Healthy Labs (YC S12) Wants To Be Go-To Site For People With Chronic Illness

http://techcrunch.com/2012/08/20/yc-startup-healthy-labs-wants-to-be-the-go-to-site-for-people-living-with-chronic-illness/

by ssclafani • 14 years ago

65 11 14 years ago

techcrunch.com

svanzoest• 14 years ago

Sounds like onehealth.com

zio99• 14 years ago

Clickable: http://crohnology.com/

inuhj• 14 years ago

I signed up as a physician(because I am one) to give some feedback. I got sent to an account page where I can't do anything at all.

Perhaps browsing permissions would be nice? I just wanted to see the site from the user perspective...

seanahrens• 14 years ago

ah yes, sorry about this. we'll get some user permissions up soon for non-patients. most of the stuff we've programmed is patient focused right now. luckily, as soon as we do get something up for you (or just for you to see if you'd like), i'd love to email you.

brfox• 14 years ago

Looks nice! I've been thinking about a project like yours and bought peerhealth.com several years ago with the hope of doing something like you have done. For other companies (which I'm sure you're familiar with), see also http://patientslikeme.com and http://curetogether.com (just bought by 23andme).

jermaink• 14 years ago

There are a lot of health startups out there. But only a few thats founders convey an impression of personality and authenticity.

Knowing Sean and Will at least via Skype conversations, I always had the feeling they are a perfect team and make a difference to a lot of products as they try to tackle a problem. I mean a real problem.

Some initiatives do their best to improve the lives of patients with IBD. But the more empathy you have for the patients with his needs and the less you think about the market size or exit opportunities of your product, the better you might perform. While social proof in medical communities is the far biggest challenge of all, I´m convinced, they are the right people at the right time.

Maybe, the chances for patient driven innovation and exchange have never been better. Sean, Will and team - you know that our team is trying to contribute to that movement with a different idea and approach. Let´s build a beehive and feed the honeycombs with new solutions ;)

mb_72• 14 years ago

Signed up as 'patient' (with UC), and am looking forward to contributing (both as patient and with site feedback if you like also).

revorad• 14 years ago

This is a great idea, with a compelling story behind it. I'm wondering what the thinking is behind making it a funded startup. Wouldn't the pressure of returning investors' money in a limited timeframe make it hard to focus on solving the actual problem? Wouldn't this work better as just a community website?

briggsbio• 14 years ago

Happy to see this name in the news again, and excited to see them blossom out of YC. Good luck guys. Any metrics on total users?

Are you guys monetizing yet? Would love to talk re: clinical trial recruitment.

Last question: Can anyone provide the citation behind the giant prevalence numbers thrown out by TC?

I work for a startup in drug development in IBD and those numbers are the biggest I've seen. (1.2m US and 2.5m worldwide are biggest I've come across). Would love to know if they have merit.

Email: briggsbio {at} (Buchheit created me)

chintan• 14 years ago

Hey Guys, Great stuff!

You might want to check this out: https://www.crohnspromise.org/ - It is a 'clinical trial' (case-control study) to evaluate whether such "self-reported" outcomes and tracking can actually help in managing crohns disease. Its been going on at Cleveland Clinic since 2009.

zizzer• 14 years ago

This looks really good, but as a Web Dev with Cystic Fibrosis who was developing a site based on virtually the same idea (the graphs, the health and medication logs - almost all identical), the quote...

"The next vertical they hope to launch is one dealing with auto-immune conditions such as Multiple Sclerosis and Cystic Fibrosis."

...was a real kick in the balls. Guess that'll teach me not to hang about next time!

Healthy Labs (YC S12) Wants To Be Go-To Site For People With Chronic Illness

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