Bogin Report Q4 2020: A COVID Company Worth Building – STEAL THIS IDEA

Each quarter, I write about my personal observations on a subject related to business. This content is my own, not that of my employer or any other individual/company. Happy reading.

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Happy New Year everyone! 2020 has been the most distinct year of my life to-date and I feel woefully depleted of the cultural and human experiences that use to highlight my existence. I am cautiously optimistic about the production and delivery of COVID-19 vaccines in the United States, and I am maddeningly pessimistic about our country socially unifying around vaccination as the best path forward. I believe that it is absolutely critical that we make it possible to track those who have been vaccinated and that we deliver sound policies to navigate towards herd immunity.

Earlier this week, I started reading about “Vaccine Passports”, or secure mobile apps with personal vaccine information. Companies like IBM are creating ecosystems to enable individuals to securely store their vaccination records (e.g. COVID) and use their Vaccine Passport to access airports, entertainment events, and even employer offices. Although this technology is being developed and distributed, the privacy and rights implications still need to be addressed. Should employers be able to deny their employees access to the office without proof of vaccination? Should citizens be denied entry to a restaurant because they don’t want to get a vaccine which they have doubts about? Is this governmental overreach? Is this tyranny? The unfortunate and glaringly obvious reality is that a significant number of Americans will actively protest vaccination requirements. Our country is just too polarized and fired up. As it stands now, even with adequate vaccine availability, I doubt we will be able to reach herd immunity in 2021 because of the skeptics and their echo chambers. 

Will Vaccine Passport requirements be considered oppressive and get tied up in the courts? If getting vaccinated becomes caught in the left/right politicization trap, we are condemning ourselves to a much harder pandemic exit. Much of the extreme thinking in our country is amplified by the fact that we are louder than ever in private, behind the safety of our phones and keyboards, but quieter in public among our neighbors and communities. All the while, we convince ourselves that our private views are shared by a silent majority in our community. The issue with Vaccine Passports and other personal identification tools is that they perpetuate extreme thinking by keeping everything private. Could it be that more people will protest vaccination requirements because they believe their entire community agrees with them? Would those same protestors feel differently if many of their neighbors visibly supported vaccinations?

What if we shift the vaccination dialog away from governmentally required and privately registered Vaccine Passports to opt-in, publicly visible community contracts? What if we break through the echo chambers and bring the social commitment of vaccinating back into the suburban cul-de-sacs and urban avenues? Let me introduce you to BAND.

What is BAND? BAND is a personalized bracelet that individuals wear to signal to others that they have been vaccinated for COVID-19. Think about the silicon rubber wristbands (e.g. Livestrong), each with a personalized QR code built into band. Anyone who scans the QR code with their cellphone is routed to a credentialed website that will verify the person’s name, picture, and COVID vaccination. BAND is the opt-in grassroots social movement that will give community visibility to the millions of Americans who know that vaccinating is the best way forward. 

As local governments and businesses go down the path of trying to implement Vaccine Passports and other requirements, BAND will carve a different path. The beauty of an opt-in model is that no one is forcing others to do it, and the regulatory nightmare is avoided. Think about all the doctors and nurses who are getting vaccinated right now and will proudly wear their vaccination on their wrists. Think about all the groups of friends who want to get back to semi-normal social lives, but also want to be sure they are among others who are safe and vaccinated. Think about how much better you will feel being at a 150 person wedding if everyone has a bracelet on. You will be able to park your concerns and boogie on the dancefloor with Grandma. I strongly doubt that most people will be comfortable asking to see someone’s “Vaccine Passport” on her/his phone, but one glance at the wrist will alleviate concern. BAND will gain popularity in families, friend groups, and unofficial settings, and BAND members will start to experience the benefits right away, even as the governmental requirements are in limbo. And if we do end up with Vaccine Passport requirements, BAND will be one of the supported versions.

How will BAND work? BAND will verify each member before they join the platform, collecting vaccine records, photos, and personal information, all in a HIPAA compliant manner. This can mostly be API driven. BAND will securely store this information and make it accessible to other members of BAND. If someone wants to check another person’s BAND, they will use their mobile camera to scan the QR code, open the attached link, and enter their own secure name and password (or use Face ID). Once logged in, they will access the bracelet owner’s profile, viewing their name, photo, and an indicator that COVID vaccination is confirmed. This bi-directional registration approach will mitigate the risk of fake bands and fake websites.

How will BAND make money? BAND will have an initial sign up fee due to the costs of performing the medical screening, profile development, bracelet activation, and delivery. Afterwards, customers will pay a monthly subscription to keep their account active and receive the latest features and capabilities as they are developed and released. Although more research is required to determine specific pricing, if sign up was $14.99 and the monthly subscription was $1.99, I believe this business could be compelling to users and generate strong market traction and revenue quickly.

Should BAND be a non-profit? Although BAND will work closely with non-profit organizations to deliver the most efficacious solution, I believe BAND should be a B-Corp to balance profit and purpose. I think this will give BAND the velocity required to make a difference quickly while still driving an impact and giving back to the larger cause.

What will it cost to run BAND? BAND will be very cost effective to develop and launch. From an engineering perspective, BAND will require a platform to store profiles and vaccine records as well as a front-end UI. From a COGS perspective, the QR code bracelets can be purchased cheaply in bulk and activated on-demand. Shipping will be very cheap given the size and weight of the bracelet. Platform operations will be mostly automated and built on scalable cloud resources. From a marketing perspective, BAND could leverage free endorsements, grass-roots campaigns, and targeted social media advertisements.

The Profit Picture: Overall, I believe BAND will be meaningfully profitable in the first six months given the revenue model and cost structure. The overall addressable market is millions of people in the USA alone; I am sure I could personally sell it to hundreds of my family and friends. And each unit sold will be profitable at time of initial sign up. Given how profitable BAND will be in the near term, it can avoid the 5-8 year path to liquidity which most startups face. This means that even if BAND is not widely used post-pandemic, it can still become a massively profitable company in 2021. And it can have a significant positive impact by encouraging communities to spread vaccine awareness that drives our country out of this dark time.

BAND’s Marketing Magic: BAND comes to life when you start to visualize the product and consider how it could be promoted. In terms of appearance, BAND will come in one width (~.5 inches, or slightly wider than Livestrong), with BAND indented on one side and the QR code on the other side. BAND will come in black, white, and a range of skin tones, making it versatile while still recognizable. BAND’s slogan is “I’m with the BAND”, an assertion of the community commitment. Given the importance of family and friends having BAND together, one potential promotion could be a discount when buying it for others. And BAND could be shared through the social spheres by celebrities and other influencers who support the cause.

Now here is the catch. I don’t want to be BAND’s founder.  As a former founder, I know how all-consuming starting a business is, and I am not interested in that path right now. I genuinely love what I am building at Dell in their Cloud team and I am not interested in stepping away. That said, I still think that BAND should exist. I have a strong conviction that it will drive meaningful social impact while also generating significant profits over a short period of time. I want you to TAKE THIS IDEA. If you have the energy and capability to make BAND a reality, I want you to run with it, and fast. I am looking for a founder who is ready to lead with autonomy, jump in the deep end, and take a run at this idea. Assuming a good founder fit, I will support as an active advisor and seed investor, and I will open up my network for funding and recruiting purposes. I would like 5% of the company for my role as advisor. You get the other 95% to be the founder who makes it a reality.

If you are reading this and you don’t want to be BAND’s founder, but you could see yourself using BAND, please help me get the word out by “liking” this article and reposting it. Hopefully, together we can find the right person to lead BAND. 

I’m with the BAND.

Your Friend and Colleague,

Connor