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

blog.tjcx.me

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

#311

Post by telomero22 »

satsuma wrote: post #73
telomero22 wrote: post #12

This is actually a very valuable resource, similar to https://www.rxlist.com/ Can you apply that to all kinds of medication, is this is a lot of more work or can you plug it in or let a student do the data entry? It will take a while to gain traction, but if you go to conferences, add more kinds of medications, establish a brand and gain reputation, this could be very successful. The contribution to modern medicine i…

i feel like it's something that, on its own isn't worth much, but could be sold to a group like goodrx or webmd or something like that for a decent payout.

Yes it's very valuable for a big player.

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

#314

Post by unityByFreedom »

eyelidlessness wrote: post #298
unityByFreedom wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Acknowledging that one thing conflicts with another doesn’t mean one must extinguish the other. Conflict does imply one thing stands opposed to another. I would not agree that making money inherently makes the world a worse place. Rather, the existence of money facilitates trade and makes the world better because it allows us to specialize in our respective trades. If I'm a farmer who raises chickens, money makes i…

> I would not agree that making money inherently makes the world a worse place. I didn’t say that it does. But I think you’re more interested in justifying making money than understanding the conflict I’m identifying.

> understanding the conflict I’m identifying.

From where I stand, there isn't a conflict between making money and making the world better. Money is a proxy for what people think makes their world better. And, since what people think is entirely subjective, there may be conflicting ideas about what makes the world better. If I want the city to spend $100k on shareable bicycles and you want it to spend $100k to build a recycling center, who is right? Money does not introduce conflict. Different ideas might.

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

#315

Post by srmarm »

mportela wrote: post #90
red0point wrote: post #22

I think the takeaway from the blog post is wrong and comments focusing on building a faster MVP miss the point. Not everything is a startup. This is a research project - and should be approached that way. There should be donors, a foundation, free access to all participants, reputation-building by writing (& publishing in reputable journals / conferences) studies about its efficacy, a board of doctors actually review…

That's exactly what I was thinking! He couldn't make it viable as a business but it could still be remodeled as a non-profit and make the difference in the world.

Maybe worth them looking for grants to make it so? There are foundations out there with money to spend on good ideas.

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

#316

Post by MrMan »

ilamont wrote: post #26
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-…

That's right. A lot of founders don't make it to #3 in your list, or they only get the "make something people want" part. It's not enough. Build something people want and will pay for . Not just say they want. Not just say they'll pay for. Make something that they see and will immediately take out their cash/cc/paypal/venmo and pay for on the spot .

the last 10 years of internet history show however that you can create something that one group wants, which creates value and a product that another group will pay for, they are not necessarily one in the same

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

#317

Post by sanderjd »

istillwritecode wrote: post #174
sanderjd wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is right, but it's also clear why this happens: a lot of the best known success stories from a decade or two ago were "if you build it they will come and you will one day figure out how to make money from that". Google, Facebook, Instagram. It takes awhile for the conventional wisdom borne of a mythology like that to shift. Heck, we're probably in the process of shifting it too far; we may well be lamenting a de…

The barrier to entry for advertising was pretty small when Google entered it. They worked hard on pricing models, ads relevance, ads quality, and making it unobtrusive to users (in the beginning). That's what allowed them to gain traction. The barrier to entry in advertising is much higher now, but if you have a standout product (like TikTok) then it's possible to gain enough eyeballs to get you through the initial p…

Right. But it is not surprising that it is taking awhile for that new conventional wisdom to sink in.

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

#318

Post by biermic »

efficax wrote: post #242
biermic wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are some possible ways to invest a few hundred bucks, for getting interviews with intended customers? I'm truly curious. Or do you mean he should have invested into a designer to create mockups?

You can do user testing, you can call up people in the industries and ask them, you can do a Kickstarter and spend a little on advertising it to see if it gets any traction, but mostly the reaching out to people in the target market and compensating them for a user interview

Appreciate your answer.

I built a very niche monitoring product for sysadmins. Actually I built it for myself three years ago, but I want to explore if others would pay for it.

If you are in the space, or anyone else who reads this I'd be grateful to receive some feedback on a 10 minute video call.

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

#319

Post by t_mann »

One thing I don't understand: he said he 'bought clinical trials'. What does that mean?

Imho, the main thing that prevented this product from being useful was the lack of evidence that using it actually improves treatment outcomes compared to what doctors/patients already do. If he could have pointed to studies showing this, the doctors might have reacted differently. Even better, if he could have used his fancy statistics to create personalized recommendations and then demonstrated that they improve outcomes, he might have been on to something. The current tool was optimizing for the average patient, but nowadays we want personalized medicine.

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

#320

Post by lucas03 »

DeathArrow wrote: post #302

I'm glad he didn't succeed. Because prescribing medication to patients (who might suffer from a serious illness) should be based on years of learning, carefully vetted information from medical peers, judicious thinking from the doctor and not some statistic models which can analyze dubious quality data. What if your model has small errors? What if the data is wrong? What if the data is good but people you've payed ch…

I think you overestimate current state, how doctors are incentivized by pharma companies or just don't research/care enough.
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