Yeah Lab Corp and all them work a lot on the supply side, but last mile consumer experience is awful. I think it's equally as hard to perfect that last mile consumer UX and distribution challenge, and probably more valuable long run (if you own the customer relationship, you have a lot of leverage to negotiate prices with vendors, and swap them out lego lego pieces, a la Apple).
Not to say that 23andMe will be the Apple of the space (and realistically Apple with Apple Health has a good shot at it), but I definitely don't think anyone wasting time with the B2B businesses will be the big gorilla in 10 - 20 years, and instead it will be a consumer facing company like 23andMe or someone.
Interesting perspective. When we used labs similar to LabCorp in the past, the last mile was our physician (who we like!). I'm curious what part of the last mile is negative with traditional labs?
> if you own the customer relationship
I'm not sure any testing provider is ever going to be in a position to own the customer relationship. The physician and healthcare team will by definition always be closer to the customer.
Also I should have noted above: I don't have to worry about Lab Corp or my doctor selling my health information due to HIPAA compliance. That may be generational; perhaps younger generations will not care about this aspect of privacy.
> I'm curious what part of the last mile is negative
> with traditional labs?
Well for one, why do I even have to go a mile? I've spent
some time on the bench. All of this stuff will eventually be
done at home (won't even need to mail in things!).
Last February when I got COVID I couldn't get a test because
"I hadn't been to China". But they tested me for perhaps
everything else (even though I had been exposed to COVID
folks, and had the symptomns). Not surprisingly everything
was negative (except for typical metabolic changes you see
in fighting viruses). The best part was 6 months later I got
a bill in the mail for I kid you not, ~$1,800, for these lab
tests! Insurer says "if it was March then those tests would
have been covered, but because it was February we didn't
have those policieis in place yet". Still fighting that one,
lol.
But recent events aside, let's just take a typical lab
results report. Where's the "go to definitions" on these
things? Where is the ability to drill in and see where my
measurements fit in regard to my close 8 billion relatives?
This industry is still in the stone age.
> The physician and healthcare team will by definition
> always be closer to the customer.
And the wearables will by definition always be closer to the
customer.
I am not going to tell my daughter that being a physician is
a viable future career like it is today (engineer or nurse
would be 2 good options though).
> perhaps younger generations will not care about this aspect of privacy.
I agree. Or at least, I hope younger generations continue
Obama's work and fix the laws so that your health
information cannot be used against you. What a sad and
stupid state of affairs that is. We need to fix that.
Not to say that 23andMe will be the Apple of the space (and realistically Apple with Apple Health has a good shot at it), but I definitely don't think anyone wasting time with the B2B businesses will be the big gorilla in 10 - 20 years, and instead it will be a consumer facing company like 23andMe or someone.