Hippo Scribe

What do they actually do

Hippo Scribe provides an AI scribe for rehabilitation clinicians (physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech‑language pathology). Clinicians record a visit or dictate into Hippo Scribe’s mobile or web app; the system transcribes the audio and produces a draft clinical note in roughly 20–30 seconds using configurable templates, which the clinician then reviews and edits for accuracy (site, YC launch, App Store).

Final notes can be pushed into web‑based EMRs via a Chrome extension workflow or copied and pasted, with step‑by‑step guides for certain EMRs (e.g., Hello Note) and a “request integration” option for others (site, Chrome extension, Hello Note guide). The company offers a free tier (up to 5 visits/week) and a Pro plan at $99/month with unlimited visits and EMR integration; it states data are encrypted in transit/at rest and that it signs BAAs (pricing/security).

Who are their target customer(s)

• Solo private‑practice clinician (PT/OT/SLP): They see patients back to back and finish notes after hours, cutting into billable time and weekends. They need fast capture and a usable draft to reduce after‑hours documentation.
• Clinician at a small multi‑clinician clinic: Note styles vary across staff and EMR entry is manual, slowing billing. They need shared templates and an easier way to push notes into a web EMR.
• Home‑visit or mobile clinician: They document in noisy or on‑the‑go settings, then type lengthy notes later, leading to inefficiency and errors. They need reliable mobile recording and quick drafts to finalize between visits.
• Pediatric or niche‑specialty therapist (e.g., pediatric OT/SLP, pelvic health): Generic templates miss specialty‑specific goals and billing details, causing rework and audit risk. They need tuned templates and AI help aligned to their specialty.
• Small‑practice biller/office manager: Claims get rejected due to missing payer‑required elements, creating rework and delays. They want more consistent, audit‑ready notes to speed reimbursement.

How would they acquire their first 10, 50, and 100 customers

• First 10: Founder‑led outreach to known clinicians and YC/clinician communities; provide free Pro access and 1:1 onboarding to configure templates and EMR sync, then iterate from feedback (YC profile, Chrome listing).
• First 50: Targeted posts in therapist groups (including Hippo Scribe’s community), short webinars showing Medicare/billing‑ready templates and live demos, with a time‑limited promo and referral credits (YouTube tutorials, template index).
• First 100: Direct outreach to small clinics and office managers offering a 15‑minute demo and 14‑day trial, group pricing with shared‑template onboarding, and partnerships with billing consultants and small EMRs (e.g., Hello Note), plus conference presence for inbound leads (Hello Note guide, pricing).

What is the rough total addressable market

Top-down context:

Outpatient physical and occupational therapy centers alone represent a U.S. market estimated around $53B annually, indicating large documentation volume and spend in rehab settings (industry report PR).

Bottom-up calculation:

Approximate U.S. clinician base: 267k physical therapists + 160k occupational therapists + 187k speech‑language pathologists ≈ 615k potential seats (BLS PT, BLS OT, BLS SLP). At $99/month ($1,188/year) per clinician, TAM ≈ 615k × $1,188 ≈ $730M/year in the U.S.

Assumptions:

• U.S. only; includes licensed PT/OT/SLP clinicians and excludes assistants/techs.
• Pricing modeled on Hippo Scribe Pro at $99/month; assumes software sold per-clinician seat (pricing).
• Assumes broad relevance across settings (outpatient, home health, schools), with some settings adopting later due to workflow/IT constraints.

Who are some of their notable competitors

• Suki: AI voice assistant for clinicians with deep EHR integrations and enterprise workflows; targets physicians and larger practices rather than small rehab clinics (source).
• Notable Health: Automation platform building AI agents to capture visits and push structured data into enterprise EHRs (e.g., Epic), focused on health systems and billing teams (source).
• Dragon Medical One (Nuance/Microsoft): Widely used medical speech recognition for dictated notes with enterprise integrations; not rehab‑specific templates or a lightweight Chrome/mobile workflow (source).
• Otter.ai: General transcription/meeting notes tool that added HIPAA support for healthcare teams; lacks rehab‑specific SOAP templates and native EMR syncing out of the box (HIPAA announcement).
• ScribePT: Rehab‑focused AI scribe for PT/OT/SLP with tailored templates and EMR workflows; a direct niche competitor to Hippo Scribe targeting the same users (source).