Episode 5: Business Cataylst
Revolutionizing Healthcare: An Insightful Conversation with Moritz Matschke
In this episode, Sadaf Abbas interviews Moritz Matschke, founder of Nurse-Solution, a startup focused on revolutionizing healthcare and nursing applications through an AI-driven applicant tracking system. Moritz shares the journey of Nurse-Solution, its achievements, and future aspirations. The discussion covers the startup’s unique approach to candidate evaluation, leveraging AI to match candidates with job opportunities globally. Moritz also highlights the importance of motivation and quality in both candidates and investors. The conversation delves into the challenges and rewards of building a healthcare startup and Moritz’s personal inspirations.
About Our Guest
Moritz Matschke
Business Developer | Health Advocate | Co-Founder of Nurse-Solution
Moritz Matschke, a dedicated advocate for global nursing practices, has vast experience spanning Africa and Europe. As Co-Founder of Nurse-Solution, he leverages AI and patient-centered digital solutions to address global nurse scarcity. Moritz’s proficiency with application tracking systems like ATx and familiarity with health systems across Canada, Australia, the US, Africa, and Europe enable him to provide comprehensive guidance on recruitment and relocation. His commitment to fostering well-being and supporting individual growth aims to positively impact the nursing industry worldwide.
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What You’ll Learn
- The significance of AI and social media in revolutionizing healthcare recruitment.
- Nurse-Solution’s journey, milestones, and future goals in expanding its market.
- The importance of motivation and quality in candidate evaluation through a 360-degree feedback system.
- Moritz Matschke’s personal inspiration from the COVID crisis to create solutions for healthcare workforce shortages.
- Investment opportunities and strategic partnerships for Nurse-Solution’s growth.
- The role of family support and work-life balance in entrepreneurial success.
- Oak Business Consultants’ contribution to Nurse-Solution’s financial modeling and strategic planning.
- Moritz’s advice for aspiring healthcare entrepreneurs on focus, goal setting, and leveraging modern connectivity.
Transcribe
Sadaf Abbas: Welcome to the Startup Insights Podcast.And today our guest is Moritz,founder of Nurse-Solution A startup revolutionization in healthcare and nursing application.We will explore Moritz journey, his achievements and future aspirations.Gain insights from his expertise in patient centered digitalized solution.Stay tuned for inspiration conversation for entrepreneurs and healthcare professionals So now, Moritzs can you provide our listener what Nurse-Solution is and how it aims to make an impact in the healthcare industry?
Moritz Matschke: Yes! Thank you sadaf for having me today. And yeah, let me explain about our company and about our projects. So basically the company is called NSL. Click & Work The first project we were launching in the company is a project called Nurse-Solution. Basically we are building an AI ATX platform. What does that mean, that AI ATX, basically it’s an applicant tracking system that is leveraging artificial intelligence and leveraging social media to bring the right candidates to the right job opportunity. And that not just locally, not just here in Europe or just in Germany, but also from other countries who just match make the right candidate with the right opportunity. Yeah, that’s basically in a nutshell what we are doing.
Sadaf Abbas: And could you tell us about your current status of Nurse-Solution and any significant milestone or achievement you have achieved so far?
Moritz Matschke: Of course, of course. So the company is by now around two years old. So it’s still quite a young company, I can say. It’s still in the startup phase and we have yet one, a few business angels to join the company and we are expanding our markets within Germany. We’ve worked now with a few different states in Germany, so we have regional states here in the country.
And in terms of the requirements, for example, for apprenticeship, like we help people to get an apprenticeship here, or we get people to get, It means like the acceptance of the already graduated people. So the regulation is kind of different a bit, but with our system, we basically can leverage on that and we can put any candidate in and find him the right opportunity. So the next phase ahead is another business angel round and then perhaps we go for our institutional round in the early of the next year. We want to grow together with the right partners.
That means that we are looking for partners who also have some domain knowledge, either from the healthcare field or from other industries, where we also gain knowledge about the training of the people in the designated country. So for us, the quality is a very important factor and that we can have a kind of, you know, working with good universities, working with good partners, that can also make sure that we keep the quality high.
Sadaf Abbas: So I hope so. You have made some standards for the quality services or for the quality of good candidates. So you have made any, you can say process for this How to segmentize, what are the good candidates which are not good candidates. How you are doing the application,
Moritz Matschke: We call that nurse funnel. A funnel basically is a five step scenario where we evaluate the candidates with a 360 degree feedback. So it means that the candidates, when they’re interviewed, are rated by the interviewer, they are rating themselves and we are using scientific methods of checking their motivation. And of course we are checking all the mandatory things that are necessary.
But on top of the mandatory documents, it may be the health record and so forth. On top of that, motivation is the absolute key to evaluate. And we do that in a very sophisticated way. And then we recommend to them that we can help them or that we work with them or we say they should get better in certain aspects. Let’s say we evaluate their technical knowledge, we evaluate their skills and their motivation. So basically in the end they get a statement and we give them also the scores. And then they can see and can come back after some time and can try again. But they have to qualify for the opportunity, of course.
Sadaf Abbas: Very nice to know about this whole process because you are doing very well, which means this is a very good one that you are doing the 360 degree evaluation for the candidates, which is a very good point in your application. I hope this application will be very fruitful for the whole healthcare industry, and the practitioners as well and the whole other industries. My third question is that Moritz, what inspires you to venture into the field of healthcare nursing? Giving your background experience in patient centered digitized solution?
Moritz Matschke: Yeah, so basically in the COVID crisis we learned that the biggest problem was basically the stuff that was overloaded with work. And this crisis let us start our business, the NSL. We were working before in different projects in the field of oncology. We already worked with, as you said, we already worked with patient centered products. But then the overwhelming majority of our customers said that the real problem is the lack of qualified workforce. And that’s why then we decided basically to move our focus from the oncology basically to the workforce topic.
Moritz Matschke: Yeah,
Sadaf Abbas: Yeah, I remember the COVID period means it’s almost two or three years, but it happened at a very fast pace and we saw a very tragic situation globally, not just country wise, but globally we were affected as a human being. I think so, yeah, so I think so. From this application maybe we will have a good quantity of the candidates of our workforce in the healthcare industry when we are required, and I hope so, it still, we are required to have a good workforce in this area. So NSL is a relatively new startup that is just two years old. Can you share some insights into the amount of investment it required to kickstart the company and its growth rate? So what is the, you can say, minimum amount of investment are you seeking right now?
Moritz Matschke: Yeah, okay. Of course. Sure. So basically we are looking right now for an investor who can get up to 10%
in direct shares and the price per share at the moment is at €9000. So it’s still quite a good offer and quite cheap to get in. Yeah. The evaluation basically then leads to a next real investment round in about the first quarter of the 25.
So in about six months from now and then we want to onboard a more institutional investor and, yeah, so I would call it, we can still call it a kind of business angel because we still require, let’s say a certain interest in the domain of recruiting or in the domain of healthcare, whereas the next round, so to say, we may also just look for a smart investor. But right now, for us, it’s kind of important to have a strategic partner that also can help us build up certain markets or comes from the educational field or different scenarios possible. We look for some… (inaudible)
Sadaf Abbas: So my fifth question is, basically, is the same thing that in terms of the investors, what qualities or characteristics are you looking for in potential investors in terms of personality, their experiences, their interest to align with the vision of your company? So can you elaborate this?
Moritz Matschke: Basically, we look for the same things. We’re looking at the candidate side, we’re also looking at the investor side, basically. So we’re looking for a motivated partner who’s motivated. First of all, motivation is important. Then of course, his skills. His skills are also important. So it may be skills. So it may be strong skills in the background of healthcare, or of education, or in the area of pharmaceutical, or I mean, the area where we have a high process quality.
It can be also from a different domain, it can be also from automotive, it can be also from technical background. Because basically, if a partner knows very well about supply chains and is aware of this trading and so forth, it can also be beneficial for us that he understands that we have to bring the recruiting to the next level, because if we look at certain industries, they are already working on a very high efficiency level, but therefore the recruiting is not as proficient yet as it should be. So it’s really a kind of blue ocean or kind of untouched area, so to say.
If you see how a car is built or how certain manufacturers help manufacturing processes, how professional they are done, and then you really compare it, then we have a lot, a lot to gain here, so to say. So it’s a huge opportunity. Especially many countries, they have a younger workforce and they have, let’s say, higher unemployment rates. So before the people sitting there and being unemployed for years and years ahead, they could go and use the opportunity to work in a foreign country where their capacity is really needed.
So basically the characteristic again is on the three layers. It’s like the characteristics on motivation, then the technical skills and then non-technical skills, which is of course also that he fits in the team well. So we do a call together with our shareholders and of course we have to understand each other and to like each other in a certain way. Because this person perhaps will stick around at least for two more rounds, let’s say, staying at least one and a half years, so to say, with us. So of course we want somebody also engaging to talk with him or with her and yeah, just to have somebody, some friendly person in the.
Sadaf Abbas: Basically, if I summarize it for the audience, is that you are looking for an investor who can put his effort, his strategic skills into the company as well, not just the money.
Moritz Matschke: Yes, exactly, exactly. Yeah.
Sadaf Abbas: So beyond your work in the healthcare industry and your application, could you share some of your personal interests or hobbies that help you to inspire that motivation?
Moritz Matschke: Yeah, yeah, of course. I’m a passionate bike, race bike driver.So, you know, and the analogy from the bike racing to the business world is basically, you know, you just have not to stop, keep moving, because if you stop on a bike and especially on a race bike, you’re gonna, you know, fall down. And so basically it’s keep, keep always moving forward and then also be prepared. Well, so, you know, if you go for a longer trek, if you go for 100 km ride, you know, you need to be, you need to be well equipped, you need to be well prepared and yeah, I mean, to stay out in the nature is just the most rewarding thing, you know.
So here in Europe we have a lot of forest and the forest is a very magnificent place because it’s all interconnected, you know, all the trees, they’re all connected. And when you spend an hour or several hours there with a bike, that’s really calming you down and it also teaches you a lot, of course, you know, in terms of your own motivation, in terms of your environment and also the spiritual kind of, you know, surrounding.
Because not everything, you know, we cannot see everything as human beings, of course, but, you know, we can sense the harmony or we can sense the opportunity even before we can see it or before we can feel it. So I believe that, you know, to connect the sport and the spirit together with the nature, that’s a really driving force for me to, you know, to stay in balance and I. And to have enough energy for the things ahead.
Sadaf Abbas: Awesome. I also believe in going out, especially in nature and here in my area, there’s so much greenery. We have so much, a lot to enjoy the moment with my family, to go up to the rooftop and just enjoy the moment with a cup of hot tea.
Moritz Matschke: Yes.
Sadaf Abbas: So this is small time you are taking with your kids.Of course, we are working 8 hours, 9 hours in a day and we are sometimes exhausted and kids and nature, meditation, is giving you a boost, you know, so I think. So I. We are in the same line that we both enjoy nature.
Moritz Matschke: Yes.
Sadaf Abbas: Okay, so when you have kids and you have kids, you need to have a work life balance. It’s mandatory work for yourself.
Moritz Matschke: Yes.I mean, you know, it’s like one issue in our area is also the time zones.
Sadaf Abbas: Yeah.
Moritz Matschke: So, you know, as we work with foreign countries, basically you can, you have almost no time off because somewhere it’s always morning, you know, and therefore that is also a challenge and. Yeah, but also, yeah, that’s also the driving force, you know, to just do the level best.
Sadaf Abbas: So building a successful startup often requires a dedicated team. Could you tell me about your team members and their roles in driving the company’s success?
Moritz Matschke: Yeah, of course. Yeah. So basically I believe that the CEO is. So my personally is a very important role, of course, because you need one leader, so to say in the company who’s like, you know, when to give speed and to give them also, you know, the projections of the goals and things like that. I mean, I’ve been working in healthcare now for over 10 years and I have a quite big network here in Europe.
And so I would say the team, I mean, we have a fixed team, it’s like four people now. But eventually there’s like people joining, you know, on a case by case, let’s say, you know, so we have an extended team and extended team if it’s needed, then we can always consult and trust in them, which is even more important. So I think nowadays you also need to have a degree of flexibility in a way that, of course I would like to work with a great CTO, but then this great CTO perhaps requires $300,000 a year.
So of course a startup is not in the position to pay €300,000 for a CTO, let’s say. But then you can find workarounds. You can engage those people anyway, not on a full time scale, but you can engage them as consultants and as business angels. And then those people still give you their very best of information and input, but to different conditions. But then again, you know, the employees and the core team also have to take that information and make the best out of it.
But basically, no, I think we have a great team and there is a great need for the workforce, and there is a great wish for people to leave and to come here, to come to foreign countries and work. And that motivation also attracts very talented and the very best talented people. So I can see the sentiment. To work with us as a team is very, very big. Really great people want to work with us. But then you have to be flexible sometimes about the conditions, about the engagement.
Sadaf Abbas: My eight question is that what is the key moment when your family and your circle support you in the whole journey? What is the key moment you remember?
Moritz Matschke: So that’s a difficult question. I mean, like, I think it’s more constant,…
Sadaf Abbas: The constant support of a family.
Moritz Matschke: Constant support of the family is important. And also, you know, in a way, if you get up another morning at 04:00 you know, to do business meetings, to also have the understanding, you know, to have them, to have the. The appreciation for that, you know, because, yeah, or sometimes to work late and to get up early, you know, that is of course challenging because the working hours are not 9-5 mode, right.
Sadaf Abbas: Especially for the startup CEO’s and the co founders, they are working, you know, 24 hours a day because their startup is just really small and they need to put more effort in the few more 3 to 5 years are very difficult times for the startup and co founders. You need to hire people, you need to see the investors, you need to see the product quality. You are just a one man show right now. And then you need to delegate your job one by one to each person. But that time period is, you know, very harsh. one to two, two to three to five years is like, you know, you are taking care of a small plant, so it’s really, you know, time taking and time consuming and effortful.
Moritz Matschke: That’s totally right. But I think the responsibility is not getting less. And therefore I’m always very thankful that my family understands and is there. But of course the most dedication, I think to be honest with you, I think the first 5 years even of a company is a phase where the private life is very limited and where the family has to have a lot of understanding and a lot of cannot spend, you know, this day or that day because it’s just about work. So. But I think everybody knows who once started a company or, you know, where’s the responsible position in the company.
Sadaf Abbas: Yeah, I totally agree with you Moritz So in the past we have worked together and our team, Oak Business Consultant’s team has worked with you in the financial model and building the financial model and the pitch deck as well so what how our services has contributed to the NSL performance or growth?
Moritz Matschke: Yeah, I mean first of all it gave us a great opportunity to look in a sophisticated way in the 3 years projection, so to say. And the models, the financial models are really sophisticated and the methodology and also the service were always on time. I can only speak very positively about the results and outcome. And from a proficiency point of view, I think not many startups work on that proficiency as what you provide in financial services.
So that is of course a unique selling proposition. Also as a startup to have checked certain financial models and certain KPI’s and it gave us also the focus to do it quite early as a startup it also gave us the right focus to focus on certain KPI’s that we had not envisioned before in the early phase. So I think the focus is really key and yeah, then of course the good quality of the service as well.
Sadaf Abbas: Thank you so much Moritz But I need to tell more in detail regarding your financial model once you come with us and you were just explaining the whole idea to us and my team just explaining me the whole meeting agenda and meeting notes with me and then I was asking the details and the team was saying they don’t have the details because Moritz is just in a very early stage.
Moritz Matschke: Yes.
Sadaf Abbas: So that time was very difficult, Moritz because we don’t have the data. So we have deep down, we have done a very deep down market research and the market research based on the sources. So if we are giving you something, if the team is giving you Oak Business Consultant team is giving you something, so we are making sure that the numbers are accurate as per the market research.
That was a very challenging time for us to do the whole market research when that just application is in idea stage because we need to know more detail from you that what kind of application you have having, what problem you are focusing, what the features will be, the product will have, how many customers or how many competitors will be in the market. So these numbers and I it’s a very good project, I would say. And the team was working very happily with you and, but just one thing, I think so we need to understand each other.
Our time zone is different. So my team and you always, you know, have a very good communication regarding and both are very communicative and coordinated at your end. And the team as well, they’re always ready and you are always ready for the meetings at any time. This is a very good point. It means that we are showing that this thing is the first priority. So I believe that your application will be more developing and meanwhile have more growth regarding the services. Lastly, what advice would you offer to aspiring co-founders and startup founders looking to make a positive impact in the healthcare industry and beyond? So what is your advice? What do you think?
Moritz Matschke: I mean, first of all, I think to focus on one’s own capacity, that is first to get an understanding of where you are, what is your environment and then what are your goals basically, what is your motivation, what is your technical skills and so forth. Basically, that’s really the foundation. And then talk to us or to companies in the field, to us. For example, for Europe, that’s a good starting point because we can really then, you know, help and find the right opportunity here in healthcare and beyond.
Also, you know, we now introduce a workforce solution where we also take care of other jobs, where we take care also, you know, of hotels, restaurants and chefs like, you know, service. So basically there is a huge demand here in Germany and in Europe in general in the workforce. So we may extend the feature to the general workforce because also our customers here, you know, the big hospital chains, they have like tens of thousands of employees in all different fields. They not just have nurses, they have chefs, they also have service and they are required in all areas.
So basically, you know, just first become clear what you, where you’re standing, who you are, you know, and so forth. And then, you know, have a goal and then have a focus. And then I think anything is possible in the modern world where we are all connected and with the Internet. So basically, yeah, I think everybody deserves and can find the right opportunity nowadays in the world here.
Sadaf Abbas: So this is very good advice from you, Moritz, thank you so much for your time. Thank you for joining us at startup insights. We hope you enjoyed the conversation with Moritz and learned valuable lessons from journey from his startup. Innovation and dedication drives significant change in any industry. If you are inspired, my audience please subscribe, share and leave a review. Stay connected for more engaging discussion with industry leaders. and entrepreneurs like Moritz, Until next time, keep striving for excellence and making a positive impact. Thank you so much.
Moritz Matschke: Thank you Sadaf. Have a nice day.
Sadaf Abbas: Thank you.