Rufus Mitchell-Heggs is the Co-founder & Chief Scientific Officer of Connectome - a neurotechnology company transforming how we understand and optimise the human brain.

Connectome’s mission is to make advanced brain insights accessible to everyone, starting with a non-invasive scan, and over time building the world’s largest longitudinal brain dataset.

In this episode, we discuss how Rufus and his team are focused on:

1. Only providing metrics that people can act on

2. The surprising customer segment raving about this technology

3. Balancing the tension between ‘moving fast and breaking things’ with ‘doing things properly’

You will also get to see Rufus demoing the headset himself!

If you’d like to participate in Connectome’s upcoming:

• Study at Imperial College London, you can sign up to their waitlist here.

• Round of fundraising, feel free to reach out to Rufus directly on LinkedIn.

Access the MindTech Matrix⁠ - see where Connectome sits on the first and only map of mind health technology startups organised by the problem they’re solving and the solution they’re building.

Links mentioned in the podcast episode:

• ⁠Neurotechnology Funding Snapshot (2024)⁠

• ⁠40% of Dementia Cases are Preventable⁠

• ⁠Biomarkers: What Makes One Great?⁠

• ⁠It Takes an Average of 17 Years for Evidence to Change Practice⁠

Neurodivergence can be a superpower if supported appropriately. In fact, 40-50% of founders are neurodivergent, indicating its potential for creativity and innovation. However, many are held back by the challenges that come with it.

Steph Hamill is solving this problem as the Co-Founder of Divergence Supplements. Their lead product, Gamma Focus, is the first natural superblend specifically formulated to support the needs of divergent minds.

Steph began her career in marketing, business development, and innovation. She now exclusively applies this expertise to making a social impact, such as in her role as senior entrepreneur-in-residence and MBA faculty for Oneday, an EdTech accelerator that supports entrepreneurs in launching and scaling their businesses. She has personally mentored over 250 founders.

Steph was also the first investor for Mettle - the first mental fitness toolkit for men - which featured on MindTech as our very first episode.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Steph’s personal experience of being treated for neurodivergence, which gave her the insight to create a thriving business in this space

• Redefining neurodivergence and unleashing its advantages

• Facilitating community with conversational AI

Steph is currently writing a book on neurodivergent entrepreneurs. So, if you are a neurodivergent entrepreneur, you can reach out to Steph on LinkedIn.

Access the MindTech Matrix - the first map of mental health technology startups organised by the problem they’re solving and the solution they’re building.

Discover insights & tools for your mind at ⁠The Mind, Explored.⁠

In children, existing treatments for depression are effective in only 60% of cases. After treatment, 50 - 75% experience a relapse. Why are these outcomes so poor? And how can we make progress?

In this episode, we answer these questions and discuss:

1. 3 overlooked factors contributing to young people’s mental health
2. How parents can better support their children through mental health challenges
3. How to measure DSM-5 outcomes in fewer questions for young people

Peter Templeton founded The William Templeton Foundation for Young People’s Mental Health (YPMH) - a charitable foundation working to improve the lives of young people by facilitating innovation to resolve mental health conditions.

On June 19th 2024, YPMH are co-hosting ‘Collaborate to innovate: Working together to transform mental health outcomes’ at the University of Cambridge. Each session is relevant to MindTech, but the one I am most looking forward to is the middle session on evaluating and prioritising innovations. Learn more and buy tickets here.

Access the MindTech Matrix - the first map of mental health technology startups organised by the problem they’re solving and the solution they’re building.

Discover insights & tools for your mind at ⁠The Mind, Explored.⁠

Clare Kennedy Purvis is a Stanford-trained clinical psychologist who has applied her understanding of the mind to building digital mental health interventions all throughout her career, including as the:

• VP of Clinical Product & Content Development at Headspace
• Clinical Product Lead in the Mental Health Centre of Excellence at Google
• Head of Clinic Product at Lantern
• Chief Product Officer at Mindcure

Clare is also the Founder of WELL - a business leadership community for women clinicians and scientists in digital health.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How Headspace relieves acute distress (painkiller effect) and then guides users towards a long-term preventative approach (vitamin effect)
• Aligning value-based outcomes with payment models
• Clare’s bold bet on the next opportunity for innovation in MindTech

See where Headspace fits into the MindTech Matrix - the first map of mental health technology startups organised by the problem they’re solving and the solution they’re building.

Discover insights & tools for your mind at ⁠The Mind, Explored.⁠

Modelling the brain as a biological computer?!

Dr Rick Adams is a Consultant Psychiatrist, widely published researcher, and a Future Leaders Fellow in the UCL Department of Computer Science and Division of Psychiatry.

Rick is a leader in the field of Computational Psychiatry, a discipline applying computational methods to understanding psychiatric problems. He completed a PhD in this niche, and now runs a Computational Psychiatry Lab at UCL.

There aren’t many people in the world more qualified to discuss the potential for computational tools to transform mental health.

In this episode, we will cover:

1. How we can model the brain as a biological computer
2. The barriers to overcome in translating computational theory into clinical practice
3. The technology that could be adopted immediately into his psychiatry clinic

Learn more about Rick's work on UCL's website.

Subscribe to MindTech's email list for access to the MindTech Matrix - the first map of mental health technology startups organised by the problem they’re solving and the solution they’re building.

Discover insights & tools for your mind at ⁠The Mind, Explored.⁠

Are we creating technologies that support:

• Connection or division?
• Addiction or isolation?
• Mindfulness or distraction?

Wisdom Ventures support a new generation of companies that do the former, in a world where technology has often achieved the latter.

After 25+ years at Google, Microsoft, and Cisco, Ruchika Sikri is accelerating the growth of mindfulness, compassion, and wellness platforms as a Partner at Wisdom Ventures.

In this episode, we discuss:

1. The value of Emotional Intelligence for VCs
2. Enterprise Sales as a gateway to Direct-to-Consumer Sales
3. The advantages of targeting narrow user groups
4. Emerging trends in wellbeing technology

Learn more about Wisdom Ventures on their website.

Subscribe to MindTech's email list for access to the MindTech Matrix - the first map of mental health technology startups organised by the problem they’re solving and the solution they’re building.

Discover insights & tools for your mind at ⁠The Mind, Explored.⁠

How can we use technology as a bridge, not a barrier, to human connection?

Dr Mark Cox is a Co-Founder of Lumi, a startup that answers this question by using technology to help families reconnect through a blend of digital and real-world experiences.

Mark is an NHS Doctor with 5 years of clinical experience, currently working part-time in A&E while he builds Lumi.

Listen to learn:

• The importance of family support in managing child mental health
• How to use technology to get people off technology
• How MindTech could be integrated in schools (not just hospitals)

Learn more about Lumi on their website.

Subscribe to MindTech's email list for access to the MindTech Matrix - the first map of mental health technology startups organised by the problem they’re solving and the solution they’re building.

Discover insights & tools for your mind at ⁠The Mind, Explored.⁠

Professor Dasha Nicholls leads the Child and Adolescent Mental Health research team in the Division of Psychiatry at Imperial College London. Her team’s research improves understanding of and interventions for children and young people with eating disorders and those living at higher weight.

This episode stands out as a special one to me, given the career path that Professor Nicholls has forged - rooted in academic rigour and co-production.

In this episode, we discuss:

1. The competing messages from the obesity epidemic and the mental health epidemic
2. Emotional and behavioural regulation as a transdiagnostic factor in mental health
3. Technology’s ability to recognise variations in mood and tailor behavioural science techniques to improve self-care

• ⁠Access the MindTech Matrix⁠⁠ - see where each startup sits on the first and only map of mind health technology startups organised by the problem they’re solving and the solution they’re building.