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We’re doing a Kickstarter!

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Hello everyone! It’s been a while since last post, so I’m sorry about that, but for good reason. We’ve got a big announcement to make. The team at Backtrack is happy to say that later this fall we will be embarking on our first Kickstarter campaign, although we like to think of it as a collaborative crowd science experiment. Over the past year, as we’ve been building Backtrack, a few things have gotten us really excited. From our work with researchers, clinicians and patients we’ve become very interested in human movement. Movement… Read more We’re doing a Kickstarter! →

Hey Alex Blumberg: coffee is for closers only

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No time for a thoughtful post this week; sorry. But thankfully, the folks This American Life were kind enough to put one together for me.  http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/533/its-not-the-product-its-the-person This is their one-hour take on startups and how to pitch yourself; anchored, interestingly enough, around Alex Blumberg (formerly of Planet Money) in his own quest to start a company. Alex is actually chronicling his adventures here, which I look forward to following.  Overall it’s great stuff, although it’s been said before in fewer words. Specifically: Coffee’s for closers only.  Enjoy. (Not for viewing… Read more Hey Alex Blumberg: coffee is for closers only →

Forget fitness. The real killer app for wearable health is rehab.

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I’m always a bit disappointed when I pitch Backtrack to someone, they seem to love the idea and nod along in agreement, and then cap our discussion with: “Imagine the potential when you break out into a bigger market, like fitness tracking!” I’m disappointed in these situations because it means I’ve failed at communicating our biggest talking point: the magnitude of the problem we’re tackling, and how much bigger the rehab opportunity is than they realize. In a recent meeting with Helge, our General Partner at TandemLaunch, he brought up… Read more Forget fitness. The real killer app for wearable health is rehab. →

Startup Wisdom from NPR’s Car Talk

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Recently while out running I’ve been listening to old episodes of Car Talk, with Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers that Americans will remember fondly from Saturday mornings on NPR. I wanted to share two reader-submitted letters that, while quite humorous, contain a great deal of wisdom relating to startups, ignorance, and the Modern Jackass Phenomenon (as it is now known, thanks to another great radio show, This American Life).  The first is a letter submitted by Andy, which led to creation of ‘The Andy Scale’, the scale against which all… Read more Startup Wisdom from NPR’s Car Talk →

Smartwatches and the triage nurse problem

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Despite the ever-ongoing increases in available processing power predicted by Moore’s law, human beings can only pay a finite amount of attention to what’s in front of them at any given moment. Plenty of people realize this, especially concerning the rise of smart watches: at Google I/O recently, we were told that ‘the average Android user pulls their phone out of their pocket 125 times per day.’ Presumably, this is too many times, and Android Wear will alleviate this burden for us to some degree. But let’s not forget why… Read more Smartwatches and the triage nurse problem →