- List five compelling takeaways from the Art of the Start
- Being passionate about a product is a reason to hire/recruit someone, it’s not just about skills. Make sure that the people you hire want to make the same meaning as you. Technical background or experience isn’t the most important factor to consider because passion is more important than talent or skill at times and your most passionate employees will be the ones who take the project farther.
- Think differently than other people. Do something unique that people would still desire and think better than other people, in order to be set apart. This makes your project stand out and creates a demand.
- Focus on a specific targeted audience, even if it can be polarizing, because it is okay. By focusing on a wide range of people for the target audience, you will make a mediocre product.
- Work on projects that have genuine meaning. If you make meaning, you will succeed at increasing the quality of life, righting wrongs, and preventing the end of something good. In terms of entrepreneurship, if you make meaning, you will make money.
- If you truly believe in your product, don’t listen to people who tell you your idea is bad. Also embrace evangelists because they’re the ones who get the good word out.
- Articulate your value propositions for your diverse customer segments.
- For health care facilities in Sierra Leone, our device is a point of care screening device that will detect sickle cell disease so further treatment can be given and received. It will contribute to lowering overall healthcare expenditures and reduce childhood mortality related to the disease in Sierra Leone, which arise from undetected cases of sickle cell disease.
- Rationale: Given that our product is a medical device that will be administered by local clinicians in Sierra Leone, our primary customer will be hospitals, as they have the resources and appropriate personnel to perform the point of care testing. Additionally, in terms of marketing our device, as a customer segment, hospitals are quite an ideal entity of the medical professionals who work there are already aware of the need for sickle cell testing so that treatment and other resources can be distributed appropriately. Although the people of Sierra Leone will be the end consumer, by using this hospital approach much of the logistical issues are partially avoided as our team is not large enough to talk to every citizen who the test would be beneficial, so hospital infrastructure is used as a great partnership gateway, thus they will be our main consumer.
- Discuss your Total Available Market and Total Addressable Market. List all your assumptions and hypotheses.
- Total Available Market: “population interested in what you are offering”
- Consumers
- Individuals residing in Sierra Leone
- Individuals who are looking to inquire more about sickle cell anemia or trait status, whether it be for screening purposes alone or due to being susceptible based off of parents genetics
- Young mothers and children
- Businesses
- Local hospitals and health clinics in Sierra Leone
- Sierra Leone government
- NGOs and other large non-profit entities related to global health (World Health etc.)
- Other Entities
- Free Healthcare Initiative in Sierra Leone
- Sickle Cell Care Awareness Network (SCCAN)
- Characteristics of this general population?
- Reside in Sierra Leone
- Low and middle income
- Limited access to resources
- Consumers
- Total Addressable Market: specific group of customers YOU will reach?
- Characteristics
- Low and middle income countries where current testing measures present in many high income countries are not available to due both a lack of funding and supporting resources
- High demand demographic in low to middle income countries of sub-Saharan Africa: this population is very high risk of the disease compared to other geographic populations, while currently there is a drastically low amount of diagnostic testing available.
- Two ways to describe market size: “Top Down” or “Bottom Up” or Addressable Market
- Top down approach: since we will be utilizing the current infrastructure to integrate our product into the Sierra Leone health care system, our main customer will be large entities including hospital systems and NGOs/non-profits who will distribute the test strip accordingly. As the product will integrate from management of these organizations down to the clinicians who will work with the patients and actually administer the test. For more rural settings, this will also be true in the larger clinics but the magnitude of the distribution approach will not be quite as large due to population demographics, here where potential both the “top” and “bottom” of the market may be the same individuals – the local clinicians.
- Overall: Sierra Leone residents need a device that will screen at a low-cost, while also being easy to manufacture due to its status as a low-to-middle income country. Out market size may be analyzed using a bottom-up approach since we are catering to the needs of the general population, adjusting our resources as needed. Our venture’s goal is to help mediate the high child mortality rate in-country. To this effect, we intend to reach individuals who have sickle cell anemia/trait. The goal is to screen as many individuals as possible, but theoretically our product is advertised to anyone who wishes to get tested for sickle cell anemia trait.
- Characteristics
- Total Available Market: “population interested in what you are offering”
April 12, 2021