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I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea (2020)

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Re: I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea (2020)

#181

Post by trollied »

Barrera wrote: post #15

The main reason this didn't work is that the founder didn't identify a customer willing to spend money . A lot of startups fail because they never identify a customer. Or even a problem. This one failed because before writing a line of code the founder did not take the next step and ensure that the prospective customer was willing to spend money on a solution. This is why so many failing startups try to pivot to two-…

It’s bonkers. I have the opposite problem. I have a live customer (which is an accident, I was sort of doing him a favour), but now I have a waiting list for new paying clients and not enough spare time. I can’t quit my job yet. I’ll get there!

Re: I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea (2020)

#182

Post by kdkirsch »

jollybean wrote: post #79

This is a great case study in idea development. He was onto something with the doctor thing. 1) Things that help people make money are 100x more valuable, i.e. something that helps the Docs generate more revenue. 2) This was insulting: "So I’d sorta just be, like, donating this money if I paid you for this thing, right" Seriously a professional talking about a 'donation' if it didn't actually increase her revenue? Wh…

There are already other resources which we (I’m an MD) already pay for and use to help make decisions when there is ambiguity about the best course of action. UpToDate was previously mentioned and it’s something we pay hundreds of dollars a year for (unless our hospital has a subscription). You’re not wrong about introducing these tools to medical students but the value needs to be there because it’s actually a very crowded space.

Re: I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea (2020)

#183

Post by ar_turnbull »

Barrera wrote: post #15

The main reason this didn't work is that the founder didn't identify a customer willing to spend money . A lot of startups fail because they never identify a customer. Or even a problem. This one failed because before writing a line of code the founder did not take the next step and ensure that the prospective customer was willing to spend money on a solution. This is why so many failing startups try to pivot to two-…

I mean I guess it wasn't really that "fantastic" of an idea, but that aside it feels like OP was lacking imagination in terms of the addressable market. He tried the two markets with the most obvious business model -- consumers and doctors.

But if consumers weren't going to work because the advertising revenue wasn't lucrative enough, and doctors weren't willing to pay for the solution, then it's time to get creative.

What about insurance companies? Insurance companies have a vested interest in picking the right drug because they are on the hook if the outcome isn't good. Or what about the pharmaceutical companies themselves? Would they pay for the data for use in their own marketing campaigns much like "4 out of 5 dentists agree"?

TLDR; OP went all in on two obvious markets but didn't think out of the box in terms of who might be willing to pay for his product.

Re: I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea (2020)

#184

Post by ar_turnbull »

robertlagrant wrote: post #151
Barrera wrote: post #15

The main reason this didn't work is that the founder didn't identify a customer willing to spend money . A lot of startups fail because they never identify a customer. Or even a problem. This one failed because before writing a line of code the founder did not take the next step and ensure that the prospective customer was willing to spend money on a solution. This is why so many failing startups try to pivot to two-…

I think they did do that: doctors. They just didn't realise that doctors need to be financially incentivised to search for better health outcomes.

Feels like a failure of business model imagination or just not enough runway to try something different to me. OP didn't even take three swings at bat.

It's not the sexiest market if you're looking to win a Nobel prize (lol) but insurance companies seems like a potential customer with a large financial incentive...

Re: I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea (2020)

#185

Post by klabb3 »

snarf21 wrote: post #84
klabb3 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Ideas are nothing. Execution is everything. I always feel discomfort when this gets parroted. It's clearly not true, unless you're willing to shift the definitions of "idea" and "execution" around after-the-fact. Indeed the article comes to the conclusion that the idea is near-impossible to execute – due to realities within the business domain of healthcare. If the idea was "nothing", good execution could've fixed…

Well, in this case, it was the "brilliant" idea they thought it was. At first, they thought end users would pay but never even stopped to think about what they would pay to be recommended Aleve over Advil, (probably $0.00). Secondly, they thought Drs (providers) would be key but then were somehow dumb founded that they wouldn't pay for this service because it doesn't really solve a problem they have in the current fe…

Yeah, not disagreeing. But the way I interpret the conclusion of this story, is that this wasn't a particularly startup friendly idea. I'm sure it's somewhat salvagable with the right strategy.

My greater point is that ideas set the boundaries for what's possible in execution, which in turn means ideas are critical. If they were unimportant a shit idea would have little impact on the outcome, which is clearly not true. They could still be "overrated" though, but then we should use that language.

Re: I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea (2020)

#186

Post by ASalazarMX »

runxel wrote: post #179

On a sidenote I really had to smirk when I read "painkillers". So american! But let's stay on track: The thing with painkillers is that they are not really predictable (so I don't wonder that he failed). Even if a study suggests that a certain kind of medicine might help better, this doesn't mean anything. It especially does not mean, that the painkiller will help me . I've tried a lot of them, based on recommendatio…

I also smirked at the 40,000 USD figure. Some people has bills bigger than that for staying at a hospital a few days, in other country they could have financed a startup.

Re: I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea (2020)

#187

Post by IanCal »

ar_turnbull wrote: post #183
Barrera wrote: post #15

The main reason this didn't work is that the founder didn't identify a customer willing to spend money . A lot of startups fail because they never identify a customer. Or even a problem. This one failed because before writing a line of code the founder did not take the next step and ensure that the prospective customer was willing to spend money on a solution. This is why so many failing startups try to pivot to two-…

I mean I guess it wasn't really that "fantastic" of an idea, but that aside it feels like OP was lacking imagination in terms of the addressable market. He tried the two markets with the most obvious business model -- consumers and doctors. But if consumers weren't going to work because the advertising revenue wasn't lucrative enough, and doctors weren't willing to pay for the solution, then it's time to get creative…

Government grants to create and release this kind of thing is another direction. Or just for internal analysis.

Re: I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea (2020)

#189

Post by IanCal »

randomdata wrote: post #148
hgomersall wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is completely different to an MVP as defined in The Lean Startup. It's absolutely about proving whatever needs proving.

Proving what needs to be proven is the role of the prototype. That can also be an important step on your journey, but the MVP is about building a product that is considered viable. Literally. If you don't yet know what is viable in the market, how could you even begin to build something that is viable? You don't yet know what viable means.

I've had this argument before, from the same side you're coming at it from, and I was wrong.

It's really not about building a viable product in that sense - the Dropbox demo video is the classic example of an MVP that isn't a "product" as such.

Re: I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea (2020)

#190

Post by CobrastanJorji »

I'd like to discuss one of the problems the author encountered on its own. Here a doctor was presented with a tool that would allow them to prescribe better treatments to her patients, but there was no incentive for her to adopt that tool.

How could we change medicine so that such tools could be adopted? Patients probably won't individually notice any difference, and they don't control what they pay. Insurance companies might be motivated to provide something like this to doctors under the theory that better results are probably cheaper in the long term. A single payer system might perhaps provide certain solutions to doctors and hospitals in various manners, but adopting novel stuff like this from small shops might become effectively impossible. What models would allow for an inventor inventing something like this?

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