On the Record: Portland startup Kinotek aims to ‘set the gold standard for movement analysis’

Photos / Jim Neuger Kinotek COO Joey Spitz, at the company’s office on Monument Square in downtown Portland. The company writes software that uses Azure Kinect cameras by Microsoft to analyze physical movement.

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By Renee Cordes

Joey Spitz is the chief operating officer at Kinotek, a Portland-based developer of a digital health platform for body-motion assessment. Mainebiz caught up with him to find out more about his background and responsibilities at Kinotek, which was founded in 2018, incorporated in 2020 and today employs 16 people.

Mainebiz: What was your original career intention, and what changed that path?

Joey Spitz: After college graduation, I worked as a diplomatic liaison and speechwriter for the Consulate General of Israel, which gave me incredible access to leaders from all walks of life – politics, business, international affairs. One ecommerce executive I met there took a chance and gave me my first opportunity in business. I spent my early career working in ad-tech, primarily with [New York-based] Bombora, which was my first experience joining an early-stage startup and helping it scale. As I grew to lead the company’s agency sales team, I became intrigued by the other components of the business and wanted to gain the finance, strategy and operations skills that came with a business school education.

MB: What did you learn from your entrepreneurship-focused Columbia Business School MBA program?

JS: Most of my career before business school was in sales. I couldn’t read a balance sheet or an income statement and didn’t know a thing about building a product. Business school not only gave me these tools, but also the confidence to speak fluently with different teams in a business. A typical day can have me in a marketing meeting followed by a sales call, a Zoom with our accountant and then a catch-up with our attorney. I need to be able to juggle eight meetings and jump from challenge to challenge — a lot of that ability comes from business school.

MB: And what have you learned about entrepreneurship in the real world?

JS: The most important quality for an entrepreneur is perseverance. It’s often overlooked. You can have the best idea, business plan or team – but if you can’t take the hits, nothing else matters. I joined Kinotek in February 2020 — a month before COVID. There have been plenty of times we could have given up - countless rejections, disappointments and setbacks. But we forged ahead – that, far more than any great idea, is why we have reached this point.

MB: What are your responsibilities at Kinotek, and what’s a typical day like for you?

JS: I’ve led Kinotek’s operations, finances, human resources, marketing and everything in between. No task too big, no task too small — I take out the trash in the morning and review the financials at night. We recently expanded the team, which allowed me to shift these responsibilities and focus exclusively on leading our commercial team. Last month, Kinotek [the name of both the company and the software] became an FDA-registered medical device, and after two years of research and development, began selling software subscriptions. Since then, I’ve been traveling around the country meeting customers and growing the business.

MB: How does Kinotek compare to other startups you’ve worked for?

JS: Kinotek provides a particularly deep satisfaction because we’ve developed a product that helps people’s health and well-being. Putting something out in the world that genuinely makes a difference in someone’s life is my favorite part about working at Kinotek.

MB: Where do you see yourself — and Kinotek — in 10 years from now?

JS: The question I ask myself is, ‘What impact will Kinotek have made in 10 years?’ I’d start with our mission: To give every human access to better movement health. By developing a fast, accurate, portable, affordable and immersive platform, Kinotek will allow people to reimagine how to assess, treat and visualize how the human body moves. As we collect data at scale, we can influence the science of biomechanics, enable data-driven decisions for hospitals and insurance providers, and author cutting edge musculoskeletal research. We aspire to set the gold standard for movement analysis and build one of Maine’s most innovative companies.