Study Covid Project

Inspiration

We were getting ready to launch our Thrivable Rapid Research platform when COVID-19 struck. Our team brainstormed what we could do to help, and decided our platform - if we could hack it fast enough - would be perfect for getting leaders and journalists real-time feedback. So we halted business, and decided to focus 100% on this project to see what we could achieve.

What it does

The Study Covid Project has two parts. The first is a database of people touched by COVID-19. Anyone in the USA can sign up and share their symptoms and other COVID-19 data. Then those working in the public interest, such as state, local and federal government, public health experts, and journalists, can conduct surveys or focus groups with the group using the Thrivable technology platform. Results start coming in immediately. It can take just a few hours to go from having a question to having answers. (Compare this with a typical research process that can take weeks or months.)

The project is being advised by a talented team of public health experts, technologists, and community advocates. You can see the advisory board here: https://studycovid.org/advisors

How we built it

We have been working on the Thrivable rapid research platform for two years. However, it was not designed for profiling the public in this way or for distributing these types of surveys. To make it work, we had to rapidly create a profiling tool, integrate it with our backend, and design tools for parsing the new types of data. We also needed to design a website for the project, setup analytics and tracking to optimize our funnels, and ensure we were speaking effectively to all of our potential audiences.

Challenges we ran into

The hardest challenge - other than cramming so much work into a few days - was building a good data model for understanding COVID-19. This is a brand new disease and we spoke with a bunch of epidemiologists and public health experts to really understand the questions we needed to track to effectively target future research.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of building a big volunteer team around this project. Without the support of public health experts, health system leaders, startup incubators, and friends/family, we would have never been able to design and launch a meaningful product in less than a week.

What we learned

We learned a lot about COVID-19, the challenges facing health systems, and the incredible pressure that so many organizations are under. By simplifying and speeding up the process of getting data, we hope to enable everyone to adopt a more lean approach to gathering information. Otherwise, too many decisions will be made in the dark.

What's next for Study Covid Project

We are actively recruiting panelists and working with partners to tap into the data. We air aiming to release the datasets for public use. Now, it's full speed ahead!