Prenovate is a digital health startup that creates tools to enhance chronic disease management, with a focus in vulnerable populations. Our platform automates health coaching to improve a range of health behaviors most important to chronic disease management. With the help of the Chicago Lean Startup Challenge we have been able to narrow our product offering, and focus on priming our current solution, Prenovate meals.
Prenovate Meals is a web platform that curates healthy meal plans, delivering weekly recipes and grocery lists that are tailored to individuals’/families’ combination of diet-related chronic diseases. Watch our video and learn more!
Our main learning points from CLSC 2k14:
1.) Get out of the building!!
Unfortunately, we didn’t fully understand this before the challenge and wasted a lot of time pushing an idea that was not validated. For much of the life of Prenovate, we chased a business model we thought optimal based on our own assumptions. We made a couple of major pivots based on these assumptions and ultimately strayed away from our core value proposition. During this 8week program we were basically forced to get out the building and have in-depth conversation with (who we thought were) our potential customers. On the surface, the level of detail was annoying, but it was invaluable. Rigorously sticking to the lean method led us to a refined solution, which we’re so thankful for.
2.) Define what a pain is for our target consumer
We had to come to the realization that a morphine pain is totally different from an aspirin pain. Which means that consumers have different problems that carry different weight. Some problems they have may be a slight bother that they will have to overcome, but others will be so painful that they will invest in a solution. For a while we were addressing the aspirin problems and wondering why we could not gain much traction within our customer segments. Upon understanding this difference we were able to go back to the drawing board and figure out our optimal strategy.
We are thankful for the wonderful experience and learning opportunity provided by CLSC 2014. Stay engaged with us: www.Prenovate.com, @Prenovate (twitter).
