Resident in Focus: Paul Wilsdon, Co-founder of Overwatch
Innovative software company, Overwatch first joined Ormeau Baths as part of the Propel 2018 pre-accelerator. Since then they've continued to grow their business and recently closed their investment round as part of their mission to further expand their product offering and company reach.
We caught up with co-founder, Paul Wilsdon to find out more about the work Overwatch are doing, their start-up story so far and the biggest lessons and highlights they've experienced along the way.
Name & role:
Paul Wilsdon
Chief Design Officer / Co-Founder
Company elevator pitch:
Overwatch helps get the right drugs to patients quicker by accelerating the discovery process and helping scientific researchers design, visualise and collaborate on their pre-clinical studies.
Company goal for 2020:
Expanding our customer portfolio across the US and Europe. Maximise our recent seed investment and market Overwatch in several major cancer research conferences, further spreading awareness and trust in our product. Hiring additional developers to make the product offering even stronger, offering new study types beyond oncology.
What inspired you to start your own business?
It was largely by chance: my co-founders and I have very different skill sets which compliment each other perfectly to build a design-led, user-focused scientific toolkit. Chris, our resident scientist was complaining about the lack of intuitive software for tracking cancer studies, and I suggested we fix that. The rest is history.
What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned as an entrepreneur so far?
It’s not as difficult as people make out. The support networks offered in NI, both in terms of business acumen and financial assistance made the process as comfortable as possible.
What’s been the biggest highlight in your startup journey to date?
Securing our first customer a day before we ran out of money (in contrast to what I said above).
Tell us something people would be surprised to know about you
I quit my role as a lecturer halfway through the semester to join the Propel programme.
Name one resource (book, podcast, publication etc) that has had an impact on your approach to business
London Real. A podcast where every guest brings fascinating wisdom and insight into business and life in general. (I recommend the Dan Pena episode for starters).
If you could pick up a new skill in an instant what would it be?
Music production, in particular repurposing samples from vinyl.
Who is your dream business mentor?
The RZA.
What’s next for Overwatch?
New staff, new features, new website, new marketing, same fantastic office.