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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

#391

Post by fsckboy »

na85 wrote: post #102
robocat wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HN guidelines: “Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith.”. I would presume that sentence is a quickly typed paraphrase. If you presume they are a competent salesperson, you can also presume that they say it less antagonistically in real life. Edit: Or perhaps they have found that antagonism is the most profitable sol…

>HN guidelines The comment to which I'm responding explicitly argues that the phrase, verbatim, is a good sales tactic.

you referred to the caller as a sales punk before he uttered the phrase, exposing your attitude. Just because you are biased against sales people and also have a thin skin when it comes to the slightest challenge in a question does not mean that the product would not be beneficial and worth it to you if you had a more open mind, nor does it mean that the sales technique on average is a failure.

i.e. when I read your comment it struck me as much more revealing about you than about the salesman, his technique, or his product.

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

#392

Post by ummonk »

paxys wrote: post #257
ummonk wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uh no. He had a problem - how to choose a medicine - and built a product to solve that problem. The issue was that solving the problem isn't something people wish to pay for, not that the problem doesn't exist.

He had a problem, but then decided to solve a completely different problem. The process of an end user picking an OTC drug for a headache vs a doctor prescribing something are worlds apart. I'd personally love a site which compared all generic + branded medication available over the counter and ranked them based on some criteria. I'm sure there would be a ton of advertising and affiliate marketing potential for a suc…

Right, it also seems more monetizable than WebMD since it's more shopper-oriented, so ads / affiliate model should not be dismissed out of hand.

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

#393

Post by thehappypm »

a-dub wrote: post #264

> "Hmmmm," she said, picking at her fingernails. "Not directly. Of course I always have the best interests of my patients in mind, but, you know, it's not like they'll pay more if I prescribe Lexapro instead of Zoloft. They won't come back more often or refer more friends. So I'd sorta just be, like, donating this money if I paid you for this thing, right?" this is the problem. the incentives in healthcare are messed…

Between the lines, the real doctor perspective here is "Medicine A, which I have been seeing success with for decades, is (according to this site) less effective than Medicine B. I really trust Medicine A, so I don't think this is enough of a nudge to make me change my mind necessarily."

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

#394

Post by saaaaaam »

yaboy wrote: post #72
saaaaaam wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed. Which what 100k per month comes to, give or take :)

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

Well, quite! But then I pretty much assumed it was a shorthand amongst peers so (over) explanation perhaps wasn’t really necessary...

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

#395

Post by ketamine__ »

MacsHeadroom wrote: post #234
ketamine__ wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Far more effective? Source?

For a user named ketamine_ are you really questioning the well known efficacy of few-shot therapies for treatment resistant depression and PTSD? Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy: A Paradigm Shift in Psychiatric Research and Development: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6041963/ Reviewing the Potential of Psychedelics for the Treatment of PTSD: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7311646/ etc.

I'm questioning your enthusiasm because I have experience and have read the research.

It is still early days. If one can end depression with an oral medication that isn't scheduled one is better off.

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

#396

Post by ketamine__ »

concreteblock wrote: post #265
MacsHeadroom wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For a user named ketamine_ are you really questioning the well known efficacy of few-shot therapies for treatment resistant depression and PTSD? Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy: A Paradigm Shift in Psychiatric Research and Development: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6041963/ Reviewing the Potential of Psychedelics for the Treatment of PTSD: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7311646/ etc.

> For a user named ketamine_ are you really questioning the well known efficacy of few-shot therapies for treatment resistant depression and PTSD? Maybe they want to convince their friends?

Not all experts are cheerleaders.

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

#397

Post by jacobion »

perl4ever wrote: post #390
jacobion wrote: post #335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't there a social benefit in letting the 10% (or whatever) of people that believe in them get a safe and effective placebo, for many conditions where that's all that's needed?

I see belief in the "placebo effect" as a mind virus. Because it is not just a justification for lying to patients, but entails medical people lying to themselves. I get tired trying to explain, and if I'm not convincing anyone, maybe it's me who doesn't understand...but, I feel like the key is to ask yourself, if the placebo effect is something that you can scientifically demonstrate, how would you arrange a control…

> if the placebo effect is something that you can scientifically demonstrate, how would you arrange a control group?

Easy, just don't give the control group any medicine. Give the other group a placebo. If outcomes are better for the second group, it's evidence that placebos work, just as clearly as the usual trial provides evidence that medicines work.

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

#398

Post by gremlinsinc »

Seems to me the product here is the database.

Doctors don't want another product to learn add to their already saturated load.

Most doctors and dentists I know are very non-technical actually. I know a dentist who could barely work email.

However there's some software they probably use quite a bit, if those vendors were to license the data, and maybe the graphs generated by the data - THAT is the business model that would work imho.

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

#399

Post by gremlinsinc »

jokethrowaway wrote: post #43

This was a great read! Doctors definitely don't need your product, as they pointed out. But consumers do! I think you should have sold to consumers. Having three doctors in my close family, I often found that whatever the tired doctor at the hospital is recommending is in contrast with what a doctor who care about my health (and is willing to look on their proprietary platforms) is recommending. That's why you ask di…

I think the data could be beneficial to software vendors, maybe create open source dev kits, so they can pull in raw data or graphs.

Then doctors get the product without having to sell to doctors. they are less tech savvy than a software vendor, and they also don't want more tools to have to use technology wise.

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

#400

Post by jjk166 »

Instead of marketing this as a tool to better select drugs, I would market this as a tool to better justify drug selections.

When I go to the doctor part of me is always skeptical - are they prescribing this because it is actually best for me, or did they just prescribe me the default and don't care if I have to schedule another appointment in 2 weeks to get a different prescription? Between insurance politics and the difficulties of keeping up with research, there are a lot of perverse incentives out there. I'm certainly not alone in this. Even if I knew for certain the Doctor's interests aligned perfectly with my own, the fact is I am a non-expert and putting my faith in something I am unfamiliar with and don't fully understand is scary.

Now imagine if a doctor could instantly put my fears to rest. When I start asking questions, he can instantly put a nice looking piece of paper in my hand telling me why his decision is the best option for me, personally. Maybe I don't totally get what all the numbers mean, but I see my readings, my symptoms, there's a graph on it and the drug prescribed to me has the biggest bar. If that were an option, I'd never use a doctor who didn't do that. Even if it didn't lead to more patient referrals, certainly it would save doctors time answering all the "but WebMD says..." questions, and a doctor's time is worth a lot.

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