It was a cloudy and breezy Thursday morning in July as we anticipated, walking down along St Clair W to see Dr. Shimon Cabrera, Doctor of Optometry, licensed pharmacist, and pharmacy owner of Pharmacia. Along the entrance, we easily spotted the counseling area and other enclosed consultation sections of a fairly busy clinic/pharmacy. We were met by familiar smiles across the counter as Dr. Cabrera gladly received us at the waiting area of his pharmacy.

It was fortunate to have spotted him while doing my research for appropriate market personas for the app that we started to build early this year. As an entrepreneur combing through Ontario's broad market of pharmacy practitioners, it was a challenge to find a starting point and spot someone who can empathize with and understand our mission of improving medication and patient care accessibility. As most pharmacists are already entrenched in layers of pharmacy practice systems and technical platforms, we are glad to have had an opportunity for open sharing and to engage profoundly about issues affecting patient care in retail pharmacy environments with Dr. Cabrera.

Simultaneously, we had just completed the first build of the MVP and wanted to roll it out immediately, prepared to take the good and sound off more of the bad as we foresaw hours and days of iteration. Together with Dr. Shimon, we explored probable issues on liabilities of the practice, raising the bar to ensure qualified pharmacists and identifying the most suitable customers to test.

As we wrapped up our meeting, we found ourselves back on the drawing board with cause and inspiration. Dr. Cabrera's perspectives and openness to embracing our vision stirred an uplifting sense of anticipation for the next stages of the product.

Partnerships

Parmazip x Pharmacia