Fingers still crossed! Probably sleep with them crossed as well.
14 karma · joined September 25, 2010
www.Votetocracy.com
We are a team of two founders that have a good network of associates to help out when needed. We are endlessly curious but highly productive. It is fun to balance these two things effectively.
FYI - I have a ton of experience marketing/educating to Health Care Professionals, patients etc. Give me a shout via email of you want to discuss further.
OUTREACH - Get a list from your local Medicare office: Get a few small wins by focusing on local therapists. Visit their offices. Drop off a postcard, talk with them in person. You can also get a list from your local Medicare office - they will tell you who in your area accepts medicare for Physical Therapy.
I can also query a database of HCPs for you - reach out to me.
OUTREACH- Blog marketing is time consuming. I am not saying don't do it but it is time consuming. I have had more success with twitter. It is more immediate - and you end up meeting the bloggers anyway.
OUTREACH - Set up an affiliate program Your product seems like a great fit for an affiliate program. Make one before starting you twitter work.
Website: I agree with some of the comments below. The site needs to get to the Aha moment quicker for therapists. As you described yourself, patients often complete these exercises incorrectly. Helping therapists avoid that seems to be the real benefit here. The other things, like email , tracking patients etc are cool but they require work. SO the real benefit is the increased likely hood that patients will do their exercises correctly.
Another idea: Have you considered licensing those videos out as standalone components. If you have rights maybe this could be another revenue stream. At least this way you could capture revenue from the offices that don't want to go through all the work of using the full app. And in the opposite direction - it may be a ice-breaker product. I mean that you get in the door with that - then up sell to the full app. You'd have to think this through - I am just spurting out ideas.
Shoot - just noticed you are the UK. My database query only contains US so it may not help out much unless your marketing here as well.
On hiring: I especially like the part about hiring. Where they suggest doing the job yourself first so you clearly understand what it is. We've hired a lot of people and took on a lot of weight/baggage - sometime to fix issues that were systemic. So instead of fixing the issue we through a body at it.
On Meetings: They say meetings are toxic. Of course not all meetings are toxic - but many are. I am going to try a no meetings day at work. People need time to get into a groove. Meetings interrupt that groove.
Ok - now that I've sung the praises here are a few reality checks. 37Signals essentially works for themselves. Of course they have customers, even raving fans of which I am one. But they do not have clients. This is a whole different type of environment, especially when you get into more complex industries like pharma marketing keeping things as simple is very difficult. We have to have policies, compliance officers, deep documentation, security audits etc. Look at basecamp for example - we can't use it. It does not comply with SOX, it does not have time sheets that roll up to functions - all requirements in our industry. Another example is simply prototyping in html as they suggest won't work. We are required to submit technical documentation.
Also - size makes a difference. As far as I know 37 is about 16 people. Simple is simple at that size. When your at 70 people simple is harder. You can do the job before you hire someone to the job for you. I can't be a compliance officer - I wouldn't know how.
All in all I love the book - and hope to run my start up with some of the same mentality. And I'm and avid user of their products. But they are not living in a prototypical situation. Of course they may be very much more profitable than some larger companies so no one can say they are wrong - just not the norm.
As far as the - how to make money part - that is very broad question. Try finding a few businesses or consumers that have a problem. Think of a solution. It would be great if you could speak with them before you start building. Partly because it will help you know what to build. And partly because they will feel like they helped build it and are likely to become customers and potentially evangelists. Many designers and programmers are afraid of selling. Don't think if this as selling though. Think of it as R&D as it truly is at this point.
This is how we built our current startup: votetocracy.com. When I try to work at night - I have a hundred things floating in my head that distract me.
Another tip that has worked for me: Multi-tasking is bogus.
I have actually tested this with my own work life. I spent a week multi-tasking. Where I decided on several multi-step projects that I wanted to complete over the week and went about them by pushing he first tasks forward one by one on each project on Monday. Then I kept pushing forward the next task on each project. At the end of the week I had several things up in the air. Mostly because I was waiting on others - or others were waiting on me because I was busy doing another task on an another project.
The second trail was with a one project a week approach. The result: It got done early. Those that I had to work on the project with didn't have to wait for me. I didn't have to wait for them.
THe one project approach isn't always possible due to client demands and such. But I do recommend picking at least one project among a few people and as much as possible - limit the noise of other small interruptions and stay focused.