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Anudeep Metuku

Professor Dunning

PLCY213

1 May 2021

Do Good Challenge 2021 - Why Chat Health Won the Venture-Track

Chat Health, STEPS, and Corona Connects were the winners, in order, of the

Venture-Track of the 2021 Do Good Challenge. The victory of Chat Health and that of STEPS

over Corona Connects was likely a result of the scalability, clarity, and relevance of each plan.

Each of the finalists’ models resemble catalytic innovations, which Christensen et al.

liken to disruptive innovations targeted at social change. Investors are more likely to fund

organizations which satisfy a larger portion of the criteria to be considered catalytic innovations.

One criterion is how scalable the idea is, which is a trait associated with more successful

organizations. Chat Health was the only submission which detailed a clear plan on scaling. They

plan to target universities with a sufficient population and explain how their subscription model

will contribute to self-sustainability.

STEPS is focusing on finding quality tutors regionally, which is another barrier to

scalability as the filtering process of volunteers to find the right tutors adds complexity to their

theory of change (ToC) with respect to replicability. Indeed, a venture track judge, Kahlil

Kettering, suggested STEPS upon awarding them with the second-place prize to think how they

could scale STEPS beyond Baltimore to a national level. STEPS relies on the close distance (10

miles) between Baltimore and Howard County, the 2nd wealthiest county in Maryland with the

highest ratings for its public school system. The availability of quality tutors in close proximity to
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the area of interest is a strength, but replicating its success in 2020-21 to the rest of the U.S. will

be difficult because this core geographical strength is not standardizable.

In contrast, Chat Health’s model targeted at college students is more standardizable (and

therefore more replicable) since it is web-based and will be app-based, since they are working on

a mobile application which does not add human resource complexity to their already simpler

ToC. 90% of college students have access to a smartphone, and CH is targeting large universities

(>10,000 students), which is a large share of people to be reached, and the likelihood that they

will be reached is greater given the share of them who use smartphones. CH’s greater

standardization allows for a “looser network” in which each chapter’s operation is independent

without communication overhead that interferes with results.

Like CH, CC is web based, which is a strength over STEPS for being more standardized

and replicable. It can more easily create a cost-effective loose network, which arguably warrants

it the second prize award over STEPS. Corona Connects may face a challenge in how its

consumer base recognizes its identity when the pandemic fades away and the organization name

changes. From a ToC basis, the length of the pandemic (and its effects in various university areas

in the country) will be variable, so this is a layer of complexity. Kylander and Stone describe

branding as a “psychological construct” which consumers retain. Some students can misconstrue

the service as being related to COVID, and if they are in a well recovered area, they may pass on

using CC. If they used it to aid COVID recovery efforts, they may feel less inclined to participate

after the pandemic ends. Also, as a catalytic innovation, CC is less innovative than STEPS and

CH. There are several pre-existing volunteering matching sites. CC’s packaging as a mobile

application can lead to a large user base, but pre-existing match sites with more numerous users
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(and volunteer organizations to choose from) can develop their own app and offer more to the

average mobile user than CC.

Acquiring funding to market and continually refine CC clear explanation of how the

funds will be used. STEPS details the proportion of funds allocating for legal, tutoring and

marketing expenses, and CH clearly explains how much money is spent on beta testing their app

and launching new chapters. However, CC is less clear on what their prize money would be spent

on. Providing clear evidence of success if also ideal. STEPS explains how their revenues

generated funds that grants in Baltimore use to correct education inequity in low-income youths.

These numbers suggest success in achieving desired outcomes. While CC and CH provide the

number of students who they reached with their services, those statistics reflect the desired

output rather than the desired outcome (in the strategic planning model). Providing information

on the volunteer retention from CC (or total hours volunteered) and number of appointments or

decreases in student health complications as a result of CH would give the judges (and potential

investors) more useful data to assess outcome success.

In addition to scalability through being web/app-based, CH is also artificial intelligence

(AI)-based since it uses AI to interact with users' queries. Technology like Dialogflow and

Amazon Lex are becoming popular in chat UIs of large companies. The AI industry is predicted

to grow greatly over this decade, and AI based UIs will be the norm. By taking advantage of this

growth and basing medical resources in various universities on AI conversations, the human

resources required to operate campus health centers may decrease in the coming years. In this

respect, Chat Health is uniquely innovative and potentially more impactful. While the

socioeconomic, geographic or pandemic parameters influencing success and branding of STEPS

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and CC are variable, the clear projection of AI’s use in the future makes Chat Health truly a

catalytic innovation that could revolutionize health care and health outcomes for college students.

All three finalists in the venture track are innovative and tremendously impactful in their

first year, but STEPS, while not as scalable as CC, is very clear in how it will use the Do Good

Challenge reward to continue helping low income youths. Though Chat Health’s clarity on their

evidence of success is not ideal, its potential to help thousands of people and change the nature

of university health centers in addition to its scalability merits it the first place prize.
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Works Cited

Artificial Intelligence Market Size & Share Report, 2020-2027, July 2020,

www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/artificial-intelligence-ai-market.

Belt, Deb. “Maryland's Best School Districts 2021: New Rankings Released.” Columbia, MD

Patch, Patch, 20 Oct. 2020,

patch.com/maryland/columbia/marylands-best-school-districts-2021-new-rankings-releas

ed.

“Disruptive Innovation for Social Change.” Harvard Business Review, 1 Aug. 2014,

hbr.org/2006/12/disruptive-innovation-for-social-change.

O'Dea, Published by S., and Mar 12. “US Smartphone Ownership by Education Level

2011-2019.” Statista, 12 Mar. 2021,

www.statista.com/statistics/195007/percentage-of-us-smartphone-owners-by-education-le

vel/.

Stone, Nathalie Kylander & Christopher. “The Role of Brand in the Nonprofit Sector (SSIR).”

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Informing and Inspiring Leaders of Social Change,

2012, ssir.org/articles/entry/the_role_of_brand_in_the_nonprofit_sector.