HeadOn

HeadOn was founded to address unmet needs in concussion and brain injury recovery. While the clinical intent was strong, the early challenge was understanding how the idea could translate into a commercially viable, scalable business.

Vivolution was appointed by Edinburgh Innovations as Executive Director Designate and Healthtech Venture Builder, working closely with the founder to stretch‑test the proposition and explore its long‑term potential.

Our approach focused on structured, evidence‑led decision support. We worked directly with the founder to examine the underlying problem, the proposed solution and the assumptions being made about customers, markets and routes to scale. Rather than centring solely on NHS adoption, we explored alternative and complementary routes to market, alongside potential funding pathways.

A core part of the approach was deep stakeholder engagement. Vivolution designed and led a series of targeted interviews with senior stakeholders in the UK and internationally, using structured discovery questions to test the founder’s hypothesis and surface real‑world insights.

Alongside this, we supported early thinking around product direction and delivery, helping shape a proof‑of‑concept review and a roadmap for the next stages of MVP development.

The programme helped the founder step back and look at HeadOn through a different lens, not just as a solution to a specific condition, but as a platform with broader potential. Key outcomes included:

• A clearer and more defensible value proposition
• Insight into how the business could scale beyond an initial clinical use case
• Identification of viable commercialisation routes, including acquisition, adoption or investment
• Early clarity on how IP could be protected and expanded

Stakeholder feedback and structured analysis helped validate what resonated, what didn’t, and where the real opportunities lay, providing a far stronger foundation for future decision‑making.

Over a 10‑week period, Vivolution worked closely with the founder and Edinburgh Innovations to deliver a comprehensive commercial and venture‑building exercise.

This included:

• Eleven structured stakeholder interviews across the UK and internationally
• A detailed synthesis of insights, risks and opportunities
• Clear recommendations and next steps
• Identification of specific grant funding opportunities to support early MVP development
• Market, competitor and partnership analysis to inform positioning

The work provided HeadOn with a structured view of the landscape, replacing assumption‑led thinking with evidence‑based insight and a clearer path forward.

Following the programme, the founder refined HeadOn’s long‑term vision.

Rather than focusing solely on concussion, HeadOn is now oriented towards a broader digital brain health platform, using big data, machine learning and automated, personalised recovery pathways. A triage system would direct the most unwell patients to therapists, while others receive tailored digital support.

This expanded vision, sometimes described as a “Digital Brain Clinic”, significantly strengthens the business case, creating greater scope for scale, IP development and investor interest across multiple neurological conditions, including stroke and traumatic brain injury.

Vivolution supported HeadOn through strategic decision support, helping test assumptions, validate the value proposition and explore scalable business models. We also contributed to investment readiness and value planning, identifying funding opportunities, shaping early product direction and helping the founder think clearly about long‑term growth and IP creation.