Maybe he should try to sell the service as an API to search engines. E.g. I just tried the question "what's the best headache medicine" on the front show hn article: Andi https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30832589 and the result was "the best medicine is what your doctor subscribes you"
I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea (2020)
171–180 of 336 posts
Re: I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea (2020)
#172Were the operational costs very high? Why not just keep it going until someone buys the tech from you (like WebMD perhaps)? It seems like a good idea in any case.
Re: I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea (2020)
#173[deleted]
Re: I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea (2020)
#174The 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-…
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 period with advertising.
Re: I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea (2020)
#175The author needs to sell to publishers and R&D firms, not direct to doctors and patients. Think: MayoClinic, Mount Sinai, and other players who are big on medical research. Health magazines and publishers.
Re: I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea (2020)
#176The 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-…
The main reason it didn’t work was because the idea was bad. See salient comments from previous posts:
Re: I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea (2020)
#177You built something that competes with doctors, not compliments them. If the medical industry was unregulated, you could pair this with a prescription service and make an automated online doctor's office.
You're unfortunately dealing with an unfree market, which is why the psychiatrist tended to her nails instead of shitting her pants when you revealed tech that could potentially make her obsolete.
Re: I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea (2020)
#178I'm definitely in the minority here, but I'd probably have paid up to $15/month for access to this. I care very strongly about picking something that will be maximally effective when buying OTC or talking to doctors about trying specific medication. Is there any chance of the remaining data and possibly code being released/sold?
Yes, you're definitely the minority. The vast majority of people don't buy nearly enough OTC medications to justify $15 per month to recommend OTC medication
I feel like this could run on donations.
I signup, search a product and a day/week later get a mail "Did X Help? If so, care to donate a few dollar for the info we generated for you? If not, try Y, 7 studies have shown it works better than X in some cases."
Re: I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea (2020)
#179On 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 recommendations from the doctor, from the internet, from the pharmacist. In the end I found one agent that really helps me and I sticked with that.
Re: I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea (2020)
#180B2B sales are hard.