Young Change Makers: Why and How Lien Van Der Schueren of Aspyro Is Helping To Change Our World
Never take the word of a potential customer who say they’re interested. Anyone can get a potential customer to say they’re interested in something by asking the right questions. It is like thinking every guy that says “hi” to me wants to go out with me. Only take their word if they actually act.
As part of my series about young people who are making an important social impact”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Lien Van Der Schueren.
Lien Van Der Schueren is the co-founder and CFO at Aspyro, a start-up which creates oxy-glasses for those who have to wear glasses but are permanent oxygen users too. Lien and her co-founder Jeroen launched the company with the ambition to let oxygen users live happier lives. Lien is also a Masters in General Management graduate from Vlerick Business School, in Belgium.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you tell us a bit how you grew up?
I grew up in Belgium, as the oldest of three sisters and a dog (he is definitely part of the family). I had a happy and warm childhood thanks to my parents, who taught me the importance of kindness, open-mindedness, discipline and positive thinking. Although we always lived in the same city in Belgium, near Leuven, my parents supported me and my sisters to grab all opportunities to step out of our comfort zones, to develop our talents and to discover what we liked and disliked. For me this meant many international choir competitions, a semester of studying in Vienna, two internships in Africa and an extra master at the Vlerick Business School. By combining all these hobbies with my studies as a bioscience engineer, I discovered my personal obstacles for success: perfectionism and fear of failure, which I try to crush every day. And of course I also discovered my strengths in this way, which I am using every day to achieve the goals I’ve set myself.
Is there a particular book or organization that made a significant impact on you growing up? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?
As a student I became part of the board of Humasol (www.humasol.be), an organization for development cooperation. We carried out technology projects in the South in collaboration with African communities, for example providing solar energy for a hospital or installing a water pump for a school. A noble goal, but what I saw was how many projects failed after we left because there was no economic incentive fueling these communities to maintain the installations we placed. Despite the many failed projects, there was one project that always stayed with me, a project I took part in myself. For two months I went to Uganda to help a local waste collection company turn organic waste into compost. The company was paid by the community to pick up the waste, turned it into compost and then sold that compost to farmers. The results were a cleaner environment, happier families, more employment and higher yields for farmers. This experience showed me the importance of economic incentives to realize social impact. To have this dual impact myself, I lacked an economic perspective and that’s why I applied for Vlerick business school after my studies as a bioscience engineer.
How do you define “Making A Difference”? Can you explain what you mean or give an example?
Making a difference always relates to something or someone else than yourself. To me it means having a significant social and economic impact, leaving my footprints on the sands of both economy and society. In the past I tried to make this difference as part of Humasol, the organization I was talking earlier about. Now I try to have this dual impact by leading my own company, Aspyro. On the one hand, we want to improve the happiness of patients by developing innovative healthcare solutions. This is the social impact component. On the other hand, as a startup, we strive to be financially self-reliant and we aim for growth. Because only this will enable us to enlarge our social impact and in that way make a bigger difference.
Ok super. Let’s now jump to the main part of our interview. You are currently leading an organization that aims to make a social impact. Can you tell us a bit about what you and your organization are trying to change in our world today?
I co-founded Aspyro in July 2020 together with a friend, Jeroen. With Aspyro, we want to improve happiness by developing innovative healthcare solutions. Our first two products are the Oxy-glasses and the Oxy-clip. They are meant for oxygen users, people that get extra oxygen at home to treat a severe respiratory disease like COPD. Can you imagine that you can’t get enough oxygen through your lungs? And that you’re dependent on an oxygen concentrator for the rest of your life? Although oxygen therapy is helping these patients to remain physically active, they often feel very restricted and struggle every day with the stigma and impracticality of their therapy.
The Oxy-glasses are patent-protected 3D printed eye wear with a groove inside the frame that hides the oxygen tube. In this way, people feel more self-confident and less ashamed, motivating them to be more therapy compliant, have more social interactions and be more active.
The Oxy-clip is a clip that attaches the oxygen tube to a patient’s clothing, in this way preventing them to fall over the tube and warning them when their tube gets stuck somewhere.
We are also working on a new project related to CPAP-therapy for sleep apnea patients. These patients have to wear a special mask during the night to prevent them from stopping to breathe. But these masks often don’t fit, causing leaks and marks in the morning. This leads to less therapy compliance and a lot of discomfort. We want to find the perfect mask for every patient with our 3D scanning mask fitting software.
In short, with the Oxy-glasses, the Oxy-clip and the mask fitting algorithm, we strive for happier and healthier patients.
Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to originally feel passionate about this cause?
It is not about the cause, it is about the impact. I call myself an impact addict: I am passionate about making a difference for those who need it. I would have been equally passionate about leading a startup that develops a revolutionary cancer medicine. But the opportunity of founding Aspyro crossed my path first. I knew it would allow me to have the social and economic impact I was talking earlier about. And I wouldn’t have been an entrepreneur if I didn’t grab this opportunity with my two hands.
Many of us have ideas, dreams, and passions, but never manifest it. They don’t get up and just do it. But you did. Was there an “Aha Moment” that made you decide that you were actually going to step up and do it? What was that final trigger?
I get what you’re saying. For me, there wasn’t really an “aha moment”. The idea to found Aspyro came from a big company called Materialise. They searched two entrepreneurs to further investigate the project of the Oxy-glasses. When this opportunity crossed our path, Jeroen and I took the leap. Actually it felt very natural and there wasn’t really an “Aha Moment”. It was up to me and Jeroen to do the market research. Our doubts related to the product market fit, but not to the question if we actually had to investigate this. Deciding to continue with Aspyro or not also didn’t depend on an “Aha moment”, but on the fact if the assumptions we set in the beginning were proven or not during the market research phase. I guess this “you never know until you act” attitude resembles the entrepreneur in both of us.
Many young people don’t know the steps to take to start a new organization. But you did. What are some of the things or steps you took to get your project started?
The first step is to build an MVP. This comes from the Lean Startup Methodology, which we follow for every new business idea we have. I would advise this for anyone with an idea to check the value of that idea, whether it is a product or service, whether it is in a profit or nonprofit context. A core component of the Lean Startup methodology is the build-measure-learn feedback loop. With the help of a very basic first version of your product, a so-called minimum viable product, you can learn if your idea might work.
The second step is to get out of the building and verify if your hypotheses are true. I have to admit that getting out of the building was not easy in covid-times. However, we’ve learned that you can get out of the building without leaving it, just by using your creativity. For example, during the first lockdown we created an exclusive Facebook group for oxygen users. There we asked for feedback about our first product, the Oxy-glasses, by showing videos, doing polls and involving oxygen patients in the co-creation process.
The third thing is to focus on the team from the beginning. As Jim Collins says in his book “Good to Great”: it is not about the people, it is about the right people. Make sure your team is compatible, that it is disciplined and that it is motivated in its core, without needing something in return for that. Always be honest, open and respectful towards each other and make sure you have a shareholders agreement for when it goes wrong. I feel this is the right moment to do a huge shout-out to my co-founder, Jeroen, so can I? Thank you for always confronting the brutal facts, for your disciplined action and for your daily portion of creativity!
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your initiative?
Underestimating the value of failure. Before founding Aspyro, I was afraid to fail. For example, at university I studied hard to make sure I didn’t have any retakes, because this would equal failure. It is the disadvantage of being a perfectionist, and I am sure a lot of readers will recognize this: for the perfectionist, the only standard is perfection and therefore anything short of that means failure and disappointment. Although Aspyro is only existing for less than a year, we failed already many times: for example, we invested time and money in another product for oxygen users that didn’t work out. Thanks to Aspyro, I learned how to fail, and that failing on a project doesn’t equal failing as a person. Failure is learning, it is dynamic and lets you move on. This insight is one of the most important ones I’ve learned so far.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson or take away you learned from that
I am thinking about the development of our second product, the Oxy-clip. The Oxy-clip is something we came up with by listening to oxygen users in our Facebook group. We heard that they were annoyed by the tube of 12 meters long that got stuck everywhere and that fell in front of their feet. We had an idea to solve this: a simple clip that would attach the tube to the patient’s clothing. To test the value of this idea, we wanted to 3D print some prototypes. One option was to let them be printed on the €100,000+ printers of our supplier for the Oxy-glasses. But to move on quicker, we bought our own 3D-printer for only €150 and started to print the prototypes ourselves. 90% of the testers of the Oxy-clip was very happy with the first version and said that the impact of the clip on their lives was huge. It took us the will to listen to customers, a few months of R&D and a 3D printer of €150 to create a product that changed people’s lives. By this, we learned that perceived value is not determined by how techy a product is or by the costs to develop it, but by how much impact it has.
None of us can be successful without some help along the way. Did you have mentors or cheerleaders who helped you to succeed? Can you tell us a story about their influence?
My biggest cheerleader was the school I graduated from last year: Vlerick Business School in Belgium. I come from an engineering background, and Vlerick pushed me out of my comfort zone with courses in finance, accounting and marketing, to name a few. These were essential elements to starting my own business. I never imagined I would become an entrepreneur. But every program at Vlerick contains the seeds for entrepreneurship and fosters the potential entrepreneur inside you. Another important influence from Vlerick is the Student Entrepreneurship Fund, that helps students with a startup idea bridge a financial gap. We were awarded €40,000 from the Fund, which gave us so much credibility towards so many stakeholders and allowed us to accelerate our business.
Without saying specific names, can you tell us a story about a particular individual who was impacted or helped by your cause?
I am immediately thinking of one of our biggest fans: an oxygen user from the Netherlands. Thanks to the Oxy-clip, he can finally walk around in his house without being afraid to break a leg, or without his ears and cheeks being hurt when the tube gets stuck somewhere. Outside the house he wears the Oxy-glasses. He does not feel ashamed anymore when he goes to the hairdresser or visits a restaurant; thanks to the Oxy-glasses people barely notice he is on oxygen, and he just feels like anyone else. This man is sending me a thank you message every month. Making a difference in somebody’s life is what makes this all worth.
Are there three things the community/society/politicians can do to help you address the root of the problem you are trying to solve?
The people we are trying to help with our newest project suffer from sleep apnea. This sleeping disorder is widely underdiagnosed. In the US for example, its prevalence is estimated to be 12% of the adult population with nearly 80% of the population undiagnosed. The diagnosis and treatment of sleep apnea is costly for governments, but the cost of underdiagnosis is even higher. For example, these patients develop many serious comorbidity, like cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. They have decreased productivity, are more absent at work and cause more traffic accidents. Although it is hard to assess exact costs, my first tip to governments is to see the diagnosis of sleep apnea as an investment in long-term health of both society and patients.
Startups like Aspyro often have innovative ideas to improve the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. These ideas are often what they call medical devices, which are subjected to strict regulations, both in the US (FDA) as in Europe (MDR). Although these regulations guarantee the safety of patients, they discourage many startups to continue because commercializing their ideas becomes very costly and therefore almost impossible. My second tip to governments would be to make the sector of medical devices more accessible for startups, for example by means of subsidies for regulatory consultancy.
Another thing that can help startups to enter and stay in the sector of medical devices is co-development with big corporates. I can see the benefits of co-development thanks to our partnership with Materialise for the Oxy-glasses. I am sure these co-development opportunities also exist for our newest project about sleep apnea. However, due to corona, it is hard for startups to build a network and find corporates for this co-development. My third tip for governments would be to make this process easier; maybe incubator programs can assist with that.
Fantastic. Here is the main question of the interview. What are your “3 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each).
First, never take the word of a potential customer who say they’re interested. Anyone can get a potential customer to say they’re interested in something by asking the right questions. It is like thinking every guy that says “hi” to me wants to go out with me. Only take their word if they actually act. For example, to investigate the willingness to pay for the Oxy-glasses, we first did an online survey and asked if people would be willing to pay €229. Then we asked to place a preorder, for a discounted price. Only the last experiment showed us the real market interest.
Second, be the entrepreneur you want to be. For example, I never imagined myself as an entrepreneur. I had this image in my head of a workaholic man that was super creative and smart, drank coffee all day and night and gave great pitches. That’s why I doubted about co-founding Aspyro at first. Even after taking the decision, it took me months to realize that there’s not one type of entrepreneur and that I can be the entrepreneur I want to be.
Third, never believe people that tell you building a company is extremely risky. Building a company is really hard and difficult tasks have indeed a much higher risk of failure than easy ones. And if you fail, you’re left with absolutely nothing and you lose everything you could have had as well. So from a micro perspective it is true that building a company is very risky. But what is also true about building a company, even if it fails, is the following: you’ll have a better knowledge of your strengths and weaknesses, an improved ability to perform under pressure and the superpower of being able to learn fast and adapt to change. Building a company levels you up in almost every way, and this lowers the risk of building your company significantly. Even if Aspyro fails, I would do it all over again.
If you could tell other young people one thing about why they should consider making a positive impact on our environment or society, like you, what would you tell them?
We hear daily about so many global issues. Then it is difficult to believe that just one person can make a difference and many people don’t believe they can make a positive impact on our environment or society. They believe only people like Michèle Obama or Nelson Mandela can do that. But I believe every one of us can make a difference. Because making a difference to the world may seem like an enormous task, but it is a joint effort of everyone. It is not about the size of your contribution, it is about your intention. And if your intention is right, you should start today. Or as Anne Frank said it: “how wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”. Don’t wait until you make more money, or until you have more experience. Start today.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)
Whitney Wolfe Herd, founder and CEO of Bumble. She is a brave woman that empowers many other women and men to take the leap and she is definitely a role model to me.
How can our readers follow you online?
Find me on LinkedIn. Follow Aspyro via our website or on LinkedIn.
https://www.linkedin.com/company/aspyro/?originalSubdomain=be
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lienvanderschueren/
This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!
