melo pitches forward at speed
By Jen Waters
There’s been considerable momentum at melo since the team scooped the pool at last year’s MQ Incubator Pitch Final.
“We put melo out there for beta testing with a group of users and ran a pilot program with a large corporate, and we learned a lot,” says Maja Paleka, melo Co-Founder and Director.
“The feedback was great. It was clear we’re unshakeable on addressing a problem that genuinely needs solving, but that we could improve on design.”
melo’s target market is already busy and overwhelmed, so a clean and engaging user experience is essential. The startup is in the end stages of a full UX/UI review and redesign funded by a NSW Government Minimum Viable Product grant, with plans to roll out before year’s end. It is also working on an additional layer arising from the pilot: an education piece in partnership with University of Melbourne researcher and leading mental load expert, Dr Leah Ruppanner.
“When pilot participants completed a workshop and took the tool and the conversation home, it caused additional tension in some families because it’s quite a sensitive topic. There’s clearly a place for further education, and we’ve been working with Leah on a series of three workshops we’re about to trial.”
The education component aims to shift families away from those tired narratives that don’t serve modern family life: women need to relax, men need to pull up their socks.
“Those narratives are the extremes, and they’re adversarial to a degree. We’re saying let’s let that go; we’re a partnership, we’re a team as a family, whatever that looks like,” Paleka explains.
Last year’s Pitch Final win has unlocked doors for melo as it moves into the next phase.
“It’s opened up conversations with corporates in the Connect MPID community, the local council, and within the University, and we’ve had some investors reach out to us,” she says.
“Through the Researcher Engagement Award, we’re now connecting with Macquarie’s Organisational Psychology department as well as the Centre for Emotional Health to craft a study that will measure and learn about the impact of using melo on family wellbeing. This will deliver on our mission to ensure that what we are building is evidence-based, and truly makes a difference.”
melo placed runners-up in SmartCompany’s The Pitch comp in September and was one of just ten early-stage startups selected from a pool of around 600 to participate. Its prize includes working with product-market fit experts Propeller Ventures to test and refine the product and ensure everything – particularly the new education component – is thoroughly thought through.
“Having gone through the Incubator program and won the Pitch Final gave us the confidence to apply and pitch further afield, and the team supported us with extra time with the pitch coach,” Paleka shares.
With Paleka switching her focus full-time to melo, and co-founders Kate Kesby, Rebecca Sebastian and Fraser Stirling supporting part-time, the path to market launch is rapidly accelerating. Seeking capital investment is now high on the agenda.