Personal Science Week - 241003 Business

How businesses sell personal science products

What does science have to do with business? Not much, you might think. But personal scientists, ever curious, often buy products and services in a market that can sometimes reward style over substance. Even if you have no interest in business yourself, it’s useful to be aware of some of the common sales techniques.

After attending the recent “Biohacking for Business” event, this week we’ll summarize some of the key business and marketing elements of personal science.

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In previous posts, (PSWeek240606 ) we discussed some of the takeaways from biohacking guru David Asprey’s annual Biohacking Conference, where more than 3,000 attendees experienced the latest personal health and empowerment products from hundreds of vendors. Now Asprey has a new, much smaller event, for people hoping to make a business out of their health-related products and services.  Business of Biohacking, held in Austin, Texas last week was a gathering of about 100 people all interested in making their biohacking ideas into sustainable businesses.

If you’re ever considered turning your personal science idea into a business, you might consider reaching out to some of the names mentioned on the Business of Biohacking web page, but for this week’s post, we’ll focus on the other side of the sales counter: what you as a personal science consumer should know about how these products are marketed.

Branding

Top biohacking brands have stunning websites, with well-written content and compelling images assembled by design firms that know how best to appeal to their target customers. The team from Influex is among the best, responsible for websites and branding for dozens of biohacker influencers. How do they do it?

Much of it is simply brainstorming through coherent sets of images that the brand maker wants to highlight to potential customers. Here’s an example of typical fonts and colors they use to project a “Magician” feel:

Influex proposes their clients consider other “brand archetypes” too, like “Entertainer”, “Maverick” and “Explorer”. 

Good branding is highly intuitive, which can be difficult for personal scientists used to deterministic and rigorous processes. But our interest in the quantitative doesn’t make us immune to the subtle effects of good, aspirational messaging.

One simple example: To appear more professional, most products come with a trademark symbol (™). You might think that demonstrates a successful company confident enough spend to money on an expensive legal filing. Nope. In many cases, a “common law trademark” is legally enforceable if you simply prove that you used it in a specific context before anyone else. What counts as proof? Often it’s enough to simply take a verifiable photo (or other evidence) that you used your trademark in context at a certain date. Affix the “™” symbol somewhere in a small font. That’s it.

Practical Marketing and Presentations

Why do some biohacking products and presentations appear more compelling than others? Sometimes it’s as simple as their choice of words. For example, when speaking in front of an audience, be careful with the way you use first, second, and third-person pronouns. 

Use “I” sparingly; when possible, put the emphasis on “you”. Instead of “I figured out how to hack my sleep”, say “You can hack your sleep the way I did”.

“We” is a great word, but always be sure to use it inclusively. Some people have painful subconscious memories of that time in third grade when the cool kids left them out of the “we” in “we can play together”. Don’t say “We have the solution”. Say “We’ll work with you”.

Successful products assert their value with pricing. A high price demonstrates confidence that a brand is worth the extra money. For that reason, high end products try not to devalue their brand with the word “free”. Instead, a promotion should use a word like “gift”.

Be careful how and when to use even the simple word “health”, which can bring an unwanted level of anxiety in some people who are plagued with bad experiences with the healthcare world. Instead, try to use terms like “performance” or “recovery”.

More Tips

There are many proven methods to boost sales, and the light regulation of the direct-to-consumer industry heavily favors companies that know how to pitch their products well. One of the best guidebooks is the classic The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes, whose daughter Amanda now runs a seminar business to teach the techniques. You can try out the formula online using their GPT Stadium Pitch Builder. They recommend, for example, that a sales pitch begin with a specific type of “hook” to engage your interest. You’ll be a better consumer when you start to recognize this formula everywhere: “Did you know that X% of Y?” is a way to get your attention, followed by series of engagement steps to get you to buy. But as a consumer, be sure to consider whether the attention is deserved.

A business in a high-risk industry, like mail order supplements, is always at risk for lawsuits. These companies will often incorporate in a state with especially favorable legal protections. For example, Nevada allows “1099 settlement”, where the company being sued can report the value of a legal settlement to the IRS—before making payment. A mega-million-dollar frivolous lawsuit is much less interesting to a troll if they know they’ll be responsible up-front for the taxes on lawsuit income, even if they never actually get paid.

Other Business Implications for Personal Science

Even if you’re not particularly interested in running your own personal science business, it’s worthwhile knowing some of the ways that successful products sell to you.

Levels Health, the well-known CGM-based metabolic health app, raised $12M in 2020 from leading VC firm A16Z. Read their pitch deck to see how they present themselves to investors. Their secrets?

1. Establish brand leadership with “biohacker types”, and move down market later.

2. Start with a simple, $400 “try for one month” offer, and use that to build longer-term subscriptions.

3. Build awareness through content: “best source of information on metabolic health”

4. High “development velocity”: more than 500 releases every six months.

Margot Talbot wrote a lengthy overview of the biohacking and DIY bio space in a 2020 piece in  The New Yorker: “The Rogue Experimenters” (link)

Finally, if you really do have a great idea for a biohacking or other personal science business, check in with Shelby Newsad, PhD from Compound VC. For a peek at how they see the future, see the their website A Biohacker Future . (And also subscribe to Shelby’s excellent substack Biocene thoughts )

About Personal Science

Listen to experts, but be skeptical. That’s the idea behind Personal Science, where we use the techniques of science to solve problems of personal interest, not as a job.

Personal Science Week is published free—er, gifted—each week for everyone, but paid subscribers can also receive our Unpopular Science series, including our latest with many more details about the Business of Biohacking, including links to hundreds of useful and exclusive resources.

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