Medical Tourism City

Starting up a Medical Tourism Company? Consider the acquisition route.

Without doubt, the pace of development in the medical tourism industry can be described as breakneck at best. Entrepreneurs are coming up with interesting ideas in the medical tourism space and they are starting up new medical tourism companies. But with such rapid pace of development, would it be considered wise to take 6 months of precious business development time into developing the basic infrastructure for the start-up? With such rapid pace of changes in the industry, 6 months are enough for one to lose the first mover advantage.

A smart approach to hit the ground running would be to acquire or partner with an existing company in this space. An existing company would have already optimized its website, performed time consuming SEO exercises which typically takes about 6 months to show effects. Moreover, the negotiation with hospitals to form unbiased MOU's with medical facilities is already done, often at terms less stringent than what the hospitals would agree to now (thanks to increasing stability in their patient inflows). Also, it would easily consume months of travelling, which could be tough in a country like India.

While the acquisition route may not work in every case, it is certainly something worth consideration when many good companies are available at attractive valuations. What do you think?

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Comment by Sagar Brahmbhatt on May 14, 2012 at 3:37am: Any sample MOU that how to tie up with Hospitals -Hotels and About dealing with Tour Companies ?

Comment by Scott Frankum on September 1, 2011 at 4:34am: Could you tell me what you mean by "things that matter most"?

Comment by Mohit Garg on September 1, 2011 at 3:22am: Dear Scott,

Thank you for commenting. I agree that barriers to entry are very low. However, I intended to comment on the availability of medical tourism companies for sale which may make business sense for newcomers who find that their efforts rather be on things that matter most. The argument has no relation to consolidation in the industry, which as you say, is still distant.

Regards

Comment by Scott Frankum on August 31, 2011 at 5:11am: Hi Mohit,

Acquisition would be a sign that the barriers to industry entry are higher. Barriers to entry are still very low. Any tech savvy family can throw up a site in a week.

I question your premise.

Until existing competitors start to add value....there won't be consolidation in the facilitator model. That said, I'm eager for the day when it takes more than a website and misinformation to get high google placement.