dnosis

latest journey

2019-10-23T06:49:16Z

My thirst for travelling can never be quenched. My latest journey was to Sapa in Vietnam. Sapa is a state in Northern Vietnam bordering China. This is a region of widely varying people and geography. Lao Cai is towards Southern Vietnam and this beautiful pastoral village is a transition zone from the Vietnam plains to the China where you can get Vietnam visa on arrival. Mother Nature has bestowed Sapa with certain distinctive features that are unique in only few alpine regions in the world. It is full of snow-clad mountains sharing a common boundary with China, Laos and Vietnam.
I opted to travel by train. Sapa has a 119 km (74 miles) long modern railway line that started in October 2009; which connects Sapa in the western part of Hanoi to Lao Cai. Travelling from Hanoi across Fanxipan mountains and through the national rail tunnel was awesome. Since it is mostly a mountainous area, our journey was not fast; this gave me the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful pastoral scenes and enjoy soothing air. It was not only soothing to my eyes but also for the troubled and weird mind and heart. On the way I could see many beautiful waterfalls; flowers in sprightly dance in competition with each other was a marvelous sight. It was really a natural herb for the eyes and a purification of sickened hearts. What a beautiful place to be away from the hectic world.
After a short, yet a soothing train journey, I reached my hotels in Sapa. The first sight that attracted me was the Hmong women; they adore themselves like dancers in a pageant. This costume adds to their natural beauty. Minority people have a very distinctive culture and cuisine. The first thing I did after reaching the cottage type hotel that I had booked the previous day was having a hot bath – I was yearning to bathe in the nearby rivulet, water of which was clear and light blue; it was really inviting me to sink in it. Since I felt a little chilly, I opted not to.
Wow! you should definitely taste the dum aloo (boiled potatoes with heavy amounts of spice) and noon Chai, or salt tea. It really makes your travel weirdness run away and makes you fresh and strong. I opted for the traditional menu for my dinner. Rogan josh, lamb cooked in heavy spices and tzaman (a solid cottage cheese) was sumptuous and the first of its kind I had ever tasted. Its aroma and taste still linger around me.
The early morning sun peeping through the white capped mountain peaks was an unforgettable scene. The golden rays of the sun mingled with the flowers and the butterflies. The lasses with their lambs seemed to enjoy the morning sun rays with their mischievous giggles. I wonder what the great Romantic Poet, William Wordsworth would have written, had he but saw these lasses and the pastoral serenity. Life is worth living and if you ever visit this part of the world, you will never die. And I will be there again!

7.11 Feedback

2019-07-11T18:56:57Z

- is the timeline linear? 50% saving of time is 6 months, not 36 months
- real benefit is to parents prior to primary care setting; how will you get parents aware if the beachhead market is the autism clinic
   - make it clear how you get the awareness
- some numbers aren't consistent, these need to tie together with the overall story
- diagnosing autism and monitoring therapy; is there any data for monitoring? Either leave it out, or include the data if available
- who's paying for the fees? not sure if screening 100% of population for a 1% chance may not be economically viable
- any information on market share of competing technology? answered: not on market yet
- protection; any strategy set for this? make this more clear
- beachhead may be too agressive, try to focus on one and prove that people are willing to pay and the solution is viable.
   - make this believable as a startup
- competitors; biggest difference is playcare and difference in age?
   - make it clear why your solution is better, hard to quickly understand in the slide, so make this obvious to see clearly
- why target parents vs. specialized clinics
- missing where the 2-3 year delay is
- investors may not believe patent application for AI, are there other ways to protect the business outside of a patent?
   - letters of interest from autism clinics to show proof that customers are interested

7.3 Feedback

2019-07-08T17:25:43Z

Better presentation this week, good focus on solution and value propositionOn the first slide work on the punch of the Value Proposition. Focus on the decreased time to therapy.Value for Diagnostic Center (slide 14) is confusing, simplify this slide, consider a slide build showing how the technology will change the path.The slide “Pathway Limited by Delays, why the 6 month delay? Your real values is shaving time off the 6 months delay.Make sure video works for presentation.

6.27 Webinar Feedback

2019-06-28T00:17:26Z

Continue working on the value proposition; articulate it better, especially the medical outcomes· If your product enables early access to treatment, what is the outcome? Please explain it more.· Value proposition:o Why aren’t insurance companies going to get more fees? How is this saving $?§ Have more understanding of cashflow, and explain who pays for whato Try to differentiate your economic buyer vs user (Pediatricians in a healthcare setting is a user, not a buyer)o If you have UK locked, then make sure that is clearly noted as your beachhead market· Is the proposal accepted from a regulatory background? Is this an accepted method for physicians to do this screening test?o We know you are going to head in to clinical validations, then present your findings to physicians, but see if this is along the right path before you go through clinical trials· If this is a medical device, be sure to identify the classifications.· Why UK as your beachhead market?o Explain this better…o Will you be living in the UK? If not, there are implications to your taxes and business costs.· Still unclear why UK is half of the autism market. Why is this the case?o Clarify this!· IP: there is no patent for this, but there is possibility of apparatus patento This was conducted in-house and no patent lawyer was engaged yet; be sure you speak to someone to validate this!

Eye Tracking ASD Diagnosis Competition

2025-02-15T13:31:35Z

FYI - you may be aware of this work, but wanted to share:https://mghresearchinstitute.com/2019/01/17/new-protocol-could-improve-early-autism-diagnosis-through-eye-tracking/

Let me know if you'd like an introduction.

6.20 Webinar Feedback

2019-06-20T19:32:25Z

- well done getting into the cpt codes
- identified the 1 hr test for coding and coverage section
- difference between screening (high volume) to specialized use
- willingness to pay is what they'd pay on a scale, likelihood of them at each price point
   - slide is more based on reimbursement pathway
- clarify the indiciation: where are you between broad screen and specialized screen
   - if specialized, what goes into that decision?
       - pediatrician has concern, then makes decision to use tool/send child to location with the tool?
- look back to value prop now that you understand payment system, see where, and who fits
- started saying focus on initial and early diagnosis, now solution seems to fit in the middle of referral
   - what could be the trigger to bring a parent in? Same issue as currently is out there

6.13 Webinar Feedback

2019-06-13T20:10:00Z

- agree no predicates on the market for ASD diagnosis
   -cognoa: company received breakthru device(2018), expected to be de novo
   - device for ASD
   - if they get cleared, they could be predicate
       - first point is intended use, diagnosis of autism would fit this, second is technological characteristics
           -510(k) can show that there's no danger
   - demonstrate your device is eligible to provide more effective to diagnose
- well done mapping the needs insight
- problem is solving the 6 month delay
   - what's the cause?
   - how does your solution fit in?
- as an investor, it's not clear about how you can influence the wait time
- you created a clear value proposition, but now you have to show evidence of this
- careful with claims slide, need to be clear what will actually be done

6.6 Webinar Feedback

2019-06-07T15:06:53Z

Good work with continuing to develop your needs, and trying to figure out your value proposition.
- Be careful to not confuse your need with a solution.
- You may want to start focusing on your target market and customer; this way you can better define your need and frame it in a way that makes the customer understand why they need this.
  - If there is a 6 month lag in getting a doctor’s appointment, would your tool be valuable in this stage, where you can help identify higher risk children and help prioritize those who are higher risk?
Great job with the Situation Map;
- Would be helpful to see it in 2 versions: current situation vs expected situation once your solution has been implemented
Think about what interventions are available and can be done with an early stage diagnosis. There seem to be doubts about interventions, but if you can show with literature first it can be helpful for your case. Think about what types of things can be done if you are able to diagnose earlier and explain clearly the benefits of getting those therapies in place earlier.
Experts have 9% misdiagnosis. Is it false negative or false positive? Delve into this more—

If it’s false negative, then therapy would be delayed so this is good to provide value.

Can you map how you would improve the overdiagnosis?
Both the Autism Association KOL and Pharma KOL would be good fits for advisor roles; for a Board of Director position you want to target people who can help you right now to move forward
Tred lightly on involvement with pharma as partnering with them may put you in a position where you add to overdiagnosis and overmedication

5.30 Webinar Feedback

2019-05-30T23:44:23Z

· Great job learning from your interviews.· Team has pivoted as you are moving from an early assessment tool to focusing on objectivity· The main idea started as a screening tool due to a lack of early diagnosis options, but has shifted because the current target market is not the people who make the diagnosiso Might want to make sure you have enough interviews before you make a big pivot. Continue interviewing people to see if the early intervention tool is truly out.Thought there was going to be early intervention and help towards screening, vs. confirmatory or objective measure· Can you try to explore what the percentage of teachers and specialists who are in the early childhood age range accurately detect signs of autism in children?o Are they good with their suggestions to parents about seeking out testing?o Are they not accurate?o Is there a need to help make teachers better at screening?

5.23 Webinar Feedback

2019-05-24T15:32:42Z

· Lessons from your interviews were very valuable – the “rule-out” of screening in a big and important insight! Make sure to confirm due to its importance.· Strive to ask the right questions to the right peopleo Interviewees seemed they were targeted to 3 different categories: clinicians, families, clinicso It would be helpful to divide interview findings into your various groups so you can see grouped resultso Try asking this type of question next time: Do you think it is possible to come up with an objective tool that positively diagnoses autism? This will help you· Clarify the work you want to do with schools – which is obviously with older childeren· There were questions relating to the efficacy of diagnosing autism in infants, as they most likely are pre-symptomatic; currently there is no diagnosis for children who have no displayed behavioral indicators.o There are no therapies developed for infants – so who will order the test?· Ideas to explore:1) How effective is current screening for autism?2) What percentage of positive screened children are eventually diagnosed with autism?3) Why do certain children get missed in detection of autism?4) How can you detect autism in earlier stages?5) What drives the time-lag between a suspicion of Autism and a definitive diagnosis?· Team expressed they were ruling out developing a screening tool for young children. There are screenings for children in the US at 18mo and 24mo via a questionnaire. There could be a market here.· It could be worth exploring an objective solution for identifying autism, or a screening tool -- but one that is not deemed early intervention as therapies are generally used in later aged childrenDnosis GAITS Risk Feedback:· Self identified Risk: Market/Business - A clear value proposition is not yet refinedMentor Risks Dnosis:· Market/Business: Need (vs ‘want”) must be clear before you can establish if you have a compelling value proposition. The “need” is still unclear· Market/Business: If successful, it does not appear that you can protect your business currently· Clinical: What is the benefit of early intervention (with a definitive diagnosis) - something to explore further

5.16 Webinar Feedback

2019-05-16T19:11:27Z

- early intervention, how does this change?
- presentation: spent most of the time reviewing the results from interviews, suggest summarizing supporting hypothesis instead of details of each one
- should be showing who are buyers, anti buyers.
- presentation didn't show where you're at, or if you're on track
- presentation style didn't convey that it was supportive from hypothesis
- too much time spent on details of interviews, and it came across as "there's no need for this"
- need to upload the interviews
- 1000ft view is needed to give overview for guidance
- screening for pediatricians or parents? need to make it clear who is primary target
- focus on diagnosis earlier, now screening tool would be beneficial also; important to get early indications rather than diagnosis (summary)
- interviews had a gap from where kids are first screened, now you're looking to make it earlier (so in home, or by clinician)
- diagnosis vs screening- different regulatory levels depending on claims

Kickoff Feedback

2019-05-07T09:49:03Z

- additional data to support claims (early diagnosis would be beneficial, what are these?)
- are there studies to confirm this?
- Current presentation is a little too abstract, but for the value prop you'll want to provide data with progression of patient diagnosed early/late
- at what point does therapy start? 5 months is too early for behavior
- value props should be measurable, so setting up problem with data in value prop allow you to have a hard number to measure
- no data showing how tech of eye-tracking is effective. Even in a short pitch, it's good to have that data visible
- short pitch, however long slides with text to read. Should focus on what you're saying.
- how early can this be detected through any means? Average age of diagnosis, but what is current flow? Is this based on an assumption and then wait 3 years?
- what's customer acquisition cost? This would affect overall self-assessment
- business protection is going to be unique access to data sets, and relationships with key organizations. This is more broad than any IP
- don't know cost, reimbursement, it's screening not diagnostic. This is for pitching to angel investors, and currently the estimates are inflated
- value prop is very strong, HIC assessment is well done to recognize it's early
- start to think about giving "us" (wildcard) permission to believe that this technology, or functionality will be enough to move forward
- don't need to see the evidence, just identify what you can show
- subjective diagnostis to objective diagnosis is easy to understand
- using off the shelf technology is good and bad- may need to flesh out more about what works, why it works etc
- what are the numbers to support why this would be compelling?
- compelling need is clear, however there's no compelling story yet- show what people are doing today and the flow through pediatrician, where does your solution fit in?
- how often would this be used? Once by every clinician, multiple, mixed? Need to show one image to represent
- evidence standpoint: can it be used as monitoring of therapy? Unclear that this has longitudinal value which affects revenue models
- how long for this? once for 30 seconds, or over months?