The VR startup giving stroke survivors their lives back
Daish Malani never set out to be an entrepreneur, but life had other plans. After seeing his uncle fade away from a stroke, Daish couldn’t stand by to watch others suffer the same fate.
Now, as founder of startup Add-Life Technologies, he is transforming stroke rehabilitation with Virtual Reality – a tool he believes can give stroke survivors hope, independence, and a better life.
But how do you turn a mission into a company? Here, Daish shares how he made the move to startup life at Stone & Chalk and the advice he’s learnt along the way.
The tragedy that inspired a startup
The son of an Indian restaurateur, Daish grew up on hard work. From an early age, he learned the importance of discipline and perseverance. From this, he built on his skills and his career, finding success as a graphic and video designer. But all this changed after a series of tragic incidents:
*"My uncle had a very serious stroke and survived, and a very close friend of ours had a very serious stroke and didn't survive. And strangely I was wondering, what's the better outcome? *
The statistics are sobering. According to the World Health Organization, stroke is the second leading cause of death worldwide and the third leading cause of disability. One in four people will experience a stroke in their lifetime.
“Everyone has had people in their family who have suffered serious injury, with stroke being one of the most prevalent.”
In Australia, the average lifetime cost of a stroke is $44,428. It can cause permanent paralysis, speech difficulties, memory loss, and personality changes.
As Daish saw in his uncle, depression and anxiety are also incredibly common after a stroke. Survivors lose the motivation to do the things they used to love
“Because it's so difficult to recover from a stroke… it just made me realise that the tool I had right in front of me [virtual reality] was the tool that could make life worth living after having a major incident"
Rehabilitation is about rewiring the brain with a mix of targeted therapies. Through rehab, people can recover movement, speech and the strength to manage daily living such as dressing, eating, and personal hygiene.
With this as a guide, Daish set out to build a company.
From adversity rises Add-Life Technologies
Add-Life Technologies is built on the belief that rehabilitation should be both effective and enjoyable. At its core, it helps stroke survivors to reclaim their independence through daily exercises.
But instead of mundane clinical tasks, with the use of a virtual reality headset, Add-Life’s users find themselves in bold new worlds—from mountainsides to under the sea. Here, they pop bubbles, catch fireflies, and play cricket, all while performing movements that are based on building real-world skills.
It’s this combination of exercise and entertainment that helps patients stick to their rehabilitation routine.
This comes from Daish’s deep understanding of his customers. For him, VR is an “empathy machine.” It gives him the power to put himself in the same shoes as the people he is trying to help. When designing, Daish often asks:
“What does it feel like to have a cognitive or physiological disability? How would I approach this activity?”
This empathic mindset has guided his approach, and has allowed him to compete against other, less user-focused, methods of rehabilitation.
That said, Daish remains aware that he is not only designing for patients, but their families and clinical support teams. In health recovery technology, the end-users are often not the direct buyers, and Daish describes the intricate balance required to meet everyone's needs:
“We have a four-level tier from admin to clinician to user to carer.* And we look at this matrix of how they get their needs satisfied without inconveniencing one of the other people.”*
The technology also collects user data to better help track progress. For example, how far each hand can extend in each direction – down to the centimetre.
This is then reported back to the user and their care team to help everyone move forward together on the path to recovery.
The joys and challenges of entrepreneurship
Like any entrepreneur, Daish’s journey has been filled with highs and lows. For him, the breakthrough moment came when the technology started to catch up with his vision.
Advances in VR hardware made it possible to bring rehabilitation tools to a much wider audience at a fraction of the cost
“We’ve got a $500 device now that is better than our $40,000 computer from five years ago,” says Daish.
But startup life isn’t all glamorous. Convincing others to invest in your vision is hard. Particularly for Daish when the technology was still in its infancy and the market wasn’t fully formed.
“Getting your first investment, getting someone to believe that you could actually do it—those are huge hurdles.”
It’s a sentiment many entrepreneurs will recognise. The startup world is filled with rejection, stress, and doubt. But through it all, Daish found resilience.
"But I've learned that I can get to a point of stress that I thought was absolutely impossible before and be fine with it."
The rewards of seeing Add-Life’s technology in action far outweigh the challenges. Knowing that his work is making a tangible difference in the lives of others keeps him motivated.
"I want to leave the world better than I found it."
Advice for aspiring entrepreneurs
When people ask Daish for advice on starting a company, he boils it down to two things: build stuff and get connected.
“Get into a community. There's lots of things in the software areas like game jams. There's lots of meetups. I run the VR meetup here [in Adelaide]. That's how I got into game production.”
The network isn’t just for getting started either. It’s what helps you survive the hard parts of running a company.
“Having a community around – it’s nice to know that someone is around the corner who's got you back and knows about your company and can easily make suggestions. And then, you'll come up with solutions for each other.”
Mentors, like the ones Daish found as a resident of Stone & Chalk, play a big role too. In the early stages of a startup, when resources are limited, and everything feels like it’s on the line, having someone to guide you and offer wisdom from real experience is invaluable.
“I was given a mentor through Stone & Chalk. And it was when I was so, you know, wet behind the ears, that it was nice to have someone that had been into all these different situations and who could coach me through all that.”
This can often be the difference between success and failure.
Startups are chaotic. You need to know exactly what you’re aiming for and be realistic about the trade-offs. As Daish explains, you need to decide how much you want to invest in pushing ahead with an idea:
"Make sure you have a clear Go / No Go. What would I be willing to sacrifice to do this? What do I want to get out of it? What do I want other people to get out of it?"
If the rewards are worth the sacrifices, go for it. But if the cost is too high or the outcome too uncertain, think twice.
To leave a family legacy
As Add-Life grows, Daish remains laser-focused on the company’s mission: improving life for those in rehabilitation. His work is driven by personal experience, but the impact of his technology extends far beyond his own family.
“It's sad I never got to deliver this to my uncle, who was the inspiration behind this. He was the most outgoing member of the family. He wasn't killed outright by the stroke, but he lost the power of walking and talking.”
“But there's someone else's uncle out there that I will be able to deliver it to.”
Add-Life serves as a reminder that real progress comes from understanding people and building tools to help them. This is the proof that innovation, with empathy and purpose, can make the world a better place.
Learn more about Add-Life Technologies. Find out more about how to join Stone & Chalk.
