Get the Memo: Issue 10
Social SX
Company Overview
People that undergo cosmetic surgery don’t have a lot of information available as they go through one of the biggest changes in their life. As a patient interested in exploring their options, there is no consolidated site to filter this level of important information:
- Double board certified doctors
- Minimum rating as reviewed by patients
- Specific location
- Specific conditions as a specialty
- Experience
Social SX not only helps you filter this information to find the doctor that is the best fit for you. The large community of users also share their experiences before, during and after procedures. Going under the knife is scary, and there aren’t any groups that reach out to you post operation to let you know how your progress is going, or if you’re even making progress.
Social SX is solving an issue of easy information sharing, credential verification, but most of all the pain of censorship and confusion. They want to be the go-to for live community to support you before, during, and after your procedures. They are truly a community driven social networking platform for health.
Founder and CEO Valerie Brown has been within the aesthetics industry for over six years. She lost 200 pounds and had 11 cosmetic surgeries to undo what was done over the course what she describes as her years being unhealthy. With her story, she has motivated upwards of 70,000 community members to do the same. Partnering with professionals, businesses, and users to take control of their lives, but also have that live interaction to grow the mission.
Valerie goes by her online persona, Honor V, and is a marketing pro who helped grow a logistics company from a few thousand in revenue to worldwide and $7m ARR within 8 months. With corporate knowledge and user base development and content creation, she has developed many relationships with customers, and know what the users want as she has been on that side, and on the side of business and knowing how to scale many sectors.
Paul Brown Co-Founder/President. He has 16 plus years of corporate level experience of customers, metrics, and making multi-million dollar deals with business development of his areas. They are currently married, which makes them a strong founding team as he was there every step of the way through her journey.
Market, Model & Inflection Point
Social SX targets the health and wellness space. This includes many areas of focus, such as pre and post operation, wellness, and care. The trends in the $1.5T health and wellness market are going upward at a CAGR of 10% and will only become bigger as the masses worry about their health post COVID.
When I asked what makes Social SX’s platform any different from Honor V’s Facebook page, she mentioned the restrictions imposed on users. As you can imagine, those who post pictures before and after their procedures are flagged by Facebook as inappropriate. However, what could be more appropriate to someone considering an expensive life changing surgery, that a picture of what they may look like? This openness in sharing aesthetic health has led to the community of over 70K users that doctors are looking to get in touch with for their business.
Social SX sells to doctors and the businesses that advertise within the industry. The platform is free for everyone, but professionals & businesses need to upgrade if they want to advertise on the community. Doctors and businesses Pay between $149-$199 monthly for ads, which is lower than the industry average. The doctor profile will be certified professionals with verifiable credentials, and businesses through the US. Social SX sources via word of mouth via users who have enjoyed their services. The professionals and businesses right now seek Social SX out to advertise within their platform because of the large and active user base. For the month of May active users were 54K, and daily activity is 56K users with 150K interactions. With any referral booked, Social SX takes 15%.
The inflection point is the increase in today’s community platform environment, where people want to hear from others’ experiences. Social SX will have all healthcare on one social platform. Aesthetics, health, and wellness are just the beginning. With their new added advisors and hires, they will dominate this space. Almost every company or human uses some type of social media and almost everyone uses some way or information for health. They are the go-to place for people to come advertise, partner with, and socialize.
People need support, people do not have time to sit and research for hours at a time, and they want a social community of support. Social SX has proven this to be true via Honor V’s social media pages. She has the only community that provides social networking and all in one information technology. Platforms like Facebook and Instagram are not niche’. People want to join platform, groups, or communities that TARGET their customer, or communicate with people who have used these services. Building this community has saved countless of lives, including V’s.
Competition
Their direct competitor in the US is RealSelf. RealSelf is a review and information platform for people who are looking into having work done invasive or non-invasive and health & wellness information. Once their clients have made their journey, their repeat customers are limited.
Social SX is a fast follower on the social networking part of the industry which has the highest engagement, information, and user retention to keep coming back to their community. Their product is designed for user and user experience through their journey. What makes Social SX unique is that they hold the solution to not only patients’ problems, but the feel of community that humans want.
What will keep Social SX ahead of the market is that it was created by users for users. They are the first social networking platform for health, not just a review site, like Yelp. They are a cloud based social platform integrated all areas of health and wellness.
How would you deploy capital if you would hit your next milestone?
Social SX would deploy the capital to onboard product manager, content marketing, further development in the platform, and chief business development officer. Remaining funds are focused on user growth, remaining debt free throughout the 18-month cycle.
They describe their biggest hole in their business as taking on every task as startup founders. To have to know every role and carry that role as they expand their team. But with their advisors, mentors, and the founder’s community they get answers to their much-needed questions. they have come a long way just with a small team, so the prospect of growth is very exciting here.
What is the legacy you as a Founder want to leave?
The legacy I want to leave is not my name, but the technology created to help with health. A movement to get in front of what we are experiencing now. To be known as the easiest way to find information, but also community and friendships, opportunities given, and health facts and the professionals and businesses behind them. A place where anyone, any race, any gender can come and not feel like they are not welcomed. A community, a movement, for a lifetime.
