Work 2012–2013
HotDoc
- Role
- Consultant
- Where
- Melbourne, Australia
Wrote the first lines of code for what became HotDoc's in-clinic sync tool for real-time appointments.
The first lines of code
HotDoc started in Melbourne in 2012. Four people founded it: Ben Hurst, Simon Holland, John Servinis and Tom Spacek. The idea was simple. Patients should be able to book a GP appointment online, and see times that are actually free.
That only works if the booking site knows what is happening inside the clinic. I came in as a consultant and wrote the first lines of code for what became HotDoc’s in-clinic data sync tool. It keeps appointments up to date in real time, so the times a patient sees online match the clinic’s own book.
The bathtub office
When I started working with them, the team was Papercloud, a consulting firm run by Simon Holland and Tom Spacek. Papercloud built businesses, websites and apps for companies around Melbourne, and HotDoc was one of them.
Papercloud worked out of the Taboo Digital office in Prahran, which was really an apartment. The top floor had been an open-plan bedroom with an open-plan bathroom, so there was a bathtub in the middle of the floor and desks all around it.
The bathtub was full of pillows. You could sit in it with your laptop on your lap, as long as you didn’t bump the taps. If you did, you filled it with water.
The toilet was in the corner. Because the bathroom was open plan, someone had put a bamboo fence around it. That gave it no privacy and no sound protection at all, which was very, very off-putting.
What it became
HotDoc became the largest appointments network in Australian primary care. By early 2026 it had 13 million patients and 23,000 practitioners on the platform. In February 2026, Potentia Capital bought a majority stake, with Acclivis and existing backer Airtree investing alongside. The deal was reported at about $250 million.
Tom and John
The code is the small part of this story. The bigger part is Tom and John.
Over the years we became very good friends. We regularly go on ski trips to Japan together. We spend a lot of time advising each other on our businesses, and we have built a deep respect for each other along the way. They are friends for life.