You Be the VC 4.2 Company: Mango Health
• Web: www.mangohealth.com
Facebook: Mango Health
• Twitter: @MangoHealth
Business Idea:
Create a smartphone app that reminds people to take medicine and nutritional supplements on time, warns users of potentially dangerous interactions, and uses gaming techniques to motivate people to remain engaged with the app and meet their personal health goals.
Pitch:
One of the toughest issues facing American health care providers is motivating patients to take their medication on time. While 80 percent of adults in America take a combination of prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications, and nutritional supplements, 75 percent do not take their medications or supplements on time. Failure to take medication on time increases health care costs and exacts a significant human toll. It’s associated with increased physician visits, increased hospitalizations, increased nursing home admissions, and increases in avoidable health care costs. Some experts have estimated that nationwide, not taking medicine on time costs the United States health care system $300 billion per year.
Mango Health is a smartphone app designed to tackle this problem. After downloading the app, a user simply enters the medications and supplements s/he is taking, pertinent information such as patient name, type of medication (tablets, syrup, etc.), how much is in the container, and how often the medicine and/or supplements are to be taken. There are several additional core features. The app will tell users if any potentially dangerous interactions exist among the drugs, supplements, and food and beverage products they are consuming. The app also allows users to maintain a health journal, where they can keep a log of their personal health activity and compare themselves to others taking the same medications or who have similar conditions. The app sends users a reminder when it’s time to take a medication. When the reminder goes off, the user is not allowed to ignore it. The app most be opened and the user must verify that “I took it” or additional reminders will be sent.
An attribute that separates Mango Health from similar apps is its gamification aspects. Each time a user takes a medicine or supplement on time, he or she earns points. There are eight different levels that can be achieved, depending on the number of points a user accumulates. Each level is associated with a prize, such as a gift card to Whole Foods, Gap, or Target, or a donation to the user’s favorite charity. The rewards are used to incentivize people to keep taking their medications and supplements on time. The brands that offer the rewards benefit by bringing people into their stores that care about health and wellness.
Mango Health plans to create a range of consumer health apps, all of which will include some form of gamification incentives.
- 4-32. Based on the material covered in this chapter, what questions would you ask the firm’s founders before making your funding decision? What answers would satisfy you?
- 4-33. If you had to make your decision on just the information provided in the pitch and on the company’s website, would you fund this company? Why or why not?
Sample Solution
