Blockit Pitch Deck Teardown: Solving Healthcare Referrals

Blockit Pitch Deck Teardown

The Blockit Seed Round deck, dated December 2017, is a classic example of a 'wedge strategy.' It identifies a massive, high-friction problem in a legacy industry—healthcare referrals—and proposes a simple, transactional solution to gain entry before expanding into a more ambitious infrastructure play. In the context of 2017, the inclusion of blockchain was a common way to signal future-proofing and data security, though the core value proposition remains the efficiency of the scheduling engine.

Slide 1-2: The Vision and Thesis

The deck opens with a clean title slide and immediately moves into a four-point thesis. Blockit argues that while blockchain can improve healthcare by allowing secure information exchange, it requires an 'EMR-agnostic platform' to work. They identify appointments as the 'currency' of healthcare and referrals as the primary 'exchange' mechanism. The logic is clear: if you control the scheduling, you control the infrastructure of the value exchange.

Slide 3-5: Market Size and Problem Definition

Slide 3 provides the macro context: 899 million appointments in the US, with 50% being referrals and a dismal 55% follow-through rate. The deck cites sources like Barnett, Song, and Landon (2012) to ground these figures. Slide 4 and 5 drill down into the 'Pain.' The referral process is described as a series of data silos that hurt patient outcomes and specialist revenue. Key metrics on Slide 5 highlight the inefficiency: a 31-day wait time for referrals and the fact that patients must make several phone calls to schedule a single visit.

Slide 6-7: The 'OpenTable' Solution and MVP Results

Blockit positions itself as the 'OpenTable for referral scheduling.' This is a strong, recognizable analogy for investors. Slide 7 is the most critical slide for traction, showing MVP results that significantly outperform the baseline. They claim 90.1% patient follow-through (vs. 47% baseline) and 3.8 days to complete a referral (vs. 31 days baseline). Achieving 100% result report compliance is a major selling point for primary care physicians who are often left in the dark after making a referral.

Slide 8-10: Competitive Landscape and Secret Sauce

Slide 8 acknowledges that there are at least 50 other referral platforms but argues they only track the process 'after' the patient arrives, failing to solve the 'no-show' problem. Slide 10 introduces the 'Secret Sauce': the integration engine. It contrasts 'Traditional' integration (1-6 months, $3k-$25k cost, 3rd party dependencies) with Blockit’s approach ( 1-2 days , simple 2-party engagement, no 3rd party permissions). This is a bold claim in the healthcare IT space, where EMR interoperability is notoriously difficult.

Slide 11-12: Revenue Model and Entry Strategy

The business model is straightforward: $1 per appointment and a $25 monthly fee per provider. Slide 12 outlines the 'Entry Point Strategy,' which involves leveraging existing referral platforms' customer bases rather than selling to every doctor's office individually. They set a goal to reach 10,000 providers by the end of 2019.

Slide 13-16: The Three-Phase Roadmap

Phase 1 (Entry): Focus on the 'Appointment' and driving adoption through partners like Universal American and Baylor Scott & White. · Phase 2 (Expand): Focus on 'Patient Experience,' capturing data on the blockchain, and enabling charitable care scheduling. · Phase 3 (Open Platform): Achieving 'Democracy' where patients and providers own their data with no EMR lock-in.

Slide 16 visualizes this 'Long Term Vision' with a map of Texas, suggesting a regional density strategy before national expansion.

Slide 17: Financial Opportunity

Slide 17 quantifies the opportunity. By multiplying 899M appointments by the $1 fee and 1.2M providers by the $25 fee, they arrive at a $1.3B base opportunity . They project a 40% Operating Income (OpInc) margin, which is typical for a high-scale SaaS/transactional platform.

Slide 18-20: Team and Conclusion

The leadership team slide features three founders. The standout is Steve, the Product & Engineering lead, whose background at BigCommerce and TwitPic (acquired by Twitter) provides the necessary technical credibility for the ambitious integration and blockchain claims. The deck concludes with a vision summary and a 'Thank You' slide.

What Blockit Does Well

Strong Analogy: Using 'OpenTable for healthcare' immediately communicates the user experience and the marketplace dynamics of the product without needing deep technical explanation.

Metric-Driven Problem/Solution: The deck does an excellent job of pairing industry pain points (31-day waits) directly with MVP results (3.8-day waits). This makes the value proposition feel tangible and proven.

Clear Wedge Strategy: By starting with a simple scheduling tool to solve a high-pain problem, they create a path toward their much more complex goal of blockchain-based data democratization.

What is Missing from the Blockit Deck

The Ask: The most significant omission is a specific funding request. While the deck is labeled 'Seed Round,' it does not state how much capital is being raised, the valuation, or the specific use of proceeds (e.g., hiring 5 engineers, marketing spend).

Unit Economics: While they provide a macro revenue model ($1/appt), they do not detail the Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) or the Lifetime Value (LTV) of a provider, which is crucial for a seed-stage investment.

Competitive Detail: Slide 8 mentions '50 referral platforms' but doesn't name them or provide a feature-by-feature comparison. Investors would want to know how Blockit defends against a legacy EMR simply building their own scheduling tool.

Founder Takeaways: What to Copy

The 'Secret Sauce' Comparison: Slide 10 is a masterclass in showing, not just telling, a competitive advantage. By placing the 'Traditional' messy flowchart next to the 'Blockit' streamlined version, they make their technical superiority look obvious.

Phased Ambition: Don't lead with your most 'out there' idea (like blockchain democratization) if it's hard to monetize on day one. Follow Blockit’s lead: solve a boring, expensive problem first (scheduling), and use that to fund the revolution.

Partner-Led Growth: Instead of a 'boots on the ground' sales strategy, Blockit identifies 'Referral Platforms' as their distribution channel. This shows they understand how to scale efficiently in a crowded market.