What is your evidence worth? The price tag on a P-Value

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This issue comes to you slightly out of office. By the time it lands, I'll be in Lanzarote with the family, doing my best impression of someone who isn't checking his phone.

By the time this reaches you, I will have completed a serious family commitment: a mermaid package for my girls, complete with tail, makeup, jewellery, and a professional photo shoot. Their joy? Priceless.

Evidence, unfortunately, is not. It has a real price, and so does not having it. That's what this issue is about: a new guide on what evidence is actually worth to your business, financially, at whatever stage you're at. HLTH Europe attendees received early copies. Here it is now for you! 

— Paul

Deep diveTurning P-Values to Financial Values

At your next board meeting, if an investor asks what evidence you have that your product works, what do you point to?

The answer is almost never good. A pilot study. An internal survey nobody outside the company will accept. A preprint from two years ago that never quite made it through peer review. And when I ask what the plan is, it's usually some version of "we're going to do a proper study at some point…" which really means: I think evidence is something I have to do eventually, because scientists keep nagging me about it.

That's the wrong frame, and it's expensive. 

Evidence isn't a tax you pay to keep academics quiet. It's one of the highest-leverage commercial activities a digital health company can invest in. Done well, it shortens your sales cycle, unlocks your regulatory pathway, and increases what your business is actually worth. Done badly, or not at all, you spend six months fighting objections you should have neutralised before the meeting started.

That's the gap this guide is built around, and it's the reason we wrote it in the first place.

This guide first came out on the show floor at HLTH Europe in Amsterdam. Inside, I walk through what evidence is actually worth at each stage, because it isn't constant. What persuades a seed-stage angel is not what persuades a Series B health-system buyer, and confusing the two is one of the most common ways founders waste money proving the wrong thing to the wrong audience. You'll also find three case studies of companies that turned a single well-placed study into a closed sales objection, and a rough model for putting a number on what one good publication is worth to your pipeline.

— Paul

From our deskRecap from Youth Connection

Two weeks ago, I spent a day in Manchester facilitating Youth Connection, the young people's advisory group that guides the research agenda for GM.Digital, the digital mental health research unit at Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust. 

Around a hundred young people came through, mostly aged 14 to 25, and the organisers put on some great talks: how to build a career in psychology, what it's actually like to take part in research, how to break into pharma. People with disabilities in the room shared what participating in studies had genuinely been like for them. There were hands-on stations too, including a VR headset that let people step into a care worker's experience for a few minutes, and a digital therapeutic for anxiety that attendees could actually try rather than just hear described.

It's the kind of room that leaves you more optimistic about where the field is heading, provided we keep listening to the people who'll actually use what we build.

Upcoming eventsWhat We're Attending

Since the rush of Q2 is over, I decided to take what seems to baffle my American colleagues, "a week-long holiday." Right now that means Lanzarote with the kids, sunscreen and chaos included. Few weeks after, I'll be in Mallorca without them, recovering from the first vacation.

I'll also be in Boston on 13 September to see a couple of clients I'm proud to work with. If our paths could cross, reply to this email!

Thanks for reading,

Paul Wicks, PhD
Founder & CEO, ProofStack Health
Move Fast. Prove Things.

P.S. Here are 3 ways I can help you: 

1. Take the Evidence Scorecard Quiz. Answer 15 questions and we’ll send you a personalised report with feedback tailored to your specific needs.

2. Follow or connect with me on LinkedIn. I publish top resources and in-depth insights related to building your evidence stack.

3. Book a strategy session. Uncover the gaps in your evidence and marketing in your Digital Health/MedTech startup.