HEALTH Tech guy targets misery

Kate Wilson

The rise of technology, startupaccelerator guru Todd Embley believes, is the root cause of a lot of the world’s problems. It might seem like a paradox that an individual embedded in the tech community would be so vocal about its negative aspects, but the BCIT grad has a lot of experience interacting with technology’s less favourable components. At the beginning his business career, in China, his startup was unexpectedly co-opted by a silent partner. After choosing to dedicate himself to helping other fledgling companies so they wouldn’t suffer a similar fate, he became a mentor at Chinaccelerator, a 90-day program that helps entrepreneurs gain a foothold in their industries. Over that time, he became interested in how technology can be used to help solve the could literally be anything, from addiction recovery to helping to fund mindfulness centres. The key here is that it’s virtual, so there’s no need to have a physical location for it. There’s no fee, so you don’t pay. There’s no equity, so they don’t take anything from your company, and it lasts for a month. We had 1,100 applications, and we took 120 companies.”

Typically, Embley says, a lot of people in the health industries struggle to push for revenue because their passion lies in helping others rather than practising ruthless business tactics. Many are not driven by money, or they operate as nonprofits. The Transformative Technology Academy aids those companies in working out how they can best survive, thrive, and scale up.