How Entrepreneurs Beta Test a Business Idea, Proving You Found the Next UberFind Angel Funding & Venture Capital for Business Startups, Entrepreneurs, & First Time Founders – Episode 3

How Entrepreneurs Beta Test a Business Idea, Proving You Found the Next Uber

Find Angel Funding & Venture Capital for Business Startups, Entrepreneurs, & First Time Founders – Episode 3

After you have your business idea and your sales pitch in place, the next step for an entrepreneur is to understand how to beta test his/her business idea. Before you can build a billion or trillion dollar empire, you might want to start with one sale.

Beta testing is a round of testing releasing your business to a wide audience. The objective is to uncover problems and issues in a controlled setting. This term beta testing is typically used in SAAS, Software as a Service, companies, but it can be applied to any business startup.

Start talking to people as soon as possible. Friends, family, and coworkers are a great starting point. What do they like? What do they not like? Personally, I have found the best way to beta test an idea is to go out there and actually try to sell it. The best way to see if there is a market for your business is to see if strangers will pay you for it. I recommend you do this under very controlled conditions in order to minimize exposing the potential problems of your business to a limited number of people.

If you cannot sell it, you need to expand your beta test or consider pivoting. You will save a lot of time, energy, and aggravations if you can discover this as early as possible. That is why I do this early and often.

What do you do if people do buy your product or service? Congratulations, this is a good thing! It means you are on to something. Try to fulfill the order. Do not worry about making money yet. Work on fulfilling the order. Profitability comes with growth and economies of scale.

You may be thinking, “I can’t fulfill the order, I am working on an app.” I would argue almost any business beta test their concept, even SAAS companies before their software is fully developed. For example, take Uber before their app was developed. You can place ads and hire a bunch of Uber drivers to drive people from place-to-place in their cars. You can also solicit customers that need rides through ads, networking, cold calls. Is this efficient? No. Will this be profitable? Probably not. Will this give you an idea of demand and identify some future problems? Definitely!

There is no downside when an entrepreneur beta tests their business idea. If you find out that nobody wants what you are selling, than you can pivot into something better. You also save a lot of time, energy, and aggravation down the road.

If you succeed, then you can leverage your beta test into moving forward with confidence. You also have data validating your business to potential investors.

Are you looking for investors? Send us your information, Funding@OmegaAccelerator.com

Would you like to invest in early-stage businesses? Contact us, info@omegaaccelerator.com

Disclaimer: This does not constitute an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation of any security or any other product or service. We are not offering legal, investment, tax, or medical advice.

The Alienation Of America’s Best Doctors

The best and the brightest simply don’t want to become doctors anymore. Physicians are burning out. They are leaving the profession. They are going bankrupt. They are selling their private practices to big hospitals. They are retiring early. We are facing a growing doctor shortage.

Michigan Physicians Society Announces Exclusive Insurance Program

Michigan Physicians Society (MPS) partners with Professional Casualty Association and Doeren Mayhew Insurance Group to Offer Express Medical Malpractice Insurance Checkup and Exclusive Insurance Discounts to MPS Members

Better to Live and Die in the U.S.A.

The United States healthcare system is often berated for how it treats patients near the end of life. They are purportedly attached to tubes and machines and subjected to unnecessary invasive procedures that cause inordinate pain with no potential benefit, there is underutilization of more compassionate hospice services. This “travesty” is expensive, as the care of dying seniors consumes over 25% of Medicare expenditures. We hear this story so often; it is almost taken as gospel-- but is it actually true? Is it more expensive and invasive to die in America than in other developed countries?

Gun Ownership and Doctors?

According to the Pew Research Center, there are approximately 32,000 gun-related deaths annually in the United States; 19,000 are suicide, 11,000 are homicide, and the rest are accidents, police shootings or of unknown causation. Moreover, there are more than 78,000 nonfatal gun wounds each year. Given the disproportionate number of victims that are less than 40 years of age, the morbidity and mortality of gun violence is significant. Physicians are involved with many types of public health issues, but few are as controversial or divisive as gun safety. Is it really an issue that falls within the medical domain?

O Tempora, O Mores: Affordable Care Act - Big Dream or Big Let Down?

I confess I was a strong proponent of the Affordable Care Act. My reasoning was subtler than the hallowed pantheons of its staunch supporters and the apocalyptic predictions of its detractors. Forty years after graduating medical school I concluded, after many stutter steps, the American healthcare delivery system was economically unsustainable and the citizenry was neither living longer, nor better, despite medical expenditures that dwarf any other developed nation. My career also allowed me to personally interact with cardiac surgeons from all continents and see that their clinical results and research efforts were laudatory by any standards.

High Depression Rates in Resident Physicians — Fact or Fiction?

The December 8, 2015 issue of JAMA had a startling key clinical point; the prevalence of depression or depressive symptoms among resident physicians in training was 28.8%. The data was generated by meta-analysis of 31 cross-sectional and 23 longitudinal studies published in peer-reviewed journals involving 17,560 trainees. Two-thirds of the trainees were in North America, but the others were from Asia, Europe, South America, and one from Africa. Sensitivity-analysis confirmed that no individual study affected overall prevalence by more than 1% and that the incidence of depression was not influenced by study design, continent of origin, surgical vs nonsurgical program nor level of residency year.

Can a Robot Outperform Your Surgeon?

In the current competitive environment, healthcare providers often attempt to separate themselves from their competition by marketing themselves as using the newest technologies for their procedures. This is an age defined by finding the next best thing and the American public responds to this strategy. My personal experience has been in cardiac surgery, but the principles are equally applicable to other specialties, particularly tertiary referral practices.

Hospital Administration Attempts to Cut Costs and Increase Quality at Expense of Physicians

A nonprofit hospital care system in Oregon with 450 beds has been in an acrimonious negotiation with its staff hospitalists for the past 2 years. The mounting economic pressures on this small, community oriented institution have had the expected consequences of hiring new administrators to implement the latest trends to rein in the budget and effect efficiencies of healthcare delivery-- as if that has been so successful in the rest of the country. The battle has really centered over the physicians losing control of their work time allocation, individual decision-making for diagnostic and treatment plans, as well as bristling at bonuses based on the administration’s definition of quality.

Vox Clamantis in Deserto - New 5-Star Review Process to Advise Public Worries Physicians

I did my undergraduate studies at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH. The school’s Latin motto is “Vox Clamantis in Deserto”, which translates to “A voice shouting in the wilderness”. Its founding mission in 1769 was to “civilize” the Native American youth and, perhaps in a deconstructionist era, this sounds paternalist and demeaning.

Michigan Physicians Society Supports Inner-City Education

Yesterday afternoon I had the privilege of helping to honor the graduating class of 2016 at Experiencia Preparatory Academy. They have 3 graduates this year that have overcome a special set of challenges, including moving from Mexico to the United States and having English as a second language.

Michigan Physicians Society Celebrity Golf Clinic

We are excited to announce our next MPS Event! We are hosting an exciting evening of learning, networking, and fun at 4-Seasons Golf, a private indoor golf club in the heart of Downtown Birmingham on Wednesday, Apr 27, 2016, 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM.

Affordable Care Act: Affordable for whom?

Entering its third annual open enrollment period, Obamacare is the subject of cacophonous political acrimony, again, championed by its supporters and vilified by its opponents. Each side presents its own “metrics” of success or failure

Death Panel Myth Debunked - Prioritizing Patient Education

American healthcare’s mostly fee-for-service reimbursement model encourages doctors to order tests and procedures so as to make a reasonable living from practicing medicine. There is no incentive to have conversations with patients.

Big Pharma Using Mail-Order Pharmacies to Maintain High Prices

The United States has the dubious honor of paying the highest prescription drug costs in the world. Many healthcare economists attribute this to relatively lax cost regulation compared to other wealthy countries; however, a decade of insurers paying only for generic drugs when available and limiting drug choice in specific formularies has had little modulating effect.

Merit-Based Incentive Payment Structure: The Solution to Medicare Sustainable Growth?

The Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) was initiated as part of the 1997 Balanced Budget Act with the goal of controlling Medicare Part B spending for physician services. When Medicare spending under a year’s physician fee schedule exceeded the rate of growth of the covered Medicare population and the rise of GDP,

Mental Health Spending: A Story of Failed Supply and Demand

Several weeks ago I was in Palo Alto, California walking along Camino Real abutting the Stanford University campus. I noticed a newly-constructed high-link fence isolating the commuter train tracks from the pedestrian walkways. Another “shovel-ready” infrastructure project to nurture the economy?

Photos - MPS Auto Show Event - Lingenfelter Collection!

Our auto show event at the Lingenfelter Collection was a huge success! Approximately 100 attendees enjoyed an evening of learning, networking, and fun at the Lingenfelter Collection, one of the most notable car collections in the world! A special thanks to M1 Concourse and the Lingenfelter Collection for sponsoring this event.

Michigan Physicians Society Auto Show Event - Lingenfelter Collection!

We are excited to announce our next MPS event! MPS members will enjoy an exciting evening of learning, networking, and fun at the Lingenfelter Collection, one of the most notable car collections in the world! Learn about car collecting as an alternative investment strategy while enjoying a private tour of the Lingenfelter Collection.

Physicians Role in Drug Pricing

Two new drugs, Repatha and Praluent, were approved by the Food and Drug Administration several months ago amid much ballyhoo. Both are antibodies that specifically target PCSK9, a protein which reduces the number of receptors on the liver that remove LDL cholesterol from the blood. By blocking PCSK9’s ability to work, more receptors are available to clear LDL. This novel mechanism was proven safe and effective in clinical trials, lowering LDL cholesterol levels by 40% or more in patients already taking statin drugs. However, powerful treatment comes with a powerful cost-- over $14,000 per year for each patient.

Physician or Salesperson? - The Ethics Behind Patient Donors

Maybe it’s because we have entered the silly season with a full cast of presidential aspirants, but I have recently mulling over the perception of behavioral impropriety. To translate from spin doctor to medical doctor, I mean professional behavior that may not be overtly unethical, but exudes self-interest over patient well-being. In the academic world, full disclosure includes financial interest with potential conflict, disclaimer of previous publications, responsibility for informed consent and approval by the appropriate research committee. In our practices, particularly in the clinic or hospital setting, much focus is on constructing a firewall between the pharmaceutical and the medical-device sales force and medical providers.

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