22 comments

  • Mike RundleMike Rundle, 7 years ago

    This is f-ing ridiculous. These guys pitch their startup as "Slack for doctors" and then make a chat product that is 100% identical to Slack. And YC funded them! This stuff makes me lose all faith in the startup and VC world.

    18 points
    • Aubrey JohnsonAubrey Johnson, 7 years ago

      YC doesn't represent the entire VC (or startup) world.

      I'm really surprised YC let this demo. It's really lazy and in poor taste.

      What's even worse for this company is there isn't much in the way of Slack hosting instances on a separate set of HIPAA compliant servers and selling directly to the healthcare industry (which would likely destroy these rip off clowns).

      0 points
    • Nathan LeeNathan Lee, 7 years ago

      To be the devil's advocate, by going after doctors and the medical world, Stitch can actually function and enable doctors where it was not possible before. HIPAA compliance and other barriers make the medical world stuck in the past. Having something that allows doctor's to communicate and get all the benefits of Slack... isn't that a great thing? Imagine a hospital that was more responsive, better informed, and had happier doctors (because their jobs were easier and information was better). Isn't that a great thing?

      I can't say I'm happy to hear YC funded people who basically took a product and slapped HIPAA compliance on there... but my hope is that it can actually benefit an industry that's in dire need of better processes. Slack can't get into the doctor market... so what's the harm in a company directly supporting them?

      I'd be more keen on seeing where this product goes. What sorts of UX patterns or features will they add to make hospitals more efficient? EMR integration? Patient messaging?

      4 points
      • Juan J. RamirezJuan J. Ramirez, 7 years ago

        I agree with your point, but just doing a clone of Slack is not exactly a good starting point to build those industry specific patterns. And I'm telling you this from my experience with Enterprise Software. There would be too much design legacy by the time they decide to implement patterns that serve their segment.

        On the other hand, copying Slack is a very poor decision but maybe there's something we are missing here.Maybe there's something beyond the design that is more important and relevant. I worked on a project for the healthcare industry and there are two very relevant things that I noticed: 1) This is a heavily regulated industry. 2) There's a lot of disposable cash to buy and implement new things.... So if you're able to over come the hurdles of the former, you can leverage on the benefits of the latter....

        0 points
  • Jon DobrowolskiJon Dobrowolski, 7 years ago (edited 7 years ago )

    hmm. Have you seen Hipchat? Slack was just as outrageous of a ripoff when it was released.

    2 points
    • Arthur BeisangArthur Beisang, 7 years ago

      Not true, they were both messaging clients with rooms, as a user of both, the similarities mostly ended there. By your standards you can say they are a ripoff of IRC, which is not quite true either. Stitch is a blatant ripoff, down to the similar sounding name.

      4 points
  • Luca Candela, 7 years ago (edited 7 years ago )

    I think you guys all underestimate the complexities of HIPAA compliance. Slack might never want to get into a market that's stiflingly regulated, hard to penetrate and with high support costs for a payout that might not be what they are looking for right now.

    Those guys are taking a good idea (and I agree they could have done more to avoid the complete ripoff) and adapted it to an underserved niche.

    I suggest you all get off your high horse and think about the strategy for a second, it might give you some perspective.

    p.s.: personally I think the slack model is a poor fit for medical discussions. I think a more organized "patient centric" model would serve the medical use case better (similar to topics in Zulip).

    1 point
    • Mike RundleMike Rundle, 7 years ago

      No one is faulting their idea of HIPAA-compliant chat. It's a great idea for a business. But they're shitty for ripping off Slack when they could have actually designed their own product, tailored to their users' needs. They're stealing others' hard work.

      3 points
    • Joshua Eichler-SummersJoshua Eichler-Summers, 7 years ago

      FYI they are not HIPAA compliant themselves but are using a 'stripe' like third party software company to perform this for them.

      0 points
      • Luca Candela, 7 years ago

        Yep, Aptible, I noticed. I still think the focus on UI here is a bit misguided, there's still plenty of work they need to do to integrate with archaic and secretive medical systems Slack will never ever bother with.

        0 points
  • Luke SeeleyLuke Seeley, 7 years ago

    I really don't get how this is a Slack clone anymore than a Hipchat or Campfire clone. I'm only judging from the screenshots on their Product page, though

    0 points
  • Andrew HoltAndrew Holt, 7 years ago

    Slack ripoff or not, my wife is a doctor, and I can't tell you how much they need this. Getting actual adoption is going to be tricky (they should have started on mobile, honestly).

    0 points
  • Karthik KKarthik K, 7 years ago

    Its probably a hosted version of the open-source Slack alternative, Mattermost

    0 points
  • Abdulrahman JarallahAbdulrahman Jarallah, 7 years ago

    "Fake it" until you make it!!!!! #sarcasm

    0 points
  • Win LinWin Lin, 7 years ago

    There's also Discord, which is essentially a Slack for gamers that resembles Slack as well (albeit with some additional features for the audience) - https://discordapp.com/

    I'm not sure it's a huge problem, it's something that's bound to happen and I think it might actually be healthy for the industry if done right. (i.e. Tidal being a rip off Spotify)

    0 points
    • Louis-André LabadieLouis-André Labadie, 7 years ago

      To Discord's credit, the resemblance stops quickly.

      They're a text & voice chat client for games, with an in-game overlay, server & mods management, etc. It's closer to Mumble, Teamspeak and friends.

      0 points
      • Win LinWin Lin, 7 years ago

        For sure it does, I just thought it was worth a mention. Many people are diving into the space at a deeper level and I really like what Discourse is doing for their audience.

        1 point
  • Ian GoodeIan Goode, 7 years ago (edited 7 years ago )
    1. Let's make a communication tool for Doctors and healthcare practitioners!
    2. Copy Slack as closely as possible
    3. Don't add a single feature for doctors or healthcare practitioners
    4. Get venture bubble funding round
    5. ...
    6. Profit!
    0 points
  • Jim SilvermanJim Silverman, 7 years ago

    beyond marketing language is there anything unique to healthcare here? they're claiming HIPAA-compliance, at least.

    0 points
  • Ollie BarkerOllie Barker, 7 years ago

    That is an absurd rip-off. Bets on how soon they'll get sued?

    0 points
  • Tyce Clee, 7 years ago

    Jeez, even their signup page looks just like Slack's:

    https://app.teamstitch.com/home

    0 points
  • Andrew-David JahchanAndrew-David Jahchan, 7 years ago

    Whoa. I mean, maybe instead of trying to create something original, I can completely steal something else that already exists, add "for doctors" at the end, and get a bunch of YC funding too if that's all it takes. Geez.

    0 points