NEWSROOM
From academia to entrepreneurship: Isaac Cleland’s AI rostering venture RosterLab
18 April 2023
The AI rostering software solution, RosterLab, won the University of Auckland’s Velocity $100K Challenge in 2020 after Engineering PhD student Isaac Cleland made a last-minute entry to the entrepreneurship competition. RosterLab is based on his research with Associate Professor Andrew Mason and Dr Michael O’Sullivan into developing new techniques for mathematically optimising large and complex roster models.
Following its victory in the competition, RosterLab was adopted by healthcare providers throughout New Zealand and is now expanding to other industries that can also benefit from their innovative rostering solution, recently announcing a partnership with the SeaLink ferry service.
Isaac says, “It was an impulsive decision to enter Velocity towards the end of my PhD. I had zero expectations of success but after winning an award my ambitions quickly changed from academia to entrepreneurship.”
RosterLab offers a game-changing solution to the many issues that plague traditional rostering processes. With its advanced algorithm, RosterLab enables organisations to generate the most optimal roster solution in a matter of minutes, eliminating the time-consuming and error-prone nature of manual rostering. The software takes into account a range of factors, including employee requests and preferences, union requirements, skill mix, roster history, and staff coverage, among others, to produce a well-rounded solution that satisfies both staff and management. By streamlining rostering processes RosterLab helps organisations avoid staffing gaps, reduce costs and save time.
“Healthcare was a wonderful place to start because the rosters are complex, often 24/7, require the management of many different skills, tasks, union requirements, and preferences, and the consequences of bad rosters are high. Developing our software for the highest complexity of roster problems means we can automatically generate rosters for a wide variety of industries without much additional development.”
SeaLink is RosterLab’s first partnership outside of healthcare and they are looking forward to exploring opportunities to bring rostering solutions to transportation, supermarkets, customer service, security, and other industries.
After winning the Velocity $100k Challenge RosterLab participated in VentureLab, an incubator also delivered by the Business School’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The University’s research commercialisation company, UniServices, also provided support to RosterLab and within a year they were a venture-backed company.
Isaac says becoming a venture-backed company has helped accelerate not only the growth of the company, but also the growth of himself and his two co-founders Sunny Feng and Daniel Ge. “We have regular access to a team of highly experienced investors who have unlocked a wide range of connections, pushed us to strive for lofty goals and helped us hone and implement our business strategy.”
Isaac says that prioritising rapid iteration and customer feedback is essential for success in the fast-paced world of entrepreneurship.
“To PhD students, my advice would be to pursue your research with passion, but also keep an eye out for practical applications of your work. There may be opportunities to create value by developing solutions that address real-world problems. Not everyone needs to be an entrepreneur, but it can be a rewarding way to apply one’s research in a meaningful way.”
Learn more about RosterLab here.
18 April 2023
The AI rostering software solution, RosterLab, won the University of Auckland’s Velocity $100K Challenge in 2020 after Engineering PhD student Isaac Cleland made a last-minute entry to the entrepreneurship competition. RosterLab is based on his research with Associate Professor Andrew Mason and Dr Michael O’Sullivan into developing new techniques for mathematically optimising large and complex roster models.
Following its victory in the competition, RosterLab was adopted by healthcare providers throughout New Zealand and is now expanding to other industries that can also benefit from their innovative rostering solution, recently announcing a partnership with the SeaLink ferry service.
Isaac says, “It was an impulsive decision to enter Velocity towards the end of my PhD. I had zero expectations of success but after winning an award my ambitions quickly changed from academia to entrepreneurship.”
RosterLab offers a game-changing solution to the many issues that plague traditional rostering processes. With its advanced algorithm, RosterLab enables organisations to generate the most optimal roster solution in a matter of minutes, eliminating the time-consuming and error-prone nature of manual rostering. The software takes into account a range of factors, including employee requests and preferences, union requirements, skill mix, roster history, and staff coverage, among others, to produce a well-rounded solution that satisfies both staff and management. By streamlining rostering processes RosterLab helps organisations avoid staffing gaps, reduce costs and save time.
“Healthcare was a wonderful place to start because the rosters are complex, often 24/7, require the management of many different skills, tasks, union requirements, and preferences, and the consequences of bad rosters are high. Developing our software for the highest complexity of roster problems means we can automatically generate rosters for a wide variety of industries without much additional development.”
SeaLink is RosterLab’s first partnership outside of healthcare and they are looking forward to exploring opportunities to bring rostering solutions to transportation, supermarkets, customer service, security, and other industries.
After winning the Velocity $100k Challenge RosterLab participated in VentureLab, an incubator also delivered by the Business School’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The University’s research commercialisation company, UniServices, also provided support to RosterLab and within a year they were a venture-backed company.
Isaac says becoming a venture-backed company has helped accelerate not only the growth of the company, but also the growth of himself and his two co-founders Sunny Feng and Daniel Ge. “We have regular access to a team of highly experienced investors who have unlocked a wide range of connections, pushed us to strive for lofty goals and helped us hone and implement our business strategy.”
Isaac says that prioritising rapid iteration and customer feedback is essential for success in the fast-paced world of entrepreneurship.
“To PhD students, my advice would be to pursue your research with passion, but also keep an eye out for practical applications of your work. There may be opportunities to create value by developing solutions that address real-world problems. Not everyone needs to be an entrepreneur, but it can be a rewarding way to apply one’s research in a meaningful way.”
Learn more about RosterLab here.
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