The Uber Effect in Oncology Research: Applying a Fresh Perspective to Specimen Procurement

By Inga Rose, Founder and CEO, Reference Medicine

I recently read an interesting LinkedIn post by entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk, in which he expressed his regret for passing on the opportunity to invest in Uber on the ground floor. He reflected on his realization that Uber’s value proposition isn’t about on-demand transportation – it’s about time and convenience. There are two important lessons here that are crucial for every business owner:

• People value time over everything.
• Convenience and lack of friction win the day.

This got me thinking about how some of the most respected companies out there, across all industries, understand and apply this lesson, and about how we can apply this same principle, which I’m calling the Uber Effect, to oncology specimen procurement. 

When Frustration is the Status Quo

Having worked “on the bench” as a researcher for 15 years prior to founding Reference Medicine, I can personally attest to the frustrations that come with the job, including the often time-consuming and clunky process of acquiring biospecimens. But, as frustrating as the process could be, we all just dealt with it because we didn’t know any other way. Like teenagers of the 80s talking into corded phones mounted to their parents’ kitchen walls while the whole family listened in, or businesspeople looking up the number to the local taxi company in a heavy phone book with impossibly tiny print, we didn’t realize how cumbersome the process really was, because we had no concept that it could be any different. And so, as scientists, we just accepted complex, time-consuming specimen procurement – along with opacity when it came to pricing and specimen quality variability – as status quo. That’s just the way things were, so we adapted to the cumbersome process, managed our expectations, and designed our experiments accordingly. 

Looking back today, from my current position, the frustration around this process is even clearer. Scientists rely on progress – building experiments and protocols, learning and iterating as we go, and moving forward in whatever direction the science takes us. And sometimes, where it takes us is in the complete opposite direction of where we thought we were headed. In medical research, you often can’t anticipate the needs you’re going to have for step two or step three until you walk through that door. And as you start to move your research forward, you feel the growing excitement and anticipation of a new discovery, a new breakthrough, a new test that will impact patient care  across the world. 

And then you hit the wall. 

Suddenly, you can’t move forward until the specimens you need come in. Your excitement is tempered by multiple emails and phone calls with a biobank as you try to discern whether they have what you need, how much it will cost, and when it will arrive. Or even worse, weeks of work are wasted, reagents go “down the drain,” and you need to start from scratch because the quality of the samples you acquired inhibited your experiments from running smoothly. Based on your previous experience with biobanks and other specimen providers, you know it’s anyone’s guess whether a new shipment of specimens will arrive on time and undamaged, and whether the specimen quality will be up to par to continue your experiment. Innovation slows to a crawl. 

And unfortunately, this scenario can erode budgets faster than it erodes morale. Your lab continues to pay salaries and overhead while experiments are at a standstill. Then you and your team must work twice as hard to make up for lost time once the specimens finally arrive. Not to mention the downstream impact on innovation and scientific progress, and on the patients waiting on those innovations.

This stinks. There has to be a better way. 

Applying the “Uber Effect” to Oncology Specimen Procurement

When we founded Reference Medicine in 2021, we wanted to take a fresh look at the specimen procurement industry, and at the status quo. When we thought about who we wanted to be, the conversation started with everything that wasn’t working in the industry. No business owner knows exactly what to do from day one. But as a company built by scientists, for scientists, we knew exactly what not to do. 

We knew – and we still know – that oncology specimen procurement for diagnostic developers should be fast. It should be easy. It should be like a surgeon holding out their hand at that critical life-and-death moment, knowing they have a trusted partner at the ready to hand them the right tool, exactly when they need it. No doubts. No uncertainties. No hassles. Because this is not an industry where we just take a gamble and hope everything works out for the best. 

Remember the Uber Effect: Time, convenience, and lack of friction rule the day. 

So, how does that principle play out for specimen procurement?

• Simple ordering processes. The ordering process should be as seamless as possible, without the need for a lot of explanation or back-and-forth. Why not have partners who anticipate your needs and remove much of the administrative burden so you can focus on the science? At Reference Medicine, we are scientists, so we understand the shorthand of your requests and can typically anticipate your needs and deliver with just a quick ask.  

• The right product. Every time. You should have precisely what you need, precisely when you need it. If you’re looking for stage 3 prostate cancer specimens, it shouldn’t take an act of Congress to locate them and receive them. Readily available specimens are our specialty. We are teed-up to fulfill your order, when you order it. This availability makes delivery expectations and timelines very clear, speedy, and defined – our samples are already packaged and ready to go. That’s what we call delight, delivered. 

• Quality without question. Specimen quality should never be a gamble. When we receive our specimens, they undergo a rigorous, double QA process before they’re ever added to our available inventory. This means that our failure rate is low – we filter out the junk long before it gets to you. Of course, no one is perfect, and not every specimen can be A+ quality or work perfectly for every application being developed. But we know from our personal scientific experience and from what we’re hearing from our customers that our failure rate is dramatically lower than what they’re used to. And if it’s not right, we make it right. Right away. No questions asked. Because we know innovation waits for no man (or woman). 

• Inventory and pricing transparency. It shouldn’t be a struggle to see inventory and pricing. It’s not a scavenger hunt. You know what you need. You know your budget. So let’s keep it simple! We provide up-front inventory lists with all demographic, pathological, and clinical information available right there in the list. We tell you up front where our samples came from and how much they cost. You can peruse on your own or speak directly with a member of our team. No runaround, no unnecessary Zoom meetings, no super-long email chains, no unanswered questions. 

• Partners. Not vendors. Specimen providers should be extensions of your team, not faceless vendors who have no idea what it’s like in the trenches or at the benches (see what we did there?). We're scientists: We've been where you are. We want to make it easy for you, like that operating room tech who’s at your side and at the ready no matter what. We’re not a call center or a sea of faceless customer service reps or chat bots. Our job is to make the experience quick, simple, and – dare we say it? – delightful. When was the last time you were delighted with your specimen provider?

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‍The Partner You Didn’t Know You Needed

We founded Reference Medicine because we wanted to meet a need the industry didn’t even know it had. Like smartphones. Or rideshare services. We wanted to take the status quo and elevate it. By a lot. We want you to receive your oncology samples transparently, quickly, and conveniently – with no hassle. What a relief.

We can use the Uber Effect to our advantage. To your advantage. We’re 100 percent confident that this approach leads to better, faster medical innovation, which ultimately impacts patients all over the world. 

‍Learn more about how we do it or book a call with us.