflux from Health 10x to pre-seed funding
9:09 Winning the BBFH Challenge
10:20 Next stage of developing the product
11:18 Takeaways from BBFH for a start-up
12:45 What you need as a Medtech founder for a successful commercial outcome
16:23 Why technology isn’t everything
17:50 The goal of improving stroke patient outcome

Website IDE:  https://www.idegroup.com.au/videos-podcasts

Website Nuroflux: https://nuroflux.com/

Website BBFH Challenge: https://www.bbfhchallenge.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ide-/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ide_group  

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IDEGroupAU/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ide.group/  

#startups #podcast #bbfh #entrepreneurship #innovationinhealthcare #strokecare #stroke #medtech

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