Today we’d like to introduce you to Allisa Song.
Hi Allisa, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
Thank you so much for the invitation! My name is Allisa Song and I’m the CEO and co-founder of Nanodropper. My formal education is in psychology and biology at the University of Washington, and I spent a number of years as a research scientist studying the neuroscience of how chronic stress affects addiction behaviors. This opened my world to volunteering with a harm reduction alliance in Seattle, and I think my experience there trained me on how to take a pragmatic and patient-centered approach to problem-solving. I’m now in Rochester, Minnesota where I went to medical school at Mayo Clinic. During my medical training journey, I came across an article that changed my career trajectory!
I read an October 2017 ProPublica article featured on NPR titled, “Drug Companies Make Eyedrops Too Big, and You Pay For The Waste.” The headline is indicative of what I learned in the article. Eyedrops are designed to be five times too large for the eye to absorb, so at least 80 percent of every eyedrop bottle is simply wasted. That’s not even counting anytime you miss a drop. It was devastating to learn that people were still going blind from diseases like glaucoma because of barriers like this. There were so many medications to help prevent vision loss, but the current system of the delivery of care was keeping them out of reach.
I kept coming back to the question of, how I bypass this whole mess of a system. There had to be a better solution. It had to be an “aftermarket” part, giving the power back to the patient. The patient’s ability to weigh their options and choose in healthcare had been stripped and I wanted to change that.
Elias Baker (our now Chief Operating Officer) and I started to design an eyedrop bottle adaptor that would reduce the size of the drop to just what the eye can actually absorb. Joined by our other co-founders, we entered entrepreneurial contests at the University of Washington and elsewhere, and started winning. We used the prize money to continue working on our prototype and building out the business model.
After several years of research and development (and more entrepreneurial competitions), we raised a seed round and eventually launched our product in June 2020, right at the height of the pandemic. Several years later, we have grown our partner clinic network to more than 1,500 locations across all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I don’t know if there is such a thing as a smooth road to building a startup. However, we focused on our storytelling and gained traction fairly quickly. We competed in many competitions early on, and it allowed us to perfect our pitch in a low-stakes setting before it was time to pitch to serious investors. One of our best performances came at the Holloman Health Innovation Challenge, where we won the grand prize. The Holloman family went on to become one of our earliest investors!
Our story has also inspired some awards – we were named a 2022 Fast Company World Changing Idea; the 4 co-founders of Nanodropper were named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in healthcare in 2021; and I’m honored to share that I was recently named to the 2022 Worthy 100 list along with many other amazing men and women, such as Amal Clooney, Mila Kunis, Dolly Parton, MacKenzie Scott, Sonia Sotomayor, and Naomi Watts.
One major roadblock for us was the pandemic – our original plan was to launch at the beginning of 2020. The Nanodropper Adaptor is manufactured in the U.S. and needs to be sterilized after assembly and packaging. All of the domestic sterilization facilities turned their output toward emergent medical equipment as the pandemic shut down international supply chains, so we had to wait in line for a bit. We would eventually launch in June 2020.
Another key component of our early go-to-market strategy was attending in-person conferences. We weren’t able to start doing that until mid-2021. Since then we have experienced a great deal of growth. Being a new product at the time, it was difficult gaining traction without having some face-to-face time with eye doctors. We’re able to very easily explain the value proposition in under a minute when we’re in person.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We offer the Nanodropper Adaptor, a first-of-its-kind innovation that significantly reduces medication waste, specifically eyedrop waste. It’s an adaptor that easily twists onto your bottle and reduces the droplet size by about 70%. A regular eyedrop is five times too large for your eye, so our product doesn’t change the amount that’s delivered to your eye – we’re just removing all the waste from every drop.
Patients should ask their eye doctor about the Nanodropper Adaptor to see if it’s a great fit for their eyedrop regimen. More than 1,500 clinics across the country use and stock Nanodroppers, so your doctor might already have some in their office! You can also order Nanodroppers from our website for $14.99 plus shipping. If your eyedrops cost more than $8, the Nanodropper will save you money every month simply by creating more drops in your bottle.
You can also donate to those in need at nanodropper.com/donate, where we offer discounted Nanodroppers that you can pledge for others who can’t afford them.
What do you think about happiness?
It makes me happy to care for others, both people and animals. We have dogs and bunnies at home, and I spent a lot of time as a foster parent for the Seattle Animal Shelter. Rescue animals will always be a priority for me — I love finding and giving animals the forever home they deserve!
I’m also a big people person – being surrounded by my friends helps me recharge. And of course, my Nanodropper team makes me happy. It’s been a thrill to see our company grow over time with such talented, passionate, and like-minded individuals who want to help make the world a better place, one drop at a time.
Pricing:
- $14.99 + shipping (buy 4, get free shipping)
Contact Info:
- Website: nanodropper.com
- Instagram: @Nanodropper
- Facebook: Nanodropper
- Twitter: Nanodropper
- Youtube: Nanodropper
Image Credits
Nanodropper
