Everywhere you look around the Health Wildcatters offices at 1910 Pacific Ave., you’ll find color, artwork, and an environment intended to stimulate and inspire — something I saw firsthand during a recent tour.
Co-founders Carl Soderstrom and Dr. Hubert Zajicek actually wanted the operation to be in an office tower when they moved the accelerator earlier this year and the Pacific Avenue location fit their needs.
Once the new location was found, “then we began to create something that was fun, whimsical, colorful,” Soderstrom said.
For two years, the accelerator operated at 211 N. Ervay St., but it outgrew that office.
The new location offered wide open spaces and sunlight, Soderstrom said, giving the team the ability to create “things that make you go, hmmm,” when you see them by utilizing the office’s angles, along with artwork and bold colors.
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“The idea was that the space would allow hosting and housing,” of the 10-12 health-related startups that go through the accelerator in each class. The startups’ creators have access to investors and mentors who can help them achieve success, and Health Wildcatters provides workspaces and offices in which the startups can prosper and grow.
Zajicek recently showed off the accelerator where several startups were busy at work. The most recent class of startups recently ended, he said.
A mentor-driven seed accelerator, Health Wildcatters offers a 12-week program for health-focused startups in their early stages of funding. It also provides access to advisers, mentors, office space, and strategic resources that startups will need to grow.
Co-founder Carl Soderstrom said the climbing men in this artwork symbolize the tough climb that startups will face. [Photo by Lance Murray]
Zajicek said the space has three main purposes for the health innovation community.
First, he said, “Everyone contributes to the program, so this a meeting place and this a vibrant place to exchange information and to teach these startups.”
Secondly, the location has 25 offices and 20 permanent desks for startups to utilize.
“They work from here, they office here, take their meetings here, so this is their shared space, in a way,” he said.
“Nothing happens here by accident, it’s all purpose driven,” he said. “They want to be in an innovative environment where they bump into incredible people who they normally wouldn’t bump into.”
And third, Health Wildcatters supports roughly a dozen nonprofit health organizations, providing meeting spaces and resources.
HEALTH WILDCATTERS IS THE HEALTH INNOVATION HUB IN DALLAS
“We have 17,000 square feet here and we’ve created what we call a health innovation hub, so this is also the meeting space of the Dallas health innovation scene,” Zajicek said.
There’s a large open auditorium and smaller conference rooms where the startups can interact with investors and attend functions, allowing for what Soderstrom calls “collisions to happen” between the startups and valuable resources.
Artwork creates focal points throughout the office space, including a striking blue statue against a red wall that mimics Auguste Rodin’s “The Thinker,” and a group of men climbing ropes up a wall near the startups’ workspaces.
“I was just trying to show it’s going to be a long, hard climb.”
Carl Soderstrom
“When I found those, it was really thinking of the early stage companies who are trying to find their way,” Soderstrom told me. “I was just trying to show it’s going to be a long, hard climb.”
But Soderstrom, who has a long background in the health-care industry, says he’s not done with creating a memorable environment.
“There’s plenty of spaces to add creative things,” he said.
Hubert Zajiceck, M.D., CEO, co-founder, and partner at Health Wildcatters. [Photo by Lance Murray]
Afternoon light filtering through multicolored windows create a rainbow effect in a hallway at Health Wildcatters. [Photo by Fiona Schlachter]
Hagan McPhail, left, and Michael Sparks of Genetic Direction work at a station at Health Wildcatters. The pair operate their startup from the accelerator’s offices. [Photo by Lance Murray]
UT Southwestern Medical Center fellows Salwa Sebti, Haider Altimimi, and Banupreya Mukiundan meet in a coloful office space at Health Wildcatters. [Photo by Lance Murray]
Artwork plays a prominent part of the design aesthetic at Health Wildcatters. [Photo by Lance Murray]
Andrew Menter of the startup Physmodo catches a ride around the Health Wildcatters office with Hubert Zajiceck, M.D., CEO, co-founder, and partner of the accelerator. [Photo by Lance Murray]
Operations Coordinator Lindsey Settles works at the front desk at Health Wildcatters surrounded by the office’s colorful carpeting and furniture. [Photo by Lance Murray]
The DNA Gel wall covers the back of a conference room at Health Wildcatters. [Photo by Lance Murray]
Hubert Zajiceck, M.D., CEO, co-founder, and partner at Health Wildcatters holds up a $20 bill next to one of two pieces of artwork in the main lobby, each of which contains $20 worth of pennies. [Photo by Lance Murray]
A striking statue that mimics Auguste Rodin’s “The Thinker” sits at the end of one hallway. [Photo by Lance Murray]
A colorful mural of Albert Einstein sits near the elevators at Health Wildcatters. [Photo by Lance Murray]
A presentation room with bleacher seating at Health Wildcatters. [Photo by Lance Murray]
Health Wildcatters sits on the top floor of 1910 Pacific Ave. in downtown Dallas. [Photo by Lance Murray]
The Health Wildcatters reception desk was custom designed and built by Atico. [Photo by Lance Murray]
A meeting room at Health Wildcatters offers a colorful location for visitors or startups. [Photo by Lance Murray]
The break room is painted and decorated festively at the Health Wildcatters office at 1910 Pacific Ave. [Photo by Lance Murray]
Colorful carpeting adorns a waiting area at Health Wildcatters. [Photo by Lance Murray]
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