By SGN | 18 Dec 2023
To build her new startup, Adeline has devoted copious time and resources – even auctioning jewellery she received as wedding gifts.
Over the last 18 months, she has coached numerous friends and conducted 100 experiments to test her ideas for Aruna, an app that guides women on their journey through menopause.
“I felt our grandmothers would have appreciated knowing their gifts had an impact around the world. Their generation navigated this phase of life without the knowledge and therapies we now have access to,” she shares.
Getting her start in startups
Adeline began dabbling in startups in Singapore, to where she had returned with her husband after spending most of her younger days in Sydney.
It was a brand new world for her, coming from corporate roles such as managing partner at RMG David (a division of Ogilvy) and head of marketing for corporate cards at American Express. “You could have called me a 40-year-old intern,” she quips.
While mentoring at Grace Sai’s Impact Hub, she was introduced to Audrey Tan and Min Xuan Lee, the founders of financial literacy startup PlayMoolah. They hit it off, and Adeline joined the team as Chief Marketing Officer. “My network and experience in advertising and financial services marketing helped guide our pivot from parents to banks,” she says.
The stint was short but “deeply personal”, she adds. “Min wore my wedding dress when she got married, and it is in the safekeeping of Audrey at the moment.”
Transitioning to a board position at PlayMoolah, Adeline then took on the role of Chief Operating Officer at Nanoveu, an A*STAR spin-off recognised for its innovative material science technology. “The CTO and I represented Singapore at the Asia Pacific ICT Alliance (APICTA) Awards and won both of the categories we entered,” she shares proudly.
In 2014, she co-founded Saturday Kids, Singapore’s first coding school for children. The startup was a key partner in Google’s Code in the Community programme for underprivileged children.
A natural passion for mentoring
It is perhaps in the capacity of mentor that Adeline has made the greatest impact.
“I found mentoring to be a natural extension of my team leadership roles,” she explains. “I’ve enjoyed seeing people grow into their potential and it is a lovely surprise when I receive a thank you note or when someone tells me what they learnt and how it’s impacted their life.”
“Sometimes a connection comes about as an introduction from a team I’ve mentored. So I guess some of my advice is useful and sticky,” she says. ‘Sticky’ is probably right. In their 2023 report, Startup Muster named Adeline as Australia’s most recommended female mentor, based on a survey of 1,100 respondents.
Adeline has mentored startups through various institutions and organisations over the years. Currently, she is Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Western Sydney University and remains active with ON Accelerate, the deep tech accelerator of Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO.
“At one stage, I counted the number of startup teams I had coached or workshopped ideas with,” Adeline says. “I stopped counting after 500.”
She finds the greatest stimulation working with founders in deep tech or with PhDs. “Being the primary caretaker for ill family members, I’ve found myself specialising in medtech and biotech startups,” she shares. “Many middle-aged women belong to the sandwich generation, where they care for children and parents at the same time.”
Adeline has mentored startup teams through organisations and institutions such as Western Sydney University, CSIRO, and Cicada Innovations.
Plugging gaps in women’s health
After mentoring hundreds of founders, Adeline has returned to the startup trenches to build one of her own. The idea for her new venture was sparked by personal experience: specifically, a year of contending with confusing symptoms before finally being diagnosed with perimenopause (i.e. the stage preceding menopause).
Every woman goes through menopause in their 40s or 50s, yet this aspect of health remains shrouded in mystery and dreadfully understudied. Up to 66 known symptoms accompany perimenopause, but because of stigma and the notion that women simply have to endure the natural process, serious symptoms often go untreated, and silent ones – such as osteoporosis, diabetes, cardiovascular disease – undetected.
“I found the skills and experience of my current career invaluable,” she notes, “connecting with highly regarded specialists and being able to put together a wellbeing plan for myself.”
To help other women, she developed an app to provide tips and advice on perimenopause sourced from healthcare professionals and scientific research. Users are also able to share their stories, ask questions, and email Adeline personally. She named the app Aruna, after the Hindu sun god’s charioteer who drives away the darkness to let light in.
With Aruna, Adeline seeks to pierce the stigma that still surrounds menopause today. “I hope the app saves other women months of research and doctor visits,” she says. “Think of it as the 30 minutes you would spend with a friend over coffee, discussing how you could manage symptoms and safeguard your future health.”
Nowadays, she shuttles between Sydney and Singapore to juggle family, mentoring, and building Aruna. “Every time I book a flight to Singapore I experience a sense of excitement,” she says. “I use my lunches and dinners to meet friends at my favourite eating spots.”
“Singapore’s positioning as a regional launchpad means that organisations I consult with are interested in a Singapore presence or collaboration, and I help them with that process – which means many excuses to come back.”
Meet Adeline
Over the past decade, Adeline has mentored over 500 startup teams in Singapore and Australia. She is Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Western Sydney University and the founder of Aruna, a women’s health app and digital resource on menopause.
Connect with her here.
