After dealing with his Mother’s difficult diagnosis, Dang Ngoc Thang and his team set to find a way to reduce medical costs in Vietnam.
1. How did you hear about JFDI Discover?
We heard about JFDI through AngelList – an online platform where startups and investors can connect. From there we did more research and found the JFDI Discover program.
2. Tell us about your startup and team – who are you, and what are you aiming to do?
We are CancerCare consisting of; Dang ha Lam (President), Dang Ngoc Thang (CEO) and Giang Huu Tuan (CFO).
We are building a platform for cancer patients so they can communicate with doctors in real time, and find new drug and treatment information. Users will also be able to track their symptoms and perform self-checks.
We have partnered with several medical providers who have agreed to arrange a discount on medication for our customers.
3. Why did you start this business? How has this impacted your life?
It was a personal journey for us, as Dang Ngoc Thang’s Mother was diagnosed with cancer 3 years ago. We experienced the pain of having a loved one diagnosed with cancer, and learned of the challenges that come with it. We noticed there was a lack of information regarding potential treatment and drugs, and the cost of consultances, drugs, treatment, accomodation and traveling to receieve treatment were extremely high.
Cancer affects over 14 million each year, with 8.2 million fatal cases. According to the World Health Organisation, these numbers are expected to increase by 70% in the next few decades. Vietnam and other developing countries are expected to face particularly signficiant increases.
In 2014, $100 billion was spent on drugs related to cancer treatment. With CancerCare, we want to save 1-5% of that figure.
4. What were some of the challenges you faced before joining JFDI Discover?
We were focusing on the wrong issues. We were investing our time and effort on areas that did not need immediate attention, and ignored the areas that did.
5. How did JFDI Discover help your startup?
JFDI Discover helped us identify and validate our biggest problem, and find a viable solution fit for our concerns with our patients in mind.
6. What was your favorite and least favorite aspect of JFDI Discover?
Our favourite aspect of JFDI Discover was the undoubtedly strong support from the coaches. However, we felt that their guidance was almost too general sometimes and we hoped to have more detail in the proposed business plans.
7. What is the one lesson you took away from JFDI Discover that you think other founders should know too? (Why is it important?)
Identify your biggest problem and solve it before going into the product building stage.
8. Where is your team planning to go from here?
We are currently tinkering with the demo version of our app, and are set for official release in early October. We are also conducting research to develop a mobile device that will allow patients to conduct a breast cancer scan via smartphone.
We want to change the way Cancer patients and doctors interact in Vietnam, and are aiming to assist them in longer, happier and overall better lives. We are also planning on expanding to other countries who have been significantly affected by Cancer such as China, Indonesia, India or the USA.
9. Which resources do you look to for startup related advice? Have you read any books on startups?
We look to books and news for startup information and have seeked advice from investors such as Carego International, Hub IT, Cyberagentventures and Inspire VCs.
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Thinking of starting your own business? JFDI Discover will help you find out if you really want to be an entrepreneur. It will reveal if your team is aligned to deliver results. And it will show you how to solve a real problem for customers who are willing to pay thus moving closer to a “problem-solution fit”.
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Cui-Lyn Huang is on the Editorial team for JFDI Asia. Currently pursuing a combined major in Computer Science & Journalism at Northeastern University in Boston, after growing up on the little red dot. She loves to write, she loves to eat, and loves to write about eating.