Zero is by the Replicache team and they are really nice guys. I've interacted with Aaron Boodman quite a bit in their Discord and he was very responsive and helpful, and took a lot of my comments into consideration in improving the product. It's a very hot space which IMO will revolutionize how we build GUIs IMO. Replicache is a bit hard to grasp at first but the nice thing is you bring your own DB (vs. use a service). I think this project needs more recognition. I would hate to see them fade just because they don't have the fancy backers like YC and the usual crowd. If they keep at it they might prevail since VC-backed startups like InstantDB tend to sell out and flame out.
It's cool to see some progress on aural migraines.
In the past I tried zolmitriptans for it but they don't do much, same with milder pain killers.
My migraines started at 20, two decades ago. I remember the first one like it was yesterday. I was studying CS and was coding on a dark-mode CRT monitor with a big fat window reflection on the screen.
It always happen the same way, with the characteristic jiggles, some kind of colorful, moving patterns of light that start in the center of my vision, slowly expanding to my entire field of view, making me temporarily blind. Then 30 mns after the onset of that, gone. 30 more minutes and the headache + strong nausea start, and immense fatigue. At that point I'm out of commission for a good 12h. Meaning I better be close to my bed, in total darkness.
It really sucks. I used to have them every 3 months on the dot, like on a timer. As I'm getting older I'm having less and less of them, going about a year without one. And they are a lot milder now. I have a lot less of the jiggles, no nausea and the headache is not so bad. I'm still fatigued but usually recover the same day. I consider myself lucky.
It seems to run in my family.
I've tried finding a trigger for the migraines but I have no clue. I used to associate them with bright lights as there is usually a bright light present when they happen, but it needs some other element. Stress and fatigue appear to be factors, as are tanins contained in red wine and beer. But sometimes none of these elements were present.
I have a personal non-scientific theory that serotonin levels play a role. High levels like I think I had when I was younger tend to trigger migraines. As I'm getting older and grumpier, I probably have low serotonin and less migraines...
Thank you. I would love to build something to make trials easier to find by the patients themselves, so you don't have to wait for the bureaucracy to kick in.
It sounds great and motivating, but what was your field? I feel doctors to be less than enthusiastic about engaging with people outside of their circle, especially if I ask for help about doing a startup. It's weird but I feel like a lot of them see you as a competitor somehow.
I've actually thought of doing IT services for clinics as a means to get a foot in the door. That's some seriously deep undercover stuff... Very time consuming (could be worth it regardless). Were you getting paid for the IT services?
It's something I used to do internally at my previous employer, and I know it's very useful. In this case I would have to convince a doc to let me follow them around and that's an immense ask. It's also going to miss systemic, intangible issues that are not task related. It's a great thing to do for an already-established product.
I like your suggestion and it sounds like it would work great for certain cohorts, but not so sure about docs. I can see employing this tactic in a conference though. But that's more of a phase 2 thing when you already have a handful of ideas.
I do not want to incentivize people to give me BS feedback just to get paid. If they need money or a gift to tell me about their pain point, it's not a pain point.
Reviewing my numbers I would say it seems closer to 0.5% at this point.
You made good points for the stage that you're in, i.e. you already have a solution that you can sort of pitch upfront (even seeding the conversation is a version of that). I'm at the point where I can't/don't want to bias them with the slightest hint of what I'm solving because it will taint their response. That makes it quite hard!
Yeah I'm in the toughest phase of idea extraction. Which is: hey I want to talk to you but I have nothing to say, YOU do the talking. That's CRAZY hard, especially on LinkedIn (the low hanging fruit I admit). I already extracted a few ideas from motivated docs or 1st/2nd degree real-life connections, and I could move forward with those on a separate front. But what I thought was going to take me 2 hours a day is actually taking the whole damn day, every day.
I had this doc tell me in the most condescending way possible that she could make good bank if she charged my kind for all the free advice she's giving out... And denied me the advice until I demonstrated my worth. And then her advice was a bunch of shitty platitudes.
I had this psychologist basically suggest I write an essay about why docs are driving change in healthcare. I obliged.
On the other hand I had a wonderful doc out of SC who straight up shared his screen with me, unprompted, to show me his problem. This is the kind of guy that gives me hope.