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- Interesting Data Gigs # 19: Full-Stack Software Engineer at Nourish
Interesting Data Gigs # 19: Full-Stack Software Engineer at Nourish
A very interesting role with a big chance to have a deep impact in American people's health
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“A dietitian helps a woman to eat healthy ”. Created with DALL·E, an AI system by OpenAI
Hello Data geek.
Today, I will discuss Nourish, an exciting team solving a challenging problem for the American people: helping them eat better.
This is a very early-stage company, so if you join this team, you will own a big part of the codebase.
But, let’s discuss first why I strongly believe this team is solving a huge problem, and why you could have a big impact on American people’s lives.
First things first: What is Nourish
First, I have to make a confession: finding more information about Nourish was a challenge.
First, there is another company with the same name, there is not any information about the company on Crunchbase (a very rare event), and the profile of the company on the website of some investors is very vague.
One of my first steps, when I’m writing about a company, is always looking at its funding history.
This is not an obligation, it’s just a step to see the cash of the company.
Anyways, this is what I found about Nourish:
A quick description
Operator of a telehealth platform intended to provide access to evidence-based nutritional counseling from registered dietitians.
The company's platform offers telenutrition therapy from registered dietitians paid via insurance, enabling users to achieve their desired health and wellness through personalized nutrition counseling which is covered via insurance.
Funding
According to PitchBook, the company has raised several Seed rounds, and the last one was $5.5 Million on April 20th, 2022. Its investors are Y Combinator, Thrive Capital, Operator Partners, and Box Group, along with some angel investors.
The problem that Nourish is attacking
Let me share with you some mind-blowing stats here:
More than half of Americans have a chronic condition related to what they eat, which has contributed to healthcare costs going up and quality-adjusted life expectancy going down
In 2017, 11 million deaths and 255 million disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) were attributable to dietary risk factors. High intake of sodium, low intake of whole grains, and low intake of fruits were the leading dietary risk factors for deaths and DALYs globally and in many countries. Dietary data were from mixed sources and were not available for all countries, increasing the statistical uncertainty of our estimates.
Worldwide, malnutrition costs $3.5 trillion annually, with overweight- and obesity-related noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, adding $2 trillion
About half of all American adults—117 million individuals—have one or more preventable chronic diseases, many of which are related to poor-quality eating patterns and physical inactivity. These include cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, some cancers, and poor bone health. More than two-thirds of adults and nearly one-third of children and youth are overweight or obese
9% of the U.S. population, or 28.8 million Americans, will have an eating disorder in their lifetime.
As you can see here: this is not a simple problem to solve, but Nourish is up for the challenge and has a big audience for it.
How? They connect people with Registered Dietitians to provide research-based guidance to improve their eating.
Even better? 94% of Nourish patients pay $0 out of pocket because they work with insurance companies for this work.
They are now focused on several eating-focused conditions like Anorexia, Eating disorder, Cancer, Diabetes, Binge Eating disorder, and Heart Health.
BTW: there is a big difference between nutritionists and registered dietitians.
According to an insightful post from Adrien Paczosa (Chief Clinical Officer at Nourish) in the Nourish blog, there is a notable difference:
Chances are you’ve heard both of these titles and assumed they were the same thing. These two terms are often used interchangeably, but there is a difference between them and it’s important to understand what those differences mean for you and your wellness journey.
The primary difference is that a registered dietitian is board-certified and legally permitted to treat medical conditions and offer nutritional counseling. This isn’t necessarily the case for nutritionists.
Depending on the state from which they operate, nutritionists may not be held accountable by a regulatory body, and can declare themselves a nutritionist without any formal training or certification.
This isn’t the case for registered dietitians (RDs) who must hold a bachelor’s degree or equivalent and meet the accreditation standards of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
The accreditation process for registered dietitians is a lengthy one, requiring each applicant to complete a ACEND-accredited supervised practicum, pass the Commission on Dietetic Registration's dietetic registration exam, and to successfully obtain a state license.
That’s why Nourish is working with several RDs for this kind of work.
The job itself
The job title is Full-Stack Software Engineer, and you can find its job description here.
Some things you have to take into account here:
As an early member of our engineering team, you'll work closely with product, design, and engineering to deliver key features that will serve as the foundation for the Nourish core telenutrition platform for years to come. You'll own large sections of the codebase and help set timelines and deadlines for project deliverables.
The tech stack:
React
Typescript
NodeJS / Express
MaterialUI / TailwindCSS
PostgreSQL
AWS/AppRunner
Let’s see some ways to increase your chance to be part of this team.
Let’s discuss two ideas on how to approach this job application (THE REAL MEAT)
Idea # 1 Get Nourish in the Graviton train
If you are following my work here, you should know I’m a big fan of AWS Graviton (BTW, I write a weekly newsletter just focused on that), the custom processors built by Amazon with the best price/performance combination in AWS.
This could be a great way to save a ton on the AWS bills and be more efficient with the resources.
Some links to read:
Idea # 2: Create the Healthy Recipes Database, and make them searchable by condition
This one requires more work, but it will pay off. Just build a small website. Nothing fancy, an “it just works” website. You can improve it later.
Pick a simple stack: NextJS + Algolia + TailwindCSS, and build a “Healthy Recipes Database”.
Start small: just pick two recipes per condition and start working.
The whole idea here is to build a functional website, with 10 recipes using a Card design that people can search for it. Perhaps this could be a future SEO-focused bullet train for Nourish.
Just imagine for a second this scenario:
They pick this idea and make it available under Nourish’s own domain. Not a subdomain ( like recipes.usenourish.com) but as a section of the website (usenourish.com/recipes).
For SEO purposes, this could be the best way to do it, according to experts in the field.
Now: every RDs working with Nourish, contributes at least one recipe for a healthy recipe to the “database“.
They are 47 RDs working with Nourish right now. So, this could be 47 additional recipes to add, which translates to new 47 “new fresh URLs” to add to the website.
Now, according to the team, they have a big database of a waiting list of RDs. Perhaps as part of the onboarding process for the company, they could (as an optional step, not an obligation) add their favorite healthy recipe to the database.
Can you see the potential here?
But, the first step is to build a foundation: just a small website with 10 recipes. Just ten to prove the point.
And finally, you will add two key things to the website:
You will use the same branding specs from Nourish (Tobias font or a free alternative, #fe6a36 color for the buttons, and #fffcf2 for the background)
You will add a section to the website with the copy like this “Eat even better with the help of a Registered Dietitian “ with a link to Nourish’s website
This project will prove 3 main things to the Nourish’s team:
First that you can work on a project from start to finish, and actually own the codebase
that you are a doer. This is a critical skill for an early-stage startup
that you are willing to invest time in this team’s success
Again: this will require more work, but it could be a good way to prove to the team that you are taking seriously the challenge.
Enough for now.
Good luck with your application.
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Final words
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This is the best way I found for this. It’s that simple.
Marcos out.
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