POS System for Pharmacies

In 2012, when the second generation of iPad came out, I thought I need to quit my job so I can take pharmacy POS systems to the next level. At that time several IT systems providers serving pharmacies used aged windows systems. The bloat made the systems slow, the interface was an insult to aesthetics.

So in the course of almost one year I learned the right tech and have built a product that was almost market ready, but funds ran out and I was not at all able to raise any money. I had zero knowledge or experience of the VC ecosystem. But I got the chance to show the product to people from the industry, one of whom was a former CEO of the largest of those system providers. He commented on the product like this: "This is a paradigm shift." Good, I said, if you are convinced, do you want to get some money and I will find the right people to finish the product. At first he agreed but after a month he came back and said, "Listen, I don't have the money, but I know a windows developer in another city, couldn't you finish the product with him?". Well, that's not how it works. I mean, today this is obvious, but back then few understood that touch interfaces work differently, and that if you want to build something robust, you should stay away from windows. Anyway, the prototype died due to my naïveté. I do not whine, I leared a lot and what I have learned opened up a lot of paths in my life.

So, what did I learn?

  • Apple's infamous HIG
  • Networking basics
  • Client/Server architectures
  • Concurrent Programming and the Event Loop
  • Lua (Because its characteristics seemed to be better suited than Python)
  • WebSockets (new and shiny at that time)
  • SSL and how certificate authorities work
  • SQLite and optimizing DB schemas for apps
  • Full Text Search
  • The ABDA Database and the needs of pharmacies in general
  • Serial communication
  • RFID programming
  • Barcodes, QR-Codes, Readers and libs for iOS
  • Open Source ecosystem and Stackoverflow

In hindsight this was one of those years with a rather steep learning curve. If you want to benefit from our experiences, don't hesitate to contact us.