Unlocking our inner pharmapreneurs

When I first signed up for the Entrepreneurship in Pharmacy course at the Waterloo School of Pharmacy, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Some concepts on start-up methods? A step-wise approach to a successful start-up? My mind was wired to think that we would passively learn the theory and then be tested on it. I never thought that our entrepreneurial spirit would be captured through our very own ‘Dragon’s Den’ moment. Our first day of the course was like none other. We were told to meet the professor outside the building for an icebreaker activity, and let’s just say, our friends in other classes described us as third graders running around during recess. What they didn’t know was that we were being challenged to think outside the box. That was the initial spark of our creativity. The rest of the course was also structured using an experiential approach. I mean, we didn’t always run around the school, but we participated in many hands-on activities to apply the concepts we were learning. The main activity was our new venture project, where we were tasked with creating a product or service that could help the pharmacy landscape. The incentive? Not just a good grade but a mere five thousand dollars, sponsored by Pharmasave. The first step to approaching this project was a reliable team. No matter how robust your business model or impressive your financials are, a synergistic team ultimately defines your success. We also wanted our team to capture diversity. Diversity fosters innovation by challenging ideas through different lenses. As a group of pharmacy students, our heterogeneity was captured through our work experiences (thank you, Waterloo co-op program). Whether it was community pharmacy, hospital pharmacy, or non-traditional placements, each of us brought unique experiences to the table. The variety of our experiences was first reflected when we started brainstorming our idea - the pain point we would target. I think we can all agree that pharmacy has quite a few pain points right now, so this had to be easy, right? Wrong. With every idea, someone would almost immediately identify a barrier that would impede its success. However, this was a good sign— one team member saw what the other couldn’t. After several hours and a wall full of sticky notes, we finally had it. Before moving forward, we decided to get feedback on our idea from experts in the field. Our conversations with pharmacists gave us an abundance of insights, so much so that it encouraged us to pivot our idea. We did not completely change it, but tweaked it enough to simplify and target a more niche area. Our final product focused on the need to streamline a daily task that community pharmacists undertake. With a structured process, pharmacists can free up time to channel toward providing more clinical services. Idea—check. Now what? The next part required us to complete market research to outline our target audience, total addressable market, financial plan, build a prototype and so on. Where do we even begin? In addition to the resources we were provided during class, we had to do our own homework. We dug into other health technology start-ups to understand their pricing models and business plans. Doing this hands-on research significantly enhanced our understanding of entrepreneurship in the healthcare space. Now came the fun part: the pitch. This was our Dragon’s Den moment. We only had 10 minutes to pitch our idea to the judges. Ten minutes was certainly not enough time to capture everything we had worked on (although I’m aware this is a lot more time than they get on Dragon’s Den). Essentially, it didn’t matter how good your idea was if you couldn’t sell it within those ten minutes. So, we got creative. We slammed books and played ridiculous soundtracks to capture and sustain the judges’ attention. To wrap up the pitch, we asked for X amount of money in return for X% of our company share, based on our estimated financials. At that moment, it sank in exactly how far we had come. From running around on the first day of class to pitching an entire product on the last. The creativity from other groups also knew no limits. Their passion was driven with the patient at the forefront of their ideas. Although we did not win the competition, the wealth of knowledge we gained from the course was irreplaceable. Complementing our therapeutic learning with such managerial training will allow us to become well-rounded pharmacists. We will leverage this experience, regardless of the pharmacy sector we may end up in, to ensure that the profession evolves with the times. I truly believe that continuing to nurture the entrepreneurial spirit in pharmacy students is essential to advancing the future of healthcare. Lisa’s story is the seventh entry in our reader writing contest. Thank you to everyone who has submitted stories, blogs and poems. Each week we'll publish one reader’s entry and in March, the editorial staff of CanadianHealthcareNetwork.ca will choose three winners for a grand prize of a $500 gift card and two honourable mentions for $250.

Unlocking our inner pharmapreneurs

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