Reliq & The CompetitionThe reality is that competition is absolutely everywhere and in all industries. A strong competitive environment only drives the best to get better and the weak to exit the market. In this I am referring to Reliq as being the best, not the only, but absolutely the BEST in my opinion.
Different companies will compete for different segments of the market and some will try to be everything to everyone (and most likely fail miserably). Having a competing product is one thing but actually rolling it out, signing up customers and succeeding in operating a profitable and growing business is entirely a DIFFERENT thing. Those that don’t understand the difference should probably not be investing any money in the market.
LifePod is only the latest so-called competitor to be brought up on this board. My understanding is that LifePod is a small Boston based start-up that has developed software that offers some of IUGO’s offering and uses their unique speaker (software can only be used on their hardware). Their software lacks many features that IUGO already has and it can’t connect out of the box to any medical device like IUGO does. Additionally, to the best of my knowledge they are pre revenue and are operating with limited resources. Overall, LifePod is not even on the same playing field as Reliq.
Reliq has developed the right comprehensive product and the appropriate strategy to DOMINATE the space. Reliq has achieved profitability, a balance sheet that most companies would be envious of, is running ongoing pilots with some mega institutions globally, has a confirmed pipeline of 51K patients, has a management team that is firing on all cylinders meeting new customers daily, a mixed retail/institutional investor base that is extremely diverse and wide spread (the likes I have never personally seen before).
Now how the hell does all that compare to another company that developed some code and seemingly has a product offering similar to IUGO. It SIMPLY DOESN’T.
But if you think that it does, and that these players at varying degrees of maturity (many 1-2 years behind Reliq) are at the same level of Reliq, than by all means go and sell everything you own and go buy the hell out of these companies.
I’m not faulting new investors for questioning the competitive landscape, not at all. I’ve been invested in Reliq since the beginning, throughout which time I have done a tremendous amount of DD.
For a good portion of 2016/2017, every few months I would come across a new company that had a product offering, that seemed to me at the time at least, to be competing with one or more aspects of Reliq’s IUGO platform.
Every time I would ask management about these aforementioned companies, the response would be so detailed and comprehensive that it absolutely eliminated any concerns I had, to the point I would almost consistently increase my position in RHT.
And let me say that as an auditor by profession, general professional scepticism comes second nature to me. So having my questions adequately addressed where I am very comfortable is no small feat.
Trust me when I say, that management is fully aware of all current and new entrants to the market and do not seem to be loosing any sleep at night with regards to their target market (37M Medicair/Medicaid patients with 2 or more chronic diseases).
With Reliq’s reputation and customer feedback continuing on the current track, Reliq will establish clear market dominance in no time. In the meantime, the likelihood that Reliq acquires customers from other companies with inferior offerings is way higher than the opposite.
Also, something to remember is that Reliq has the funds to also grow through acquisition. That is of course if they see anything being developed that is worth buying for either the software component or customer acquisition.
But currently, from what I know, there is simply nothing out there that would add value to the company as Reliq is ahead on both product development and client acquisition than anyone that is competing in the general space.
Good luck to all,
narmar
twitter: @kingnarmar