Understanding customer insights drives start-up funding success 

Client

Exempt Class I Medical Device Start-up

Situation

The client, an entrepreneur who had invested tens of thousands of dollars of his own money and what seemed like as many hours of his time, had reached a point where he needed either to significantly scale up sales and operations or discontinue the product altogether. In order to get the necessary funding for a full-scale launch, he needed to put together a business plan he could take to potential investors.

Solution

Bring together a small group with expertise in sales, marketing, operations and start-up funding sources. Leverage Point Advisors contributed the marketing and healthcare sales expertise. After completing a small-scale market research study with current customers, it was clear that a key to the success of this product introduction would be live, hands-on training with the instrument to ensure customers were comfortable with all of its unique functionality.

In order to maximize efficiency with these training sessions, the client, and sole trainer, needed to get as many people as possible to each training session.  Leverage Point Advisors recommended considering trade shows as not only a source for building awareness and sales but also a training venue, since many of the target customers attend these shows each year.

After researching and evaluating the trade show options for this instrument, Leverage Point Advisors put a plan together that drove the revenue calculations for the business plan. In addition, understanding the costs associated with attending and training at each show, as well as pre-show promotions and post-show lead follow-ups, provided the necessary justification for the expense side of the P&L statement.

Results

The investors were comfortable with the strategic approach to the full market launch and understood the importance of the live training, even though the cost represented a significant portion of the expense budget. After meeting with three potential investors, the client was able to immediately raise the $500,000 necessary to get started and had commitments for another $500,000 in six months if needed.