Live data from Hacker News

A.I. Helped One Man (and His Brother) Build a $1.8B Company

nytimes.com

1–10 of 91 posts

Re: A.I. Helped One Man (and His Brother) Build a $1.8B Company

#2
Interesting baseline of how much AI can help with the profitability of a business:

> By the end of last year, Medvi had reached $401 million in annual sales and amassed 250,000 customers. It produced 16.2 percent in net profit, or $65 million, with spending going to the fees for telehealth platforms, marketing and then software. Hims, by contrast, had a net profit of 5.5 percent last year.

Re: A.I. Helped One Man (and His Brother) Build a $1.8B Company

#3

Interesting baseline of how much AI can help with the profitability of a business: > By the end of last year, Medvi had reached $401 million in annual sales and amassed 250,000 customers. It produced 16.2 percent in net profit, or $65 million, with spending going to the fees for telehealth platforms, marketing and then software. Hims, by contrast, had a net profit of 5.5 percent last year.

I’d argue this is more of an extreme outlier than a baseline. While it shows the 'ceiling' of what a hyper-lean AI-enabled team can do in a white-hot market (GLP-1s), it’s hard to call $200M+ revenue per employee a 'baseline' for any industry. It’s a remarkable anomaly. A dream of every vibe coder like myself, but not a realistic target for most.

Re: A.I. Helped One Man (and His Brother) Build a $1.8B Company

#9
post #6

Looks like they are selling GLP-1 prescriptions online, with online consultations. This is borderline illegal.

The in person businesses selling them don't do much more thorough consultations in my experience, although at least they try to track your muscle mass and be sure you're not losing too much there.

The whole business model probably just comes down to high demand over supply and traditional primary care doctors not being ready to keep up with prescribing it, though? It's a temporary gap being filled in. I wonder how long it can last.

Re: A.I. Helped One Man (and His Brother) Build a $1.8B Company

#10
The opposite of an “A.I” company, he is reselling the services of another filled with humans. A great, profitable business, sure, a notable success, yes, but a 2-man billion dollar company made possible by A.I? No. Businesses like this have existed for decades and are vulnerable to their service providers stealing the business out from under them.
Post reply on HN