M&TSI-EyeDropper & Award

Senior glaucoma patients facing mobility challenges will leverage Innovision, an

automated eyedrop delivery device that uses computer vision to detect the center of the

eye and autonomously administer medication.

According to NIH research, 40% of senior patients reported at least one eyedrop

problem: misaiming, multiple drops, or tip contamination (1). For senior glaucoma

patients facing mobility concerns, these issues are even more prevalent. To illustrate

with an example, consider Henry: a 67 year-old glaucoma patient faced with mobility

issues while seeking independence in his medical treatment. Henry struggles with

current solutions in the market, such as low-tech, $8 guides like AutoDrop that still rely

on his shaky hand. He is also disappointed by high-end products in the market like

Eyenovia’s Optejet, which are used in clinic settings and fail to address the

independence that he values. No current product combines computer vision alignment,

automated actuation, and precise single drop metering, all of which Innovision brings to

the table… hence why Henry will purchase the device for more effective

self-administration of eyedrop medications (see Appendix A for more information).

Users like Henry can also use the Innovision app to customize and track their

daily medication schedule, receive personalized reminders for eye drop administration,

and alert caregivers when needed — helping prevent the easily avoidable mistake of

missing a dose. Upon actuation, they can simply sit under the device, which will

automatically detect the center of the eye, move the camera-eyedropper system directly

above this location, and administer the desired dosage. Additional design features to

improve the comfortability aspect associated with the user experience includes an

adjustable mount for individuals to position the eyedropper at the desired height above

their face, as well as a semicircular stand to provide ample room to place the head and

ensure tabletop stability (see Appendix B for more information).

Validation of Innovision’s primary value proposition of helping senior glaucoma

patients improve their health by more effectively receiving their eyedrop medications

was achieved through the process of customer discovery and market research. Whilethe end user, decision maker, and purchaser of the product is the customer rather than

a doctor (this is done to avoid the necessity of FDA approval), reaching out to an

optometrist proved to be more accessible and highly insightful. They suggested that the

company starts by focusing on individuals challenged with glaucoma, but eventually

further expands to other uses of eyedrops as well. Moreover, the team also participated

in three other conversations with founders in the eye care industry, after which the

existence of the target market and confirmation of the pain point in eyedrop

administration was established. However, it is crucial that more interviews be conducted

in the future given the small sample size at the present time. Specifically, conversations

with ~20 senior glaucoma patients would prove to be highly valuable information when it

comes to optimizing messaging. Refer to Appendix C for more information on the

methodology leveraged during the customer interview process.

Innovision’s primary revenue stream is in the form of selling directly to the

customer through its website. To attract customers, Innovision employs a multi-step

pipeline approach. Google search ads will attract potential customers to the website,

where the average return on ads spent tends to be 200%. Roughly 6% of ad viewers

would end up clicking into the website. Approximately 70% of these individuals will

watch a demo video. 50% will continue to show interest and further explore blog posts,

articles, and most importantly, research highlighted on the site. Finally, a third of these

people will purchase the product at a price of $59.99. The costs associated with

producing each unit involve mass produced PCB components, bulk sourced electronics,

and injection molded plastic for a total manufacturing cost of $17.30. It is important to

note that the complexity of this pipeline will increase over time, since the company will

eventually adopt additional sales channels in the form of selling through Amazon and

pharmacies.

As Innovision grows, the number of target customer segments will as well. Senior

glaucoma patients with mobility issues who reside in Palo Alto will be the initial targets,

since the median household income in this location is $220,408 (2) – well above the

nation’s median income of $77,719 (3). This implies that these individuals are generally

more likely than others to buy higher-end products like Innovision. The revenue

potential in this stage is $79,045… however, once the market is captured, the next stepis to target senior glaucoma patients across the United States. In this case, the size of

the opportunity becomes $408,051,980. Upon obtaining at least 10% market share, the

final step would be to target not only senior glaucoma patients, but rather anyone with

eye conditions requiring regular usage of eyedrop medication, which brings about a

market size of $1,679,720,000 (see Appendix D for more information).

A crucial risk to consider is that seniors may resist high-tech solutions like

Innovision. Solutions include creating video tutorials and ensuring that operation of the

device and app are highly accessible – even for non-technical users. Other risks include

brand credibility (publishing testimonials on the company website would be useful to

mitigate this) and perceived value versus price (the only way to figure out what the

“best” price is through experimentation in the market).

Innovision’s customer lifetime value is $59.99, since users are only expected to

purchase the product a single time, with no additional fees required. The customer

acquisition cost varies from year to year, but is typically around $20.00, implying that the

CLV is at a 3x multiple of the CAC – a healthy statistic for early-stage startups.

InnoVision fills a critical gap in the eye care market by empowering senior

glaucoma patients with a precise, automated, and user-friendly solution for independent

eyedrop administration. By addressing the limitations of both low-tech guides and

clinic-bound devices, InnoVision offers an innovative, accessible product that meets the

real needs of underserved patients.

Works Cited:

1) https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7376112/

2) https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/paloaltocitycalifornia/INC110223#:~:

text=Table_title:%20Table%20Table_content:%20header:%20%7C%20Populatio

n%20%7C,poverty%2C%20percent%20%7C%20:%20%EE%A1%80%EE%A0%

BF%205.4%25%20%7C

3) https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/2024/demo/acsbr-023.pdf