Emissary

Thanks for the kind words, @gabsong! And you're absolutely right. In fact, we have a mobile communications/logistics platform in beta specifically for those issues you brought up. We have specially trained drivers in our pilot care network, who understand patients' unique needs. They can hand you an iPhone when they pick you up at the airport, yours for the duration of your trip. With our app pre-installed, your contacts preloaded, and your itinerary always up-to-date, you now have a whole host of issues resolved.

@ReubenMetcalfe Yep, that's exactly our plan. To start, we're targeting a few high volume, high LTV procedures we identified with our partners network, as well as a couple more light-weight procedures we've seen inbound interest on. I'll be sure to check out SEMrush. Thanks for the tip. Dubai is definitely on our list to keep an eye on. AFAIK, they're still building infrastructure now, so when we expand out from our pilot, it may time very well with them. Their stated target procedures line up well with ours too. I'd want to go there in person, and have some doctors make sure the quality's there. But hey, there are worse things than business trips to Dubai!

Hey all, I'm a software engineer and artist by training, currently CoFounder/CEO of Emissary. We're on a mission to revolutionize healthcare by removing geographic restrictions from the highest quality providers. Ryan suggested I do an AMA, so here I am! Sorry the mobile platform is still in beta (partners & patients only), but the service is live. Happy to chat about either one!

BTW, I should clarify: while the cost savings makes it a no-brainer, the real problem we're solving is trust. We liken the industry to staying at a stranger's house before AirBnB, or hitching a ride before Uber. There were competitors before (couchsurfing, cabulous) but it's really trust (supply-side vetting, transparency, ratings, insurance, etc) enabling everything else they do so well.

Anything to do with medical stuff seems deeply daunting. So much paperwork, bureaucracy, insurance. aka a deep pain point. If you can make that easier, especially with the aging population and tidal rise in demand on our medical systems the opportunity is... significant. All that being said, being from Canada the idea of destination healthcare is relatively new to me.

The wait times is a real real thing. Our healthcare is awesome, love it, proud of it, etc etc but people CAN go a reaaaaaally long time waiting for treatments that in some cases are serious and have a huge impact on quality of life. The healthcare is pretty inclusive here- but certainly not all inclusive. Many things fall outside of what's offered.

Makes sense re: a variety of consumers... you'll have to diversify and isolate your acquisition channels to truly optimize the funnel methinks... start by focusing on the highest converting + sharing demo maybe. Temporary iPhone service is genius, solves all sorts of issues re: user experience. I wonder if there are market signals you can use to identify candidates... I bet the LTV's are solid enough to go traditional CPC inventory, but I'd be curious to see what kind of keywords sit around medical tourism, and associated phrases (take a look at SEMrush if you haven't already.) Another thing, see if you can't make some friends in Dubai while you're at this - they're looking to expand that sector right now - it's likely you could get some backers there for your bridge round, and it'll come along with a portfolio of subsidized suppliers to boot. (Note, subsidized doesn't mean poor quality, just larger margins for you.)