The young company has recently raised an investment fund over £1,2 thousand in early summer, which has already permitted the team to expand their services and to see bigger and bigger for the future. But this company, conquering little by little the English health sector, was born just a little more than a year ago in June 2016.
I had the chance to exchange with Alice Sauvage Marketing Manager at Findoc and the founder Xavier Bernal about his experience full of ambition, the winning concept that is Findoc and the future of the start-up.
Xavier Bernal, founder of Findoc has think back the English health care system in a simple and innovative way that seduce more and more people, over his personal experience. This concept took shape thanks to his determination and could today, have a real impact on the health sector.
As a matter of fact, the latter has a very interesting and inspiring experience. He quit school pretty early and started to work with small jobs. And like many young people starting in life, he went through the MacDonald’s stage. That’s where he decided to go to in England, pushed by the worlds of a man, a simple client who opened his eyes on the opportunities he could face in an other country. So from one day to an other, he left to the London.
In the English capital, Xavier Bernal started to get an entrepreneurial spirit and find his way in it, starting by renting his lounge for a friend and finally managing the renting of about twenty lounges. But he wanted to see bigger, experience new things. So he went back in France with a project: import to France the fast food chain Fried Chicken, already famous in England. Back to France, he realized that creating that kind of chicken fast food business was actually pointless and even more, unhealthy.
In 2008, we went in Africa for 4 months for a humanitarian mission: The cycle of Life Project which consisted in traveling through small villages in sub-Saharan Africa to ensure the proper use of humanitarian aid and they raised £265 000. For that matter, this project was supported by Prince William and was present at one of the press launch.
After that, he went back to England and that’s where he got the idea of Findoc: a friend broke a tooth, she speaks very little English and can not find a dentist, a story you have probably already heard or even experienced. And that’s why Xavier Bernal developed his project Findoc: no more hard time to find a doctor in England.
Findoc materialize when Xavier Bernal participates in June 2015 at The Guardian’s Volunteering Week. The idea is simple, 250 people took part as regular volunteers, project managers or project sponsors and they have develop 15 projects during this week over the theme #connect. Joined by the co-founder Sylvain Vuillen a short time afterwards to set up the Findoc business, they won the People’s Choice Award a year after attended the Guardian’s volunteering week and to make the meteoric rise of Findoc even more beautiful and promising, the price was awarded by Richard Branson (founder of the Virgin Group, which controls more than 400 companies).
On the right: Xavier Bernal, on the middle: Richard Branson
Finally, Findoc see the light of day on June 2016 around three analysis. Xavier Bernal explains:
-70% of people in Britain already make online bookings for other services (such as restaurants, hotels, flights) but only 13% have made a healthcare appointment online. We believe this is because there is no product out there that currently meets patients’s needs.
-30% of a dostors budget is dedicated to phone calls in order to make appointments.
-the NHS (National Health Services) which is the english health care system is not really the best: sometimes you have to wait up to 15 days to get an appointment which is not at all suitable for emergencies and not really convenient. Also, the private health services are not really developed.
Findoc was at first an online platform to book medical appointments, more focused on the French community present in England but with its really fast development, its growing success and the increase in traffic of their website, the start-up has expend its services. They put a simple use schedule for doctors in place so Findoc may be the datebook of doctors. This way, people can take their appointment at any time. To avoid the problem of “no-show”, Xavier Bernal explains that they set up reminders by mail or sms when an appointment is booked because the main cause of no-show is the forgetfulness of the customers. People can also directly cancel an appointment on their website and the place will be released automatically on the doctor’s planing.
At the beginning, Findoc gathered about 500 doctors, now there is 3200 doctors in Findoc Data. The doctors pay monthly for a subscription to be present on the Findoc database. What do they have to gain? Alice Sauvage explains:
“We provide the doctor a Google page so they can have an online presence, which is very important nowedays. Also, they get a much better online visibility and they also enjoy of the search engine optimization (SEO) provide by Findoc with our AdWord system. Moreover, the online agenda and onlin booking is a real asset for them because of the gain of time and the reduction of the cost of telephone calls for booking.
For the future, Findoc is very optimistic: they want to develop the teleconsulation by raising an other investment fund of £5 thousand.
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