D-Rev had developed a revolutionary, low-cost phototherapy device to treat babies with jaundice, but knew very little about existing developing country markets. To inform a go-to-market strategy, we traversed India for 3 months, testing prototypes in NICU’s, learning from healthcare workers and parents, and mapping out the regulatory and competitive landscape.

We successfully lobbied to modify UNICEF’s worldwide and India’s national phototherapy specifications, and facilitated a licensing agreement with an Indian partner to manufacture, sell, and distribute the product.

D-Rev’s device has since treated over 460,000 jaundiced babies in 52 countries.   

Under a Gates Foundation grant, Northwestern University’s Global Health Initiative had developed a prototype of a rapid, point-of-care HIV diagnostic device but was unsure how to enter the African market. We led a team conducting interviews with healthcare workers, patients, NGO’s, and government officials throughout Zambia and Botswana to inform a holistic go-to-market strategy. In rural and urban clinics and hospitals, we user-tested the prototype and surveyed existing systems to understand environmental, cultural, and governmental considerations.

Major insights included the need for a printer to offer diagnosed patients a physical take-home, which greatly helped with the acceptance process. The product just received a $3.6M grant and launched in Africa in 2016.

Global Consumer Electronics Manufacturer

A global consumer electronics giant wanted to better understand how Americans were consuming TV and internet, and what that meant for the future of the connected home and their Smart TV’s.

We recruited and conducted ten in-home ethnographies of extreme users to better understand first-mover challenges, expectations, and innovations in personal technology consumption.

The synthesized findings and recommendations identified new opportunity areas for the sports enthusiast.