In our last two posts, we introduced our first two IoH products: Torque and Reyn. To follow-up with this last four-piece series, we will introduce the application component to be released with our IoH hardware within our Minimal Viable Product. We aim to bring to market a sufficient amount of technology for consumers to understand the trajectory of the hardware, software, and analytics towards Product/Market-Fit, how it correlates back to the Internet of Health, and what is to be expected in future development.

So what is a Minimal Viable Product (MVP)?

In product development, the minimum viable product (MVP) has a set of core features that allow the product to be deployed, and no more. The product is typically deployed to a subset of possible consumers, such as early adopters that are thought to be more forgiving, more likely to give feedback, and able to grasp a product vision from an early prototype or marketing information. It is a strategy targeted at avoiding building products that customers do not want, that seeks to maximize the information learned about the customer per dollar spent.

At Jastr, our MVP correlates to the market opportunity we aim to exploit.

• Consumers: ~68–78% are willing to use health technology if it will eventually lower their premiums.
• Payers: ~25% are developing a wearable strategy for health insurance premiums.
• Providers: ~90% are using mobile technologies to increase consumer engagement.

How It Works

Jastr’s MVP promotes the use of both Torque and Reyn for our target markets. Reyn and Torque are complementary products aimed to become integral parts to daily health activities.

Most personnel who are active are not only at risk for concussions, falls, and mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI); they are also prone to more risk due to environmental factors such as heat, equipment gear, supplement consumption, and over exhaustion. For geriatric patients and those with post-operative conditions who need constant monitoring to prevent falls and injuries, they are also most likely in need of monitoring for basic health nutrition uptake, hydration, and prevention of infectious diseases.

We know that preventive health is insufficient because the majority of our health conditions are behavioral. Although Reyn and Torque are evidence-based and statistically driven towards prevention and managed health, they can also be extended to other health issues such as compliance — a problem that costs health care $100 billion to $289 billion a year.

• 20% of children and 90% of adult Americans reported using at least one prescription drug in the past month.
• Among older Americans (aged 60 and over), more than 76% used two or more prescription drugs and 37% used five or more.

By monitoring technology use designed with behavior as the medium, we are able to abstract that data to build individual and personalized health scores; they will be applied to an incentives-based rewards system that enables consumers to drive compliance and cost-savings through transparency.

The Metrics

With any MVP, it is important to have metrics that are both quantitative and qualitative. While we already have hundreds of sign-ups with little technology put forth, we aim to increase this projected amount upon launch. The following metrics are relevant to our MVP and the trajectory towards scalability, assembly manufacturing, and further development.

• Web Visits — Although healthcare is not an industry where products can go viral (there are too many health conditions and segmentations), we will be tracking web visits throughout our MVP campaign.
• Sign-Ups — If a near 80% of consumers are willing to use technology that may influence their insurance premiums, then here is their chance to show-up and push the market towards this opportunity.
• Product Interest (singular or dual) — The difficulty in wearables as a nascent market is the sustainability of user personas; as digital takes shape, it is important for users to affirm product intentions.
• Behavior Consistency — Everyone loves new gadgets but will users continue to keep using them with new data trajectories? Our MVP works to build habits and consistency for managed health through reminders.
• Personal Incentives — Additionally, our MVP is oriented toward perk-activities that keep earlyvangelists engaged until the automation of rewards systems through aligned incentives is developed; by monitoring incentives, we are able to see how willing people are to decrease costs.
• Pre-sales — The increase of wearables, sensors, and gadgets continue to increase in every market; the number of pre-sales can also affirm this trend and make it easier for digital health startups to get to market.
• Invites — We will track how many invites consumers enable because we believe that the success of any IoH product will directly correlate to the personal health network that one builds for himself (E.g. Friends, family, providers, payers, and other healthcare stakeholders).

The Long-term Vision

With any new startup that develops from MVP to an enterprise company — the prize is always the long-term vision. At Jastr, our vision is alignment.

• Technological alignment: Mobile ecosystem and the Internet of Health.
• Consumer alignment: Robust personalization and Five Levels of Care.
• Incumbent alignment: Stakeholder integration and Aligned Incentives.

Stay tuned for more content on enterprise technology, integration, and partnerships in the near future.

Get Involved

How can you help us make healthcare more participatory?

• Join our beta and help us refine the Internet of Health.
• Preorder our products for yourself and send notifications to your payers and providers that you want to join a rewards-based system.
• Tell a family member or purchase a product gift for them if they are in our target market (E.g. grandparents, athletes, chronic-health patients).
• Share us with a friend or colleague and get your employers involved in our development.
• Know someone we should know? Forward our contact or drop us a line.

Here at Jastr, we believe that a core MVP must be operari sequitur esse — an act of doing something that follows the act of being. Although the features of an MVP are not built in excess, they must lend themselves to a startup’s core strategy towards greater development, growth, and scalability.

How do you use frame your product innovation’s MVP towards growth?