Request for Startups — January 2018
I had some moderate success with my last ‘Request for Startups’ post in December, so I thought I’d get more of my ideas out there. These are by no means definitive but would love to collaborate and hear more thoughts.
If any of these sound appealing or interesting to you (or you’re working on them!) — please reach me at aashaysanghvi[at]gmail.com or @big_aash on Twitter.
A Digital Banking Solution for the Growing Cannabis Industry
If you haven’t read it, you should check out the following post from Sam Gerstenzang:
The online bank for SMBs particularly struck me. Sam notes that you can build an online banking presence on top of something like The Bancorp Bank, build a marketplace of relevant 3rd-party vendors, tailor product marketing towards your segment, and ultimately enable yourself as an data-driven investment bank.
This model could be especially pertinent for the cannabis industry. Growth has been significant as state legislation has loosened, and weed is becoming legalized across the country. The market may hit some setbacks at the federal level under the current administration, but in the long run, this could be a very lucrative opportunity for a digital-native first mover. High risk, high reward.
Dispensaries and marijuana businesses are actively looking for a banking solution that fits their needs, and most banks/credit unions have stayed away. A hurdle for a digital bank is the surplus of cash prevalent in transactions over credit and debit cards. But here’s how this could play out:
- Pressure for regulatory ease on cannabis at the federal level over time
- Credit card processors allow more dispensaries to use their gateways
- Seed for cannabis emerges
Note: A less interesting business is compliance software for credit unions and banks who deal with cannabis shops.
Cloud-Based Psychiatric Clinic
Mental health issues have always been something close to my heart. Depression and anxiety (in various levels) affect millions of Americans, and the patient experience is generally broken from getting access to a great psychiatrist to purchasing medication that makes sense.
Recently, I’ve seen various cloud pharmacies emerge focused on men’s health + wellness. They include Keeps, Hims, and Roman. One of the most interesting parts of these businesses is their re-packaging and marketing of generic drugs like Minoxidil (Rogaine).
There’s a lot of potential in building a cloud-enabled psychiatric clinic that connects patients to providers with telehealth solutions and simple pricing while allowing patients to purchase it’s own ‘brand’ of generic psychiatric drugs such as Sertraline (Zoloft), Escitalopram (Lexapro), and Duloxetine (Cymbalta) at discounted rates. This platform could also create content and community tools for patient education purposes. Of course, there’s a suite of HIPAA and other regulatory issues to consider here, but the underlying business could make a difference in many lives.
GitHub for Underwriting Models
Recently, I came across this tweet from Sean Linehan:
I loved the premise of this tweet and I need to flesh this idea out a little bit more. It’d be interesting to see a data platform where one could ‘clone’ different skeletons of financial underwriting models and contribute to their development. Underwriting takes all different forms — from real estate leases to securities to insurance. Abstract is building this version-control and workflow tool for the design process — why not do it for financial analysis as well?
The git platform not only enables a better workflow process on individual projects, but it also leverages the collective wisdom of the crowd. I know I need to get more specific here, but I wanted to get the idea out there.
Again, if any of these sound appealing or interesting to you (or you’re working on them!) — please reach me at aashaysanghvi[at]gmail.com or @big_aash on Twitter.
