Transforming Healthcare: Epocrates CEO Kirk Loevner (Part 6)

SM: Let’s talk about TAM. You looked at $400 million TAM on the physician side and $14 billion TAM on the pharma advertising side. Now we are looking at $250 billion TAM on the health care administration side. Those are serious orders of magnitude.

KL: I think right now we are taking smaller steps. The big market potential is out there. In this economic environment we have plenty of cash. We have $60 million in cash and are generating $20 million a year in cash. >>>

Deal Radar 2009: Edutainment Resources, Inc.

Even as companies such as Google, Microsoft and Nokia develop technologies to “write the future of the web” in Kannada, Russian and Nepali, and scholars question whether English will “retain its pre-eminence”, each year millions of people begin to study what is still the official language of organizations as diverse as the European Central Bank, ASEAN and OPEC. As long as English remains the global langauge of business and science, there will be a need for English as a Second Language (ESL) materials. But the content and delivery of materials must be adapted to 21st-century learners. Honolulu-based Edutainment Resources, Inc. (ERI) is one company that promotes language learning using digital technology and a unique edutainment approach. >>>

Transforming Healthcare: Epocrates CEO Kirk Loevner (Part 5)

SM: Is there anything in the software-as-a-service world that you are observing or that you could tie up with?

KL: Traditionally all of those IT systems have been client-server types of relationships. All of the newer point solutions emerging are using the software-as-a-service model. >>>

Designs of the Week: Simplicity

By guest authors Charles W. Bush and Kathy Hwang of 3Strand Innovation, a brand, design and business consultancy.

Does anyone else feel as though things are way more complicated than they have to be? After we read John Maeda’s book ‘Laws of Simplicity’, he quickly became one our heroes as an advocate for simple design. Boxes have too many buttons, cars have too many settings, and if we have to read through one more dense gadget instructional manual, it’s time to throw out all the gadgets. This week we’re celebrating simple inventions of everyday things. No muss, no fuss, no frills – only that which is uncomplicated and useful. Today most these items go unnoticed in our daily lives, yet when they were created, they addressed key human needs and changed their respective industries forever. Perhaps we can come up with more simple ideas to address these needs. >>>

“No You Didn’t!” A Manager Advises People How to Keep Their Jobs

By guest author Richard Laermer

You’re doomed and so am I.  We are all reeling. The money just is not coming in like it used to. Damn.
 
These are the times when you got to stop whining and do something. And I’m sorry to say you are going to have to change habits—that’s the good news. The bad is it may hurt.
 
I, like you, am shredding expenses left and right during the near-post-Bush FAIL economy. Everything goes. If you don’t want to be on your boss’s list, here are some thoughts from someone who knows what “standing out” in the workplace means.
 
Click on something else if you will but I’m not kidding about this list. Put it on your fridge at home, then. Thank me later (see footnote). >>>

Transforming Healthcare: Epocrates CEO Kirk Loevner (Part 4)

SM: You came into the company in 2004. What were the first few things you did?

KL: I didn’t have to change the company in a radical way. I looked at the market opportunity for how much physicians and health care professionals would spend for software and reference materials. That is a $400 million market. >>>

Design That Moves Business: What exactly is “customer-centric”?

By guest authors Charles W. Bush and Kathy Hwang of 3Strand Innovation, a brand, design and business consultancy.

Everyone claims to take a “customer-centric” approach to business these days. You may have even heard more people using the terms “design research” or “strategic research.” Such an approach has been used to validate the work of many of the world’s largest (and most expensive) business and design consulting firms, who argue that researching the habits and trends of your customers before beginning design is a prerequisite for innovation. Some firms who claim this end up finding the nuggets that produce gold for your company. Others simply send you a big invoice. So how do you distinguish between the two? >>>

Transforming Healthcare: Epocrates CEO Kirk Loevner (Part 3)

SM: You did two companies prior to Epocrates which were focused on content?

KL: PublishOne and ScreamingMedia were content-oriented.

SM: After ScreamingMedia you were recruited to Epocrates?

KL: I sold ScreamingMedia to CBS in 2004. >>>