Ask HN: Confessions of a Non-Tech Co-Founder in Health-Tech

1 points by illini123 12y ago ↗ HN

I am the "business guy" building a startup focused around data analytics in healthcare. Two more technical guys I've been working with are both still in school, and I'm looking to bring another individual onto the team. Before you pull out the pitchforks, here's some context:

During grad school, I saw a scalable opportunity in health-tech, brought on two tech friends and started user research. However, when looking for a co-founder, it's either "too early" or people who think health is boring. My guys can put in a few hours a week. What more can I realistically do to get "traction"? I do know the basics of coding, but in health IT, complexity is high. In my mind, I can only wear so many hats (see below). I've been in the health-tech community long enough to know the value a true technical co-founder brings. We need deeper technical leadership; there are things we know we don't know and things we don't know we don't know. I've done my best to make sure that my contributions would be valued:

Competitor / market research: Done. I've studied the major competitors / familiarizing myself with their products.

Legal / investors: Already in touch with several of the best startup lawyers / investors in Chicago (my hometown) thanks to previous relationships.

Relationships with medical research community: Done. In the process of formalizing one with a leading medical school.

Relationships with hospitals: Ongoing. I've been working with physicians / hospital administrators on this for several months, have plenty of user research and a network of strong advisors for making warm calls when the time comes.

Mock-ups / wireframes: Nearing completion this week.

I want to solve an actual real-world problem (not "Yo"). I'd appreciate any feedback, and, if someone wants to help, just email me.

2 comments

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carbocation 12y ago ↗

I'm a doctor and I do tech (details in my profile). I might have missed this by skimming quickly, but it isn't clear to me whether you are creating a new startup without your current co-founders, or whether you want to bring in new people with your current group.

Actually, it's not totally clear what the relationship is between you and the "technical guys" - are they co-founders, hired hands, etc? More clarity there would be useful, I think if you're looking for people from this community to potentially join you.

illini123 12y ago ↗

Tl;dr: creating a new startup and having them join when they finish school.

Allow me to clarify:

The relationship has been amicable, as these were peers of mine from grad school (one going all the way back to middle school). Although we began hashing this out together, it became clear that neither could commit full-time until after graduation (for one, that's next spring), for a second, that's 2016.

The agreement that we have worked out has been that they would provide as much technical advice as they could (one being a CS guy, the other being a CS/Stats guy), and would be happy to review code, but beyond that, I would be on my own for the time being. No equity has been dispersed, and they're okay with that. It's simply a matter of slicing the pie.

So, now I'm wearing multiple hats, with a fairly strong business model / product concept, and a decent amount of clinician interest, but the implementation is lacking. And that is where I need help.