I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea
You have a mind-shattering headache. You’re standing in the aisle of your local CVS, massaging your temples while scanning the shelves for something—anything—to make make the pain stop.
Most people, I imagine, grab whatever’s cheapest, or closest, or whatever they always use. But if you’re scrupulous enough to ask Google for the best painkiller, here’s how your friendly neighborhood tech behemoth would answer:
If you’re among the 77% of Americans that Google their health problems, insipid answers like this won’t surprise you. But we should be surprised, because researchers carry out tens of thousands of clinical trials every year. And hundreds of clinical trials have examined the effectiveness of painkillers. So why can’t I Google those results?
And so in the year of our lord 2017 I had a Brilliant Startup Idea: use a structured database of clinical trials to provide simple, practical answers to common medical questions.
