Behind the scenes of innovation: my time as an Entrepreneur-In-Residence intern

Taisiia Sazonova​

​Who am I?
My name is Taisiia Sazonova, I am a medical doctor, MSc in Genomic Medicine graduate, and 1st year DPhil student in Medical Sciences. During July and August of 2023, I participated in the Entrepreneur-In-Residence internship program at SanusX, a start-up established by UNIQA Insurance Group.

my internship experience​

My Internship Experience
​As a medical doctor and MSc in Genomic Medicine graduate, I have always been interested in using my medical and scientific knowledge to help solve real problems in healthcare. Starting a company and taking a start-up approach seemed like a good way to achieve this. 

​The first week of the internship was intense as it was an ideation week where we brainstormed ideas for our future start-ups. This was followed by six weeks of mentored incubation where we were divided into teams to work on one idea. My team consisted of myself and a guy with an MBA and finance background. It was interesting to work with him because I was able to bring my healthcare expertise to the table and learn from him about finance and business. We were working on an idea called Co-Generation, which involved intergenerational co-living in the DACH region. We aimed to solve the problem of social loneliness among elderly people and unaffordable housing for students. We developed a user-friendly and safe platform that matched senior citizens with compatible living partners who provided companionship, engaged in shared activities and offered support for seniors. 

Presenting our start-ups to the Head of UNIQA Insurance Group

​During the internship, I was also assisted by another startup that was creating a healthcare company looking at blood and microbiome testing and connecting lifestyle and healthcare ecosystems, as well as the project that was developing solutions for patients with ADHD. 

​The internship was extremely intense, and we refined and redesigned our propositions several times. We carefully studied supply and demand side needs, as well as successful examples abroad, and thought about how we could adapt them to the DACH region. We had a few 24-hour challenges when we needed to solve problems for other businesses such as finding ways to increase revenue or design new products. During the incubation period, we developed a detailed business plan and a go-to-market strategy. Each team pitched their ideas every week to different audiences, and at the end of six weeks, we presented our start-ups to C-level executives. 

Final day, pitching our start-ups for C-level executives.

​I am grateful for the opportunity to have been a part of this internship. I learned a lot about the healthcare start-up world and had a chance to develop my presentation and public speaking skills, stress resilience, as well as my knowledge of business and finance. Thank you so much for this opportunity!