Loading...
Answers
MenuWe're creating a mission-critical hospital communication system. Given its our startup's 1st app, how do we convince Execs we'll be around in 12mths?
This question has no further details.
Answers
I would disagree with Laura's advice about allowing your communication system to operate in-tandem to what you're trying to displace. Hospital staff have very little appetite to learn or adopt new systems, especially for mission-critical work. I also disagree with the idea that your competitors are an ideal partner. They will force you to adopt their processes and live by their rules, severely limiting your upside and will often waste your time with misleading signals of interest.
Has this objection cost you any sales yet? If not, don't over-think this. Is it an objection that you've just been given and you're about to close or lose a sale over? If that's the case, call me or someone and talk through this right now.
Otherwise, focus on ensuring that the client is totally bought-in to using your software (trial or otherwise). If this issue comes up, you have a number of ways to address this:
Generally speaking, even with mission-critical software, the due diligence doesn't include financial analysis of the vendor. So just project the confidence that you *will* be around and you should be fine. If not, there are actual contract-specific language that you could use to address this but you really should avoid that at this stage.
Having built a mission-critical hospital communication system for eight years in my first startup (LiveProcess, which is still going strong) prior to my new startup (Updated.io), I would be remiss if I didn't caution you to go into this space. Convincing execs that you'll be around in a year is but one hurdle you will encounter along the way... there are more stakeholders in the buying process within hospitals' mission-critical communication platforms than you can shake a stick at. Committee after committee, IT obstacle after IT obstacle, entrenched legacy systems that are glued to many stakeholders, nurses, doctors, safety officers, security personnel, and on and on and on... each sets up its own roadblock for you to get into the daily workflow of a hospital. Good luck in this space, but it is NOT for the feint of heart!
How is your product mission critical? What pain does this solve for them? Is it hippa compliant? Is it secure? How is it better than Doximity for secure doc to doc communications( which is free, by the way) how is it better than the 4 or so other secure physician to physician communication platforms out there? Take a look at mobihealth news, several are advertising there. How will your product improve patient outcomes? Once you have answered these questions, Sound like you need a couple of cmo's to interview asking them about their pain points! Keep in mind inbound marketing to show expertise and engage those cmo's even ask which features they'd like to see!
I'm happy to help, let me know!
Here's a few things I've done for B2B engagement with a startup.
1. Engage with their primary IT services/solutions vendor for a three-way deal that commits the vendors support for your product for a 3-5 year timeframe - This will mean a margin erosion, but you'll benefit from having a larger partner and the execs will be comforted by the fact that there's a longer term support vision.
2. Put your code and design in escrow - There are many source code escrow options and you should negotiate the contracts carefully and with good legal advise.
3. Build your pricing mechanism in ways that stagger/cycle payments over a longer period of time - This is tougher when you are starting up, but it maybe a point on the negotiating block that will help the vendor managers/contract teams lean towards you.
Your 'Go To Market' strategy should envision as many scenarios as possible and build a response case around each. There is no single silver bullet that will convince all execs who deal with startups.
Regulations & Certifications - I would suggest trying to link your offering to fill a need a hospital has based on a regulation or certification they are trying to attain. For instance, critical results communication and documentation for test results is an important and necessary duty of hospitals for JCAHO certification. A simple example is if a Head CT demonstrates bleeding in the brain, the ordering provider needs to be alerted by the radiologist interpreting the exam. JCAHO will audit EMRs to ensure this was performed and use this in the certification process. Numerous other examples exist. If your technology could help hospitals address and manage this you could get the attention of the execs.
Related Questions
-
Business partner I want to bring on will invest more money than me, but will be less involved in operations, how do I split the company?
Cash money should be treated separately than sweat equity. There are practical reasons for this namely that sweat equity should always be granted in conjunction with a vesting agreement (standard in tech is 4 year but in other sectors, 3 is often the standard) but that cash money should not be subjected to vesting. Typically, if you're at the idea stage, the valuation of the actual cash going in (again for software) is anywhere between $300,000 and $1m (pre-money). If you're operating in any other type of industry, valuations would be much lower at the earliest stage. The best way to calculate sweat equity (in my experience) is to use this calculator as a guide: http://foundrs.com/. If you message me privately (via Clarity) with some more info on what the business is, I can tell you whether I would be helpful to you in a call.TW
-
How much equity should I ask as a C-level executive in a new startup ?
As you may suspect, there really isn't a hard and fast answer. You can review averages to see that a CEO typically becomes a major shareholder in a startup, but your role and renumeration will be based on the perceived value you bring to the organization. You value someone's contribution through equity when you think that they will be able to add long-term benefits, you would prefer that they don't move company part way through the process, and to keep them from being enticed by a better salary (a reason for equity tied to a vesting arrangement). Another reason is when the company doesn't have salary money available but the potential is very strong. In this situation you should be especially diligent in your analysis because you will realize that even the best laid plans sometimes fall completely short. So to get the best mix, you have to be very real about the company's long-term growth potential, your role in achieving it, and the current liquidity necessary to run the operations. It should also be realized that equity needs to be distributed. You cannot distribute 110% and having your cap table recalculated such that your 5% turns into 1% in order to make room for the newly hired head of technology is rather demotivating for the team. Equity should be used to entice a valuable person to join, stay, and contribute. It should not be used in leu of salary that allows an employee to pay their bills. So, like a lot of questions, the answer is really, it depends. Analyzing the true picture of your long-term potential will allow you to more easily determine the correct mix.DH
-
For every success story in Silicon Valley, how many are there that fail?
It all depends on what one decides to be a definition of a "success story." For some entrepreneurs, it might be getting acqui-hired, for some -- a $10M exit, for some -- a $200M exit, and for others -- an IPO. Based on the numbers I have anecdotally heard in conversations over the last decade or so, VCs fund about 1 in 350 ventures they see, and of all of these funded ventures, only about 1 in 10 become really successful (i.e. have a big exit or a successful IPO.) So you are looking at a 1 in 3500 chance of eventual venture success among all of the companies that try to get VC funding. (To put this number in perspective, US VCs invest in about 3000-3500 companies every year.) In addition, there might be a few others (say, maybe another 1-2 in every 10 companies that get VC investments) that get "decent" exits along the way, and hence could be categorized as somewhat successful depending on, again, how one chooses to define what qualifies as a "success story." Finally, there might also be companies that may never need or get around to seeking VC funding. One can, of course, find holes in the simplifying assumptions I have made here, but it doesn't really matter if that number instead is 1 in 1000 or 1 in 10000. The basic point being made here is just that the odds are heavily stacked against new ventures being successful. But that's also one of the distinguishing characteristics of entrepreneurs -- to go ahead and try to bring their idea to life despite the heavy odds. Sources of some of the numbers: http://www.nvca.org/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ven... https://www.pwcmoneytree.com/MTP... http://paulgraham.com/future.html Here are others' calculations of the odds that lead to a similar conclusion: 1.Dear Entrepreneurs: Here's How Bad Your Odds Of Success Are http://www.businessinsider.com/startup-odds-of-success-2013-5 2.Why 99.997% Of Entrepreneurs May Want To Postpone Or Avoid VC -- Even If You Can Get It http://www.forbes.com/sites/dileeprao/2013/07/29/why-99-997-of-entrepreneurs-may-want-to-postpone-or-avoid-vc-even-if-you-can-get-it/MB
-
What is a good/average conversion rate % for an e-commerce (marketplace model) for customers who add to cart through to purchase order.
There is quite a bit of information available online about eCommerce conversions rates. According to a ton of sources, average visitor-to-sale conversion rates vary from 1-3%. This does not mean the Furniture conversions will be the same. The bigger problem is that visitor-to-sale conversions are not a good data point to use to measure or tune your eCommerce business. All business have some unique friction factors that will affect your final conversion rate. It's very important to understand each of these factors and how to overcome them. The best way to measure and optimize is to take a conversion funnel approach. Once you have defined your funnel you can optimize each conversion rate to better the total effect. For example: Top of the funnel: - All web site visitors, 100,000 / month First conversion: View a product page, 50% of all visitors Second Conversion: Add to Cart, 10% of people who view products Final Conversion: Complete Checkout, 80% of people who put items in a cart In this example we see that only 10% of people who actually view products put them in to a cart, but 80% of those people purchase. If you can figure out why visitors are not adding items to their cart and fix the issue to increase the conversion rate, revenue should increase significantly because of the high checkout rate. You can use free tools like Google Analytics to give you a wealth of information about your site visitor and their behavior or there are some great paid tools as well.DM
-
What should my consulting rates be as a freelance developer who can also do SEO, social media optimization and other marketing services?
Pricing for different tasks that require the same amount of time from you tells the Customer (and your subconscious) that you're working at a 5 on task x, but working at a 9 on task y simply because it costs/earns more. That seems to be a disconnect. Your time is your most precious asset, and I would charge for it whatever you're doing. If you build a site, and they are happy with your dev fee, but feel like you should charge less for SEO, simply let them find another SEO guy. That's their choice, but YOU are worth $xx.xx, no matter what you're doing. Also, in general, take whatever you're charging and add 10% to it. If you're still busy, add another 10%. Let the demand level determine how much work you do, and at what cost.SL
the startups.com platform
Copyright © 2025 Startups.com. All rights reserved.