Do you mean from an individual standpoint?
Both our founders have full-time jobs so they can make a living and the startup has been a year in development. We don't have much in the way of expenses as of yet. Since we are not paying anything for marketing (just social media, growth hacking), and our "product" is a service/software, we don't have any manufacturing costs. No office space needed either. I guess technically our runway is infinite but as we are trying to grow, that will change.
And it seems, once an investor says he/she is going to invest, it usually takes 3 months to close.
"Grail Inc., a Silicon Valley startup that last year began laying out a bet that the “cure” for most cancers isn’t a new drug, but tests that catch tumors at an early stage when they can still be successfully treated."
I guess what's new is that the scientists found a way to distinguish between cancer dna and other altered/mutated dna so they reduce the occurrence of false positives.
Hello, it's true what you're saying. I think, however, that timing is key. So in this case, you have a better service but are too late to the scene and it will be hard to get your own audience. I don't think you can be just a little bit better. You need to stand out and differentiate from the crowd. You need to market what feature you have that no other competitor has. Otherwise, with just a marginally better product you might just get by but won't find massive success. You will have to hustle and teach the competitor's loyal customer what makes you better in order to draw them away. Unless, there is a serious flaw in competitor products that you have fixed. But basically, yes you can make a copy and compete for a very small slice of the pie.
Our startup, Wellacopia, is a great example of this. There are other healthtech apps out there like Medici that streamline doctor-patient communication or like ZocDoc where you can look up a doctor easily. Wellacopia however, not only combines those two features but adds even more value by functioning as a personalized matching platform. No one else does this and we're banking on that. Wow, your question really made me reflect on our business. Sorry for the long comment. This also made me think of how we're gonna pitch to investors. Thank you for that.
Edit: The actual URL for the website is beta.wellacopia.com
Please note that the link in the post is to a Google Form document where we accept submissions for feedback. We are working on a new beta testing format as of now.
Hello, I am sorry about that! Actually, no, we don't have anything to hide. It's just that our beta test guide is a Google Form that is separate from our website. We should've also posted the url for that and noted the reason for the shortener. It is beta.wellacopia.com.
If you have any thoughts on how to improve the beta testing experience, please let us know! We found that many testers are frustrated with the form so we are working to create a new one.
Thanks so much for your comment!