[video:http://youtu.be/HWDBc_2wTmA]
CARASEAL, LLC is a medical device company focusing on reducing the spread of germs associated with mobile devices. With initial focus on helping to reduce the frequency of healthcare associated infections in hospitals and nursing homes, the Caraseal technology can ultimately cross into other related markets where germ transmission is prevalent.
THANK YOU ALL
The Caraseal team would like to thank the Pathfinder team, the Lean mentors and our challenge partners for a very rewarding experience. The collaborative spirit we were part of over the past couple months is part of the Lean lesson. We will carry that forward as we continue our journey. We wish you all great success.
OUR TAKEAWAY
Caraseal was elated to be chosen to take part in the Chicago Lean StartUp Challenge 2014. We entered the challenge with definitive ideas on our value proposition, our target market and our product design. While we were able to validate our value proposition, we learned about the importance of continuous customer feedback. In our customer interviews, it became apparent that we were going down a path with our product design that would be very challenging to market. Further, we may have been too narrowly focused on one customer archetype. In short, we learned the value of information, constant validation of our assumptions and maintaining enough flexibility to change direction.
VALUE OF LEAN
It was important for Caraseal to use the Lean model because our product takes many months and cost thousands of dollars to launch. Had we taken our original path in a design and tooling that was less appealing to our customer than the MVP design we will now focus on, we may have dealt ourselves a lethal blow. It is fair to say that the Lean process played a large part in keeping the Caraseal vision viable.
CARASEAL LOOKING FORWARD
Caraseal has a bright future. We clearly heard our customer archetype faces a morphone pain and lacks a current solution. Observing a number of "work-arounds" validated the problem and subsequent need. While we have to consider pivoting from the our original design to a more palatable MVP, we are motivated by the enthusiasm our customer base demonstrated toward our efforts.
Our "ask" at this point is for clinical evaluation sites. With additional funding forthcoming, we will soon be prepared to take product to market and look for partners to champion Caraseal.
