First time entrepreneur - How to do a thorough market research for an eldercare business and offer services that are in demand and feasible

by itssalTEA. Posted on Sep 13, 2020 3 4

My Co-Founder and I decided to start an Eldercare business based on how covid impacted our grandparents who lived alone. We aim to make healthcare more accessible and assist them in day-to-day activities to promote independent living.

Based on our research (both through the internet and speaking to people) we have managed to identify areas where there might be gaps in the current services IN GENERAL.

However, we dont know how to launch in the market we are targeting - mainly due to not being able to go out and meet people due to covid. Based on our demographic research we know there are many elders living alone who have a high paying capacity.

We have managed to schedule one-on-one meetings with geraitric focused physicians to get a deeper understanding but we are struggling with the kind of questions we should be asking apart from the usual -what are the problems and what do you suggest can fix them. Basically how do we pitch our idea in a way that the physician is interested and the discussion is fruitful.

We feel very lost because of the current circumstances - any suggestions/advice on how to proceed or what else we can do would be extremely helpful! Thanks in advance.

Comments

mrthatsthat 2

Get the book "Disciplined Entrepreneurship: 24 Steps to Startup Success". It is a framework for idea validation. Check out CustomerDevLabs.com for guidance on how to conduct better customer interviews.

In all of your interviews, after you have figured out what type of solution your market needs, ask your actual target market customers where they normally hear about products or services like what you have identified. They may tell you about groups they belong to, newsletters they subscribe to, etc.

itssalTEA 1

This was very helpful. Thank you soo much!

AdamKyleWilson 2

This is an incredibly difficult time to begin a business that necessitates contact with high risk (senior) individuals. If you are not already in the medical / assisted living system or have a deep understanding of it, this may not be the time for this endeavour. Safety should be your paramount concern.

Not sure what your business actually does but your phrasing here makes it sound like you know old people need help and have money and you’re trying to figure out how to kill those two birds with one stone. That’s a landscape not a solution. If you want to understand how to “launch” to this market you need to start by having a defined and niche problem then developing a specific and tested solution for it, then launching that. It sounds like you’re skipping the first two steps.

Start by understanding the problems deeply first. If you don’t have any deep understanding of the problems these people face already, perhaps you’re not the ones to be solving them. There’s plenty of professionals in this field, focus on what unique perspective and experience YOU and your team bring to the table. You don’t need to speak to doctors directly for any of that. You need to speak to the old people, they’re the ones with the problems you’re trying to solve. The doctor is just going to tell you their problems or the problems the system has. Unless you’re targeting doctors then don’t bother getting them in the mix yet. Understand your customer and their problems #1.

Hope that helps.

itssalTEA 2

Thank you so so much for your response!

As you mentioned it is a very difficult time as they are high risk, but after speaking to a few elders in the market we're targeting their main concern is transportation, shopping assistance and health updates to their families.

But yes, we need to speak to as many old people before we move on to doctors or any other stakeholders to fully understand the market. What we're struggling with is how to introduce services like transportation or health records management and to reach out to many potential customers.

Again, thanks so much for your response. It was really helpful!