September 14th 2017 - Interview #5
Interviewee: Gautam Agarwal, Co-founder of Toniiq Conducted by: Hugo Pelland Why we interviewed this person: I was looking forward to interview Gautam as he is the co-founder of a natural supplement company that has been working hard on making sure they create products that actually work, based on reliable information and proper testing. We really wanted to understand this: It was important to try to understand where the information comes. In other words, how does a company like Toniiq get information on the ingredients they use and how can they assess the impact of such ingredients? We learned this about the problem space: There is a bit of a paradox in this space. On one hand, there is a lot of resources available; tons of magazine, of self-labeled experts are willing to share information on what is supposed to be best for anyone's health. At the same time, there is actually very little reliable information available. Scientific journals are really the only source that can be trusted with a reasonable degree of confidence, but they are limited and often very specific. Moreover, there is a lot of contradictions, not only because of the fact that each person is unique and can thus show different reaction to the same compound, but also because of personal biases. For instance, if one wants to understand whether carbs are good or bad for weight loss and good health, they would find 100 papers on one side, contradicting another 100 papers saying the opposite. Things are better today than they were 20-30 years ago, when it was all a kind of 'snake oil' market. But there is still a lot of progress to be made. There is still a large spectrum of bad-to-good actors in the space. We were surprised by, and other interesting outcomes or learning: Several things:
September 17h 2017 - Interview #6 Interviewee: Eric Demers Conducted by: Hugo Pelland Why we interviewed this person: Eric has experience in consulting with companies and help them implement solutions tailored to their needs. Some of his projects were related to the food industry, which is one of our area of focus. We really wanted to understand this: The goal was to understand how a consultant can find information relevant to the client they are working with, and how to assess the veracity and reliability of the information. We learned this about the problem space: Consultants have access to a lot of resources that the public cannot their hands on easily. Within their firm, consultants put an incredible high level of trust in these private sources. The rationale is that these documents were actually created by other consultants within the firm, and were thus subject to standards set by the employer in the first place. This means that the sources are not questioned, for better and for worse, as it saves a lot of time but may lead to false assumptions. We were surprised by: Besides the internal sources mentioned above, there is not much more information that consultant can use to help with clients in that space. Therefore, putting the firm's internal sources aside, it is thus just as difficult for a consultant to find information outside of their firm. Given that certain topics have very little pre-researched material, it seems that consultants are just as confused with what is good information when it comes to health and diet as the general public is. It's not a huge surprise but a good reminder that there is really no secret sauce in that space. Other interesting outcomes or learning (how this interview might change your next interview) Eric mentioned that the firm he used to work for was willing to pay for good quality report. This will be an interesting part of our solution; it helps to think of how we could monetize the new database of facts we are trying to build.
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