my business idea

[djbridgeland]

I came up with an idea related to my background. I was a Biomedical Equipment Technician, which if you don't know installs, maintains, and repairs medical equipment. As you might imagine this work is kind of limited in NH and openings are rare.  Anyways my idea is to develop a website that conducts surveys, tests the equipment, and publishes the results to help medical workers find the best equipment for their needs. Researching this it looks like there is almost no competition in this area.

Now why would this be beneficial you ask?  Well most healthcare workers have limited training working with equipment, except for specialist technicians (Radiology Technicians, Respiratory Therapists, ect). Currently most equipment advice is obtained from hiring expensive consultants, using limited in house resources, or on the biased advice of a sales representative.  This site would provide an affordable alternative which would provide unbiased results obtained from other healthcare workers.   I would probably take donations with a recommended donation of $5 a month to help keep the site ad free.

I am looking for a possible business partner and/or investor.  I have already purchased a domain, and started working on the website using Drupal.  Ideally the person would have website development experience, have a technical background, healthcare experience and have some money to put into the business.  To start any work put in would go towards your ownership percentage. You can PM me, email me at djbridgeland@hotmail.com, or replay here.

[djbridgeland]

Bump.. Haven't really had any serious responses yet and I'm trying to get this going. Also open to any ideas on how to improve this idea.

[bigmike]

I'd recommend reading Michael Gerber's book The E-Myth: Why Most Small Businesses Fail and What To Do About It. www.e-myth.com, you can read the first chapter online for free. It will change the way you think about operating a business.

As far as financing goes, it's difficult to obtain for web-oriented businesses. You could try advertising on craigslist for local capital or investors, but if you're already in a related field go to people in your sphere of influence that know the field as well. I am able to broker loans for existing businesses, but this sounds like a venture cap situation depending on the amount of capital you need. You gotta jump through a lot of hoops for venture cap.

Also, in my opinion, it sounds like a lot of research and content writing for a website to rely strictly on donations especially if you're trying to attract investment capital. Maybe consider changing your business model to a subscription-based site.

[Russell Kanning]

interesting ... maybe you can tell people what you need

[ByronB]

I got to say this sounds like a really good idea, I know at the hospital I work at they buy all kinds of equipment only to find out later that it doesn't work as was expected and I'm sure you know how EXPENSIVE medical equipment really is (check out the newest machine our OR department bought... http://www.intuitivesurgical.com/index.aspx I was told it cost over a million to purchase).

If I was in a bit of a different situation I'd go all in with something like this but I have a pretty good thing going right now...

[djbridgeland]

With the plethora pharmaceutical and medical device companies in the area, I am wondering if offering a depot repair service  might be in demand and be a better idea. This is actually what I did previously repairing Teri Shavo feeding tube pumps.  Ideally it would be a value added service, epically for those items where the device is secondary to the product (IE it delivers the actual product - medication and/or tests something.  The companies could/would use the service because it makes it easier on them, and simplifies the maintenance processes for their customers, and their customer's would pay more to have a service contract included. Of course this would require more start up capital, which I don't have at this time, but nothing unbearable.