Timothy Zercher 0:00

Amina, thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate you taking time. Thank you so much. Absolutely. So you spent years as a pharmacist, but you chose to build a company around patient education. What was the moment that made you realize that understanding, not just gaining information, was the real problem?

Mina Yacoub 0:19

Sure. So one thing I kept noticing throughout my career as a pharmacist was the patients would leave with good information, but a few days later, as you would come having questions. It wasn't because clinicians were not doing a good job explaining things. Patients just were often processing a new diagnosis, a start of a new medication, or dealing with a stressful situation. That's a lot for anyone to absorb in a single visit. So over the time, I realized that the challenge wasn't simply because patients, because, you know, given the patient information, it was helping them understand it and remember it and have a way to revisit it when they actually needed it. So that realization is what eventually led me to start quick productions.

Timothy Zercher 1:04

I love that. And you often talk about that gap between what clinicians explain and what patients like actually remember. What have you learned about why that gap exists and how healthcare organizations can kind of close that gap?

Mina Yacoub 1:18

Sure. So I think the gap exists because patients are often receiving tremendous amounts of information during a small period of time. As healthcare professionals, we may spend years learning something and then try to explain it in a few minutes. Even when education is delivered very well, it could still be difficult to absorb everything in the same time. So patients would leave the clinic, the hospital, the pharmacy. And then when real life starts, that's often when the questions begin, not when they end. So the organizations that do seem to do this well don't view education as a one-time conversation. They continue supporting patients through resources like videos, random materials, patient portals, text messages, and other resources that patients can access when they need them.

Timothy Zercher 2:09

Yeah, that makes complete sense. I know that kick production or quick productions combines healthcare education with engagement analytics. How do you balance the measuring of patient engagement without losing sight of that human side?

Mina Yacoub 2:26

Analytics are really just a way to understand whether education is helping patients. So we can see things which videos are like, for example, is a video being viewed? How much each video is being watched? Is there a certain topic that somebody's re-watching? If patients consistently stop watching at a certain point or keep coming back to the same topic, that tells you something. Yeah, it helps us improve the educational experience, identify the areas where patients need additional support. At the end of the day, analytics are not really the goal, they're simply just a feedback tool that helps us understand whether we're delivering the education in a way that's useful and then meeting the patients where they really are.

Timothy Zercher 3:12

Yeah, yeah. It doesn't, the engagement metrics are not the point, but it's the actions behind the metrics.

Mina Yacoub 3:18

Absolutely.

Timothy Zercher 3:19

Yeah. So as an early stage founder, what has been the biggest challenges in bringing your company to market and gaining traction with healthcare organizations?

Mina Yacoub 3:31

So the biggest challenge has been probably been moving from recognizing a problem to actually starting to solve it. So as a healthcare professional, we're trained to identify gaps and think about solutions. But building a company, it's just very different from working within an existing healthcare system. There are a lot of unknowns. So you're building something from scratch, testing assumptions, talking to potential customers, constantly learning. For me, one of the biggest lessons has been staying focused on the problem. And I'm trying to solve, you know, and not get distracted by every opportunity that comes along. Early on, it's easy to get pulled in different directions. So that's what I'm working on right now.

Timothy Zercher 4:19

I love that. If you don't mind, share a little bit what's the number one problem that you're trying to solve.

Mina Yacoub 4:24

I think patient understanding is something that's huge. Again, because we explained to the patient the information, and I don't even really know if they gained that information. There's a lot of studies now out there that tells you that patients do not retain that much information once they leave. And then the second thing that I'm trying to resolve is also the engagement. So making sure that they're actually looking at the resources that we're providing them.

Timothy Zercher 4:50

Yeah, absolutely. So you're in a uh a fairly competitive space. What works really well for your team when it comes to gaining new clients, gaining new partners?

Mina Yacoub 4:59

So right now, most of our growth has come from relationships and organic conversations, mainly. As a practicing pharmacist, I spend a lot of time talking with healthcare leaders at hospitals, specialty pharmacies, infusion centers, patient support organizations. But one thing I have learned is that everyone agrees that patient education is important. But many are still looking for a practical way to reinforce it, especially after the patient leaves. So for me, instead of leading with a sales pitch, I start learning and listening because I want to understand where patients are actually struggling and where clinicians are spending time repeating the same information and what challenges the organization is trying to solve. So, you know, those conversations usually would reveal opportunities where we can genuinely help because we do make everything as custom material. So I think people appreciate that we're not trying to force a solution. We're just trying to understand the problem first and where it fits, and we will build something to address that specific need.

Timothy Zercher 6:02

I love that. I love that. That problem first approach, I think, is what is what most technology-based companies fail to focus on. They're all about here's the thing that we do, and it's so great. And let me tell you about all the features. And what really matters to clients is what the problem is that you solve. Yeah. Absolutely. I love that. So last question then is because we're in this space, we have to ask some of these marketing strategy questions. What is one marketing strategy, marketing tactic that your team is either considering using right now or considering launching, or just watching really carefully in the marketplace?

Mina Yacoub 6:38

Sure. One thing that I'm watching closely is how patient education is becoming more integrated in the patient journey. So historically, education was often just a brochure, a paper or a packet, and you hand it to the patient at the end of the visit. But today, we're seeing organizations deliver education differently through QR codes, patient portals, text messages, and other digital touch points that makes the education more available when patients actually need it. The content is important, but also I think the most important thing is the timing. Patients are more likely to engage with education when they can access it at the moment that they actually have the question, rather than trying to remember everything they heard during the appointment. So I think that's where healthcare is heading. Education is not just something that you can deliver at once. The patient should be able to come back to throughout their journey, whether they need it as a refresher or as a reassurance.

Timothy Zercher 7:36

Love that. I love that. Well, thank you so much, Green. I really appreciate you taking time. I appreciate you coming on here and I appreciate the work that you're doing for your partners.

Mina Yacoub 7:46

Thank you so much.