Dr John Breslin, Director, TechInnovate, NUI Galway
Disciplined mHealth
Entrepreneurship:
Customer First, Mobile
App Second
Material from MIT 15.390x adapted under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 1

DYK: Entrepreneurship
Public domain photo from Wikipedia / Material from MIT 15.390x adapted under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 2
● Entrepreneur as a concept was coined by Irishman Richard
Cantillon, who first used the term in his 1730 book Essai
(officially published in French in 1755)
● He defined entrepreneurs as “non-fixed income earners who
pay known costs of production but earn uncertain incomes,
due to the speculative nature of pandering to an unknown
demand for their product”

+ Skills
of a Navy SEAL
Spirit
of a pirate
Successful entrepreneurship =
Pirate / Navy SEAL photos from Wikipedia / Material from MIT 15.390x adapted under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 3

● Idea
○ Starting point and comes from you and your team - be a pirate!
● Team
○ This is the hard stuff and takes time and work
○ Some key considerations (passion, values, heterogeneity, size, skills)
● Process
○ The 24 steps - be a Navy SEAL!
What do you need to start a
successful new venture?
Material from MIT 15.390x adapted under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 4

Q: What is the singular/necessary
condition to have a company?
● Idea / innovation
● Great-looking product
● Deep tech and IP
● Paying customer
● Multidisciplinary team
● Investment / runway
● Business skills
Material from MIT 15.390x adapted under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 5

A: A paying customer
Material from MIT 15.390x adapted under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 6

Don’t build the mHealth app first...
Material from MIT 15.390x adapted under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 7
● “Build it and they won’t come”
● Need to do some market segmentation first around your
idea / innovation, size them, and pick the beachhead
● Focus on a customer need, and start with one product,
offered to a homogenous customer “persona”, who
acquires it in the same way
● Primary market research is key
● Get the free e-book, Talking to Humans
○ http://www.talkingtohumans.com/

“Disciplined Entrepreneurship” by
Bill Aulet (Wiley)
Material from MIT 15.390x adapted under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 8
● Can read this online via the
James Hardiman Library at NUI
Galway
● The new “Disciplined
Entrepreneurship Workbook” is
also now available

The process: 24
steps
9

● Market Segmentation
● Beachhead Market
● End User Profile
● Beachhead TAM Size
● Persona
● Next 10 Customers
First: who is your customer?
Material from MIT 15.390x adapted under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 10

157M
Women in the US
6M
Pregnant annually
2M
First-time
moms In the US, there are 2M women like Michelle
But not enough… Need to get to $’s per year
TAM sizing example: inTouch
Photo from publicdomainpictures.net / Material from MIT 15.390x adapted under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 11
inTouch
Connecting mommies
with their babies
Share via social media
Technology Savvy
Want convenience
Connect with family and friends
Extend her excitement
Share monthly pregnancy photos
IntuitiveComfortable to wear
Update her care network
Capture pregnancy experience
Use mobile “apps” to track health
Indications
Low maintenance
Real-time feedback
Easy to use

US population = 300 million
Sick or dependent is sick
Internet user → 6.3 million mothers
Mothers (2+ kids) @ 4 consultations per year
College educated x $7.99 per consultation
Income = $201 million / year
45-120k
TAM sizing example: LiveDoc
Photo from publicdomainpictures.net / Material from MIT 15.390x adapted under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 12
LiveDoc
Reassurance when you
want it

Second: what can you do for them?
● Define Core
● Quantify Value Proposition
● High Level Specs
● Lifecycle Use Case
● Chart Competitive Position
Material from MIT 15.390x adapted under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 13

Value proposition
for inTouch
At the moment, Michelle can
use...
Heart-rate monitors and
heart listening /
audio-recording devices
Intuition Professional ultrasound Dr Google
With inTouch, Michelle
may…
Relax with her baby Receive feedback
All photos from publicdomainpictures.net
inTouch
Connecting mommies with their babies
Facilitating intimacy and providing reassurance
inTouch
Technology is proven
• Data collection
– Heart rate, movement
• Intellectual property
– Algorithm that correlates data to positive response

Picture removed due to copyright reasons
LiveDoc MVP mockup available from
https://www.slideshare.net/rcolinkennedy/fundamentals-of-entrepreneu
rial-product-marketing
LiveDoc MVP
Video chat
Upload supporting images
Text chat
We answer this question for $7.99
Material from MIT 15.390x adapted under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 15

Two free workshops week after next
1. Who is your customer? 27 June, 5-7 PM
2. What can you do for your customer? 28 June, 5-7 PM
○ The PorterShed
○ Visit the events page at https://portershed.com/
Material from MIT 15.390x adapted under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 16