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March 24, 2026
A moment with Jaclyn Benstead at MedHack 2026
You know those sessions you walk into thinking, “I’ll just listen for a bit”…
…and then you leave seeing things a little differently?
That’s exactly what happened when Jaclyn Benstead (Co-Founder, New Markets) took the stage at #MedHack2026. What began as a session on pitching ideas quickly evolved into something more, a room full of people rethinking innovation, startups, and how meaningful solutions are actually built.
It didn’t feel like a talk.
It felt like an experience.
The conversations that followed
And the best parts didn’t stop when the session ended.
Afterwards, Jac joined conversations with both the team at Growth Hoops and Anjali Singh, each unpacking different layers of what innovation really looks like in practice.
Across both conversations, a few ideas stood out clearly:
- Deeply understanding your customer is the starting point of innovation
- Designing for real people, not just personas, leads to better solutions
- Diverse teams don’t just collaborate better, they build better
- Founders should focus on strong foundations before thinking about global scale
- Expanding into new markets requires context, not just ambition
- And sometimes, a little bit of not knowing can actually drive better innovation
It was honest, practical, and grounded, the kind of insight that sticks long after the event.
Building across borders, thoughtfully
Drawing from her experience building programs across Australia, Vietnam, and Southeast Asia, Jac shared a perspective that felt both refreshing and real.
Because going global isn’t just about moving fast, it’s about moving right.
👉 Understanding people comes before scaling solutions
👉 Local context shapes whether an idea succeeds or fails
👉 And what works in one place won’t automatically translate to another
A reminder that meaningful innovation isn’t just scalable, it’s adaptable.
What were taking with us
There’s something special about conversations like these.
No fluff. No overcomplicated playbooks.
Just real insights from people actively building and learning.
It reminded us why spaces like MedHack matter, not just for ideas, but for the conversations that shape them.
Watch the full conversations
Big credit to Growth Hoops and Anjali Singh for capturing and sharing these moments.
