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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)

#261

Post by JAlexoid »

BoiledCabbage wrote: post #199
kdkirsch wrote: post #191

I’m a physician. I really appreciate Tom’s enthusiasm, but I think that enthusiasm led him to overestimate the significance of the problem. Moreover he didn’t really understand for whom he was building this product. At first he thought it would be a consumer product. But he realized that consumers would not pay/subscribe and later learned that advertising wouldn’t work. Next he thought doctors would pay because “Doct…

I agree. And what Tom didn't realize is that Doctors aren't financially incetivized to give better healthcare. There is no money in it for them. If anything, return visits because of a partial prior resolution make more money. Now clearly I'm not saying that doctors try to give bad diagnoses for profit (because they don't). But beyond a certain minimum bar, and on a purely financial basis, improving diagnostics or pr…

That's sad.... that you think that.

It is like saying that software engineers write bad code, so that they can get paid to fix it. (Which is really not true at all)

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

#262

Post by thrdbndndn »

kdkirsch wrote: post #191

I’m a physician. I really appreciate Tom’s enthusiasm, but I think that enthusiasm led him to overestimate the significance of the problem. Moreover he didn’t really understand for whom he was building this product. At first he thought it would be a consumer product. But he realized that consumers would not pay/subscribe and later learned that advertising wouldn’t work. Next he thought doctors would pay because “Doct…

Together? That sounds a lot..

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

#263

Post by [deleted] »

galaxyLogic wrote: post #216
BoiledCabbage wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. And what Tom didn't realize is that Doctors aren't financially incetivized to give better healthcare. There is no money in it for them. If anything, return visits because of a partial prior resolution make more money. Now clearly I'm not saying that doctors try to give bad diagnoses for profit (because they don't). But beyond a certain minimum bar, and on a purely financial basis, improving diagnostics or pr…

Quoted post unavailable.

[deleted]

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

#264

Post by JAlexoid »

achillesheels wrote: post #169
JAlexoid wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think people forget how much luck has to do with all of it. Location, timing, access and mistakes on the side of market players - are all a matter of luck. Google could not have started in 1998 in Russia. Microsoft would not have been Microsoft, without landing the MSDOS from IBM. So on and so forth.

Really? Google is a product of luck and not centuries of the willfully successful extensions of men, e.g. Leland Stanford, on this continent? What, in your estimation, can be controlled then?

If Google wasn't a result of massive amount of lucky circumstances, beyond the control of its founders - you'd be able to launch a successful competitor to Google right now and become a billionaire in a few years.

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

#265

Post by travisporter »

BoiledCabbage wrote: post #199
kdkirsch wrote: post #191

I’m a physician. I really appreciate Tom’s enthusiasm, but I think that enthusiasm led him to overestimate the significance of the problem. Moreover he didn’t really understand for whom he was building this product. At first he thought it would be a consumer product. But he realized that consumers would not pay/subscribe and later learned that advertising wouldn’t work. Next he thought doctors would pay because “Doct…

I agree. And what Tom didn't realize is that Doctors aren't financially incetivized to give better healthcare. There is no money in it for them. If anything, return visits because of a partial prior resolution make more money. Now clearly I'm not saying that doctors try to give bad diagnoses for profit (because they don't). But beyond a certain minimum bar, and on a purely financial basis, improving diagnostics or pr…

This was the whole thing with bundled payments. https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/bundled-payments-ca.... One lump sum for a condition, and the stakeholders involved want to treat it the fastest/cheapest way possible.

Barring that aside, at least the doctors I'm related to would love nothing better than to give better care. I always hear about how they need to stay up on the latest stuff.

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

#266

Post by JAlexoid »

treis wrote: post #164
epmaybe wrote: post #142

Can someone provide an example of where this would provide value? I'm not sure I understand. The examples I see in the article (picking the 'best' pain medication or antidepressant) aren't all that interesting to me. Like, of course naproxen wins, it has the longest half life of all of the listed medications...and the comparison of SSRI are well known at this point. I find it hard to believe that a board certified ps…

>I find it hard to believe that a board certified psychiatrist (Susan) wouldn't know which medication has better efficacy in which scenarios. The field of medicine is constantly changing with new drugs and studies coming out all of the time. So no Susan might not know that and if she does she learned the new information from somewhere. The problem that the guy in TFA has is that the business he wants to build already…

I mean... Research your competition should be on the list of every founder.

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

#267

Post by ironmagma »

eyelidlessness wrote: post #255
unityByFreedom wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The totally overlapping error here was assuming those things—making the world better, and making money—aren’t inherently in conflict They're not in conflict. Competition makes better products. Apple benefited from Microsoft's existence, and vice versa. There's a lot of great free software, but it comes from people who already earned enough to spend time on it.

Better products don’t necessarily make the world better. They often make the world worse. I don’t have a particular chip on my shoulder about Apple, or Microsoft, or free software. There are things I appreciate that all of them produce, and good in the world because of some of those efforts by each. But yes, making the world better and making money are inherently in conflict. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a way to re…

If money disappeared overnight, a lot of people would die (almost all of them). So, money allows the survival of people. If you are not a misanthropist, then, the world is better with money, since it allows people to live.

Therefore, making money is simply something that must be done to allow the existence of human life. This is not in conflict of making the world better, it's in service of it.

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

#268

Post by rahimiali »

Here's another way to classify this mistake. Usually, engineers first get good at "technology". Then they learn to get good at "product". Somewhere in their careers, they learn about "distribution". And then they invariable wish they had learned these lessons in the reverse order: Start with the distribution opportunity, devise a product around that opportunity, and as a last resort, some times, you need some tech to build that product.

I find the distribution->product->tech pipeline a more constructive way to think about building a business than "product-market fit", or "starting from a pain point". And it's a lot more productive than the reverse tech->product->distribution pipeline.

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

#269

Post by KingMachiavelli »

If you don't have any legal hurdles you should consider making it open source or running a freemium version (limited by number of patients, medications, class/popularity of medication, etc.). I could imagine a few doctors and armature researchers using it and perhaps a small could be converted to paying $10/month. At $10/month you only need ~350 people to pay a years subscription to break even depending. Certainly depends on how more development is needed and what the operating costs look like.

Another option is to augment the product to allow consumers to track their existing medications. Using their demographic data + current prescriptions, you could then used their self reported drug efficacy to recommend possible alternatives.

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

#270

Post by jimmySixDOF »

KingMachiavelli wrote: post #269

If you don't have any legal hurdles you should consider making it open source or running a freemium version (limited by number of patients, medications, class/popularity of medication, etc.). I could imagine a few doctors and armature researchers using it and perhaps a small could be converted to paying $10/month. At $10/month you only need ~350 people to pay a years subscription to break even depending. Certainly de…

I remember reading this story at the time (2020) and wondering if the project was released on Github in the public sphere at least as some positive net benefit of all the work that was invested. To me going into a risk environment like this you have to think, well at least if it all goes wrong then there will be this new body of knowledge available that wasn't there before so all your hard earned blood sweat tears and treasure won't just evaporate in to thin air. Not sure what this guy did but I hope e was something!
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