All Categories - Technology Simplified

Customer Development Day 2-3: Baseline Data for Filling Calendar Openings

1/12/2011

The dentist we have been working with shared his appointment logs with us and this is what we found based on "paper" records as a baseline for filling openings in their schedule. Using current methods of utilizing a patient standby list, moving patient appointments around, or contacting patients who were no shows:

October - 47 Cancellations, 76 Openings, 28 Total Slots Filled = 22.7%
Fulfillment Rate
November - 23 Cancellations, 62 Openings, 18 Total Slots Filled =
21.1% Fulfillment Rate

Our goal is to improve these numbers by at least 100% and get to a 50% fullfilment rate. Our schedule over the next few months:

February - Test our hypothesis utilizing manual methods. Hit our targets and begin developing a specification for our solution (V1.0)

March - Release V1.0 and test our results with our additional five dental partners and expand our testing to include the personal care industry. Determine business model, go-to-market strategy, and customer acquisition costs. CAC will be our biggest hurdle.

April - December - Scale? At least 100 paying customers. Buy Google.

Day 1: Customer Development

12/23/2010

With the holidays coming and family visiting it has been difficult scheduling time to engage with my first customer. I finally spent a day going through logistics, training, and preparing for the experiment. The pain is real and just yesterday there were two last minute cancellations that went unfilled. This is day two and I'm getting jump-start training on the different nuances of scheduling, phone manners, etc.. so key to the success of any service business.. over the next few weeks I will be establishing a benchmark on how effective their current method is to keep their calendar full and then hopefully build something v

So much to learn... still in the jungle.. stay lean...

11/1/2010

Starting up is hard and giving real thought on taking that first step in customer development is even harder. During the past two weeks I have started to engage with my early partners. In the next two weeks I plan on providing my solution to one of them manually (i.e. I will be using my phone and remote access) to establish a benchmark and validate my theories.

It is difficult to resist the temptation to start developing technology especially with other partners ready to test something today. Stay lean

Founder Institute Graduation, Customer Development, MassTLC Unconference, Oh My!

10/17/2010

A lot has transpired over the last few weeks.. I graduated the Founder Institute on 10.8 (out of 30+ enrollees, five graduated)... my company, ThinqTeq, Conversation Media, CaringWise, EximFlo, and CodeStump... it was an amazing experience and life changer.. with the network of advisors and the support of my fellow graduates I'm ready to kick some a**...

On 10.5 there was a session held on Customer Development at the MS NERD center in Cambridge where I got to meet Eric Ries.. he graciously challenged me to get money from my development partners to further validate my business.. "offer them a money back guarantee". Excellent idea...

And on 10.14 I was a sponsored entrepreneur and got to have 1 on 1's with Gail Goodman of Constant Contact, David Skok of Matrix Partners, and John Landry of Lead Dog Ventures.. great advice that I am still digesting now. I highly recommend David's blog:

http://www.forentrepreneurs.com/

I also ran into Will Herman who was the former CEO / founder of Viewlogic (my first company and a big inspiration for the type of company I want to build) and David Beisel of NextView Ventures who shared his perspective on my process for validation.

As part of the networking process I also met a couple of entrepreneurs who maybe interested in joining forces with me to really tackle

Networking with investors and other fellow entrepreneurs... at the DART family dinner

9/30/2010

Last night I attended the family dinner sponsored by DART at the Microsoft NERD center in Cambridge and met some great investors and entrepreneurs. It was a chance to share startup experiences and practice my elevator pitch... the food and dr

Two companies tackling the price vs. demand for stadium events...

9/27/2010

Brian Shin, CEO of Visible Measures was a speaker at the Founder Institute this past Thursday and he had an interesting take on my pitch regarding ZoomCal. He mentioned that discounting appointments in the secondary market should not be the only factor in attracting customers.. this made me dig a little further into yield management and then I stumbled upon two companies working on the same kind of concept for

stadium events:

http://www.digonex.com/index.shtml
http://www.qcue.net/

Interestingly enough, there is opportunity to increase prices for seats.. maybe the same can be said for certain
appointments? In-demand appointments can command higher prices?

45M without Dental Insurance Coverage

9/24/2010

Looking a little further into the market opportunity to monetize appointment openings, starting with the dental industry, I did not realize how many people in the US alone do not have dental coverage: http://bit.ly/dlnwi9. Would this be a good demographic for more affordable dental care especially if they are paying out of pocket? Would they be on "stand-by" for last minute openings?

Can Yield Management be Applied to Appointments

9/23/2010

Pitching to partners, friends, investors, and potential customers really focuses the message. Airlines have been using yield management to increase and maximize their revenues. So what is the difference between an empty airline seat or a dentists chair, or a hair stylists chair, or a massage table? We are willing to bet that price elasticity vs. demand can benefit businesses that rely on booking their time.

Yield Management Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yield_management

Cost of care vs. insurance coverage

9/22/2010

I spent the day yesterday at a busy downtown dental office (development partner) observing how cancellations and schedule changes impact work flow and more importantly the bottom line.

A defining moment occurred right in front of me. I realized the importance for the business to keep their appointment yields high but this patient had some major work done and unfortunately consumed all of her insurance coverage in one visit. She was now stuck for the rest of the year without any insurance to cover for cleanings! It would have to come out of her pocket if she wanted to keep up with maintaining her oral health at $175 per cleaning.

What if there was a standby list and a cancellation occurred? What if the dentists as faced with an empty chair vs. getting this patient back to occupy that seat?

I have two more partners scheduled to spend the day observing and looking for oppo

Would you scramble for a bargain?

9/19/2010

Over the last week it has been clear to me that there is a lot of idle services due to cancellations, the economy, or it is just a bad window of time (i.e. during normal work hours). For example, this past Friday I was able to leave work a little early to get a haircut and when I walked in there were four hair stylists watching TV. Imagine the cost to the hair salon of that idle time? Now imagine some incentive for a consumer to take advantage of these services? Is there a missed opportunity here?