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I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea

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

#191

Post by mirthflat83 »

james1071 wrote: post #122
nickjj wrote: post #9

That was a fun read. I wish the author mentioned how much he was trying to sell the service for. It could have been $59 a month or $599 a month and with doctors you could potentially expect the same answer. I'm not a psychologist but some of the author's quoted text came off extremely demeaning in written form. If the author happens to read this, did you really say those things directly to them? For example, Susan (p…

He had not the slightest idea of how doctors prescribe drugs. The typical doctor has minimal training in evaluating medicines - that is not their job. They defer to so-called opinion-leaders, who are the experts on particular diseases. These people are the targets of drug companies' marketing - think scientific conferences in 5 star hotels in exotic locations. The cost of influencing them would be millions. So,the au…

This is so removed from reality to the point that it’s hilarious. Doctors evil. Doctors bad. Doctors corrupt. Doctors rich. That psychiatrist in the article sure must have been bribed to prescribe those 30-year-old drugs, right? There’s this thing called evidence-based medicine, go educate yourself.

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

#192

Post by closetohome »

foxylad wrote: post #154
gault8121 wrote: post #15

This article's thesis seems to be that medical professionals are not incentized to provide the best interventions, and as a result, wouldn't pay for this service. However, what the author fails to mention is the competitors in this space that are successful, such as Up To Date, which provides really high-quality research trial data: https://www.uptodate.com/home Rather than building a product that informs medical pro…

Competition analysis should be number one on the "Before You Write A Line Of Code" list. As the author has found, the value proposition is also important, but looking at competitors offerings will often inform that too.

Seems like taking a moment to think about monetization before beginning would have saved some trouble.

When you run a service that provides information you either make money through ads or direct subscriptions. And if it's B, you better have an airtight value proposition and an intimate understanding of your competition.

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

#193

Post by greggman3 »

ihumanable wrote: post #108
eightysixfour wrote: post #30

I remember reading this the last time and it was posted and I still think the core failure is that the author didn't actually recognize the issue he was solving. He thought the problem was choosing the most effective medicine when the real problem was decision fatigue looking at endless shelves of things that all seem to do the same thing. Those two problems sort of look the same, but the latter cannot be resolved by…

I'm grateful for this comment because it put into words the thing I couldn't. I'm reading the epiphany part of this post, to quote: You have a mind-shattering headache. You're standing in the aisle of your local CVS, massaging your temples while scanning the shelves for something—anything—to make make the pain stop. What do you reach for? Tylenol? Advil? Aleve? Most people, I imagine, grab whatever's cheapest, or clo…

> most people when they have a headache and know that most painkillers on the market will result in about the same degree of relief

I've not had this experience. For me, Ibuprofen works, aspirin and acetaminophen have zero noticeable affect. It's been that way my entire life. The other two might have some affect on fever? (no idea) but none on pain, at least for me.

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

#194

Post by _carbyau_ »

jrochkind1 wrote: post #123
stevewodil wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It really depends on your tonality when you say it. In either case, saying "Are you sure increasing your user retention isn't worth something to you?" is just going to be met with another "No, we don't need it" from the other end. "So you have perfect user retention then?" is a better question because you know for a fact that they can't have 100% user retention and they know that as well so it forces further dialogue…

i guess this is why I'm not a salesperson. If it works it works, but I'm having trouble accepting that it's not demeaning, which was the original contention. Because it's not really a question at all, it's a sarcastic question. Maybe being demeaning gets sales, sure.

Sales - like marketing - definitely does have an element of psych to it.

Anecdotally, it feels as though it leans on a lot on the targets level of politeness and decorum to want to continue the conversation. I favour polite but abrupt and seemingly heartless conversation enders for this reason.

"Hello sir, would you like to help a child keep eating for $2 a month?" "No, thank you!"

Back to this specific case, I guess the trick is to deliver your question almost rhetorically with both parties knowing that it leaves an answer that is common knowledge. Kinda like safe small talk about the weather.

Keeps the conversation going buying time for another hook to be deployed.

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

#195

Post by greggman3 »

eightysixfour wrote: post #124
PeterisP wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Waiit - "You have a mind-shattering headache. [..] What do you reach for? " - isn't this where you're supposed or even required to ask the pharmacist? You know, the person who has the years-long training to know drug effects, limitations and interactions with other drugs?

I'd say yes but the last time I was truly sick (flu) my roommate went to the store and asked the pharmacist what to give me and came back home with a bunch of homeopathic sugar pills. My trust in other humans is pretty low for this sort of stuff.

That's sad

In many countries the pharmacist is a doctor and they are there to handle simple cases. Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia all seem this way. VS the USA (and Japan?) where all the pharmacist does is handout the medicine some other doctor prescribed.

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

#196

Post by na85 »

stevewodil wrote: post #138
na85 wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I get it, sales people can be annoying but it really only hurts your business (in this hypothetical case) if you have a user retention problems and are actively fighting against people trying to help you solve that problem with a mutually beneficial business agreement. Oh please. Not every product that's applicable to a given business would necessarily be beneficial to that business. I get it, sales people have to d…

If you have a vendetta against sales people you can just say that. We are talking about a completely hypothetical situation here, I don't see how you're now implying that the lead generation isn't good enough.

I don't have a vendetta. I used to work in sales. My first job out of school was cold-calling and I saw first hand what types of people tend to rise to the top in that environment.

I quit that job as soon as I could because I was sick of manipulating people or pressuring them into buying something they didn't want. At the end of the day that's all sales is. If your customer wants your product then by definition you don't have to sell them.

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

#197

Post by yaboy »

sixQuarks wrote: post #176
yaboy wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re both wrong. 100k visitors per month ≠ 100k unique users per month. Very different things!

You're being super nit-picky. It should have been assumed 100K "visitors" meant uniques, but I knew someone like you might make this comment. 100K * 12 = 1,200,000 visitors. I added a 20% margin to account for return visitors.

I’d like to see you tell your founder or CMO that the difference between monthly visitors and monthly unique visitors is “super nit-picky”.

The 20% margin is risible and those who live by SEO die by SEO: https://cdixon.org/2011/03/05/seo-is-no-longer-a-viable-mark...

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

#198

Post by marcinzm »

mirthflat83 wrote: post #191
james1071 wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He had not the slightest idea of how doctors prescribe drugs. The typical doctor has minimal training in evaluating medicines - that is not their job. They defer to so-called opinion-leaders, who are the experts on particular diseases. These people are the targets of drug companies' marketing - think scientific conferences in 5 star hotels in exotic locations. The cost of influencing them would be millions. So,the au…

This is so removed from reality to the point that it’s hilarious. Doctors evil. Doctors bad. Doctors corrupt. Doctors rich. That psychiatrist in the article sure must have been bribed to prescribe those 30-year-old drugs, right? There’s this thing called evidence-based medicine, go educate yourself.

I mean, there's a reason pharmaceutical companies in the US spend $20 billion a year marketing to physicians and it's not because it doesn't work. Doctors in the end are human and as capable of being influenced and biased and taking shortcuts as any other person. That doesn't mean they're evil, just human.

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

#199

Post by vmurthy »

It is tough to see one's project(s) fail but in hindsight, I wonder if the author could have gotten feedback from customer even before writing a single line of code to do the meta-analyses (let alone paying contractors). This is on the lines of "simple but not easy" but here goes anyway:

1. Identifying "who am I solving this for"

2. Identifying "who might pay for this"

3. Prototypes , mockups of the solution

4. Getting out of the building (GOOB) and talking to the end customers (the ones who will pay) and validating 1 & 2 before going full steam ahead

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

#200

Post by mirthflat83 »

marcinzm wrote: post #198
mirthflat83 wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is so removed from reality to the point that it’s hilarious. Doctors evil. Doctors bad. Doctors corrupt. Doctors rich. That psychiatrist in the article sure must have been bribed to prescribe those 30-year-old drugs, right? There’s this thing called evidence-based medicine, go educate yourself.

I mean, there's a reason pharmaceutical companies in the US spend $20 billion a year marketing to physicians and it's not because it doesn't work. Doctors in the end are human and as capable of being influenced and biased and taking shortcuts as any other person. That doesn't mean they're evil, just human.

Please comment your estimate on how much those prescriptions make up compared to the total prescriptions that those doctors prescribe, because whatever you type, it will be very off.
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