A North East entrepreneur has secured funding to turn the
software he created to help a family member’s battle with an
eating disorder into the UK’s first and only online diet
programme not aimed at dieters. Newcastle-based Paul Dayan is now
working full time on preparing PlanMyFood, an online service
helping people with medical conditions like diabetes, irregular
cholesterol and eating disorders monitor their diet.
PlanMyFood came about when Paul, who has worked in software for
over 30 years, designed a software programme to help a family
member battling an eating disorder monitor their calorific intake.
Paul used his software skills to develop a small desktop programme,
before realising that the software he had designed had commercial
potential.
“It just occurred to me that all the existing online diet
services were aimed at slimmers, I’d come up with something
completely new” he said. “Nothing out there was aimed
at people who need to manage their diet but aren’t trying to
lose weight. Not just people with medical conditions, but sports
people following a specific nutrition programme or parents making
sure their children are eating healthily.”
PlanMyFood could eventually bring together up to 100,000 foods
to show users what nutrition they are getting from the meals they
eat compared to the nutrition they need, and as well as allowing
then to track and set targets for things like their blood pressure,
glucose and cholesterol levels.
Paul has now secured Proof of Concept funding to develop the
software, with a view to the site being up and running by summer
2011. He was supported by Sunderland Software
City, the regional initiative supporting the growth of the
software industry in the North East, and credits their Software
Ventures programme – which helps budding entrepreneurs
develop their software businesses before presenting their ideas to
a panel of investors – with connecting him to the sources of
funding he needed to turn his idea into a business.
“Software Ventures is like a writer going to an agent
rather than a publisher with their book. If a publisher gets your
book through the post unsolicited the chances are they’ll
just ignore it no matter how good it is – but if the book
comes to them from someone they know only brings them the best
products, they know it’s something worth looking at,”
he said. He was also supported by Software City’s
Intelligence Service which provides rapid market research to help
new software businesses better understand their market, customers
and competitors in as little as 48 hours.
Bernie Callaghan, Sunderland Software City’s Chief
Executive Officer, said: “Sunderland Software City is all
about taking the best software ideas in the North East and giving
the people behind them the support to turn those ideas into
profit-making products. “Paul has come up with a unique and
ground-breaking piece of software, not to mention one which could
have a huge impact on the quality of life of a lot of people, and
we’re delighted to have been able to help him get his
business off the ground”.
About Sunderland Software City
Sunderland Software
City is the regional initiative driving and supporting the
growth of the software industry in the North East of England
– described in the Houses of Parliament as
“remarkable” and by the BBC as “the UK’s
software capital”. Over 300 software companies are now active
across the region and Sunderland Software City offers software
firms of all sizes whatever support they need to reach their
fullest potential.
