Blaž Triglav: Doctors have to deal with an overwhelming amount of information
Blaž Triglav, co-founder of the company Modra Jagoda, was interviewed by TROMBA.
The company Modra Jagoda operates in the field of pharmaceuticals; specifically medications. What new feature does Modra Jagoda bring to the market, considering that many Slovenians, in one way or another, deal with this particular issue for personal or family reasons?
Our mobile app Mediately Register Zdravil offers a list of more than 6,200 medications that are available in Slovenia. We include detailed information on the medications in Slovenian, and the app also provides information of insurance companies whether a specific medication is on the list of payable medications, and on the substitutability of the medications. The tool is primarily designed for physicians and other healthcare professionals, as they are the ones who are faced with an onslaught of medication-related information in their line of work.
What were the reasons for launching your start-up? Did the group of founders come together because it possessed knowledge that they couldn’t monetize on the market as individuals, for instance in existing institutes and organisations?
Our team comprises two medical doctors that were very well aware of the issues that this particular profession has to deal with in its day-to-day operations. The volume of information doctors are expected to know is rising incessantly, while the time available to examine each patient is getting shorter. We were convinced that there is a great opportunity here – to provide physicians with tools that would facilitate working under such conditions.
What was your market breakthrough like?
In fact, it happened by word of mouth. The app was introduced to friends and acquaintances that we have among physicians and medical students. From there, it spread like wildfire. Today, one in three Slovenian physicians is using this app.
Photo: Igor Domijan
Who else uses it?
The great majority of users are physicians, but it is also used by nurses, pharmacists, medical students etc.
The seed fund LAUNCHub has made a successful decision by investing in you. How did you manage to get a foreign investor like this?
We met during the preparations for the Coinvest investing conference. Part of the preparation was held in the Hekovnik startup school and featured lectures on how to successfully introduce oneself to investors. An investor from Launchub visited one of the final lectures in Hekovnik, where he heard our presentation. He gave us his contact. This got the ball rolling. We followed-up with numerous conversations about our goals and what they can offer us. Soon after, we visited the fund headquarters in Sophia and made a deal for the investment.
Are there many funding opportunities outside of Slovenia, and what are the conditions?
Currently, investors abroad have a strong appetite for investments, so there a many opportunities. Bulgaria alone has two start-up capital funds. Then there are numerous large foreign funds like Seedcamp, TechStars, Y Combinator. We don’t know the conditions in other funds, but drawing on our experience with Launchub, they are reasonable and do not require too much of the company. Ultimately, though, it all comes down to the negotiation skills on both parts.
WhatW What is the situation like in Slovenia – are there such investors? If not, why do you believe this is the case?
According to our experience and that of other start-ups with whom we have talked about this matter, it is quite difficult to receive start-up or risk capital in Slovenia. Significantly better offers are available abroad, if the company can provide some type of proof of its success on the market. The lack of Slovenian investors must be the result of several factors: the small market in Slovenia, the economic crisis etc. Yet, the fact remains that Slovenia has an above-average number of promising start-ups, of which only a few get funds from within Slovenia. As I see it, this is where we miss out on a great opportunity to build this ecosystem in this country.
Are you going to expand your activity to other markets?
We have already made an expansion into Croatia, and plan to expand to Serbia in the near future. Our goal is to add another market by the end of the year.
Do young unemployed people in Slovenia have the required knowledge, but lack the skill set or courage to go down the entrepreneurial path to establish start-ups? Since this can be a slippery slope, do you have any advice?
There is definitely a huge collective knowledge pool among the young. In a recent visit with an investor, we discovered that investors from Europe and the USA think Slovenia is, considering its size, a country with the finest young entrepreneurs in terms of quality and quantity. It is true however, that start-ups, by their very nature, have a high likelihood of failure, just like you said. Before embarking on an entrepreneurial path, one must thoroughly examine whether the desire is big enough. Still, I advise anyone with a viable idea to go ahead with it, if the circumstances are right. Today, ideas can be brought very far, just through one’s own efforts, with almost zero costs other than the time spent working on it. You just need to give it a go.
Suppose you were only beginning – would you start in the same way or would you go looking for a job in a conventional organisation?
Armed with the knowledge we have today, there are certainly things we would do differently, if we had to start all over again. But we would definitely choose our own path. The likelihood of failure is still high, despite the funds we received, but every moment we manage to survive, is well worth the effort. We create our own destiny, no matter what it turns out to be.
