The story of how the idea of a non-profit mobile application was transformed into a marketing tool for online stores and was sold to a private investor.
This is a very personal case for me, not only because during the search for monetization I had to completely redesign the product and change the market several times, but also because I started this project with friends, and thanks to him I met my husband.
I saw the problem - the search for an analog of the drug. People came to the drugstore and bought drugs of famous brands, although the drugstore often had cheaper exact analogs from other manufacturers. I interviewed 3 doctors, 4 pharmacists, and 9 pharmacy customers to verify my observation. These interviews clearly showed the common problem: Doctors, pharmacists, and patients were faced with the need to find medicine and its generic, but it was 2011 and there was no tool for this.
2013 - The application won the large competition of Moscow youth urban projects "Innovations for the City".
The mobile application is used by more than 400 thousand people and it is in the top 5 health applications in the Russian-language market.
Analyzing user search queries, I saw a niche for monetization - correcting user errors and typos
This is how the project was transformed from a mobile application into a utility for pharmacy websites, which could be used to rank search results and recommend products.
We found the first client, group A5, and after several months of testing, they offered to buy the rights to the product in order to integrate it into other sites of the group.
After three and a half years of work and searching for funding, we finally found it and transferred the development rights. It was an emotionally difficult, but the only correct decision that allowed us to move to another country.
While observing and analyzing interviews, I had an idea for a product that would be useful to people. I was so excited about the idea that I didn't even think about how I would implement it or monetize it at first. I simply wanted to create something that would make a difference.
I teamed up with two friends who were also passionate about the project. We spent all of our free time working on it, and gradually the question of financing our hobby arose. But we were determined to make it work.
One idea led to another, and eventually, our free mobile application turned into a plugin for online stores. It was a long and challenging journey, but it was also incredibly rewarding. As a team of three people who combined this project with work, we were able to solve the problem of financial independence and turn our passion into purpose.