HIA TV Episode 1: Timo Ahopelto, Lifeline Ventures
Timo Ahopelto and Eeva Kiuru at Upgraded Life Festival in Helsinki May 2015.
This is the launch of the first ever HIA TV episode !
My intention behind HIA TV is to bring up issues that have been showing up as important ones while exploring the health innovation space. HIA TV focuses on issues worth sharing and spreading to all those people who are creating new products and services to improve human health.
Why HIA TV?
I have a gut feeling that many of the issues showing up repeatedly with my clients in the health tech space are kind of issues that show up with many others, too. My goal is to share that wisdom through the videos so it will end up benefiting the whole community of health innovators.
What is the content of HIA TV?
I will be interviewing people in the health tech space. It will be entrepreneurs, opinion leaders, industry experts, medical professionals, analysts, whatnot.
Some of the people are the familiar to all of us, some are new innovators with some precious wisdom to share.
Hugs to Ville Pohjonen at Pohjonen Productions for the cool HIA TV bumper.
Episode 1: Health tech investor Timo Ahopelto, Lifeline Ventures
In the first episode I had the privilege to chat with Timo Ahopelto from Lifeline Ventures, which is an early stage health tech investor. I met with Timo at Upgraded Life Festival at Meilahti Campus in 19 May 2015. Check out Timo’s investment criteria and his advise to early stage health tech innovators.
If you prefer reading, here you can find the transcript of the interview.
If you enjoy more reading than watching a video, here is the transcript of the interview:
Eeva Kiuru: Timo Ahopelto, we are at the Upgraded Life Festival in Meilahti Campus. How has it been for you, this event?
Timo Ahopelto: Yes, it has been great. We had a good panel discussion, we just ended, and I’m meeting a lot of old friends and making new friends. So, it’s a good gathering.
Eeva: You are investor in the Health Tech. You are seeing so many different kinds of innovations pouring into the market. So, what exactly are you looking for as investor right now?
Timo: Yes, so, our investments, we have about 15 to 20 health investments and they range everything from hardcore biotech to social wellness, so everything in between. What we are looking for is companies who can really… I don’t want to sound jargony but who can really change the world and who have ideas that are so big that they are like globally really unique.
Eeva: Sounds great. You are meeting obviously a lot of startup entrepreneurs. What do you think is the biggest challenge for them right now? Like, what are they struggling with? What’s your advice to do better?
Timo: Yes, so I feel like people would need… I wouldn’t say that it’s more ambition, but more kind of pushing their business plans to the point where they’re actually really unique on a global perspective, because in order to kind of become something in the world you need to be unique, because people are inventing the same thing in many places at the same time. Especially for the Finnish companies it’s super important, that they’re not doing anything, which is kind of a “me-too”.
Eeva: Right. Finally, if somebody who was listening here wants to start a Health Tech company, so is that your number one advice, to do something unique, or what is your advice?
Timo: Yes, definitely. So figure out that your team is actually among the top 1% in the world in what you are doing, because that is needed to really break through. The second thing is that if you’re doing something that is “me-too”, stop doing it and re-iterate it to something else.
Eeva: Very good. Hey, thank you very much, Timo.
Timo: Yes, thanks.
Eeva: Have a nice day.