Inneurva co-founder shares how a friend’s back pain inspired the medtech startup

Startups don’t get much newer than Inneurva, the medtech that blends software and hardware to help users manage chronic back pain. Clara Zhao and Dr Tass Paritt founded the venture earlier this year, each being exposed to chronic back pain in one way or another.

For Zhao, it was through a friend who suffered an injury and back pain as a result. He went to physiotherapists but found he had to go back continually, and that the treatment wasn’t solving the purpose of the problem.

“I thought: that’s not really good customer experience,” Zhao told SmartCompany.

Zhao has a background in strategy and operations and Paritt has a PhD in surgical robotics. Upon meeting, they thought “we have such complementary skills and, most importantly, we share the same vision, that we really want to make people live a pain-free life,” Zhao recalled.

Inneurva’s device (pictured in Paritt’s hand) works similarly to a TENS machine but is smaller, travels easier, and is simpler to use. It is paired to the app, into which users can enter their personal information, a pain profile of sorts, which then caters the machine’s duration, intensity, and frequency to the patient.

On pitching Inneurva

Don’t let the fact that Inneurva is less than a year old fool you. Zhao is very experienced with pitching at a previous startup she built while studying for her MBA. She came fourth at the Third China Shenzhen Innovation Entrepreneurship competition and achieved other accolades too. Prior to Inneurva she worked at AWS and has worked at the Australian embassy in China as well.

She taught herself coding and changed her career path to get to AWS, but after leaving to form her startup, was still surprised by the challenge, but also the enjoyment.

“After I became an entrepreneur I realised ‘wow!’ my life at AWS was actually quite easy’,” she said.

“Because as an entrepreneur, I feel, you have to figure out everything by yourself. Especially when you’re doing something that’s completely new. You don’t have a reference point, you really have to find your own way.”

Inneurva was one of five shortlisted startups set to compete to win big at the Pitch, SmartCompany‘s early-stage startup competition, tomorrow night in Melbourne. Sadly due to COVID, it is now unable to attend. Rest assured, SmartCompany will keep our eye on this exciting startup.

Who will win the Pitch? Find out for yourself! Register to attend here.