My second company is Remi

In my last newsletter I was down to 7 candidates out of 112. I've picked one: my second company is called Remi. At Braid & Berry the potential partner said no, and the sandwiches are on hold until I hire someone to bake the challah.

01 · The decisionThe second company is Remi, not the AI collections tool for small businesses. I think I can get traction and grow faster with B2C, and collections needed 2,000+ B2B customers.

02 · The number12 applications on Indeed for the challah baker role, versus 3 on LinkedIn.

03 · The mistakeI signed off on Braid & Berry's colors before seeing them applied. Once they were on the website we didn't like how the brand looked, so we have to rethink them.

04 · The winTalking to a doctor before building Remi's diagnosis. I was going to use an at-home kit; home kits aren't diagnostic. Now a doctor comes to your home and does it, for free.

Remi

I went from 7 candidates to 4, then to 2. To get there I modeled each one around a single question: what would it need to reach 1M in EBITDA? The ones that looked unrealistic were out.

The final came down to two. A collections company: an AI accounts receivable department for small businesses. You ask it on Slack or WhatsApp to send an invoice to a client, it sends it on its own, and then it follows up until you get paid. The other: a membership for chronic conditions.

It was a hard call. The second one won. It's called Remi: a monthly membership in Mexico for people with diabetes, high blood pressure or weight issues. It has an AI companion on WhatsApp, doctors and specialists, medication delivered to your door and connected devices. It starts with a free diagnosis at home.

Why Remi:

I think I can get traction and grow faster with B2C than with B2B.
The pain is real. People need it.
Mexico has some of the highest rates of diabetes deaths, diabetes amputations and childhood obesity.

What I did in week one

The base of the architecture is done: a bird's-eye view of how the business and its operations will work. Memberships and exact pricing are still missing.

I started on the tech: the app, the admin system and the system for doctors. I bought the domain. I'm looking at devices on Alibaba: buying them or asking for samples.

I also talked to two people: a consultant from IMSS, Mexico's public health insurer, who helped me with the business model, and a doctor, who helped me understand how to diagnose as simply as possible. I was thinking about an at-home kit. It doesn't work: home kits aren't diagnostic, they don't have the accuracy. The diagnosis will be done by a doctor who visits the patient at home, at no cost.

Braid & Berry, on hold

The potential kitchen partner said no. The schedule doesn't work for her.

Without her there's no one to bake the challah, and without challah there are no sandwiches. So the food side is fully on hold until I hire a challah baker.

I posted the role on LinkedIn first, to see how many people would show up. 3 applied. I put it on Indeed and got 12 applications in a day. I had two interviews lined up: Friday's candidate didn't show and moved it to this week. The other one was on Monday.

Colors, again

The logo and colors were locked and we'd moved on to packaging. We put the new colors on the website and didn't like how the brand looked. I have the before and after. We have to rethink them.

This week on the blog

Collections or diabetes: why my second company is Remi: what Remi is, what I left behind and why.

What's next: hiring a baker for Braid & Berry, and defining Remi's memberships and pricing.

CarlosHit reply on the email: I read every one.