SXSW Startups: Eggschain
The Forrest Four-Cast: February 13, 2019
Fifty diverse startups will aim to impress a panel of judges and a live audience with their skills, creativity and innovation at SXSW Pitch Presented by Cyndx. Winners in 10 categories will be announced at the Pitch Award Ceremony at 6:30 pm Sunday, March 10, at the Hilton Austin.
A finalist in the Blockchain category, which will pitch on at 9:30 am Sunday, March 10, Eggschain exists to preserve hope of life and peace of mind in the fertility industry and beyond. Leveraging the blockchain, they enable consumers to track their frozen eggs, embryos, sperm and genetic materials. They deliver the above by providing immutable records of ownership information and estate plans.
What is your competitive advantage?
People, expertise, technology and our passion for the industry are our biggest competitor advantage.
Our team consists of the industry experts/influencers in IVF and genetic material handling industry (renowned both in the U.S. and internationally), overall business management, startups and technology. Every member of the team brings a decade to three decades of expertise in his/her field.
Most importantly, everyone is extremely passionate about the industry (improving women’s health and family building). Sometimes the reason is personal, other times professional, often both. Together, we form a tight-knit and strong team that holds ourselves to the highest standard in everything we do. People are the biggest assets in any company. In addition, we are patent-pending.
What are your goals for Eggschain in 2019?
From a customer development standpoint, we will delight our existing customers and will on-board additional customers. We hope to complete our fund-raising efforts, with the goal of empowering and improving the lives of women, men, families, and increasing shareholder value.
Specifically, we would like to expand our team, especially in the engineering and sales functions as well as attract, assess and possibly on-board strategic partners.
Eggschain is based in Austin. Tell us about the startup ecosystem.
Austin offers an extremely startup friendly environment, in terms of relatively low cost of living, easier access to talent than certain other parts of the country, and ample prior/current startup founders to network with and learn from.
Additionally, there are excellent Startup Accelerator programs such as the Capital Factory in Austin. Eggschain is fortunate to have the president of Capital Factory and a couple mentors from the Capital Factory on our advisory team.
Tell us something about your previous experience at SXSW.
We love SXSW! It is the perfect mix of intellectual stimulation, films, music, great fun and cultural immersion. It is the wonderland for intelligent and creative people because they can learn new things, stimulate their minds, get entertained, eat great food, enjoy adult and non-adult beverages, attend film openings, and meet other smart and/or like-minded people.
What are you hoping to get out of attending SXSW 2019?
We want to represent Austin well in the Pitch competition, and win it.
Additionally, we ‘d like to meet Dennis Crowley (Tech Industry & Enterprise), Cindy Eckert (Health & MedTech), Tim Ferriss (Health & MedTech), Daniel Kahan and Valerie Szczepanik (Blockchain & Cryptocurrency).
If your team members weren’t involved in building Eggschain, what would they be doing?
Our team members have diverse interests. When they are not building Eggschain, they are running marathons, participating in Ironman competitions, attending blockchain/gaming/scientific conferences, watching new films, visiting families and friends, giving lecturers, publishing papers, being good parents and giving back to the community.
What tech trend is your team most excited about?
Augmented reality. We really think that AR will add an interesting and new dimension to everyday life. It will help expand our world.
What has the startup experience taught you about life?
Priorities and discipline. There is not enough time in the day to do everything that you want to do. So you have to take a very honest look at yourself, and decide how you are going to spend your time today. Every decision you make has consequences. So you have to choose wisely.
Look for more interviews with other SXSW Pitch finalists in this space between now and March.
Click here to see all 50 finalists for SXSW Pitch 2019, along with the links to their interviews on Medium.
Also, if you are an entrepreneur, check out all the cool panels and presentations in the Entrepreneurship and Startups Track, which runs March 8–12 at SXSW.
Hugh Forrest serves as Chief Programming Officer at SXSW, the world’s most unique gathering of creative professionals. He also tries to write at least four paragraphs per day on Medium. These posts often cover tech-related trends; other times they focus on books, pop culture, sports and other current events.
