Collections or diabetes: why my second company is Remi

I spent four or five months choosing my second company before starting anything. Eight rounds of filters: from 112 ideas down to 7, then 4, then 2. The full rounds are in From 112 ideas to 7.

It has a name now: Remi.

What Remi is

Remi is a monthly membership in Mexico for people with diabetes, high blood pressure, or weight problems.

The membership includes:

• An AI companion on WhatsApp.
• Remi doctors and specialists.
• Remi-brand medications, delivered to your home.
• Connected devices.

It all starts with a free at-home diagnosis.

How it came down to two

I went from 4 to 2 by modeling each candidate: the numbers and the projections, to see what each one would need to reach 1 million in EBITDA. The ones that looked unrealistic were out.

Two very different ones were left.

The other finalist: AI collections

It was a really hard decision.

The other one was a system that gives any SMB an AI-powered accounts receivable department. Over Slack or WhatsApp you say "send the invoice to Juan Pérez at this company" and it sends it on its own. Then it handles all the follow-up to get you paid, using the standards that cut down on what ends up in collections.

If the invoice goes more than 60 days past due, our collections department steps in, working with an agency, to collect it.

The idea was to make it super easy for any SMB to have a full accounts receivable and collections department.

The number that tipped it: more than 2,000 customers

In the model, both looked very good.

The difference was how many customers each one needed. To get to the same place as Remi, the collections company needed more than 2,000 customers. And 2,000 B2B customers are much more expensive and harder to land.

That was one of the biggest reasons.

The other goes hand in hand: I think I can get there and grow faster with a B2C than with a B2B.

The problem

I like the problem. It can help a lot of people, and that matters to me.

It's a need with very strong pain. It's what people call a hair on fire problem: people need it now.

Mexico has some of the highest rates of diabetes deaths, diabetes-related amputations, and childhood obesity. There's a lot of room to help.

What worries me most

Being able to offer a cheap membership, one that a large number of people can afford, and making the numbers work.

According to the model, it should work.

What's next

1. The architecture: how the process and the company are going to work.
2. Tech and legal, at the same time: all the technology side and all the legal work that needs to get done.
3. The real structure: taking it off paper and actually building it.

Every step will be on the Remi page and in the log. If you want to use the same method to choose a company, the template is in Resources.