Entrepreneurship can often seem like lonely a journey - but it doesn’t have to be.
In fact, success is often found when a group of individuals come together, combining their personalities and skill sets to pursue a common vision.
Company can be integral to launching a company.
That was the case for Sydney Robinson, MESc’21, and Ph.D. Candidate Oleksiy Zaika, MSc’15.
They are the co-founders of Vessl Prosthetics Inc., which is developing an automatically adjusting prosthetic socket to help lower limb amputees who struggle with socket fit.
Regular static sockets don’t adapt to the changes in limb volume that can occur daily for most amputees. This misfit causes discomfort and even debilitating pain. With its ability to automatically adjust to such changes, Vessl’s solution will maintain a snug fit and help amputees avoid discomfort and pressure sores as they go about their daily lives.
While Vessl has been a step up for both Robinson and Zaika, the idea of entrepreneurship has never seemed far behind.
It almost seemed to ‘follow them.’
With Zaika, it was reflected through his curiosity, and love for inventions and innovations.
I was always the kid to take things apart and see how they work, and put them back together… When I was able to take some business classes during my graduate studies, I really realized that I had the potential and a great opportunity to do something with that curiosity.
With a PhD in Anatomy and Cell Biology, it has become slightly difficult to take things apart but he has definitely dedicated his education to putting things back together.
For Robinson, it was about people. “I am an extroverted person. I love to lead, I love to work in a team,” she said.
She still recalls her parents and grandparents telling her, “You’ll own a company, someday,” and at age 18, Robinson started her own swim school.
“I just love people, so it was a great way to stay involved with people”
A problem worth solving
After starting in the field of Mechanical Engineering, Robinson completed her master's in Biomedical Engineering at Western University.
It was at Western, in the Medical Innovation Fellowship (MIF) that Robinson and Zaika’s paths crossed. The MIF Program provides researchers with the training and experience to bring innovative solutions to real world clinical problems.
Part of the project involves finding those problems, and for Zaika, Robinson, and their fellow teammates Xinyi Li, Olumide Olotu, and Malcolm Eaton, the idea for Vessl Prosthetics materialized during a visit to the Hamilton-based diabetes clinic, The Mayer Institute.
The lead doctor, Perry Mayer, had a number of ideas for the team, including one for a diabetic foot offloading device.
During their visit, the team met a number of amputees and discovered that diabetes was the leading cause of amputation.
“They were all there because their socket wasn’t fitting,” recalled Robinson.
After a number of interactions with patients, Robinson, Zaika, and the team discovered a real problem worth solving. Their subsequent research showed that it wasn’t just a problem relegated to The Mayer Institute.
But there was another inflection point for Robinson and Zaika.
While entrepreneurship had always been lurking in the background, was this the time to bring it into focus?
“If I'm going start a company, I'm going do it now because I'm at a point in my life where that seems like it would make sense,” said Robinson. “We've been supported in the early stages… so we have this kind of unprecedented opportunity that I really wanted to take advantage of.”
For Robinson, that decision was made even easier when Zaika’s also intimated his interest in launching their MIF project.
“Well, if I'm going start a company with anyone, I would like it to be him (Zaika),” said Robinson. Zaika felt the same.
“The stars, all aligned if you will. And I was like, ‘yeah, let's do it.”
Together, with their complementary skills, Robinson and Zaika have been able to split responsibilities, allowing their strengths to shine, and their weaknesses to be covered by the other.
Just a week away from graduating from the MIF Program, they incorporated the company.
A few days later, Vessl Prosthetics Inc. won the $25,000 first-place prize at the 2022 MSK Innovation Competition, sponsored by the Bone and Joint Institute. It was a strong validation of the problem and their proposed solution.
It’s all about the network
Since then, Robinson and Zaika have surrounded themselves with support structures to aid their entrepreneurial journey.
In September, Robinson joined the Western Accelerator to develop Vessl alongside other up-and-coming entrepreneurs and founders. Each morning, Robinson would be the first person at the accelerator. Throughout the day, with her headset on, Robinson would be speaking with doctors, engineers, investors and mentors, gleaning every ounce of knowledge and wisdom she can.
The mentors are fantastic. We work with Andrew Sandon and he has been really, really great at guiding us and helping us as we move forward. I've learned a lot about advisors versus advisory boards versus board of directors and that was a really interesting split that I didn't understand before…, and how to engage with those different people in different capacities…
At this early stage of their journey, Robinson has already discovered the power of the network and surrounding Vessl with the support structures needed to launch and sustain entrepreneurial success.
In the meantime, Zaika has been working through BioNext at Western, where he has been figuring out shareholder agreements, taxes, intellectual property, prototyping, and more.
They’ve also made great connections further up the 401 with the University of Waterloo’s incubator Velocity, and The Accelerator Centre’s newly launched Hybrid Venture Studio Program, stretching Vessl’s support system even wider.
Over the next few months, Robinson and Zaika will be working with a design firm to complete their first prototype. They have also started conversations with Veteran Affairs in the U.S. and will be working with their health centres to receive feedback on their product from patients and clinical staff.
There shouldn’t be any lack of excitement for Robinson and Zaika, who are grateful to be on this journey together.
So far, all the pieces have come together.
And that’s a phenomenon they hope to replicate with Vessl Prosthetics to give amputees the full life they desire.