At first, I looked for a company to build the software from scratch, but they charged me a ridiculous amount (almost the price of a car).

So, I turned to freelance devs to help me build it step by step, and that’s what I’ve done so far (converting to USD, I’ve spent around $2.5k, but in my currency, that’s a lot lol)

Don’t you think it’d be easier to find a hospital that wants a ready-made product instead of paying to develop one? I don’t think your idea is bad, but it feels like it’d be way harder and not convincing

The thing is, my users are doctors, and the potential buyers are not (a manager of a hospital that would think about hiring me).

I have shown to my colleagues (doctors) and they loved it.

But rn my plan is to finish a minimal viable product and then try to sell it to a small hospital

Well, you won't be the first to build something users love but their employer/your customer won't be willing to buy.

Have you found the small hospital you will be selling this to? Or made a list of such potential clients?

And why would a small hospital be more willing to buy than other, bigger ones?

Maybe there's a feature or two that you/doctors have not considered useful but your clients find crucial, and you must focus on those ones more than anything else.

Maybe there's a reason almost all hospital/health-related software is bloated and sucks for anyone actually using it.

Maybe you should be spending more of your time thinking about these questions and how to answer them before spending any more money on this.

I'm not trying to stop you, just point you to what I think is the right direction. I could be very wrong here, is what I mean.

A small hospital would be more willing to buy than bigger ones cuz the bigger ones already have a huge software that is solid (bad, but solid) and costs a ton of money

I’ve found one or two hospitals that could be potential clients, but I’m still a bit hesitant to try selling just an idea since it’s not something solid yet. But maybe it’s all in my head, and I should just go for it anyway.

The reason I wanted to develop software like this is exactly because the ones that already exist are terrible. As a doctor, I understand the pain points we deal with every day. My goal is to create something that's 10x better, which I believe I am, based on the pain my colleagues and I have experienced

"Maybe there's a reason almost all hospital/health-related software is bloated and sucks for anyone actually using it" : actually That’s one of the reasons I decided to create what I’m working on. Once I realized there was no real connection between the software and the users (who are the ones that should be served), I came to the conclusion that I’d have to build it myself

I think I’m going to start reaching out to some potential clients even without a solid product... who knows, maybe they’ll save me financially if they like my idea, I think you're right

this would be enough to make a decent MVP (basically, just the really essential features for a minimally complete software for a small hospital).

It’ll definitely cost more if this thing works

I've iterated, and right now, I’m focusing only on the ER (emergency room) (since that’s where I spotted the problem). In the future, I plan to scale this to the rest of the areas of the hospital, but first, I need to sell the product to a small hospital that still isn’t using electronic medical records, and to solve the problem only in the ER

what do u mean "pre-sell" it ? Sell the idea first ? I don't think this would work cuz i'd say the hospitals (even a small one) wouldn't be willing to pay for something that's not ready yet

what do u think ?

If the idea is solid, and actually saves time or money or lives they would be more than willing to help you out in many ways (not just the promise of future money).

If the idea/product is just nice to have, or marginally makes it easier for some employees to do their job, you will be fighting an uphill battle that not be worth your effort or money or time.

Without knowing more, I’d advise you to stop spending money on development and try to find a customer. The critical part of this project is not your software but the willingness of small hospitals to pay for your product. Maybe they would sign a letter of intent? Perhaps they would bankroll further development if you sell it as a custom software project. You don’t need a fully functional app before you can sell it. I’ve sold things when all I had was a Figma wireframe.

Actually, the currency in my country (Brazil) is worth 6 times less than the dollar, so it's a pretty decent amount lol.

Also to mention : this would be enough to make a decent MVP (basically, just the really essential features for a minimally complete software for a small hospital).

It’ll definitely cost more if this thing works