Pranshu from India completed a Master of Interaction Design (Extension) in 2022. He co-founded a startup, Memo Memory Rehabilitation (MEMORehab), and now serves as Chief Technology Officer (CTO).
Meet Pranshu
In his first job as a programmer, Pranshu became fascinated by UI design and was interested in making apps visually appealing. This passion for design led Pranshu to pursue a Masters in Interaction Design in Australia.
“UTS was one of only a few universities in Australia offering a Masters in Interaction Design. UTS stood out from every other university because of its central location in the heart of Sydney and numerous industry connections.”
Studio subjects give students the unique opportunity to apply their theoretical knowledge into tangible, real-world projects. For Pranshu, Interaction Design Studio (41021) would shape his future career. For his studio capstone project, Pranshu and his team had to design a digital product. A team member suggested working on digitising a memory rehabilitation program created by a team of neuropsychologists. His team of five students did research, interviewed clinicians as prospective application users, and designed a prototype for their app, MEMORehab. This platform allowed clinicians to provide memory intervention remotely to patients with neurological disorders.
“The project was a success and we scored an HD grade. We got some excited responses from our professors and the clinicians. They encouraged us to take this project forward and shape it from a prototype into a real-world application.”
Alongside members of the original capstone project team and neuropsychologists, Pranshu co-founded a startup called MEMO Memory Rehabilitation (MEMORehab). To help get Memo Memory Rehabilitation off the ground, Pranshu and the team joined UTS Startups. As part of UTS Startups, they now had access to experienced mentors, networking opportunities, collaboration spaces, technology, event spaces, and more.
A great amount of guidance and commitment is required to take an idea and turn it into a business. UTS Startups was the first startup community we joined. Since this was our first business, the process entailed a big learning curve for us to understand company structure, finances, legal, sales, partnerships, etc. UTS Startups connected us with mentors who were experts in their fields and helped us learn these new concepts.
Today, MEMORehab is developing a SaaS product for healthcare professionals to provide memory rehabilitation to patients with neurological disorders, brain injuries, and problems with memories. The software will allow clinicians to conduct training sessions with patients via video conferencing, provide patients with educational content, and exercises for building better memory. MEMORehab has partnered with Australasian Society for the Study of Brain Impairment (ASSBI) and Epilepsy Action Australia.
“We are almost a year and a half into business now and have partnered with national and international organisations, sold our product to clients, completed startup accelerators, and launched our product into the market. It has been an exciting journey.”
As Co-founder and CTO of MEMORehab, Pranshu oversees all technical aspects of the product. This includes managing the Design and Development Teams, designing architecture, and writing code for products in development.
“Today I am part of a startup which has teams spread across 3 different continents all working remotely, which is a dream come true. In the coming years, I would like to continue working on this business and watch it grow into a successful venture."