Ask HN: I've designed a smart defibrillator how can I kickstart it Hi, So I've came up with the design of this smart defibrillator that uploads the patient data to a cloud server so that doctors have access to it even before the patient arrives at the hospital. I would like to put the project on kickstarter but it does not quite seem a fit there, is there a better platform for this kind of stuff? |
To a layperson, this probably sounds awesome, but the red flags to me are:
- "So I've came up with the design" Industrial design? If so, are you an industrial designer who has worked on AEDs before? Designing something that jumpstarts a heart that can be used by someone with no medical training is hard. Software design? Do you know what sort of hardware AEDs are built on and the software they already run? Service design? Are you mostly focused on the "cloud server" part?
- "of this smart defibrillator" All defibrillators that go into business and homes (AEDs) are "smart" in the sense that they figure out your heart problem and then jumpstart you automatically. What else is "smart?"
- "that uploads" Many AEDs also require EM/RF shielding, and minimum distances from RF-generating equipment. On-board GSM/3G/LTE/Wi-Fi hardware might be very difficult to accomplish. Browsing around, I see one that has wireless transmission of log data... via IrDA. I see another one with serial or USB ports. So, this is something that may already be possible with a tethered computer with a cellular data connection, which makes me wonder, why isn't already being done? Is it because it's not an actual need by EMTs/doctors/etc.?
- "the patient data" What data? The heartbeat readings that the defibrillator got that caused it to shock your heart? Is there anything else? Is that useful?
- "to a cloud server" And suddenly you're in the world of HIPAA and other patient privacy things. Who has access to this data? How? Why? For what?
- "so that doctors have access to it" Unfortunately, "doctors" are not a homogenous group with identical privileges and information access, nor are hospitals all using identical hardware and software systems. To require admitting nurse practitioners, physicians assistants, hospitalists, residents, etc., to access a data silo for a tiny snippet of information about a heartbeat from 30 minutes ago may not be worthwhile to anyone. To integrate "somehow" with hospital software systems when they don't have a record of you yet (because you haven't arrived) and may never (because you aren't formally admitted) will also be a challenge.
- "even before the patient arrives" A doctor is probably treating patients who are already there. They're not just sitting around, waiting for an ambulance to roll up, at least not in the US. They'll look at your data eventually, maybe, probably. Is there documented usefulness of old data in this case?
- "at the hospital." I may not be going to a hospital. I may assume I am fine now that I've been resuscitated. I may go to my GP first, three days later. How does that affect usage?
But other than those things, it doesn't really matter where you launch the product, Kickstarter or IndieGoGo or wherever, because with crowd-funding, it's not really random people who fund your work. You need a large enough social network yourself, already, to get something like 25%+ of the way there in your first 24-48 hours, to even have a chance of word spreading widely enough to get the rest of the way there.
So, assuming you have answers to all of the above, do you have a personally-reachable, financially-solvent-enough social network large enough to do that?